Apricity West 5

November 29, 2024 - Friday

Back on track today - danced a little, and walked a little. Made a vegetable soup for lunches which came out really good. We decided to go to the Wild East Saloon for dinner where Cindy met us. We all wanted pizza, but mine was a pizzadilla - thin tortilla topped with parmesan garlic base, topped with chicken and bacon. We all took half of our pizza home.  

 

Another gorgeous sunset in AZ taken by Cindy:

Fed Ex emailed Rich that our new banjolele would be delivered before 8pm. Soooo, he turned the outside light on and I waited up until they arrived at 7:47, in the pitch dark. Not sure how they found our site, but was very grateful. I did not open it, but the box was so long that I was sure it would have a 3 foot neck. Oy! 

 

November 30, 2024 - Saturday

Rich opened the box and another box inside and I fell in love. Nylon strings, dark wood, mottled drum head, light weight, accoustic and electric, easily tuned, and such a great sound. “What a difference a C Note 🤣makes!" This sweet darlin' cost a hundred bucks more than the first one. You get what you pay for. I played around with it for over an hour. So much to learn... 

Walked with Lu at 9am and decided to make another apple crumble for dessert. Dave and Penny are getting ready to leave for Coachella, but found time to saunter over for a last-night-here visit. Cindy biked over and joined us for a farewell toast. 

 

December 1, 2024 - Sunday

Hallelujah! After eating a week’s worth of WW points in one day, I only gained .6 lbs. Shocking! But it’s not over - we were invited to join Penny and Dave and their friends, Tom and Katie, from Peoria for breakfast at Shira’s Pioneer Bakery in Yarnell. That’s the potato donut and apple pie place I talked about last week. The ride up the mountain is spectacular, but really hard to capture in a photo. 

 

Look closely for a car on the high road, while we are on the low road heading up. It’s the small white shiny dot to the middle right of picture. 

 

This was our maiden voyage to their shop. I called ahead and told her we were a party of six - she said, “We’ll have a table set for you.”

And they did - I'm guessing they put a leaf in the one big table in the small room to accommodate us. In order for them to move around us, Mark, Shira’s husband, had to move the display case.

 

I guess you would call it an eclectic abeyance. All of the plates and cups were bright floral colors. She referred to them as Pioneer Woman dishes. There were 3 kinds of donuts - cinnamon sugar, vanilla glazed with sprinkles on top,  and blueberry glazed. We decided to get one of each to sample it all. Notice the ceramic rolling pins hanging on the wall. 

The other unusual thing on the menu was biscuit and sausage gravy, the biscuit being a cinnamon roll without the cinnamon and sugar. We got a couple and shared them family style. 

Mark showed us the brooms that he made by hand. 

…and told us that their wedding picture was in the bathroom. They opened this shop 4 months ago on their first wedding anniversary. They also catered the wedding and made it a surprise birthday party for a dear friend.  

Before we left, Shira brought out a blueberry crumble and put it in the oven near our table which was sitting on the fridge camouflaged in red and white checkered stick on paper to the right of this picture. As we settled the bill, she handed us bags of day-old donuts to share with our friends. We left her $20 to add to the milkman for Ingredients for Christmas Baked Goods for Soldiers in the left side of this picture. . 

There is ample outdoor seating too. It is lovely, but was just too cold when we got there. 

Don and Darice were out for a walk and stopped by to chat. 

 

December 2, 2024 - Monday

Walked, danced and practiced with Cindy for the jam on Thursday. 

 

December 3, 2024 - Tuesday

Walked before going to Wickenburg Sr. Center for ukulele group - I took my banjolele, too. We played Christmas songs which I really enjoyed. I was able to sing some of the background parts from the Christmas Angels choir back home.

 

Cindy came by after her beading class to chat. After she left, Dee pulled up on her red Honda Super Cub for a few. 

This sunset picture captures a bike rider going up the hill. 

December 4, 2024 - Wednesday

Walked, danced, practiced banjolele and made a WW cheesecake. Cindy stopped over for an afternoon cocktail. Another gorgeous day to be outside - 70’s.

 

December 5, 2024 - Thursday

Early laundry run today. Then walked with Lu, stopped in to see Eddi. She has her 5th-wheel nicely decorated for Christmas. While I practiced ukulele for the jam later on, Tom stopped to visit with Rich who was sitting outside. Speaking of the the jam, today was a good day. The new banjolele had her debut and a lot of Christmas music was played. It was nice to have a full house of players, including Cindy on keys, and more audience than usual. I was so jazzed about the jam, I forgot to finish this blog until 10pm!!! Late for me💤