Can You See What We See?

 Our hike today took us by some of nature's rock sculptures.

Heart

Squirrel - middle pillar

Tail plume to top right; head, nose, ears to top left:

hip bump below

(this one needs the most imagination!)

Pig

Scenes from our Trailer Playroom

 

Bill meets 5 or 6 other musicians online every Wednesday evening for two hours.

So there are folks from Arizona, Alberta and British Columbia plus others who randomly drop into the session from just about anywhere.

Here, Rose Lynn is set up for sewing on the dining table. On Tuesdays and Friday afternoons, when Bill is out playing bridge, she tries to get creative with fabric.

The ironing station fits over the kitchen sink!

Wonderful Wednesday

Here's how the day started

  

                          Looking West                                                               Looking East

Expecting a warm day, we started early on our hike along the Salt River north of Mesa in the Tonto National Forest. We were hoping for a sighting of the Salt River wild horses; saw about 10 or so in an area where it seems that their forage has been supplemented with green hay deliveries so that they stay healthy.

Also known as mustangs, from the Spanish word mustango, which means, "wild, stray, or feral animal," the wild horses are thought to be descendants of Spanish colonial or Iberian horses brought to the Southwest by explorers in the 16th century, like Father Eusebio Keno who came through this area in 1691.

 

"The Salt River Wild Horse Management Group (SRWHMG) is an Arizona-based nonprofit organization dedicated to monitor, study, and protect the Salt River wild horses. Our goal is and always has been freedom, protection and humane management of this treasured historic and recreational resource."

A prickly pear cactus living in the stump of a mesquite

We were excited to spot this bald eagle perched high in a tree along the river. Stayed back as we did not want to startle the bird. Apparently it is breeding season for these magnificent birds, so, in late December 2023, Arizona Game & Fish put out the following warnings:

"Arizona’s bald eagles are back, and they will soon be preparing for the next generation of eagles at breeding sites statewide. 

To assist with the state’s continued bald eagle population growth, the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) encourages outdoor recreationists, aircraft pilots, drone operators and motorized paragliders to do their part by not disturbing the state’s 97 eagle breeding areas. 

To protect breeding attempts, some portions of public land and water areas will be temporarily closed to help these majestic animals and ensure even more young eagles take to the skies this spring. 

“Arizona’s bald eagles are hard at work preparing their nest for what we hope will be a productive breeding season,” said Kenneth “Tuk” Jacobson, bald eagle management coordinator. “The birds nest, forage and roost at rivers and lakes that are also popular recreation spots. That’s why we must be vigilant to help protect the birds and ensure their populations statewide continue to flourish. That success wouldn’t be possible without the cooperation of outdoor recreationists who respect the closures during the breeding season.” 

During the 2023 breeding season, 76 young hatched, and 65 reached the important milestone of their first flight, known as fledging. "

Miracles on our Bikes

Sunday morning, before the the afternoon performance of "Intimate Apparel",  we took a long ride from home through the Usery Mountains. 

Miracle One: Bill got a flat rear tire about 11 km from home; it was caused by a safety pin!!! Our                                  daughter suggested it was probably dropped along our route during the recent Mesa                                  Marathon event when bib #s are pinned to runners. Rose Lynn rode to Rock                                              Shadows and picked up our truck to transport Bill and his bike home.

Miracle Two: The tube was replaced in about 5 minutes or so this morning at our local Junction Bike.                             Only $10 plus supplies. We had the pros do it for two reasons; the rear wheel is more                               complicated to remove for repair plus we find the style of tires on our bikes are nearly                               impossible for us to break the "bead" to take them off the rim.

Intimate Apparel: A Stage Play by Lynn Nottage

Intimate Apparel has to be one of the most moving stage productions we have ever seen! The period music, the set, costumes, script and performers all made for a satisfying experience. We saw the play at the Tempe Arts Center.

Plot

"The time is 1905, the place New York City, where Esther, a black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to black prostitutes. Her skills and discretion are much in demand, and she has managed to stuff a good sum of money into her quilt over the years. One by one, the other denizens of the boarding house marry and move away, but Esther remains, lonely and longing for a husband and a future. Her plan is to find the right man and use the money she's saved to open a beauty parlor where black women will be treated as royally as the white women she sews for. 

By way of a mutual acquaintance, she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man named George Armstrong who is working on the Panama Canal. Being illiterate, Esther has one of her patrons respond to the letters, and over time the correspondence becomes increasingly intimate until George persuades her that they should marry, sight unseen. Meanwhile, Esther's heart seems to lie with the Hasidic shopkeeper from whom she buys fabric, and his heart with her, but the impossibility of the match is obvious to them both, and Esther consents to marry George. 

When George arrives in New York, however, he turns out not to be the man his letters painted him to be, and he absconds with Esther's savings, frittering it away on whores, liquor, and gambling. Deeply wounded by the betrayal, but somehow unbroken, Esther returns to the boarding house determined to use her gifted hands and her sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the whole cloth of her life's experiences. The final stage directions reveal that Esther is also pregnant ."

Lynn Nottage wrote Intimate Apparel as a tribute to her great-grandmother, a seamstress in early-20th-century New York.

Hasidic shop keeper Mr. Mark and Esther

Forgot to Mention Last Year's Valentine's Day...

 Last year our Valentines looked like this image! 

                          We were both quarantined with covid - definitely not as much fun as this year!

Valentine's

 Last evening we walked to out to a favourite local restaurant only to find they had a 45 minute wait! Checked another place and folks were lined up outside there too. Restaurant #3 had room on their sunny patio so enjoyed mexican food at Los Gringos Locos (crazy non-hispanic/latino).

This morning we shared Valentine's cards with each other. Each year it's interesting to see if we choose sentimental or silly; we both chose sentimental! Ahhh. 💏

Today, we travelled to north Phoenix with Jeanne and Larry to visit the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM)*. Their current exhibition Acoustic America; Iconic Guitars, Mandolins, and Banjos was absolutely fabulous. Seeing, and hearing the stories behind, 90 stringed instruments played by the heroes of folk, blues and bluegrass was thrilling. 

At the MIM, admission includes a listening device that is activated while standing in front of each display; therefore you can hear each story in your own ears without disturbing other viewers. Brilliant!

*MIM

Smorgasbord of Weather

Cool (40sF/mid single digits C), breezy, drizzly and dreary on Saturday morning. We sat and played cards while listening to some of our weekend podcasts like NPR's "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" and CBC's "Because News". Both podcasts are amusing, creative and related to current events.

Just before noon, we thought the dripping had stopped so set out to walk over to our Park library; before long we got sprinkled on so cut our route short.

After lunch, it seemed dry enough to walk out for groceries. What a surprise when we came out and found blue skies and sun - amazing!  However, it wasn't long before the clouds multiplied and it was grey again. 

We walked out to a local restaurant for supper and got out and back in dry, cool, windy conditions. By 7 pm, there were weather alerts for heavy rain in the area; we got it all including wild winds with thunder and lightning! What a day.

The skies cleared overnight and we awoke to a calm 39F/ 4C!

SuperBowl Party this afternoon at friends' house; we go for the food, fun, ads and musical interludes!!!

Friday Evening Mariachi Concert

The concert by Mariachi Garibaldi this evening was a thrilling break from the weather and a sentimental journey back to our years in Brownsville.

Mariachi is an ensemble of musicians that typically play ranchera, regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. Typical of mariachi groups today, Mariachi Garibaldi consisted of violins, trumpets and guitars, including a high-pitched vihuela and an acoustic bass guitar called a guitarron.  All players took turns singing lead and doing backup vocals. The musicians were clothed in typical charro suits, a style of dress originating in Mexico and based on the clothing of a type of horseman, the charro.

Although mariachi music is performed by both males and females, Mariachi Garibaldi was an all male ensemble.  Typically, all the musicians were gifted soloists and performed on the stage and while strolling through the audience. They were joined by a pair of dancers costumed differently for each appearance.

Three Rainy Days

Weather has been confining; California was passing remnants of the Pineapple Express on to us with rotating rain storms, some thunder, a few pellets of hail and even another rainbow!

We did manage to get a walk in each day, staying close to home in case the skies opened up again. Last evening, when the weather suddenly cleared, we were gifted with the stunning view of our local mountains, the Superstitions, capped with snow!

A photo from our front drive at Rock Shadows RV Park

😎  Blue Skies and Sun this Morning 😎

Monday Ride

Today we drove to Mesa to start our ride. We rode west along the Salt River to Tempe Town Lake*, then north along the Crosscut Canal, east through downtown Scottsdale and south and east back to our start. Our route was primarily on pathways, most along canals or through "washes" (drainage areas).

One example of the inlaid patterns on the Crosscut Canal pathway

Pathway located between a canal and a roadway

*Tempe town Lake history

How Green is our Desert?!

 Very Green!

Recent rains have greened up the desert.

Meanwhile, at elevation, the rain has stayed as snow.

(see local landmark, Four Peaks at centre top, crested with snow)

Red Mountain Glory

 

Bonus view from our hike, looking north from the Usery Mountains.

Mount McDowell, more commonly referred to as Red Mountain, is located on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Reservation, just north of Mesa, AZ. Its elevation is 2,832 feet (863 m). The mountain has been declared off-limits to hikers, climbers and photographers since the early 1980s, due to vandalism. 

Mount McDowell has come to be called "Red Mountain" or "FireRock" due to its composition of sandstone conglomerate which gives it a distinctive red color that glows during sunset.