Dancing through a Show Low Summer, 2014

     It’s so hard to believe we are almost through our first entire Show Low summer.  We’ve loved it here and look forward to many more.  There are Arts & Craft shows many weekends and lots of outdoor activities, besides our personal loves of quilting and billiards. 
     The biggest event of the Summer was the birth of my first Great-Grandchild.  (I’d always said that  since all the Great-Grandkids were Gary’s, I wasn’t old enough.  Guess I can’t say that any longer.)   William Purjue Pak Henderson arrived on July 9th, the day before his Dad’s birthday.   He would be Robert’s first grandchild, so I’m sure he’s bursting his heavenly buttons.

Add caption3 day old William

William with proud parents Hailee and Cory

      The next major event was Anna's wedding.  Anna was married to Robert when he was killed in 2005.  We feel very fortunate to have remained a part of Anna's life since then.  She married Lynn Harp on August 15th, at the Luxor in Las Vegas, NV.  Lynn is an EMT on the Evanston Fire Department an knew Robert too.

Cory walking Anna down the aisle.

Anna & Lynn

      Lynn's great with the kids and combined they now have six children.  Lynn has a daughter Jennifer married with a daughter, who lives in Cheyenne.  They each have two children attending the University of Wyoming, in Laramie.  Ameray is a Sophomore in High School and the only one still at home, year round.  Riki and her family were there, as well as Robert's step-mother and two half-sisters. 

Quite a family!

     Since we were all at the Luxor, we had lots of time to visit.  Riki, Kai, and I even managed to get out early one morning and get a geocache.  Of course we enjoyed the pool as well.  On our way back to Show Low, we stopped to visit friends from Evanston, who have relocated to White Hills, AZ.

Gary & Katy

     We also stopped at the "Standing on the Corner" park in Winslow, AZ, for Gary to get a new shirt.  He's about worn the other one out over the last ten years.

Katy,  "Standing on the Corner in Winslow, AZ."

      Remember the Eagles song?  Interesting that all you see behind me and the statue are painted on the brick walls.  The building that was part of this wall burned down about 6-8 years ago.  Fortunately, they saved the wall and have since torn the building down, but reinforced the wall, so it remains.
     Earlier this summer, my friend Diane and I attending a hummingbird banding at the SIPE Wildlife Area, outside Eager, AZ.   It was very interesting.  They weighed, measured, assessed, and banded several hummers in front of us and explained much about their migration habits.

Hummer inside the screening, being weighed.

Hummer taking a well deserved drink after banding.

      The large band in the picture above is for a goose.  Hummingbird banders have to make their own, as they are so small.  You can barely see one in the magnifying box to the left of the large band.  It was a great experience and one I hope to repeat in coming summers.
     A dear friend of ours, Kathy, came to visit and rented a trailer just down the road from us for a couple months.  She and I got to most of  the craft fairs while she was here and with Gary and Bandit had several geocaching outings. The August Geocaching Challenge this year was to do one of six different kinds of geocaches during the month of August.  We each got a Virtual, Traditional, Puzzle, Multi-Cache, Earthcache, and Event.  We had to go to the Petrified Forest to get the earthcache and attended an event about 50 miles east of here in the White Mountains near Payson.  As usual, its a great way to see new things and learn new facts.

Kathy, Gary, & Bandit at the Petrified Forest

     I've been doing some Kumihimo braiding and some with beads this summer.  My friend Diane Hitzel introduced me to this.  Its fun and addicting.  Here's a couple bracelets I've done.

Kumihimo Bracelets

     My friend Susannah and I took a quilt class called Accidental Landscape that was a lot of fun and taught us new techniques for landscape quilts.

Accidental Landscape of the Beach

     I continue to enjoy the water aerobic classes from 4-5  mornings a week.  The gals in the classes are really fun, so we have a great time while getting some good exercise.
     Gary continue to enjoy his pool tournaments and while practicing on the pool table in the our clubhouse, has met some other pool players in the park.
     I've been learning to play Mah Jongg, a Chinese game played with tiles.  It's a lot of fun.  Hopefully I can get some converts at the Roost when we get there.
     Bandit got a surprise one night when he was outside in our yard and met some of the local wildlife.  Fortunately, it wasn't too close, but the smell certainly let us know it was a skunk.   His facial hair got the the brunt of it, and he  was rubbing his face and eyes for quite a while.  I washed his face that night many times and hte next day we used a recommend solution of 1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 cup baking soda, and 1 tsp to 1/4 cup dawn dish washing soap.   It worked great and took 99% of the odor out..  We're all hoping it's a one time occurrence.

Poor Bandit after a dozen face-washings.

     Our next sojourn will be to Albuquerque, NM, to attend the International Balloon Fiesta with the SKP Boomers.  We will be there from Oct 1st though the 12th.  We will attend the safety trainings and hope to be assigned to help crew for one of the balloons.  I'm sure it will give us a different perspective, from when we attended as spectators in 2002, although our friends from there, Cathy and Chuck introduced us to a lot of the behind-the-scenes doings. It should be an exciting two weeks. 
     After that we will return to Show Low for a week and then head for the Roost in Casa Grande, our Winter home.  Please do not mail anything to us here after October 1st.  Send anything to us at our Roost address:  3241 S. Montgomery Rd.  Casa Grande, AZ 85193.

Dancing Through a Show Low Summer,  2014
Hugs, Gary, Katy, and Bandit too!