Today began significantly warmer, 37ºF but still cool enough to require cover for tender plants to avoid any frostbite.In a futile attempt to restrict our caloric intake, we tucked in this morning to a bowl of Cheerios with milk and blueberries, and a banana (which, given its size, must have been raised with steroids!)
As Fridays in February are a time for Master Gardener training and the Douglas/Sarpy County program is still holding classes under the Zoom model, Mark logged in this morning for a two hour scintillating session on Soils and Turf. As usual, he always picks up something that he found new, or that he had forgotten since the sessions from previous years. For readers who don‘t know, the material you garden in is Soil, not dirt. Dirt is something you wash off your hands or sweep from the floor.
For the noon meal, we finished up the leftover Asian cuisine from the previous night and sliced up the leftover beef filet from Wednesday‘s evening meal for sandwiches. Old people are frugal you know! As we were beginning to suffer from house fever, Dell backed the Ford out of the garage and we went for an afternoon tour. We journeyed to nearby Cave Creek (a neighboring suburb) for a visit to the Rare Earth Gem Store. This is not your normal rock shop - $60,000 carved onyx bathtubs, six foot tall amethyst geodes on display stands that rotate for a mere $40,000, $10,000 slabs of four inch thick polished marble for your dining room table, and then for the tourists, bins of shiny polished rocks to take home a a memory of Arizona. Or, if you have a big enough truck to drive you home, whole logs of petrified wood to spread around your lawn as a decoration.
Next stop was the Kiwanis Marketplace - an atypical thrift store of cast-offs. Mark scored a $2.00 hardcover book to read on the flight home. Better than an overpriced paperback James Patterson throwaway from the airport shop!
We drove along the ridge top overlooking the suburbs of Phoenix, admiring the homes nestled in the hills among the saguaro, and then ended our driving tour at a local Anthem restaurant - Plaza Bonita Family Mexican Restaurant. This is an exceedingly popular local place, with a line extending out the door. We added our name on the list and settled in for a 20 minute wait for our table. We dined on some margaritas, tacos, and huge burritos. Excellent food and excellent company. We wisely did not notify the staff of Deb‘s birthday earlier in the week nor Dell‘s coming 75th birth anniversary on March 1. This decision became easy when an adjoining table was suddenly surrounded by employees who placed a huge ceremonial sombrero on an elderly lady‘s head, sang the Happy Birthday song (with the entire room of diners joining the chorus) and then chanting “Drink, Drink, Drink,“ as she was encouraged to down a shot of tequila. As we had watched her slowly being assisted to her table earlier, due to her apparent age, we were surprised that she was able to get the liquor down. When they offered up a second round, we were convinced against any further discussion with the staff regarding happy events.
Back at Casa Sennentz by 7:30, we settled in for a night of You Tube videos around the television. Again, by 10:30 we were bedded down, pleased with our day and thinking of the coming day of travel. Not once during our Arizona adventure did we stick a toe in the hot tub spas available at both homes, Tucson and Anthem. Our swimming togs stayed high and dry, hidden in our luggage. This of course was for the visual safety of our hosts. You are all welcome!
