January in Cactus Gardens

It’s always fun to try to grow tomatoes in the winter.  We had a few from our plant, but these are much smaller than the photo implies…. look good for January, though, don’t they?

Interest remained high in the Y.E.S. (Yuma Encore Shuffleboard) Monday tournaments.  Here, Foothills Village played Cactus Gardens.

We have a Ladies Only Luncheon at the park annually.  The past few years, the organizers have tried to put fun twists on the event.  This year was no exception.  Mona McIlvenna put together a Mystery Luncheon.  Not only was it a mystery as to who “killed Sharon Activities”, but the menu itself contained mysterious items.

         

Pat Gisler was our “on the spot” reporter, and eventually reported that the murder wasn’t actually a murder at all, and that Sharon Activities had been revived by her fellow co-workers.

The waiters were several of our husbands, and as they brought our choices, it became apparent that the items on the menu were our eating utensils as well as our food.

    

 

For example “Lovers Cuddles” was a spoon.  Some were eating their soup with a knife!  My first course included my dessert “Layers of Heaven”.

    

 

Every season has to include a few visits to The Farm, a U-Pick-It citrus grove.  We go prepared with our ladder, and come home with grapefruit and oranges.

      

Did you know that Yuma has the reputation of having more sunny days than any city in the U.S.?  (See World Facts and Figures)  Along with the sunny days come some spectacular sunrises and sunsets, such as this sunrise.

We finished out the month by attending a Pajama Dance.  Steve and Patty Porter sponsored the square/round dance , encouraging the dancers to come in their pajamas.  It was a fun evening (I won a Teddy Bear door prize, even though we didn’t wear our pajamas.)  Ron’s foot allowed us to dance a couple of tips.

   

    

I also started two online challenges this month, one an embroidery, and the other a crazy quilt project.  I plan to combine the two.  This is my first month’s block, Starry, Starry Night:  You can read about the project on my new craft blog, Spare Moment Stitching.

 

Thanks to friend, Bernice Odom, for several of the photos in this post.  I don’t always have my camera with me, and she’s always ready to share her photos with me.

 

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.