December in Cactus Gardens

Note:  there are many photos in this posting.  To see one enlarged, click on the photo.

We didn’t get to dance much this season due to Ron’s foot problems.  This photo is  from one of the few dances we attended.

Ron turned 70 the first week of December.  He insisted on not having a big celebration, so we gathered with a few friends for lunch at Golden Corral.

     

Our Christmas Employee Party at Cactus Gardens is always a blast, and this year was no exception.

     

     

     

We don’t often get rain in Yuma, but this December was an exception.  A record rainfall on December 12 left water standing near our site.  It doesn’t take much rain to create standing water on the rock hard sand/stone ground here.  The 1.12 inches broke a record for the date set in

     

Ron taught a class in solving Sudoku puzzles for several weeks.

     

We started a cards night this season with fellow square dance friends, Bunny and Wes, Jim and Myra and Hoyt and Bernice.   Each time we met,  Jim taught us a new card game for an evening of fun.

     

A highlight of the month occurred when Bernice and I were invited to give a tatting demonstration at the Quartermaster Depot’s Annual Christmas Village.

A write up of this event can be viewed on my craft blog “Spare Moment Stitching”.

Part of the December ritual each year is to see the lights on 55th Street.  The residents on 55th Street in the Foothills probably have more Christmas lights than most whole communities.  It’s always a treat to make the trip down to view the lights, and of course, it has to be followed with treats from Dairy Queen.

This year, we happened to go on the starting night of the annual Foothills Parade.  The first 3 pictures are from it.

     

This was our favorite entry in the parade with a working model train.

55th Street:

     

     

      

     

We have our own Christmas Parade in the park.  Lois, Kathy and I rode in one of the golf carts.  I had lots of comments on my “Rudolph” look.

         

We do a little Christmas Decorating of our own.  This is what we did for this year:

       

and our Christmas tree inside.

Christmas without family is pretty low key for us.  We attended Worship Service and then shared dinner at a local restaurant with friends, Jim and Myra Kemper, Don and Pat Wheeler, Rudy Myhedyn and Hoyt and Bernice Odom.

     

We were even paid a visit by Santa.

A Visit from Friends

Bunny and Wes Riley are  friends from Oregon (and also spend the winter with us in Cactus Gardens in Yuma).  In fact, we were in the same beginning square dance class several years ago in Yuma.

On a cross country trip this summer, they stopped by to spend a couple of days with us.  We met at McCormick’s Creek State Park.  We’re used to being there as camphosts, but this time we returned as campers.

We went on a day trip together to Vincennes, Indiana.  Vincennes, lying on the border of Indiana and Illinois,  is the oldest city in Indiana, dating back to its beginning as a French trading post in 1732.  In 1779,  George Rogers Clark (brother to William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame) led a battle against the British at Vincennes.  Despite tremendous odds and a bitterly cold winter, Clark and his soldiers took the largest land conquest of the Revolutionary War from the British.

A majestic memorial marks the site.

 

Inside, impressive mural surrounding the rotunda tell the story of the battle.

                                    

This photo gives you an idea of the scale of the building and the statue of Clark.

The Indiana Territory, as the area became known, was much larger than the present day state of Indiana.

Vincennes served as it’s capitol until 1812, when a new building was built in Corydon.

There is a small area preserved in Vincennes containing that first territory capitol.  Built as a tailor’s shop, it is a modest building.

        

Standing next to the capitol is Jefferson Academy, founded in 1801.

       

                

Now Vincennes University, it is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Indiana.

Just down from the capitol building is a little white house containing the Elihu Stout Print Shop.  As the new territorial legislatures soon realized, the public had to be informed of their government’s activities, and the first state newspaper was born.

  

Other notable “firsts” of Vincennes include:

Site of the First Catholic church in Indiana. (1749)
Site of the First Presbyterian church in Indiana. (1806)
Site of the First Masonic Lodge in Indiana. (1809)
Home of the First bank in Indiana. (1814)
Host to the First medical society in Indiana. (1817)
First county hospital in Indiana. (Good Samaritan Hospital 1908)
First Post Office in Indiana.
First sheriff's department in Indiana.

If you happen to be in Western Indiana, and enjoy historical sites, be sure to visit Vincennes, Indiana.  For more information, visit this site:

Vincennes Tourism