I don’t do cities but because I was invited for a visit by Lynn (Pt. Townsend friend), I drove straight into the belly of the beast. As always, once I decided to do it, I relaxed, and it was an interesting trip. I knew, but had forgotten how over the years Phoenix and many other towns like Surprise, Glendale, Tempe, etc., have grown & slurped up whatever was in their paths. If you stay on the Interstates or bypasses to get to where you are going in record time, you will miss half the fun.
The trick is not to panic and at least part of the way take the streets less traveled. My bravery was already at a high level because this was the second Friday before Christmas. I passed small several-acre farms with horses & other critters in well used corrals, right next to whole neighborhood of houses, by now also well used. They were right next to newer sections with condos and/or office bu
ildings. I’ll tell you more about the farms in a later blog.
I love people-watching while I am gobbling up one of Costco’s delicious sausages with relish and mustard and a coke for $1.64. A mom and three stair-step daughters were eating pizza and hotdogs, the all American lunch. The littlest one started crying, probably tired from all the shopping, and the older ones rolled their eyes. An older fellow came across the room with an armful of food, making the mistake of hugging the pizza plate a little too much and it wound up plastering the front of his sweater. He was the one that had such a beautiful grin as he crossed the room toward his lady friend. I figured they weren’t married. Another couple sat at a table next to me who were undoubtedly married. They didn’t smile at e
ach other and there was no conversation between them. I don’t get it. Oh well.
At the finish line, there were about 12 things to remember while singing our 30-member Combined Community Choirs Christmas Cantata, and I could still only remember one at a time! So much for multi-tasking. According to the kind attendees who came to the reception afterward, it went well and brought laughter, joy, and tears but I didn’t ask them to explain any of that. Night of Wonder, Night of Joy was a beautiful Cantata to perform. I’ve included some pictures and I see that with the exception of one alto, our esteemed leader’s admonition to smile broadly to enhance our delivery, was ignored. I also see that most of them weren’t watching that same esteemed leader as we are supposed to do but the same smiling lady was watching him. Maybe she gets a stipend! We will be performing it again at North Ranch on the 26th. You may recognize the member in the blue shirt and angelic white hair!
It hardly seems possible that Christmas is this Saturday. The time has flown by. Friday night our church has a Christmas Eve service and Saturday will be the big Christmas dinner at the Activity Center with good friends and good food. I hope you will be somewhere with friends or family. I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and God Bless until next week.
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At 45, Widow Minshall began 20 years of solo full-time RVing throughout Alaska, Mexico, and Canada. Sharlene canoed the Yukon, mushed sled dogs, worked a dude ranch, visited Hudson Bay polar bears, and lived six months on a Mexican beach. She lectured at Life on Wheels, published six RV-related books and wrote a novel, “Winter in the Wilderness.”
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