It is warming up

We still have not had a "hot" day; it did reach eighty once so far, but the nights get right down chilly. I have shed one jacket and am down to wearing a down vest over my sweatsuit for a morning walk.

We have enjoyed some entertainment while here and have been out and about a few times. Tucson does not have a good east/west travel route so it takes a lot of time to get to the other side of town which seems to be where I always want to be (quilt shops, JoAnn's, Davis Monthan AFB, etc).

Karen and Rod took us to Green Valley last Saturday to meet friends they met at an Alpine rally. Dave and Sandy are very interesting, personable folks. His second career was being employed by the Ford Motor Company racing team, and Sandy traveled with the team as well, feeding as many as fifty at a time - and making her bathroom available to all of them!!!!!! Dave had interesting stories to share about going back and forth across the border in Baja with something like 25 semis.

They clued us in on the differences between Green Valley and the other town nearby. Green Valley is very much a mecca for retirees. They live in a lovely adobe-style 2 bdrm/2bath home with a great room living area. Their back yard is spacious with about half of it a patio complete with a built-in gas grill. They have a two car garage, plus a third garage on the other side of the house for their RV. I was ready to move.



Colleen and Jim and the girls left for Hawaii yesterday so I am waiting for a travel update. Colleen has to be in Pasadena for meetings later this week so her trip is going to be cut short. But even a bit of Hawaii in February should be a treat.

Our travel plans beyond the winter include the trip to NC in June for Nolan's graduation, and then an Alaskan cruise the first of August with Keith, Janet, and the girls. We are very excited to have the four of them to ourselves for a full week since most of our get-togethers are major events with lots of people and little time to just sit back and enjoy them. And this is our first cruise, so that makes it all the more exciting.

Warren and Nolan are finishing the wrestling season and both have done very well. With Nolan graduating in June, it will be up to Warren to carry on the Kirkwood legacy on the mat!!

The Ouseys came down from Casa Grande last Wednesday for a visit. We are usually in the same park, so it was good to have some time with them since we have hardly seen them. The weather was pleasant enough to allow us to eat outside.

We still have several items on our "to-do" list before leaving the end of the month: Sabino Canyon, Sierra Vista for Mexican and/or German food and a quilt show and today a drive to Surprise to "surprise" look at a motor home.

Last Sunday we drove to Mesa to catch up with the Davenport crowd. Daryl and Jan gathered everyone at their patio for snacks and margaritas and then we went out for an early dinner. We toured the Gary Reinbolds' newly acquired park model and saw the Brian Ziemers' new-to-them Monaco coach. We all seem to make similar transitions along the way with changes in our winter accommodations.