Dec 26th to 28th - Mesa

Dec 26th – Mon
We skipped bocce ball again and rode our bikes around to do some errands in the park before going shopping. Yes, the day after Christmas is a dumb day to go shopping!! We went to Total Wine to stock up on inexpensive booze as it costs more in California. We made a stop at Costco for coffee and grabbed a hot dog for lunch. Then it was on to the mall and JC Penneys where I spent a lot of time finding a light jacket and a couple of shirts.
At 4 we went to a pot luck organized by Glo and held in a room in the clubhouse. There were about 20 people and we played games before & after eating. The gathering broke up before 7 so Dennis & Gloria came over for a game of Canasta which the guys won.

Dec 27th – Tues
The weather is beautiful right now which is fortunate as we set up an outside party for tonight. I made some more candy coated pretzels and our neighbors Jerry & Erika helped us set up some chairs & tables. Then Sue, Erika & I decided to go shopping as Sue had missed out on the “spend $25, get $10 off” at Penneys. Sue & Erika both bought items at Penneys but I didn’t find anything else. At Stein Mart I got some shoes and Erika got a great little jacket & jeans. It was a lot of fun.
When Terry first invited people for our party, he said 5:00 but we changed it to 6:00. Unfortunately, we didn’t know where one couple live to tell them the change so Mel & Wanda showed up at 5 – no big deal as others showed up before 6.
We set out 5 buddy burners which were ignored for a while as everyone stood around in groups chatting and then eating all the snacks that everyone brought. Duane started playing his guitar & singing and Henry showed up a bit later to join him. We actually let them take a break and enjoy the mulled wine that Jerry brought out again. Ernie & Dianne came late and added another guitar to the group. By now it was getting fairly cold so the last partyers helped us clean up a bit and left about 10:30.
We counted 45 people including us so it was fairly loud group. We warned the manager beforehand that we were having a party with buddy burners in case someone reported a fire again. All our immediate neighbors attended or were invited so we didn’t worry about the noise.

Dec 28th – Wed
We played bocce ball this morning and it was so warm that I wished I had worn short sleeves instead of a light sweatshirt. We played with Dennis & Gloria and had 2 close games with each team (Terry & Gloria, Dennis & I) winning one game. We stopped at the courtyard on the way back for lunch at the grill and were joined by Ron & Rea.
As we were riding our bikes back, we saw a special “motorcycle” (Stallion) that Terry loves so he flagged down the driver when he came back and we chatted with him for a while. We were at Duane & Sue’s at the time and Ernie & Dianne stopped to see the bike also so we had a little visit with them.
We packed up our minimal Christmas decorations and Terry returned chairs, etc and organized the storage areas while I read for a while. I printed out a coupon for Kohl’s and was still looking for underwear so we went to a different store. In the time it took me to sort through the racks of underwear to find the right style & size, Terry picked up 4 shirts. We were surprised to see an additional 15% senior discount added to the coupon 15%. Then I had a $10 certificate from a previous purchase so the trip was worthwhile.
We went to a Watering Hole (dance) from 4 to 6 and then took it easy for the rest of the evening.