Gypsy & The Navigator

A Christmas State of Mind and a Parade

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!” 
― Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

It has been a tradition that Christmas Eve was at our house.  But, Gypsy is a little too compact to fit everyone for dinner and gift opening.  Too close for comfort. I suggested dinner out and Buca di Beppo was the perfect choice. 

 

Yummy food with so many choices that there was something for everyone.   After dinner we went to Cynthia's house for dessert and family gift opening.

Cynthia made the traditional Buche de Noel.  What a treat!

Even little Bella was all decked in her Christmas sweater.

 

Cynthia and cousins Sammie and Lyndsee were all smiles.  (While comparing their hair color)

It was a really nice Christmas Eve.  We did miss Rob's family.  They took the girls to Disneyland for a Christmas surprise.   Christmas Day was spent seeing what Santa brought & going to the movie " Into The Woods".   Fantasy film that made us go Hmmmmm.  Careful what you wish for.

The Saturday before the Fiesta Bowl Football Game thousands of people line the streets of Central Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl Parade.

We found a great spot across from the parade announcer.  The entries all stopped and performed right in front of us. 

 

 

 My first time seeing the Stars and Stripes as an inflatable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And the Arizona State flag too.

 

 

 

 

 

There were nearly 100 entrants. Loved these colorful ladies.

Look at this little cutie.  

The Spirit Balloon.  The theme was Spirit of the Southwest.

 

Lots of colorful balloons.  Fun to listen to the crowd chant "spin it, spin it" and to hear the cheers when they were able to spin it quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only do pigs fly they wear sunglasses and flip flops.

Yep, Walt liked Walter the VW Bus.

Baxter, the Arizona Diamondbacks mascot.

The Phoenix Suns gorilla was there too. 

Brianna's High School (Mesquite) was well represented by these pretty girls from the Freshman cheer team.

This little girl could really twirl that rope.

Lots of Super Heroes.

Imperial Stormtroopers!  The kids loved them.  

Who ya gonna call?

These ladies are the Sun City Poms.  They range in age from 55 to 80 and they strut their stuff for the entire parade route.

Thomas Begay,  a WWII Navajo Code Talker.  He is nearing 90 years old.  I can't believe he is walking the route.  A true hero then and now.

 

 

It wouldn't be an Arizona parade without Sheriff Joe.

A very enjoyable sunshiny day.  Perfect for a Parade.  Next up..............The Fiesta Bowl game.  Go Broncos!

Thoughts compliments of Tinkertown Museum.   Let's be really alive in 2015...
 

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM GYPSY TO YOUR HOUSE

Christmas is the season of light.   Though the December days are the shortest there is light in our hearts that glows along with the twinkling holiday lights.  

Our Christmas light search one night led us to the Festival of Lights in Ahwatukee.  Chandler Boulevard is illuminated by a million white lights.  And many of the houses are covered with white lights too.  Beautiful to behold.

In Gilbert multi colors reflect in the lake.   Divine!

• "God grant you the light in Christmas which is faith;

  the warmth of Christmas, which is love;

  the radiance of Christmas, which is purity;

  the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice;

  the belief in Christmas, which is truth..."--Wilda English

Not Just Any Fountain !

The day dawned warm and sunny. 

Nothing on the calendar.

A perfect day to do some exploring since the weather report said a storm was coming in by nightfall.

About 30 miles from Apache Junction lies the town of Fountain Hills.  True to its name there is a fountain.............but what a fountain.  

 

 

 

 

 

Fountain Hills has the world's fourth tallest fountain.  The fountain was built by Robert P. McColloch in 1970, the year before the reconstruction of the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, another of McCulloch's projects. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The founding date of Fountain Hills is December 15, 1970.  The same day the fountain was turned on for the first time.  It was turned on before any builders had bought any property to start construction on the homes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fountain sprays water for about 15 minutes every hour between 9am and 9pm. The plume rises from a concrete water-lily sculpture in the center of a large man-made lake. Today only 2 of the pumps were going so its height reached around 300 feet.  When all 3 of the pumps are going it reaches 560 feet. 

There is a one and one half mile walkway around the lake.  The path has many art pieces along the way.  Walt quickly found one of our favorite kinds of critters.

 

 

The man in the moon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                         First Love.  I think at one time or another every little girl is in love with a pony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Art!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real Life!

 

The views around the lake go a long way.  Those are the Goldfield Mountains and the Superstition Mountains. 

And this way is McDowell Mountain commonly known as Red Mountain. 

There is an 18 hole disc golf course and there were several people playing.

These were some serious players. 

Where there is water there are ducks. 

They have a nice Veterans Memorial.  

"You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave."
~George M. Cohan 

The art on the walls was so bright and colorful it made me smile.

Smile!

Great Park.  If you are in the area take some time to see this place.

 

 

 

 

After our time in the park we walked around some of the shops near the park and stopped for lunch.  Pretty tile art on display.

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing.

 

 

 

 

Nice drive back through the desert before the storm clouds rolled in.  Walt always takes the back roads. Sometimes we get lost or run into dead ends.  We did both this time.

“I would not sacrifice a single living mesquite tree for any book ever written. One square mile of living desert is worth a hundred 'great books' - and one brave deed is worth a thousand.” 
― Edward Abbey, Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

 

Fun Filled Busy Days and Nights

Gypsy got a nice sudsy wash and a "Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important" (Miyagi from the Karate Kid) hand wash & wax by a competent company that came right to us to make her all bright and sparkly again. 

I finally caught a hummer for a photo at the feeder.  I am going to have to relocate the feeder because a woodpecker has found that he can cling to the tree trunk and get to the nectar.  I will need to get it where he won't have a foot hold or it will always be empty. 

Granddaughter (Bailey) and grandson (Isaac) play in their high school band and the band transformed a neighborhood park around a lake into a winter wonderland for a Christmas Walk for friends and family to enjoy their Christmas music. 

 Bailey and boyfriend Dennis played a fun duet of "Baby It's Cold Outside". 

Isaac (2nd from left) joined in playing the bells for lots of Christmas tunes.

Santa was there and Lyndsee and Sammie sat on his lap.  (After much persuading, they think they are too old).

But you are never too old for Santa.  I hope Cynthia and Kevin get their Christmas wishes.

 

This was Christmas 40 years ago.  They haven't changed a bit.

Sammie (on the right) had a dance recital.  They did a hip hop number complete with tumbling. Fun!

From the dance recital we headed to Lyndsee's last recreation volley ball game.  She has a great over hand serve.  They ended the season undefeated.  She will now be playing on a club team. 

Great job coach Cynthia.  I wonder if Lyndsee will miss her Mom being her coach. 

From the volley ball game we went to this beautiful girls cheer competition. Both teams she is on took first place.

And then GRAND CHAMPIONS.   We are proud of your hard work Brianna.

Finished off the week by another Boise State win.  28-14 win over Fresno State made them bowl eligible.  Where you ask?  The Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ.   We know where we will be on New Years Eve.  They play the University of Arizona.  Poor Kevin.........both a Boise State and U of A graduate. Where will his allegiance lie? 

Sign courtesy of Tinkertown Museum.  I though it was appropriate this week since there were quite a few victories for us in the past few days. 

 

Do You Know The Way To .......... Phoenix ?

As you travel on Highway 60 from Apache Junction towards Phoenix there is this giant rock sign with an arrow pointing to Phoenix on the mountainside.  

From the first time I noticed it I was curious about it and wanted to get up close to it and find out its history.   Last week we took an afternoon drive in the desert and stopped for a few photos.  I found out that more than 50 years ago, the Valley of the Sun was a whole lot of desert sprinkled with a few towns, mostly of them small.  

Phoenix had the only airport and it was also small and, because it was in the middle of some pretty barren landscape, it was sometimes hard to spot from the air. But then, some Phoenix Boy Scouts came to the rescue.

In the 1950s, (under the direction of an eccentric ex-WWII pilot) the Scouts cleared away brush and arranged rocks to spell “PHOENIX” on the southern slopes of one of the peaks in the Usery Mountains in north Mesa. They painted the rocks white, and it was fronted by a large white arrow pointing to the airport, located almost almost thirty miles away. According to Usery Mountain Park volunteers who measured the sign, each letter is about 100 feet high and 12 feet wide.  From the tip of the arrow to the end of the word, the sign is 1,000 feet across— that’s about the size of the Eiffel Tower.

Now with all the high tech instruments the sign no longer serves its original purpose but it remains as a landmark for all who pass by.  The sign is now maintained by other boy scout troops.  

Another beautiful desert day.

A little cactus love.

 

 The desert in wintertime is a wonderful place to be.

 Apache Junction is not the Plaza in Santa Fe but I do have my own flock of birds to feed here. And there are hummers at the feeder.  Never when I have a camera handy though.

 

 

Flowers are starting to bloom and seedlings are sprouting.  Yes, the desert is a wonderful place to be in the winter.

 

 

 

“Sunrise looks spectacular in the nature; sunrise looks spectacular in the photos; sunrise looks spectacular in our dreams; sunrise looks spectacular in the paintings, because it really is spectacular!” 
― Mehmet Murat ildan

 

A gorgeous start to a VERY long day.  I was summoned for jury duty.  I was hoping that this time I would finally get selected to serve.  It's a  40 mile drive from Apache Junction to the Superior Court in downtown Phoenix so it was an early start.

 Once there I was one in about 400.  Welcome by Judge Cohen who related that the three most dreaded pieces of mail are (1) IRS, (2) Photo Radar tickets & (3) Jury Summons.  Then he went on to thank us all for being there and gave a nice talk about Civic Duty and the right to a trial by a jury of peers.  I enjoyed it but a man and a woman across from me were bored enough to actually go to sleep. They slept off and on through the entire orientation.  Yes, they were the ones that asked the questions later that had already been answered.

I was part of a group of 80 that was selected for a Criminal Trial.  Jury selection is a long process. You get a lot of information about your fellow potential jurors that you really don't want to know. It makes me realize what a lucky life I have led.  Questions from the Judge went on for hours.  One dismissal of a large group after the Attorneys and the Judge conferred before the lunch break but I was still there.

More and more questions and more and more excuses by potential jurors who didn't want to be there. I hope they never are in a situation when they need an impartial group of jurors to listen to the facts of their case.  More dismissals.  Our numbers are dwindling but I am still there.  I looked at the Defendant who looked like a normal every day individual and wondered what the full story was. 

We were sent out again and told we would be called back in about 10 minutes.  Since our numbers were down to 18 or so we thought the final decision of who would serve was being made.  The minutes dragged on..............well over 30 minutes before we were called back in.  The judge thanked us for our service and told us we were dismissed.  What??????  While we were out the Defendant changed his plea from Not Guilty to Guilty with a plea bargain.  

 Good Bye to the stately new Superior Court Building at the end of a long but interesting day.  I wonder if I will be called again. 

Thought courtesy of Tinkertown Museum.