Monday, December 30, 2019

A Happy Christmas

 We left the cold Arizona desert for the warmer side of the US.   Connecticut was slightly white and mostly dry during our annual Christmas trip.    It's always  a wonderful time filled with family.   But  we miss having ALL of our family together.   We are   thankful that all are living full and blessed  lives.


We continued the holiday tradition of going to see the latest Star Wars movie on Christmas Eve afternoon.    We arrived early for good seats ( heated and reclining).  The story line is finally making sense to me and I no longer need a detailed diagram to figure out the character connections.   I enjoyed it a lot.       Note that most are deep into their devices......except the avid reader of books, Mason.       




On another day, we headed into Manhattan for the Cirque Du Soleil Christmas show.    We had never been to Madison Square Garden and it is as huge as I'd expected, as was the theatre.    The show was quite tame by Cirque standards but lots of lively music and leaping and tumbling and swinging and 
glitter.   It was fun.  

 

It was near 50 degrees and no wind so we wandered over to the High Line ( a 1.5 mi linear park on an old elevated train bed ) and walked one of the loops with beautiful views of the river, the Empire State building, World Trade Center and ended at Hudson Yards.   This sculptural structure is called "Vessel" and is basically 154 connected stairs.  It is free but requires tickets in advance.     We walked almost 6 miles and Mason wasn't thrilled with the crowds but they were mostly tourists in good moods.    I watched a delivery person with a hand drawn cart filled with Amazon packages, navigate the narrow crowded streets.   I forget that not everyone gets the UPS truck outside their house.    It's hard to imagine all the service people and goods needed to keep this behemoth place going....there are just so many many people.    And they keep building more and more high rises to meet the demand.  




 We managed to keep the Scrabble challenges going and Mason outdid himself, and won the game, with 'quarry', on a triple word space no less.


 We're back home and the desert did not warm up one bit.   Frost warnings most nights so the bike is staying parked and golf will be with down vests.  

See you in the New Year !!

Monday, December 2, 2019

December already ?

It's been cold and rainy and windy down here in the desert.   I'm ready for the sun.   

We spent Thanksgiving with as many family friends as we could find.    We gathered at Jeff and Jennifer's golf club for way too much food.   Her dad from Washington joined us as well as Alex, grandchild #4, who is exploring a golf career nearby.    And no, we didn't all shrink....Alex is well over 6'4" and towers over us all.    He is just the finest young man...very proud of him.    



We're slowly finding our way around the area.     Our golf community is in a beautiful desert setting with paved trails and these more dog friendly gravel trails.   There is a beautiful dog park, named Charlie's Park after Merv Griffin's dog.    He had a large ranch in this area.     We see mostly larger dogs living here vs the tiny white things in Florida.   And no one walks them in a stroller.    Yesterday, I had a friendly conversation with a dogue du bordeaux, named Bruno.   He was apply named and was huge.   You might remember this breed in "Turner and Hooch".   Anyhow, somedays I want a dog.... but not a 'Bruno'.



I'm playing in the Ladie's 9 hole group.    No more 'aces' but I'll keep hoping.   And it's nice to have fun and not be out there for over 4 hours.     I also need to ride my bike more but I'm a fair weather rider...... maybe today if the sun keeps shining.