A lake 15 miles from our house. Our guest took this photo on her bike ride.
When we have guests, we like to take them to the lake. It’s a beautiful drive through Tonto National Forest and so surprising to see water in the middle of the desert. The lake was created by a dam and thankfully the lake was as full as I’ve seen it thanks to a ton of rain. Also I heard that Arizona is building up the dam to hold more water.
My friend who is visiting is an avid cyclist and Saturdays are her days for a major ride. I told her about the lake and that I’ve seen lots of cyclists make the trek with huge hills. It was a 40-mile bike ride. We followed by car with her husband and puppy, to make sure she was safe.
Here are more photos:
This is where we like to go in the summer to cool off with a dip in the lake.
There were people camping and fishing.
A photo taken by my cycling guest during her ride to the lake.
Our friend’s four-month old puppy Karenina.
We also managed to get in a hike.
How do you like to entertain your guests? Where do you take them in your area?
We’re having house guests for the weekend. I’ve been running around, cleaning, planning menus and buying food. Our good friends from Santa Barbara that we met as newlyweds are driving out to see us in Arizona.
Our husbands met each other during training in Princeton at the beginning of their careers with Merrill Lynch. They hit it off and since we all lived in California, they invited us to their apartment in Santa Barbara. We made the four-hour trek from Palm Springs one weekend.
I’ll never forget pulling up to the curb at the place of people I’d never met and my husband’s friend said “Right mates, let go!” (He’s from Australia.) We jumped in his car and headed to the marina where his wife was waiting for us on their boat.
Soon, I learned how to skirt the jib and follow other commands. We were in the midst of a race with the Santa Barbara Yacht Club. They asked if I needed a jumper which I had no idea meant a sweater. Other Aussie phrases I learned that weekend were “G’day mate” and “for sh*ts and giggles.”
That was the beginning of a friendship I treasure. I overheard the friend tell my husband, “The wives are getting along. It doesn’t always work out that way.”
We don’t have anything nearly as exciting planned for their visit as being in a yacht race. But we’ll enjoy each other’s company, hike some trails and check out the water level at our nearby lake.
What are your favorite things to do with friends?
How did you meet your best friends?
Do you have couple friends that both you and your spouse enjoy?
You can barely see my friend’s head over her husband’s back on one of our sailing trips.
I woke up to a foggy morning in Maricopa County. We’ve been here three years, two weeks and it’s my first time to see fog.
My husband caught the nasty bug I had from before Christmas until New Year’s. Now it’s his turn. The problem? Today we’re supposed to have surprise guests from Santa Barbara, friends of more than 30 years, arriving for the weekend to celebrate his birthday.
Then, because our friends are coming, I planned a small birthday party to share cake that our friend is baking. She’s owned several bakeries in the past and her cakes are amazing. I thought it was a perfect time to invite some neighbors and friends over.
But yesterday, although my husband was out of bed for awhile, I thought about how I’d feel. Would I like guests for an entire weekend while I was getting better? Would I want a houseful of people over to celebrate, when I didn’t feel 100%?
Enough with the surprise. I asked him. He was relieved I let him know and said to cancel everything. He was in no mood to be around people and wanted to rest through the weekend. I’m pretty sure he was touched with the surprises I had planned, but no thank you!
Not only will we rest up and feel better, we won’t be spreading our nasty germs.
NCAA Football Champs:
If you didn’t know, I’m a college football fan. I don’t watch NFL (except for the Eagles because of Britain Covey. He played for the Utah Utes. He’s 26 years old, only 5’8″ tall, but quick. He’s a punt returner and had a record 54-yard return against the Giants on Christmas. His grandfather is Stephen Covey of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” fame and Franklin Day Timers.
Anyway, through my daughter’s college years as a student athlete at Utah, I became a huge fan of their football and gymnastics teams (and swim team, of course.) I have a ton of red and black gear that my daughter gave me, because every meet for four years they loaded her down with sweats, jackets, t-shirts, etc. I also bought my fair share. I wear my Utah gear on football game days.
I think what I enjoy most about football is the people. It’s not the game, because I honestly don’t know that much about it. It’s knowing people who play the game. Or liking their life stories.
Now, we’re down to the season’s final game. My alma mater University of Washington Huskies is in the national championships against Michigan. I’ve returned to my roots and ordered a t-shirt several weeks ago. GO DAWGS!
I’m also a fan of Husky QB Michael Penix, Jr. He should have won the Heisman because he’s the best quarterback people have seen in years. Plus, the lining of his suit coat for the Heisman awards night had every teammate and coaches name on it. The guy who won the Heisman over Penix had a suit coat lining of photos of himself in the Heisman pose.
Are you a college or NFL fan? What other sports do you enjoy — or any?
What teams do you cheer for?
How would you feel about having guests when you didn’t feel 100%?
I’ve been sick for a week now. Some days I feel like it’s behind me, then today I woke up feeling worse. I’m not sure if it’s a cold, flu (I did get a flu shot) or Covid.
Then I had a scary feeling today thinking about last year.
A year ago, I got a call from my brother that mom had tested positive for Covid. She was in an assisted living facility near Seattle, close to where my brother lives. But she was asymptomatic.
By New Year’s Day we lost her. Without symptoms, she died in her sleep. I wrote about that and a shared a children’s story I wrote about her HERE.
I decided I needed to test for Covid, although I’m not sure what I’d do differently if I have it — or if it’s the common cold. At least I’d know. And thinking back to a year ago, I felt scared. And sad.
I tested negative. Next weekend, we have guests coming from Santa Barbara to surprise my husband for his birthday. I’m throwing a small birthday party for him with three couples from our neighborhood, our friends we were supposed to spend Christmas with — and our surprise guests.
I have to be well. So, I’ll continue with rest, fluids, vitamins and other remedies that are suggested.
When I have a day like today, where I feel like I’m relapsing, my body must be telling me that I tried to do too much.
This is my last post of 2023. Last year was very stressful with losing my mom and my daughter-in-law’s diagnosis with Stage 3C colon cancer. I’m praying for a better 2024 and good health for everyone.
What were you doing one year ago before New Year’s?
Last week I wrote about our pets we adopted on Thanksgiving in years past. This year, we visited friends and met Buddy. I would have taken him home — if our friends allowed it. Buddy was a rescue dog who is seven years old. According to our friends, he was being abused by his owner. The owner’s daughter already had several dogs and cats and couldn’t keep him. I’m not sure how our friends found him, but they are fortunate they did.
He was the most delightful, happiest little creature I’ve ever met. He was so happy to greet us. Happy to sit by us. Thrilled to go for a walk. His entire little body vibrated with his happiness that he shared with us.
We’ve spent many Christmas and Thanksgivings with our friends of 30 plus years. They moved to Arizona before us and have a new home two hours south of us. It’s the first time we’ve visited them in their new home by Tucson and we laughed and shared stories the entire weekend — with Buddy enjoying every moment.
Here’s a view of the dramatic mountains near Tucson while out walking with Buddy.
Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends? Who was “Buddy” during your weekend?
I normally love to read books and only listen to them while we’re on a drive of more than four hours.
This past week, I listened to “The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane” by Lisa See, published in 2017.
I highly recommend this book. A friend of mine in Santa Barbara only listens to books, she never reads. That’s because she is constantly moving and busy. She never takes a break from work around the house, yard, cooking or her business sewing for interior designers until bedtime. She also works at a school during the week. (She’s exhausting to be around!) She finished this book and said it was “so good!”
It was! I have read other Lisa See books including the novel “Shanghai Girls” and her family’s biography, “On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family.”
I’m a Lisa See fan.
I decided to experiment and listened to this book, rather than read it. It seemed like cheating, but I enjoyed it. The narration was good and I wasn’t hung up by trying to pronounce Chinese words in my head.
Here’s an overview of the story from Lisa See’s website:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See, a moving story about tradition, tea farming, and the enduring connection between mothers and daughters.
In their remote mountain village, Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. For the Akha people, ensconced in ritual and routine, life goes on as it has for generations—until a stranger appears at the village gate in a jeep, the first automobile any of the villagers has ever seen.
The stranger’s arrival marks the first entrance of the modern world in the lives of the Akha people. Slowly, Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, begins to reject the customs that shaped her early life. When she has a baby out of wedlock—conceived with a man her parents consider a bad match—she rejects the tradition that would compel her to give the child over to be killed, and instead leaves her, wrapped in a blanket with a tea cake tucked in its folds, near an orphanage in a nearby city.
As Li-yan comes into herself, leaving her insular village for an education, a business, and city life, her daughter, Haley, is raised in California by loving adoptive parents. Despite her privileged childhood, Haley wonders about her origins, and across the ocean Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. Over the course of years, each searches for meaning in the study of Pu’er, the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for centuries.
A powerful story about two women separated by circumstance, culture, and distance, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and a celebration of the bonds of family.
I loved the characters, the drama, learning about the different ethnic groups of China, how the Akha people believe in spirits and how they were untouched from the modern world until after the Cultural Revolution. I also learned about tea farming, connoisseur’s, and the many health properties of tea.
After I finished listening to “The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane,” I decided to try another book on Audible. I chose an Elin Hilderbrand novel called “The Castaways.” I have to confess that it did not work for me to listen to it. It’s about four couples and I can’t keep the characters straight, not did I care about them.
I’m not sure if it’s the format of listening to a book that made the Lisa See book so accessible and enjoyable — and it doesn’t work for Elin Hilderbrand. Or, maybe I don’t like the second book as much even if I read it?
What are your thoughts of reading versus listening to books? What’s your preference and why?
My dream home of 28 years in Palm Springs, built in 1937.
I was home caring for my dad, who had shoulder surgery. My daughter and husband were in Los Angeles at a swim meet for the weekend (son in college). I had to pick up my dad’s meds at the pharmacy and I told him not to leave the recliner we had rented for his recovery — placed in front of the TV.
When I returned, he was on the floor. Of course, he didn’t listen to me and didn’t stay put.
“I can’t get my dad off the floor!” I called my husband on his cell. After numerous attempts with Dad, neither one of us made an inch of progress.
In the background, I heard my daughter say “Call Mr. Siffleet!”
Of course, why hadn’t I thought of that? Karl was married to one of my close friends who lived less than a mile away. They had a daughter who went to kindergarten through high school with my daughter. Karl and my husband swam 5:30 a.m. Masters together.
Within minutes, Karl came over, picked my dad up as though he was a bag of potatoes and placed him comfortably in his chair. Thank you, Karl!
I can’t remember all the things Karl did for us during the decades we lived in that home. But what I do remember is going to a post-op appointment after knee surgery about thirty minutes away. I realized I left the stove on for vegetable soup I was cooking.
Yikes! I called Karl and he came over to the house, turned off the stove — and put the burnt pot outside.
Yes, this family had a key to our house. They even took care of Olive the cat while we were on vacation.
Another time, our swim team was hosting a meet at the city pool. We had an extensive set up of pop-up tents constructed from poles and tarps, tables, electronic timing equipment, scoreboard, snack bar, grills, timing chairs, etc. We’d have more than 1,000 people to host at swim meets for a three-day weekend — including swimmers and family members.
One morning, my husband (who was Mr. Meet Manager) arrived at the pool at dawn to find tons of equipment in the pool. We blamed the skaters from the next-door skate park. But it could have been any gang of hoodlums. My husband called (I was comfortably asleep in bed) and asked me to drive our daughter to the pool. Karl also showed up — probably to help with set up — and they dove in and retrieved equipment from the bottom of the deep end, hours before the meet began.
I miss living near Karl and his family. I’m glad we are still in touch, but I really miss a neighbor like Karl who always came to the rescue! He was our local superman.
What have your neighbors done for you when you needed help? Do you play that role with any neighbors?
