This is is the title of Rose Lynn's favourite instrumental as played by Doc Watson*; the story goes it was written by John D. Loudermilk for Chet Atkins in 1961.
Windy and warm also describes our weather pattern of the past few days. It means that we have been able to bike and hike and tell each other "This is the weather we came for!" We've had winds up to 40 mph/25 kph and temperatures in the high 70sF / mid 20s C.
Before with large dent on right corner
(and a couple of scrapes in other areas).
Between the weather (several days of scattered showers), and Bill's fight with a phlegmy cough and snotty (!) nose, it's been a slow go here at Rock Shadows 😒
Today the sun has been peaking out, the temperatures rose into the low 60s F / mid teens C, and Bill is starting to feel better 😀
Luckily Rose Lynn did not catch the bug (not covid).
While Bill was playing bridge, Rose Lynn went with three others to the Boyce Thompson Aboretum*, east of Apache Junction. It was a lovely afternoon, in a lovely place, with lovely company.
The highlight of the day, however, was meeting some coati feeding on the fruit of date palms along the trail. The park interpreters said it was a group of about 30 - three moms and their kittens which are estimated to be about 4-6 weeks old. They fed on the ground nosing up insects and nimbly climbed the trees for the fruit.
P.S. Bill won a few quarters at bridge!
Weather and schedules finally cooperated and we've had a couple of rides.
After being off the bikes since Sept 29th, we have to recondition our bodies and minds. Probably too much information but... primarily we have to redevelop our butt calluses (using a term in the cycling world)! In other words, get used to sitting on our bike seats again.
MEANWHILE in Calgary, Alberta...overnight temperatures have dipped to -30s C (nearly the same F!).
It was a superior day in the historic mining town of Superior Arizona*, about 50km/ 30 m east of Apache Junction.
First we hiked on the Queen Creek section of L.O.S.T (Legends of Superior Trail); it was "fresh" but sunny and calm. Interestingly, the creek was running dry - never seen it this way.
Then we revisited a favourite eatery, the Silver King Smokehouse and Saloon, sitting in the sun and filling our faces with loaded fries (House Made Fries, Pulled Pork, Slaw, House BBQ & Ranch).
Next stop was Superior Farm-to Fantastic Farmer's Market where we found fresh veggies, baking and crafts.
Finally, we listened to Music in the Park, live music sponsored by the local Superior Optimists.
*According to Wikipedia, Superior was once part of a huge Apache reservation, but after silver and copper deposits were discovered, those areas were withdrawn from the reservation and returned to the public domain (shocking but typical?). Superior was then founded as a mining town for the Silver King and the later Magma mines; silver was mined at first, and then transitioned to copper. Currently, the huge Resolution Copper deposit is being explored (also controversial for its location in areas sacred to the indigenous peoples) . The town was originally called Queen, then Hastings and, finally, the Superior townsite we know today was laid out in 1902, and named after the Lake Superior and Arizona Copper Company (LS&A).
Wednesday, Janine and the boys visited Apache Junction while Colin worked remotely. It was a cool start but by the time we were into our hike, we were all down to our first layers. Magnus was in shorts and has been every day since they arrived!
Next stop was the grocery store for supplies for Mom & the boys to make the Clobbopus* Vanilla Punch, made with vanilla ice cream, orange sherbert, gingerale, orange soda and blueberries. (*Clobbopus is a small, off-white cephalopod Pokémon. It has small, blue eyes with horizontal slit-shaped pupils, and an orange mask-shaped pattern around them)
Then back to our place for our lunch, the dessert and a game.
The family flew back to Calgary Thursday evening.
Thursday saw us getting back to some more of our regular winter activities. Choir started, we enjoyed a meal from the Thursday Food Truck and then went to play euchre. It's all good!
