Apricity West 5

February 7, 2025 - Friday

While on my walk listening to the radio, I heard a news story about a volunteer project translating historical documents from cursive to digital records. I have been so upset that they did away with teaching cursive in our schools. My grandson asks me to read aloud the cards I give him! One argument against it is that future generations will not have a signature. Not being able to read historical records in Ancestry or any other documents is what has me worried. So I signed up through National Archives to translate documents. Will let you know how that goes...

 

Stopped at Michaels for yarn to crochet a baby blanket on the way to Terri and Jim’s for Fish Fry Friday. We lolled in the courtyard before dinner. Rich cooked rice, marinated shrimp, and then pan fried scallops in butter and lemon, while Jim grilled the shrimp. Terri made one of her delicious salads with feta, fresh orange, and homemade dressing. I helped serve...

February 8, 2025 - Saturday

Weighed in today as we know what the weekend will bring - lots of fun, food and drink. We were both down - me a little, him a lot. After my walk, Rich and I practiced on our ukuleles as we are going to a brand new (to us) group, TUKU - Tucson Ukulele Uprising! We’re feeling pretty brave since we don’t know anyone there. 

 

We all went to El Charro for lunch. Jose was our waitperson and he prepared Table Side Guacamole for us - see a video in the body of the email. Here come the pictures of delicious food. We sat outside in their courtyard under the umbrellas.  

Video of table-side guacamole prep in the body of this email. 

The unique practice at this restaurant is the preparation of Carne Seca - there is a screened cage hanging on the roof with strips of beef hanging to dry in the sun. Then it is shredded, seasoned and ground up for the meals. I had a carne seca burrito which was delicious.  

Took a tour to visit two more murals in town…

Cocktails and conversation afterwards.

February 9, 2025 - Sunday

After yesterday’s food intake, I pushed myself to walk 2 miles which is  .4 miles more than I have been doing. Have to make up somehow for not dancing 3 times a week. A woman stopped by today asking about our motorhome. She is in an A-frame with her husband and his and her huge mountain dogs. It turns out that one (hers) is a comfort dog which she takes to schools and nursing homes. Her name is Suzie - when I told her my name, she said her grandmother’s name is Monta. She is here from Montana - White Fish which is where our friend, Nancy, hails. Rich mentioned Kalispell which is near there where he has a friend, Vern. She then said they sold their home in White Fish as it is so crowded and busy with traffic and moved to Kalispell! After that, they moved to Portland, OR which is where my friend, Cindy, lives! Small world! We have a LOT to talk about in the coming weeks - they leave on March 1st. 

 

We drove over to Terri and Jim's to load up their car with our instruments and stands for the TUKU meeting. They were our roadies and stayed for two hours of entertainment/discovery. There were 21 of us there and it really sounded great. When Rich wasn’t playing the ukulele, he pulled his C harmonica from his pocket to play along on several songs and they commended him for it. What a gorgeous setting to play music - in a desert park. Video in the body of this email. .

Sister Terri

Went back to T&J’s house to “watch" the Super Bowl and eat wings and potato salad. We were focused on the food!

 

February 10, 2025 - Monday

I did the 2-mile walk today. Worked on taxes and was working on this blog, when I heard Rich squeal, “Oh my God!” I got up to look outside and lo and behold, Pat from North Ranch (walking partner) was parked in front of our site! She and her daughter, Cindy, came for a surprise visit - just in time for cocktail hour. I am so glad to have met Cindy. She has lived in Tucson since 1994 and knows all of the places we talk about that we have visited. What a wonderful surprise! Pat is here for the week and then goes back to NR. 

February 11, 2025 - Tuesday

Went for my walk and then we met Terri at Sa-Ing Thai Cuisine, where we have been many times. Their food is so flavorful; I had the Pad See-Ew with pork.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet and we settled in to watch my grandson, 15-year-old Jacob’s, high school basketball game on my i-Pad. It can be hard to follow on the i-Pad so we watch for sneaker and sock colors. There are 2 tall, thin players that wear white sneakers and socks - Jake and Sammy. They aren’t usually in at the same time, but into the 2nd quarter someone got hurt and they took the camera to the other side of the court, so we couldn’t tell who it was. I saw tall, thin white sneakers and socks standing and assumed it was Jake. Nope! Come to find out, he was being taken away in the ambulance with a dislocated knee - very painful. They also discovered he has a hairline fracture in his elbow from the fall! This is the same kid who has been sidelined from football several times with hairline fractures in his wrists. I swear he has grown sooooo fast - 4 inches last summer alone - that his bones are weak. I'm just making that up, but is it possible? He was 6’3” in September and looks like he has grown another inch or two since then. Needless to say, I had a sleepless night with sympathy pains in my knees… (I got his permission to tell this story.)

 

February 12, 2025 - Wednesday

Temps are cooling here this week into the low 60’s. Walked before the high winds started though I feel like I’m in a daze! The highlight of my day was that Jake called me and he sounds good. I guess he’s used to these setbacks and doesn’t really get all worked up about them. They go to an orthopedic doctor tomorrow to decide what comes next. 

 

Kyle (guitar) and Sarah (banjo) walked by and we talked about an impromptu jam session at the community room tomorrow. Frank plays guitar and will give it a try too. We’ll see what happens - it can’t be that bad if it is music - right? We’ll see...

 

Guess who dug out his paper and pens to do some drawing for summer Farmers’ Market? Here is a sample:

Rich cooked a small steak for us in the air fryer and it came out really good. Just had broccoli as a side.

 

February 13, 2025 - Thursday

A windy walk in the morning and then met up with Kyle, Sarah and Frank at the Community Room porch for a spontaneous mini-jam. We worked through some songs for an hour and a half and will work on others to reconvene next week. 

We went over to Terri’s mid-afternoon to keep the jive going. She (piano) and I played a number of songs that we like. Then we had a stir fry dish - chicken and cashews a la Terri...

Jacob went to the orthopedic doctor and they said the elbow is a minor injury. He actually fractured his kneecap which is the best case scenario as he could have torn ligaments otherwise. Basically, he has to rest and ice his knee - no surgery, no cast...

Until next week, Tata