December

Busy . . . busy  . . . decorating and socializing  . . . our good Canadian friends, Paul & Nancy Byrne and their son, Jason, will join us for Christmas dinner.

November

The highlight of this month was having the family together here in Arizona for Thanksgiving.

September

We spent a week on the island of Kauai, HI at the Grand Hyatt, a truly luxurious resort on the south shore by Poipu Beach to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. During the week we drove around, flew over or cruised by much of the island. In addition to the one-hour aerial tour by Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, we took a half-day catamaran cruise from the north shore with NaPali Sea Breeze Tours. In between, we visited many beaches and several of the botanical gardens such as Na ‘Āina Kai. On the 13th, our anniversary, we had a wonderful dinner at The Beach House with a magnificent view of the setting sun. No other sunset we saw during our stay was as spectacular in color as that night. Below you will find just a few of the 1,800+ photos we took during the week. Top row left - here we are at Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". At right, a sunset view with a catamaran. Bottom row: Palms at the Hyatt, a cave on the NaPali Coast, and Spouting Horn.

August

Oh no  . . . John turns 65 this month  . . .  aaauuuggghhhhhhhhhhhh! It can't be. Tell me it ain't so!

 July

Other than a few day trips north to Prescott for Art Fairs and Miata Club picnic, not happened in July except for HOT HOT HOT  . . .  the hottest July on record.

June

This month we spent four days at Zion and Bryce National Parks in southern Utah . . .  just magnificent, and the photos don't do it justice  . . .  but here are just a few of the 700⁺ we took. Here's Bryce (1st 3) and Zion (next 3).

May     

Rachael visited from Lincoln for a week  . . she went tubing down the Salt River and took in a Flight of the Conchords. We went on a late afternoon and evening tour of the Chihuly Glass outdoor glass exhibit at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens  . . . just a few of many photos below. 

April

The weekend of the 4th and 5th found us on a "Miata Run" with the Sahauro Miata Club up to the high desert area and Winslow, Arizona where we stayed at the La Posada Hotel, one of the Fred Harvey hotels built in the early part of the 1900's along the expansion route of the railroad. This hotel, designed by Mary Coulter, is in various stages of refurbishing and restoration, attempting to recreate the days when big Hollywood Stars and industrial magnates stayed there. After checking in, we drove 20 miles west to the famous Meteor Crater site with Corte Bella residents and friends, Ray and Muriel Valle. Photos below . . top row left shows the crater's edge - to give you a sense of perspective, I've inserted a small black dot above a house-sized boulder. Top row, right  . . another photo of the crater. Bottom row, left, shows a close-up of an enclosure at the bottom of the crater which is visible in the upper right photo. Note the cutout of a 6' tall astronaut with an American flag at the right edge of the enclosure. The crater is approximately 1 mile across and 500' deep. Bottom row, right  . . . left to right  . . Ray Valle, Barb, John, Muriel Valle. We were visited the 7th through the 10th by Omaha friends Jan and Steve Amdor. Jan, who taught with Barb in Omaha, had a chance to catch up  . .  and Steve had ample opportunity to get in several rounds of golf.

March

A few cool days  . .  a few days in the 90's  . . . a pretty typical March  . . . just great sunny days that just keep coming. Then came the 3 days of BIG wind . . .  and dust . . . the evening of the 26th the winds were strong enough to force us and other attendees inside for the scheduled Patrick Ki performance, which has been held outside in the past. Based out of Sedona, Patrick came to Corte Bella as they say, "back by popular demand". Click the link above to sample Patrick's music and learn about the artist.

February

Well, we survived the move but not without a minor "hiccup" with the clothes washer drain clogging up . . . we used every towel in the known universe to soak up the water and count ourselves fortunate that we were home when it happened! Got all the furniture from the "old" house moved over, some new things delivered from a local store, and now are well into the where the #$#%! is that (fill in the blank) phase.

On the 18th we accepted an offer on the villa and are very happy to have sold it in the depressed real estate market here in the Valley.

January

Well, here we are in a brand new year. Best Wishes for everyone's portfolios to rebound after last year's beating! We are preparing to move into our larger home here in Corte Bella in early February and, of course, you always forget about all the "fun" it is to collect all your "stuff", notify all your accounts about address changes, swap out utilities, etc. Below  - the new house. On Saturday the 10th we are participated in our 2nd "Miata Run" with the Saguaro Miata Club. This outing will take us down to Tucson and around Saguaro National Park.