KENTUCKY TRIP

Russ and family moved from Omaha right before school started, to Lexington, Kentucky. They invited us for Thanksgiving, so we flew there for ten days, and did some sightseeing while we were there. We visited the Mary Todd Lincoln house in downtown Lexington.

Mrs. Lincoln lived a very interesting life. She was raised in a prominent family and married Abe, who had no money. Even though she became a First Lady, she had a lot of tragedy in her life. She not only saw her husband shot and killed, but she lost several children also. Her son had her committed to a mental hospital in later years, but she was able to get out and live abroad. A very interesting lady!

It was a lovely house inside, although pictures weren't allowed-the gardens in the backyard were also pretty.

BLOSSOM AND BOB

Years ago when we lived in Grinnell, we had two stuffed pets named Milicent and Minerva. Russ' best friends, Chris and Kyle, had a lot of fun with them. I'd come home from work and find them in all sorts of interesting positions in all different places in the house. Once in awhile they'd hide so they could hear me scream when I found them. It's happening again! Our family pet bulldog, Blossom, sits by the front steps and guards our home.
Without knowing of our history, our neighbor Bob, has been having fun with Blossom, and us. When we came home the other night, Blossom was sitting in the golf cart!

A couple nights later, she was waiting in the dark to get in the back door. Guess who struck again! Note to Bob-I usually get even-some way, some time when you least expect it! In the meantime, it's been fun!

THE APPLE DUMPLING CAFE

The other day we found a new place to eat in Gilbert, called the Apple Dumpling Cafe.

It's a small, known for it's burgers-so we had the one with apple slices, bacon, cheese and some kind of raspberry sauce. They were delicious.

FALL IN AZ

It's fall in AZ and they're picking cotton in our neighborhood.
Quite a healthy crop. Notice the bales in the background.



We were decorated inside for fall and Halloween, and had a little bit outside.

TIME FLIES

We've been busy getting a few things accomplished. Don put new carpet on the front steps and I kind of finished going through possessions to get rid of. I made curtains for the kitchen and bedroom and shortened a pair in the living room. Now the ugly valences are gone for good-yea! The other day, I started my container garden by planting tomatoes, lettuce and radishes. The radishes have poked through already. Yesterday, we went up to Phoenix to the Desert Botanical Garden plant sale and came home with ten shrubs and cacti. Some are large and some are small, but all require holes in that hard ground. I think we'll wait until it's cooler or do it early in the morning. Since people are returning, so are the activities. I've been going to a Zumba class-don't know how long that will last-my body isn't very happy! We've both been playing Texas Holdem-three times last week. Last night 22 people played-Don came in second and I came in third-both in the money. We'll see how we do tomorrow. A little bit of work and a little bit of fun-can't beat it!!!

WINTER GUESTS RETURNING

There's a dramatic difference in the park in the last two weeks-people are returning. This one didn't quite make the corner of the people directly behind us.
They had unloaded the fifth wheel and he was taking it to the storage area-he told me he forgot it was back there??? He kind of got caught up on the fire hydrant which made a hole in his tire.

It took a little while to get the problem solved without doing more damage. They unhooked the truck and rehooked it up sideways to back it up. It worked-but then, he had to go home and tell his wife-ouch! Thank God it wasn't us!

FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

A couple weeks ago, we drove down to Marana, right outside of Tucson, and went to a high school football game. The coach and his wife used to live in the park, so we thought it would be fun to go and see them and his team. (We miss seeing our grandchildren play this season-Dan plays on the varsity team at Dunbar HS in Lexington, Kentucky and Brian plays on the freshman team. Lucas, who lives in Grinnell, Iowa, is playing for a light weight team in Lynnville, IA. He plays quarterback and also kicks field goals.) Anyway, we enjoyed the game with neighbors, Dana and Jerry Anthous and Barb and Bob Knapp. In this picture, Joni, the coaches wife is sitting behind us.
The high school is named Mountain View, so the team is called the Mountain Lions. That explains why lions rule-just not tonight.

I had trouble getting a picture of Larry, but he's down there busy coaching.

Larry is a retired coach who missed the game after taking early retirement in Missouri. He's in the Missouri Hall of Fame, so maybe after a little while he'll be able to turn this team around. Talking to him proves he's happy back in the game. We had fun and wish him well!