Author: Rudy

Sunday: Woke up early and got settled in front of that TV for the Sunday morning talk shows. Sue woke up with her back feeling even worse than it did yesterday. No activities today. We read a bit. French toast for breakfast. Read some more. Waited for golf on TV to begin at 1pm. Final day of the Nationwide Open. Mickelson in the lead. Lots of drama. Show dragged on a bit when the leaders began to miss their putts. Then, just as it looked like the tournament was done, Mickelson and Bradley made birdie putts on 18 to force a 3-way play-off with Bill Haas. Haas eventually made a 45-foot putt to win it. Too late for me to go hit another bucket of balls at the golf course, although after watching golf all afternoon I felt quite inspired. It was already after 5pm. That left less than an hour for us to drive to Apache Junction to pick up my Redbox DVD rental, pick up supper from Jack-in-the-Box, and go for a short walk. We managed to do all three things, although the walk was cut a bit short! Still, we made it home with a movie and burgers in time to see the beginning of 60 Minutes. After the show we watched our movie rental, “Of Gods and Men”. The movie was number one on both of the Thiessen’s best of 2011 list as found on their website Vic & Walter Thiessen – On Movies. Well, 2 hours later, Sue and I looked at each other and wondered if we’d missed something! Ended the day with a bit of shlockey TV (what else is new?) and listened to the dishwasher as we tried to go to sleep.

Saturday: Today we said goodbye to our friends Dave and MaryLou. After our usual bacon and eggs breakfast they loaded up their car and headed north back to Manitoba. Their plan was to spend a bit of time at the Hopi mission in northern Arizona along the way.

Sue was out of commission today. She got a pinched nerve or something like that in her back yesterday during our golf game (or maybe it started on our morning cycling trip) and this morning it was worse rather than better. So we stayed home all day, hoping that a bit of rest (and some pain killers) would help her mend.

I’d gone to Bashas in the morning for some fresh bread and saw the ‘market’ tents on the parking lot. I headed back there for lunch, picking up a couple of hot dogs for my lunch. I also bought some more pills for Sue. On the cycle there I checked out the low-flying helicopter that ultimately landed in the parking lot behind Bashas — I guess there was an emergency on the Mountain Brook golf course right on hole number 11, and emergency vehicles and the helicopter were taking someone to the hospital.

I washed all our golf clubs and used golf balls in the garage. We skyped for a long time with Alex. We watched golf on TV. Then at around 5pm I went to the golf course and hit a bucket of balls on the driving range — which felt really good. The highway was crawling with Renaissance Festival visitors. I stopped by Walgreens to pick up a DVD rental and then joined the parade to get back home.

Sue spent most of the day sitting and lying on the couch with a hot pack (thanks, MaryLou) on her back. We had our leftover pizza for supper. Then we watched a couple of movies. The first film was my download of “Rundskop” (Bullhead), a Belgian film nominated for Best Foreign Film. It was pretty good — a drama about a cattle farmer who was brutalized as a child. We’ve seen four of the five nominated films in this category and I predict that the Iranian film “A Separation” will win. The second movie we watched (well, actually only I watched it; Sue fell asleep on the couch) was the DVD I rented earlier, “Hanna”. Interesting, but a bit too ‘stylized’. When it was over we had a bit of trail mix for a night snack and watched Saturday Night Live before going to bed.

Friday: After breakfast Sue went grocery shopping. When she got home and we’d put the groceries away we hopped onto our bikes and went for a ride — today we headed out on highway #60 east down to where the Renaissance Festival is held. We also pedalled around Peralta Trails and once we got back to Gold Canyon we came back home along our regular route. Lunch. Sue got the pizzas ready while I watched a bit of golf on TV. Dave called to say he’d had tire trouble and wouldn’t be here before 3:30. And that’s when Dave and MaryLou arrived.


    


We loaded up the van and headed out to Mountain Brook. We walked 9 holes; had to wait for the golfers ahead of us every once in a while, and only finished our last hole at around 6:15 — and it was getting dark. Went back home and Sue put the pizzas in. Had supper. After supper we watched a Whitney Houston special on TV (not that good) and some David Letterman. Everyone was tired and so we went to bed just before midnight. All day if felt like it was Saturday, but it wasn’t. But tomorrow it will be.

Thursday: Went cycling (for a change) this morning. Cool, had to wear our jackets. After lunch we headed out to Superstition Springs, to the Harkins 25, to see the Meryl Streep movie, “The Iron Lady”. Best actress shoe-in (according to the critics). After the movie we went for a ride around Mesa, checking out the big trailer parks. We ended up at the Superstition Springs Mall, at Macy’s. Sue bought some golfing shirts, I bought a pair of golfing pants. All ready for tomorrow, when Dave and MaryLou are coming back here for a final round of golf at Mountain Brook. We took a quick walk through the (empty) mall and then headed home, watching as the sun set behind the clouds and did its best to tint Superstition Mountain in pink. Once home, Sue made (another) great supper — spicy shrimp with pasta and a salad. After supper we called Angie and discussed options for celebrating my mom’s 80th birthday in June. Settled nothing. Sue sat and played iPad Scrabble while I watched the last period of Jets hockey on TV. Then we watched the first part of a Clinton documentary on PBS online and another of my Oscar downloads, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (Best Animated Short Film). We ended the evening by watching the 2 hour documentary “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” about the West Memphis 3. Went to bed just before midnight.

Wednesday: Did a bit of emailing and stuff after breakfast. Weather was cool. We went for a hike up Silly Mountain before lunch. After lunch Sue sat outside and read until around 2pm, when Wayne and Justina arrived. They’re staying at Justina’s brother’s place in Maricopa. We sat and visited for a bit and then all got into our van and went for a short ride around our loop. We ended up at Mountain Brook Golf Course where Wayne and I had a 3:30 tee time. Sue and Justina walked home from the clubhouse. Wayne and I had a pretty good time — no one behind us and never waiting for the golfers ahead of us. And although the temperature was cool, when the sun came out we actually took our jackets off and had a nice leisurely round. Back home after our game, we had drinks and appetizers and visited a bit more. I barbecued steak and the four of us sat around the table for the rest of the night. A great time, talking about France (the Peters are old pros at touring France). We said goodbye at around 10pm and watched a bit of Letterman before going to bed.

Tuesday: We went to Scottsdale soon after breakfast. The drive was less than an hour and seemed even shorter. We’d forgotten what an attractive city it really was! We’d left our house in the pouring rain (yes, POURING RAIN!) with the temperature only 8 degrees and by the time we got to our destination it was sunny and 12 degrees.

Our first stop was the Museum of Musical Instruments. It had been recommended to us by Dave and MaryLou who were going to meet us there for lunch. But first we had a couple of hours to view the exhibits. The museum is excellent. The building is new, the displays are very attractive, and the audio tour is at your own pace. We probably spent too much time in the Africa and Asia rooms and rushed through the North America room because it was getting close to lunch time and we had arranged to meet the Dave and MaryLou in the museum cafe at 12:30.

After lunch we did a quick walk through the musical ‘artist’ gallery and the ‘experience’ gallery. We were hoping to make the 2pm tour at our next museum, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West. 

The weather was cool again when we got the famous winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright. And tours were getting booked up quickly. We missed the 2 o’clock but our 2:30 tour left early because it was all booked up. Our tour guide walked us around the grounds and told stories about the architect. Again, the visit was excellent, a great way to learn about this famous artist in 90 minutes. Because it was so cold our guide saved his longer talks for when we visited some of the rooms inside the house. 

We were invited to have supper with Dave and MaryLou at their Scottsdale apartment. We stopped at a Trader Joe’s before following Dave to their condo. We sat around and visited before supper. Supper included a variety of delicious pastas and a nice salad. Just as we were about to sit down to eat Dave’s brother and sister-in-law returned from their evening out (Valentine’s Day) and so we enjoyed another visit with Paul and Shirley. Dave and MaryLou thought they might be heading back to Manitoba soon. We hope we’ll still get in at least one more round of golf with them here at Mountain Brook before they leave.

We said goodbye at around 9:30 and got home an hour later. We watched a bit of late night TV, even stayed up to watch Jon Stewart and Colbert until 1:00am! Whew! We are turning into party animals!

Monday: Cooler today. Sue did laundry. Sue went grocery shopping. We went for a bike ride to Walgreen’s, picked up a DVD, noodled around in Mountain Brook then came home for lunch. After lunch I took the van to the car wash for an oil change and a car wash while Sue finished doing the laundry. I had booked a tee time for 3:30 so we really had no time to sit around. Shorts but a sweater for some of the holes, although the sun came out and it got nice after a couple of holes. We both had some good shots, but too many bad shots in between. But we had fun. After golf we came home and Sue got busy in the kitchen. What’s totally crazy is the most people wouldn’t believe that we eat fantastic meals EVERY SINGLE DAY! Not just when we have company, although we eat well then too. Even though it’s just the two of us, Sue makes a beautiful meal every day. Here’s a look at our dinner today:

Roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and ‘shmoant fat’ (cream gravy), an avocado and tomato salad, asparagus, and broccoli, and a glass of red wine to wash it down. Crazy, eh?

After dinner Sue cleaned up the dishes and I took out the garbage and started my blog post. Only crap on TV so we’re going to sit down and watch my Redbox DVD rental, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, which is nominated for “Best Visual Effects”. After that, if we don’t find anything good on TV, we’ll watch another of my downloaded Oscar-nominated films.

Sunday: I woke up early. Watched CBS Sunday Morning. Then Fareed. Then Reliable Sources. Had French toast with fruit and peanut butter somewhere in there. Then I talked to Alex about trying to burn an iTunes movie to DVD — ended up downloading the movie from torrents and sharing with her via Dropbox.

After lunch I started watching golf (Woods vs Mickelson at Pebble Beach). I was thinking it would be a good day to go golfing — sun shining but a bit windy and cool — probably not too many golfers out today. But Sue decided we would rather go to the big Methodist church on King’s Ranch Road to hear some classical guitar concert. So, of course, that’s what we did. We walked through the golf course to get there. Very nice church (we’d never been inside before). The guitarist was a professional — played some highbrow music very well. Concert ended after about 90 minutes and we went to Walgreen’s to return last night’s DVD. Then back through the golf course.

Golf was over by the time we got home. Watched 60 Minutes and barbecued big fat pork sausages to go with the beans and salad Sue made. Sue liked supper even less than I did.

Then it was time to get comfy in front of the telly and watch 5 hours of Grammy Awards. We didn’t think we’d know any of the performers, but actually the show was quite entertaining and we knew lots of the artists. They’re all getting older with us. Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Diana Krall, and a whole lot of Adelle, who won 6 grammies. And many references and tributes to Whitney Houston who died yesterday. And just like that, the day was done!

Saturday: Bacon and eggs interrupted our morning movie, “A Separation”, a wonderful film from Iran nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Original Screenplay. It’s one of my downloaded movies and it has subtitles and there’s no way we could stay awake watching it at night, but it was an excellent way to spend a Saturday morning! Sue and I both really liked it. We headed into Apache Junction to the Fruit Market to restock our fruits and vegetables for another week. We always come away from that market with a van full of food and marvel at how much fresh food you can buy for $20-30.

In the afternoon I watched a bit of golf on TV and Sue sat outside and read. Then at around 3:30 I called the golf course and asked about our chances of walking nine holes — and was surprised to learn that it wasn’t busy and we could come on over. So we did.

Sue’s golf game was encouraging, mine a little less so. That’s the beauty of golfing with a partner: it’s never a complete write-off. And really, any afternoon walking the fairways at Mountain Brook with a beautiful red sunset reflecting on Superstition Mountain is pretty good. After we finished our nine holes Sue went to the putting green and I took a small bucket to the driving range. Time well spent.

We went home (Highway #60 is now plugged with traffic as the Renaissance Festival has started again — it will create a traffic jam on our road every weekend for the next 6 weeks!) and Sue presented a great supper (curried chicken leftovers). We watched a bit of TV and then put in our DVD rental, “Real Steel”, nominated for Best Visual Effects. Sue pronounced it one of the lamest movies we’ve watched — it was a silly movie about fighting robots.

Friday: I got up and watched the second half of the documentary “If a Tree Falls” (I’d fallen asleep last night while Sue watched it). Did a bit of computer work this morning. Then I went and sat outside and read my book, “The Art of Fielding”, which I’ve borrowed from Dave Driedger. It was quite warm today! After lunch I finished reading the book. We planned to go for a walk but it was a bit too warm during the day. So instead, we watched a second Oscar-nominated documentary, “Hell and Back Again”. Yesterday’s film made you think about ‘terrorists’ — and maybe even sympathize with the radical fringe. This afternoon’s movie was the story of a wounded soldier who returns from the war in Afghanistan — but left me feeling somewhat depressed about the war and American gun culture and the hopelessness of it all. After the movie we drove to the Firehouse Bar, parked our van, ordered a pizza for an hour later, and went for an hour-long walk around Mountain Brook. Temperature was still warm, sunset was magnificent. We stopped at Walgreen’s and rented the DVD “The Warrior”. Took our pizza back to our house. After supper we watched a bit of TV, then “The Warrior” (Nick Nolte is nominated for Best Supporting Actor), then a bit more TV with our night snack (pineapple with pomegranate).