Other Winter Stuff

We've had more snow events this winter than any year C's lived here, at least 5 different times the storm front brought conditions for good rains in the valley, and the mountains above us had visible snowfall, and we had just a trace in the valley once. Anyone who watched the Accenture Matchplay Tournament on TV saw some of that snow in the mountains when a panoramic view from the blimp was shown. Marana, AZ, is actually the site of the venue; the announcers frequently called it as being in Tucson. Wrong!

We had a great time with our friends Edmund and Carol (the other ones) Hovasse in Laughlin in late Jan. That's the good news. The bad news is that Carole picked up a nasty upper respiratory virus which lingered for 3 weeks, and passed it on to Edmund, who was just recovered enough to have his skin cancer surgery on Valentine's Day, of all things. He's recovered well from ALL that, still is healing from the 2+ inch (2 of them) cuts on his face, but he does heal well, and quickly, so it will be fine soon. He's had so many of these surgeries that we don't even document them with pictures anymore.

Carole's volunteered for one of the Homeowner Association standing committees (is doing a lot of wordsmithing and editing of governing documents), which has tested the computer skills, have learned a few new things (always a good sign), and pressed the gray matter into areas that haven't been used like this for a while. Actually, all quite enjoyable.

Last evening we enjoyed a festive community event, a 4-course sit-down Italian dinner with wine, live dinner music, and featuring a performance by our fellow resident, friend and neighbor Joe Bourne, a professional entertainer who's performed all over the world, and on the oceans as well (cruise ships). We had a great time!

Friday we fly to Kansas City to help celebrate cousin Mary Stacy's 90th birthday. A family lunch with somewhere around 35 attending will be a real surprise for her on Sat. afternoon, followed by a larger party in the evening with all her past connections in Lee's Summit on the guest list. Should be a blast, more on that later.