We wrapped up our time for this season in Arizona and prepared to leave Desert Gardens RV Park (and our lot there) to head toward Pocosin Lakes NWR.  Desert Gardens is a lovely park with spacious lots, plenty of activities, and beautiful saguaro cactus &  sunsets!

While we were there we learned to play Pickleball, a game similar to tennis but on a smaller court using a “whiffle-ball” type ball.  We’re not very good, but we have fun and get some exercise playing it.  Judith put up a note on the bulletin board looking for people who wanted to learn to play Mah Jongg — 10 people signed up.  No one in the group knew how to play, so we worked through a “how to play Mah Jongg” book together and had a great time.  Even after we left, we understand the group continued to get together to play … a real Success!

I participated in a Genealogy group and got some good ideas for extending my research.  Family tradition said that one of my GGG Grandfathers had served as a Corporal in the Revolutionary war and had been at Valley Forge.  It was suggested that I check the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) web site to see if I could find  him there.  No luck on that, but I did find SEVEN other multi-great Grandfathers who DID serve in the Revolution!  Who knew?!?

Judith (and our friend Rachel) took several classes in Gourding — carving, decorating, and painting of dried gourds.  From time-to-time it appears that now gourds have taken over our home!  But she is having lots of fun doing it and she is getting pretty good — if I do say so myself!

We planted some Cactus plants on our lot, hopefully they will make it through the summer.  Here is “before” the plantings:

We had planned to volunteer at Casa Grande Ruins N.M. throughout our stay.  However, my medical issues and the government shutdown largely disrupted those plans.  We were able to spend four Sundays helping out.  Before we left we had dinner with the Volunteers.

And here is a random picture from the Desert Gardens Christmas Party:

The night before we started our trip East, there was a freak snow storm south of us and around Tucson.  We didn’t stop to take a picture, but there was about 3″ of snow under the saguaro cactus!

We stopped in Las Cruces, NM, to see our traveling friends Bud & Barbara – we had a great time, as always, but sorry, no pictures.

We had made arrangements to detour to near Corpus Christi, TX, to visit a friend from my school days.  Janelle and I attended all 12 years of elementary and high school together!  We had not been in contact for nearly 40 years before we found each other on Facebook!  It was a wonderful visit, she is as delightful as ever.  And her husband Abel is a gem!

Our next stop was Houston to help celebrate Judith’s brother, Don’s 70th Birthday!  (Boy does that sound OLD!)  All three siblings, all five of his children and their partners, and his niece were able to attend!  A wonderful time was had by all!  Special thanks to Zac and Kara for coordinating and hosting this wonderful and crazy event!  Laughs are always a great part of a Sniderman gathering, but the Sniderman version of “Cards Against Humanity” takes things to a whole new level!

As we continued East, we spent a couple days with our friend Fran in Destin, FL.  It was good to see her, and beautiful there, as always!

On to Winter Haven for some time with Barbara, Clint, and Allison — including the celebration of Barb & Clint’s Anniversary!

We spent a delightful afternoon at the Forrey Grill in LaBelle, FL, with Judith’s long time friends Carol and JoAnn.  Unfortunately, we were unable to link up with Vickie & John.

We had discussed getting a kitten, and had decided that Winter Haven would be a good place to find one at a shelter.  When we visited they had only two young cats, one of which had the name Sage on it’s collar.  Now that is the name of my daughter’s cat (now a fat and happy 10 year old cat).  This kitten was both playful and affectionate.  It was written in the stars that this would be our cat.  So she is “Sage Too”, or “Tooie” for short!

 

We have now arrived at Pocosin Lakes NWR.  We are less than an hour from the Outer Banks!  Our schedule is unusual — we work 6 of 7 days, then are off for 7 days — but it will allow us ample time to explore this area!

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