November 4, 2022 - Friday
Went to the Elks tonight for the Firecracker Chicken special served on rice with carrots and a salad. Dusty Kinman sat next to me selling his hot pickled cukes! Turns out he is the same age as my son, is divorced with 3 kiddos, and has remarried to Rachel. She doesn’t want children, but wants grandchildren which she is sure to get from his children. He shares pictures of her beautiful self and gives us a cantaloupe from his Happy Grow Lucky enterprise.
This kid has the personality to sell anything, but buys us a drink instead. He paused from eating his burger and fries to draw a picture of a suguaro to take with us.
His grandmother taught him how to paint with a pallet knife and oils as his parents passed away before her. He has continued the art by teaching disabled folks (Down Syndrome and other special needs) how to create amazing art. He shares dozens of pictures of groups he has taught and their fantastic art.
November 5, 2022 - Saturday
Once a year, the Ham Radio Club meets in the parking lot across from the clubhouse with vendors and demonstrations. It is a well attended event.
Rich has a table in the Wickenberg Holiday Arts and Crafts Show today. There were about 100 vendors inside and outside. The Art Club was set up on the stage and cost $40/table, while it was $150/table on the main floor.
There were many concepts of arts and crafts throughout the show. I especially liked the two booths on wheels...
This is a 1965 camper which the vendor, Karen, refurbished herself. This concept came about after having an outdoor booth on a very windy day and almost losing the canopy overhead. She knew she had to make a change. I love the retro look of it and her aprons.
Shawna Hicks, her friend and fellow vendor, followed her footsteps by buying a single horse trailer that never had a horse in it. The price tag was $3500, but she could not handle that so told them, “I hope you get the price you are asking, but if you don’t sell it for that, the best I can offer is $2500.” And gave them her number. Two weeks later she received the call, “We had two offers for $2500, but you were the first to make it, so it is yours if you still want it.” She did and this is the unit she created with the existing ramp to make it easy access. Her product is leather - purses (she will never duplicate one), booties, book covers, wallets, etc.
And the food truck DR&MT (Dad’s Ribs and Mom’s Tacos) - delicious quesadillas too! They have fresh pineapple juice and Hawaiian donuts (Malasadas). This is the entrepreneur daughter and her husband, the cook...
Back inside the community center, Jim and Pam Lang were sitting back to back with us and we had many conversations throughout the day. Jim’s art is Western subjects done in oil. He did a double major in college - art and business. The first part of his life he was a teacher for 4 years and then decided to put his business degree to work. He ended up being a CEO in a very large organization to do with agriculture. Now retired, he has taken up art again and this was his first “show to sell.” So he has painted many big pieces as seen below and just keeps them stored in their home in Sun City Grand, Surprise. He uses the rule of thumb for art pricing of $4/square inch so these pieces were $900 to $1600. He plans to show/sell them in the Goldrush Days in February which is a better venue for his beautiful work.
If you watch Yellowstone, you have seen their son-in-law, Gary “Montana” Robert, as a stuntman. He has been doing this work since 1977. Hollywood hires stuntmen for a prearranged fee. If it takes more than one shoot due to an error of the crew, the same fee would be charged again to do a reshoot. For a particularly dangerous stunt (e.g., a fall from a 40-foot building), the stuntman can name the price (e.g., $20,000) and if the cameraman misses the shot, the price would be $40,000, etc.
This is him with Sage, his service Timberwolf, who he raised and trained from a pup up until his natural death.
Fire stuntmen used to wear a fireproof suit, but now have a gel on their flesh that protects them for 1 1/2 minutes. Yikes!
It was a long day so we went to Nichols West for dinner. Meet Heather, who came in alone for baked onion soup and a glass of Chardonay.
We sit at the bar and moved over to make room for her. What a fascinating life she has had. She had worked in fashion retail and after a while, I asked her if she lives in Congress - she replied that she lives wherever her wheels park for the night! She is homeless, often sleeping in her car and the nights here are in the mid-30’s now. How did this happen? She got a raise in her Social Security to $800/month and her apartment rent went from $500 to $1000 overnight… She had stayed in a fleabag motel for $50 a few nights which was filthy, so she was moving on. Tonight she would drive to Salome, 50 miles away, and pay $80 to have a clean, warm room and sound sleep. One day at a time…
November 6, 2022 - Sunday
I inquired about the Magnum Family Benefit poster at the Elks. Krystal, a young 35-year old mother of 2, died suddenly of an aneurism on 9/11/2022. Her husband, Norm, is a tattoo artist in town, but will have to close the business January 1st to care for his young children. So sad… we bought 50/50 tickets on the spot.
Went to the Ice Cream Social after jigsaw puzzling for an hour or so. It is nice to see so many come together to socialize. John and Geri Moore announced that the new Beautification Committee is starting up at 8am tomorrow morning - tools and goodies are provided. The committee is picking up where Chuck and Kathy VanWinkle left off. They will still participate but can no longer organize it. It is impressive to see so many come together to work to keep the grounds beautiful.
Meanwhile, back in Lee, MA, my grandsons both won their respective games in the Berkshire County Youth Football league championship! Jacob (12) has been in a cast for broken wrist for 6 weeks and it came off on 10/31. He opted to suit up and play briefly - THANKFULLY, he had no problems.
With proud mama💕
November 7, 2022 - Monday
Line dancing in the morning and cardio drumming in the afternoon. It really gets your heartbeat up. This is a stock photo to give you an idea of how it works - music is a big part of it.
November 8, 2022 - Tuesday
Good morning sunshine!
Went for a walk around the park with Lu and then visited in her “yard.” In the afternoon Rich and I went over to Roberta and Keith’s home to catch up. My first meeting with Sophie...now 10 years old, rescued at 5 years old.
November 9, 2022 - Wednesday
A rainy, cool morning, but did the usual - line dancing, grocery run, laundry and puzzling… Invited Nancy over for ice cream after supper. It is the first time we have had ice cream in the house, but couldn’t resist the price - $1.97 for 1.5 quarts. It was very good!
November 10, 2022 - Thursday
My first haircut in almost 2 months! Voni lives in North Ranch and worked as Activity Director for 21 years. She has been cutting hair for 37 years and just had a milestone birthday - the same one Rich had this summer 😳! She is also a skilled micro-beader, quilter, mixed media artist. My new do…
This is a piece her teacher did with a hunk of styrofoam.
This is her intricate work.
Another beautiful sunset.
Stay tuned as sister Terri and hubby Jim Parsons are coming from Tucson for the weekend! We are making plans for a welcomed visit from them.
