Cousin's Visit-Feb. 1 - 13, 2012

One of the things we did while they were here was go to Tucson. I always wanted to visit DeGrazzi's museum. For those of you who do not know about DeGrazzia--he is an artist and I really like his paintings. He paints a lot of Indian children. They are usually very cheerful and colorful. The museum was fascinating. It was where he lived and it was somewhat of a compound. It is in the desert but I have to say it was not far out of the city of Tucson. This is me putting a penny one one of the shelves of this rock pyramid. Don't ask me why. There were all kinds of pennies so I thought that is what I should do.

Looks like Pudge is ready to clobber her with his club. He wasn't going to. But then again this was toward the end of her visit so maybe .... hmmm.... Just kidding. He enjoyed her as much as I did. This is on our patio. It did cool down in the evening but it was still nice. However, Donna had to bundle up. She said she liked it better when she was down here the year before in March when the weather was warmer. Now Janet preferred February and the cooler weather.

Linda, Pudge & I went on a mountain hike. It was great!! Somewhat difficult but all three of us enjoyed it. And it was a perfect day for a hike. The trail was well marked. And there were a lot of hikers on this mountain. After this we bought walking sticks. I love mine.

Linda & Pudge overlooking Apache Junction on our hike up Silly Mountain.

Happy Hour!!!

We went to Eloy, Arizona which has one of the largest sky diving schools. We got to see about 15 sky divers land right in front of us. I do know that people come from all over the world to this place. In this picture Donna is training to jump. Pudge & I saw 10 people practicing their jump from this contraption. It was one of those where they were to connect with each other up in the air. So they would simulate jumping out and determining where they were to hold each other. Fascinating.

Then another day we went to South Mountain. We are eating a picnic lunch. This was after we went to the top and viewed Phoenix. You can sure tell it is a valley from up there.

We went to Arizona Golf Resort just to look around. We came across this boy who was selling golf balls to raise money for his class trip to Washington DC. I thought this was neat. Also it was here that our car got hit with a golf ball. No damage--just a loud clunk.

Back at DeGrazzia's museum-- Donna, Janet and Gloria. This blog sure doesn't put things in consecutive order. They really need to improve things on blogspot. Not sure who to complain to about it. And it is free so I guess that has to be considered. This was the courtyard outside. I found it fascinating. Lots of stuff and some murals. I liked it. Shannon was also with us. I didn't get any pictures of her. This was a fun day.

Linda in front of one of the murals.

One of the many rooms at DeGrazzia.

Bless their hearts!!! They are helping me look for a costume pattern.

One day we went to Sonja's in Chandler. Sonja is a childhood friend of Janet's. Donna knew her too but she was more Janet's age. We took a walk around her complex. Cannot remember the name of it. We were fascinated with this pink cactus. I really like exploring other developments and believe there are plenty of them. Most are 55+ and say "for active adults."

Sonja's complex has lakes and our walk included walking around this one. It was a beautiful day.

Linda picked lemons in Sonja's back yard.

Now I am going to publish this right away being as I already lost it once. I did manage to get it back. The following paragraphs were supposed to be at the beginning of this blog not at the end. Like I said they need to improve this blogspot.

This is going to be hard to pick and choose which pictures I am going to want to post on this blog from when Linda, Donna, and Janet were here. I just went through them and there are a lot. I am not going to overthink this. I am just going to get started. When I get overwhelmed I don't want to tackle it. So -- once again-- just get started.

They all arrived on February 1. Linda came from Chicago. Janet & Donna from Minneapolis. Their flights came in about a half hour apart so that made it easy. They all left at different times. Donna stayed until the 6th. Linda stayed until the 8th and Janet left on the 13th.

Oh!! We did have a good time. I always like getting together with them.

Sewing Costumes for 2013 Review

Oh -- how I wish this blog would behave like I want it to. I have tried to write text above all these pictures to introduce this subject. It is not going to happen. So I will just make the best of it and continue on. I have spent a lot of time this winter on heading up the costume committee for our 2013 Review. I am not sure how much "heading up" I am doing. It has worked where the people on the committee has taken on 3 or 4 of the dances for costumes. We have consulted with one another and got ideas but once we finished with that we all fell into our places and ran with whatever was "our baby." Connie took on one of the numbers--Opus. BTW-our theme for the whole review is "Thanks For The Memories-A Tribute to the 1940's USO Show. It is going to be good if I do say so myself. It was decided that the people in this dance would meet at my place to get fitted for this costume. It ended up being productive and a good time.

The costume is a green sparkle material. It is going to be a shrug and a little swingy skirt worn with a pink long sleeve leotard. And we will be wearing snoods in our hair. Sandy is posing with the shrug over her T shirt.

It ended up being somewhat of an assembly line. Connie is cutting skirts. I was sewing waist bands. The others were drinking wine and giggling.Alicia put the waist band around her chest. Darlene is looking on and shaking her head. I was laughing as I took this picture.

Ruthie holding up the costume. She is 84 and still tap dances.

I really like this picture. Darlene has her pants off here because we were fitting her skirt. She is hiding behind Connie. I promised everybody that I would not take any pictures that would embarass them.

Opus is a hard dance and I am struggling with learning it. It is so darn fast. My mind knows what to do (sometimes) but my feet won't move fast enough. I need to practice, practice, practice. It is stressful for me to learn dances. I like it when I know it well enough to not have to think about it so much and then I feel like I can add my own style. Right now it is just so much concentration. There is no way I can even smile. It doesn't come easy for me like it does for some of the others. You ought to see Connie. She is shown one time and she has it. She starts dancing the new stuff right away. I am amazed and I envy that.

"Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree is the one that I have had to make and be in charge. It is a pinafore made with apple green with big white polka dots. It is a pinafore trimmed with eyelet and rick rack. On the bib and pockets are some sequin apples. Now the young people reading this are wondering "pinafore" what's that? And "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree." Never heard it.

Along with all of this there have been others that we have to put together. We are repurposing some that were from other years. And we are making some look different with hats and head pieces. I am running out to the storage unit at least once a week. I have bags of sequins and material in the guest room. It is all a little overwhelming but I have no doubt it will all come together. Everything has to be done by November 1, 2012 for pictures. And it will be.