A Busy Week

Jack and I've enjoyed a very busy and fun week here in Tucson. I won't try to list everything that we've done, but I'll tell you some highlights. Today we went to church and Bible Study, and that was fun. The Bible Study group is intellectual and inquisitive, as well as a fun group of folks. After that, we went to brunch at Village Inn on the far east side and enjoyed it.

We had planned to go to the Tubac Art Festival today, but opted not to, since we were sort of late getting going, it was sort of chilly and rainy today, and we had other things that we wanted to do.

We've been working for awhile on the front of our cottage -- what used to be Michael's and my office. Well, Jack and I decided that having a proper dining room suited us better. We've been working since December on that project -- tearing out the built-in desk, patching the wall and windowsill, re-texturing the wall to match the texture that was there, and then priming the windowsill and wall.

We then painted the walls in a color called "Dry Leaf," a color a bit similar to this font color, only a bit lighter. We painted the dining alcove and the kitchen in this color, leaving the window sills and trim white. We did that painting just ydy. Then this evening, we installed the blinds that we'd ordered from Lowe's. They are the sort of blinds that we can open by pulling up from the bottom, or down from the top. They are in a color called "Camel" -- a mellow taupe-brown which coordinates wonderfully with the new walls!

We bought today some fabric to cover the valance, and we'll see how that works out probably tomorrow.

I don't know if I mentioned before that we got a beautiful round teak dining table with 4 chairs. We've talked about building a banquette -- a sort of booth-like affair to go with the table. It would have upholstered cushions and.. well, this is just thinking at this point. Anyway, the dining room looks dandy now and I'm just thrilled!

Saturday night we went on a great hike. Yes.. you heard me right! We left on the hike at 3 pm at Saguaro East National Park. It was a moonlight hike, which started out as a nature hike on the Garwood Trail. When we got to the top of the hill (800 feet of elevation gain on the trail), we stopped and had supper. As we ate our peanut butter sandwiches and trail mix, the sun set and the moon and stars began to shine brightly.

As the sky darkened, we headed off down the hill, aided only by the light of the moon. The moon was so bright that we cast dark shadows beside the trail. What a wonderful, wonderful experience this was! The hike was relatively easy for us, but the whole time was just pure fun.

Friday we did play practice and then headed off to the Gem and Mineral Show. This is a huge show which takes over the town (practically) for the early part of February every year. This year's show was as magnificent as ever, and we really enjoyed the sights. Jack bought me a small green stone (I forget the name of the stone) heart. :) After that show, we went to Olive Garden on the west side where we had a great dinner.

The play is going well and everyone's having fun with it. I'm enjoying playing a dour old lady, fending off a dirty old man. LOL I know that it's a little close to real life, but it's still fun!

We hiked the Finger Rock trail on Tuesday, and we made it further than ever up the ridge. Jack had forgotten his GPS, so we didn't know just how far we went, but I am guessing it was close to 4000 feet of elevation gain in the 3 hours that we climbed. Going down, as always, was the big challenge for me, but I managed it with no pain!

Speaking of pain, we bought a "memory foam" mattress cover, 3" thick, to go over our mattress, and I'm really noticing a big difference in my sleep. No more waking up with sore limbs or hips! Love that thing!

Annette and Steve, bless their hearts, got all the stuff out of my house and so it's all ready for the closing which will take place on 2/18. :)