Mar 1st to 9th - Mesa

Mar 1^st – Sun

I put together cabbage rolls for later and then went for a line dance rehearsal at 11:00. We went shopping for PJs for a party tonight which is “costume, PJs or togas”.

The party today was our big Fouth Street Farewell which had to be moved inside because rain was forecast. We got all three sections of the new multipurpose room, hired Wayne & Deb for music and had a wonderful time. We all agreed that inside turned out to be better so we will do the same next year regardless of the weather. People really got into the costume thing, the food was great as usual and the dance floor got a workout.

Mar 2^nd to 4^th – Mon to Wed

Fairly uneventful days. MCY had to be moved inside on Monday due to rain. It was outside on Tuesday with rain threatening but not showing up. Before going to the courtyard on Wednesday, I took some time to check out the quilt show. PVC pipe & black fabric is set up in the ballroom and quilts are hung on both sides of the black fabric. The whole thing had to be taken down in time to set up for Thursday morning coffee & doughnuts. There are a lot of very talented quilters in this park. A freearm quilting machine was included in the new “fiber arts center” this season and it is obviously getting a lot of use. Dave & Phyllis had a group over on Wed evening for strawberry shortcake which was yummy

Mar 5^th – Thurs

After coffee & doughnuts, I started dinner prep for tonight. I made Broccoli Cheese soup and enjoyed a bowl for breakfast. I did a lot of chopping so things would be ready after a line dance rehearsal at 3:00. Then I skipped MCY and found out that I didn't miss a thing as the band was awful.

We had Ron & Terri and Dennis & Gloria over for dinner. I made pork chops & cabbage which requires a lot of time & steps before getting it in the oven. We started with soup, had my usual/favorite romaine/mandarin orange/onion salad, the pork chops accompanied by sliced tomato & avocado drizzled with balsamic glaze and ended with Velvet Hammer – ice cream blended with Kaluha & rum and refrozen. Bev and Chris (Bev's daughter's mother-in-law) came for drinks later.

Mar 6^th – Fri

We left at 10 for a motorcycle ride to Payson. We had 9 bikes & 11 people. There is quite an elevation change – UP – and you could notice the temperature change but it wasn't cool enough to be cold. We went to the casino where everyone got player's cards and then we all had lunch. After lunch some left soon and others stayed a while to play slots and/or check out the town a bit.

Ralph & Elsie, Bill & Linda and we were the last group to leave. We took Usury Pass back and stopped at Saguaro Lake for a drink. Jackets off on the way back – a very nice trip.

We had leftovers for dinner – perfect!

Mar 7^th – Sat

Today was variety show rehearsal for the whole cast starting at 8:30. It was mainly a tech rehearsal so sets and music cues could get sorted out. We did fine in spite of our music cutting out for a beat a couple of times.

At 2:15 I joined a group to do some line dancing for entertainment at the Western States party. We dressed as “western” as we could – I borrowed Terry's Stetson. The party was running late so we did 3 dances rather than 4.

We went to the Saturday night dance with North Star and had our usual good time. Most of the time we claimed room to line dance.

Mar 8^th – Sun

Stella & Joe and Phyllis & Dave hosted their 2^nd annual breakfast at the bocce court this morning. Because some of us had a dress rehearsal for the variety show, we ate first and got there in plenty of time. We did fine again.

In the evening we walked to Ralph & Elsie's to discuss the St Patrick's Day parade and enjoyed a drink with them as well. We went past Dennis & Gloria's on the way back but their place looked all buttoned up for the night so we didn't stop.

Mar 9^th – Mon

We went to the Dollar Store for supplies before everyone arrived at 10:00 to work on decorations for our Spyders for the parade. We also picked up a dozen doughnuts since we didn't have breakfast.

Linda, Lori, Elsie, Diane and I painted foam core boards with sections of a rainbow as the basis for our group decoration. Then Terry cut & stapled wood strips to hold the boards above our heads. Another “great” idea from me!!! Oh well, we mostly had fun and still have to wash paint off the parking area.

The first of 2 performances of the variety show was tonight. We had to show up about 5:30 for “makeup”. We watched most of the first act and then had to complete our outfits as we were the second group in the second act. All went well.