Having a Senior Moment (Benson, AZ)

I received an email from my friend a few days ago.  She wanted to let me know that she had a great time visiting me and mentioned photos of her visit.  Talk about having a Senior moment.

I had totally forgotten to post photos of our visits to Cottonwood and to Phoenix.  For some reason, I thought I had already posted to my blog about our visits with my friend and with Dan's sister and her husband.  We had a great time visiting and catching up with everyone. So, for this post I'm doing a little backtracking.

Pinterest

Below are a couple of photos of from the trails above the Verde Valley RV Campground near Cottonwood, AZ.  My friend and I did a very early morning walk.  It got up into the high 90s, but the mornings were wonderful. 

You can see the tops of the rigs among the trees in this one.

We also visited Tuzigoot National Monument.  We did not stay long as it was getting close to noon and getting very warm especially out in the sun.

After our stay in Cottonwood, we moved south to Phoenix to visit Dan's sister and her husband.  We had a delicious homemade lunch for Mother's Day and a tour of their house.

Dan had no problems getting us reservation at the Usery Mountain Regional Park.  We stayed a few nights enjoying the quiet beauty each evening.

The Saguaros were blooming, but were so tall that I had to use my 500 mm lens to get close-ups.

I managed to get a couple of good photos of one bird enjoying the flowers.

There must have been something moist inside the flowers because his beak was dripping when he pulled it out.  If this bird had lips, I would swear he was smacking his beak.  Must have been some tasty juice in those flowers.  I wonder if it was fermented.  He had no problem flying a straight line. 😄

Dan caught this photo of Max chillin' after an early evening of exploring our site and chasing lizards.

Whew! They say it is a dry heat, but I am worn out!

I might joke about being forgetful, but I will never forget those who gave their lives for our country.

Home of the Free

On The Cutting Board

Not much luck finding a good location to take photos of my finished quilts.  In the meantime, I am finishing up two more Happy Campers.

I'm also working on a new pattern called Twitter by Meags & Me

Okay, I do believe I have covered everything this time.  We leave Benson next Tuesday, so I better get back to my quilts and mug rugs. Have a Safe Weekend

Desert in Bloom (Benson, AZ)

We are settled in the Escapees Saguaro SKP Co-op in Benson, AZ for the next couple of weeks.  Our timing was perfect for viewing many cacti in bloom.

I have been going for a walk every morning and can't stop myself from taking photos.  I have noticed that I look forward to my walks between the blue sky, the views of the valley below us, the different textures of plants, and colorful flowers....as long as I get out in the early morning's cooler temps.  By the afternoon, I am not so enthused.

I actually have a sore neck from trying to look at everything during my morning walks.  So much to see between the wildlife and the park settings.

Chollo

Almost every plant in the common areas has a name tag.  I really appreciate the park's volunteer gardeners spending the extra time to tag each plant.  

Prickly Pear

It certainly makes it easier for guests to learn the different kinds of cactus along with other desert plants.  A lot of repetition.  That is dedication!

Yellow Bird of Paradise

I turned the photos below into a collage so I could share more photos of the park.  We are on two waiting lists for a site.  One in the northwest and one in the southwest.  Our plans are to take a permanent site after our travel days are over. 

our temporary site with a view

It has not been an easy decision between Sutherlin, OR and Benson, AZ.  So, many pros and cons for both and neither is winning more pros than the other!  Besides the better winter weather, I love the Casitas built on each site.  Each one made unique by the site's lease holder.  Below are views of some of the different style Casitas from the road.  The bottom left photo shows the space behind the sites with more plants.

The next collage shows the fountain and garden near the Club House along with more blooming cacti.  The lower left photo is a back view of our coach between two sites.

Granted this area is hot and dry.  Water shortage is also a problem, but I still love the desert, the colors, the dry air, and the birds....so many different birds. Okay, so the House Sparrow below is more common, but I have seen roadrunners, quails, and others that I could not identify.

And yet, I love the northwest area as well.  We could become snowbirds and summer in OR with winters in AZ.  Hmmm, I'm glad I don't have to decide today, but I know that day is coming soon.

On The Cutting Board

Four quilts done!  Here are some quick photos of each one.  I will need to find a better spot to take photos for my Etsy shop.  The fabric collection in Cosmos quilt had me wondering what I was thinking.  It sat in the closet for quite a long time because I thought the collection was too dark for a child's quilt with so many browns and sage greens.  With a little yellow, a flash of red, and white background added to the mix and...Ta-Da!  I do believe Cosmos, the Star Puppy looks quite cheerful. 

Cosmos The Star Puppy

The Giraffe quilt is done!  The blocks were easy to do and the giraffes look quite cute, but I'm pretty sure I will not be making this quilt any time soon.

Giraffe quilt

Peek-a-boo Bears - done!  I love the way this one came out.  The scraps really pull the whole quilt together.

Peek-a-boo Bear

The last one is the Zoo panel that I have renamed Hippo and Friends.  I plan to give this one to a children's charity group since this fabric was given to me by a friend.

Hippo and Friends

That's it for now.  I have more quilt tops needing appliqué work.  I hope to have some more to show you in my next post.
Happy Quilting!

Hot Time in Palm Springs (Cottonwood, AZ)

I have been enjoying this gorgeous weather during our stay in Desert Palms.  Lots of sunshine and blues skies!  It did get a little warm a couple of days.  Like into the 90 to 100 degrees...yep, even the cats said they were ready to go inside.  Coming from cats who love spending hours baking themselves on the dash....that is hot!  😄

Palm trees lining the campsites

We got a little shade from the palm trees, but we had to time it just right to have the 2' wide shade in our site.  I was tempted to line up the chairs facing forward like we were sitting on a bus.  I wonder what our neighbors would have thought about that.

During one of my walks, I noticed one of the cactus was in full bloom.  I had to take a photo, of course.  It's too bad we missed the blooming season in the desert.

We spent some time exploring the area.  One morning was spent at the College of the Desert's Street Fair.  It's quite large, so we did a lot of walking.  I'm glad we got there early before it became too crowded.  I saw lots of things that I did not need.  With extra restraint, I only bought one new pair of reading glasses.

Came across these cute guys in Blair Station RV

On our way home, we stopped by the Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve.  We could see the oasis long before we got there (upper left).  The totem pole is made from one of the California Fan Palms that cover the area.  On the far right, is the inside of a house built from the palm trees.  It turns out that the inside of the palm trees are porous and lighter than wood, but durable.  It was amazing how cool it was inside the house with the doors and windows sitting wide open.  The history of the house and the preserve is in the website.

This was our first time to the Joshua Tree National Park.  We started from the south gate near I-10 and made our way to the northwest gate.  I was a little disappointed that the cactus were not in bloom.  Oh well..  I noticed that the Cholla Cactus isn't looking too good with all the black fungus growing on the lower stems, but the Joshua Trees seems to be doing quite well.

 Below are two rock formations that caught my attention and imagination.  Okay, so tell me that you see a whale breaching the sand in the top photo and an elephant with no ears in the bottom photo.

We had to spend one day walking the main street of Palm Springs.  I'm pretty sure the palm trees are the same ones from the preserve with a good trimming.

The views of the mountains were beautiful from the downtown area.

A few more photos of interesting views from our walk.  

I'm in love with a polka dotted bike!  I would like one in Aqua or Teal, please!

On The Cutting Board

I added three more Happy Camper mug rugs to my Etsy shop.

Lavender Vintage Trailer 

Pink and Aqua

I did find the Ocotillo blooming.  Usually, there are dark green leaves covering the Ocotillo.

I love this desert bush.  It has such a delicate look to it until you get up close and get a view of the long thorns on it.  They are definitely part of the southwest and add a lot of character to my SW campers.  I also added a couple of more of my favorites - a roadrunner and a ristra as well.

Peach and Teal

I'm getting ready to bind four quilts.  I'll post photos of them next time.  I saw one cute pattern called Lovely Giraffes in Craftsy.  I thought this pattern was perfect for this material.  But....

I wasn't so sure about appliquéing the ten small giraffes and I was right.

By the time I had finished appliquéing the fifth giraffe, it was starting to feel monotonous.  The pattern was really made for fusible webbing and machine appliqué.  If and that is a big IF....I decide to make this quilt again, I plan to embroider the mane and tail instead of trying to get all those tiny curves just right.

I'm happy to say this one is about done.  Whew!

Well, I hear the quilts are calling to me.  Got some binding to do.  Let's get it done!

Happy Quilting!