A Wonderful Campfire, Our Neighborhood Decreased By Three, Happy Hour with Friends

 Monday, November 27, 2023

I am sitting here with my fingers ready to type trying to remember how are day started yesterday. I know Tom made coffee and then, that thought triggered my memory now I know, he took off with three loads of laundry. Sue and Lorne were off to town, also. Deb and Riley spent most of their day at RV Lifestyles. Kim and I were sitting outside when Ken stopped by to say he was headed into town for a couple of groceries and to confirm the list.  I must say Kim and I had a very pleasant coffee hour everyone else was off doing chores/running errands. I think Kim would agree someone had to keep our daily coffee hour going and we were more than up to the task and happy to do it. 

The golden yellow of the  clouds against the blue of the 
sky was beautiful after the sunset this evening.

Our nighttime sky as Tom was lighting the campfire.

The moon lighting up the desert.
Starting at bottom left: Tom lighting our campfire. Top left:
A selfie in the light of the fire. Top right: the ending
red glow of what was a wonderful campfire.

Enjoying the warmth of the campfire with friends.
Top picture right to left: Lorne, Kim, and Deb
Middle picture right to left: Riley, Tom, Sue, and Ken
Bottom picture: our neighborhood.

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

The sun was already well up in the sky when I raised the shade and looked out the window by my head in the bedroom this morning. The clouds looked beautiful over the mountains; so I got myself up, put on my jacket, grabbed my camera and headed out the door. The bonus, once I was outside, I could see the moon between the clouds.

The sun is up over Deb and Riley's home.

Coffee Hour
Left to right: Kim, Riley, Deb, Lorne, Sue, Tom, and my chair.
Ken was off doing laundry. 

All to soon it was time to wave so long to Sue and Lorne along
with Archie. Safe travels! See you down the road.
Going, going, going, and they are off.

As the clouds move the shadows constantly change on the
mountains. It is a beautiful dance of dark and light.

Later we found this cute guy on the hood of our Jeep.
We have been ducked!
Thank you, Sue and Lorne.

Later in the afternoon Black Beauty drove up into the neighborhood with Patsy and Bill inside, no Gibbs...🙁, to join us for Happy Hour. It is always great to have them join us. A picture of this would be nice and luckily Patsy, Chillin' with Patsy, thought so to and took one.

The sun going down on our day.

The afterglow colored the clouds a lovely pink.

Time in this place flows easily along with quiet peacefulness spending it with friends makes the time that much more enjoyable.

We are glad you stopped by!
If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

Enjoying Our Time in the Desert

 (Clicking on the pictures will open them larger in a new window.)

Saturday, November 25, 2023

We took a short ride this afternoon, to the West of us, towards the Dome Rock Mountains. The pictures below are from that ride.

It really seems to us we are seeing more dead Saguaros this year.

I could see the head of a teddy bear at the top of this one.

My first thought when I saw this guy was Lumiere, the
candlestick, in the movie Beauty and the Beast. Yes, having a
daughter and granddaughters I have seen the movie several
times. As we got closer it looked less like him to me.
What do you see, if anything?

One of several Ocotillos we saw today.
This is actually a succulent shrub. They can
get to be 20 feet tall and live up to 60 
 years. Though, I read there is some evidence
 they can live as long as 100 years or more. 

We saw a lot of Chollas. 

A mine entrance

What is left of the flower at the tip of an Ocotillo branch.

I thought this little guy was a cutie. Do you see the face?

They look so soft but don't be fooled.
There spines have barbs that easily go in but are hard to pull out.

The first time we drove up to what is left of a stone cabin, pictured below, was in March 1, 2017. clicking on the date will bring you to the blog where I recorded that  visit. Surprisingly, it looks much the same as it did back then. The only difference is there is now a fence around it; we walked around inside last time. It was actually nice to see that it is being preserved. There is no information about this cabin at the site.

From Cholla Road.

Doing some research I came up with the name
Joseph Cone's Cabin

Joseph Fremont Cone (1892-Oct. 18, 1971) was an artist and worker of ironwood. He was well-known in the area for being a nature lover. The building next to this cabin is his former workshop. Both of the buildings were allegedly built in the late 1800s.

With the sun behind me I could not see the outline good
enough to get it right over what is left of the cabin.
This was not here the last time we were out here.

The Kofa Mountains in the distance standing near the cabin.

I-10 in the distance.

Looking towards the Dome Mountains and a section 
 of the Bureau of Land Management Camping Area 

Sleeping Indian from the Pipeline Road.

Home

The sun had set behind the mountains when I took this picture 
with the my phone and it captured this last glow of light.

We ended our day sitting out on our patio chatting with Kim and Ken. Riley was relaxing in her home and the rest of our neighbors were off to the races in Yuma. The sun had set and there was a definite chill in the air when we decided it was time to retreat into the warmth of our homes. I know our family and friends back home will think we have become wimps; it was in the low 60's but with the wind it was bone chilling cold. It was a cool but fun day...lol

Sunday, November 26, 2023

Today was basically a do nothing day for me. Tom did drive over to Parker to pick up a curbside order I had made at the Walmart but other then that not a lot of movement here until later in the afternoon. We had a different day planned and like it occasionally happens in life they changed. I am not sure what triggered my allergies but I went to bed coughing and did not wake up feeling the greatest. So I went back to bed and did not get up until later in the morning. As the day progressed I felt better and we did join our neighbors for Happy Hour. Sue and Lorne were planning on leaving in the morning and I did not want to miss out on getting together. Though, like I mentioned a couple of sentences ago plans change. A vote was taken and a new plan was formed it looks like they will be leaving on Tuesday. Until then our neighborhood will remain the same size a bit longer...😀

After the sun set this evening there was some lovely

color in the sky. 

Sitting and chatting with friends was how our day ended. How lucky are Tom and I to be living this lifestyle! 

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

In Between

 Friday, November 24, 2023

Stepping outside Friday morning there was a definite chill in the air as the sun was just starting to come up over the Kofa Mountains to the East of us. I did not go far but I did take a walk across the "pad" next to us. I wanted to visit a Saguaro that is slowly returning to the desert floor. The first time we parked in this area he was standing tall. As I walked I took several pictures of the sun slowly making its way up to bring light to our day.

Still beautiful in the early morning light.

Looking straight down between our homes at the mountains
the camera caught the hint of color that was in the sky.

Walking down past Deb and Riley's home the sun had made 
its way over the mountains.

One last picture of the Dome Rock Mountains to the
West of us and I headed in side to the warmth of our home.

In between today's sunrise and sunset there was a  Morning Coffee Hour and a Happy Hour both spent enjoying conversations with friends. In between the day unfolded as I am sure most days do for everyone. There are those everyday chores that must be taken care of. Dishes in the sink, dust to be moved around to make room for more dust, wash to be sorted etc..none of that changes because we live n a motorhome and happen to be parked surrounded by mountains in the beauty of the desert. We are in a neighborhood where we are together but everyone respects everyone else's space. Over these past years living this life style we have been part of various neighborhoods in different places and that has always been the unspoken rule that everyone respects. 

As I was writing my words today, I admit sometimes my brain wanders off on its own when I am writing the blog and as I have sometimes done in the past today I decided to share that wandering,  I was thinking of the stories I have read about in the past were people would sit out on there large front porches and get to know there neighbors walking by or visiting over the fence. Even in cities sitting out on the front stoops of apartment buildings, I have pictures of my mom and I doing just that when I was little, visiting and getting to know their neighbors. Sadly that time has pretty much disappeared. We have become a society in a rush where everything needed to be in an instant. I remember evenings and Saturday's spent at the library looking up information for a paper that needed to be written for a class. Sitting at a large table all quietly working on our own yet sharing information and being together.  Now all that information is at our fingertips in seconds.  I remember writing letters and looking forward to receiving letters from Tom when he was overseas. Now we text and we do not even write out complete words and in an instant they are reading it. I remember going out to a restaurant with friends, enjoying the conversation before the meal and sometime thinking the food came out to fast. (Though we still do enjoy those type of meals with friends.) Now we are in line in our cars at a fast food restaurant impatient that it is taking to long. I am not saying all of the changes in our lives are bad things what I am trying to say is we have lost the camaraderie that came with the slowness of the need to pick up a book at the library to find information versus sitting at a computer in the isolation of our home. We play games with others on our phones instead of sitting down around a table. (Though again I know people still do that.) One of the perks of this lifestyle, in my opinion, is that we are getting to experience some of that time in life before  "everything needed to be in an instant". When we are in RV Parks as people walk around they stop and chat even out here if someone is walking by for the most part they will stop and chat for a bit. It is a wonderful way to live and enjoy this "season" of our life. There is a relaxing peacefulness that comes with this lifestyle and we are enjoying the moments as they come.

Yes, there is noise in the desert. There are the various vehicles that occasionally go by during the day, we may hear a dog barking the distance or a coyote howling in the evening. There is even a few birds chirping in the trees.  Yet, if I was to describe this place to anyone none of that would be in the description. I would only talk about the quiet and slowness of our time here which brings total peace to my soul. 

The sun slowly going down in the West.

The moonlight between the clouds.

Another good day in the desert near Quartzsite, Arizona!

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you!