Arizona Week #5 Highlights: March 14 – 20

Yet, another fun-filled week in Arizona. Yes, I again line danced and quilted. Ray played shuffleboard and went on a bike ride. Highlights were the Sun Life Quilt Show (yes, I finished my wall hanging in time), St Patty’s Day Parade, and two hikes: one to McDowell Mountain and the other to the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center.

• The Quilt Show was very informal. There were 3 or 4 of the quilters doing demonstrations (hand quilting, making rag quilts, and English paper piecing), no lectures or presentations. Also quite a few of the quilts were pieced only and not quilted. Although you couldn’t get by with this at most quilt shows, it is a common practice here since many are pieced at the park and quilted back home. The quilt in the center is mine. I used black and a fabric called stonehenge for contrast and a bright red border to pull it together. Most of the quilting is done in the ditch or shadow. I did stipple the black border and even worked a lizard and my name and date into the stippleing. The pattern is “Day and Night” by Eleanor Burns.
• St. Patty’s Day Parade: first off, sorry I don’t have more photos but since we were in the parade, I couldn’t take as many of the other participants. Our group was the bikers and hikers, we decorated our bikes with pinwheels, crepe paper, and wore obnoxious hats. Behind us was street C who put together a hilarious team of horses, hobby horses that is. Then we had the line dancers, Shriners in their cars, the park band, St Pat with snakes trailing after him in a golf cart. And to wrap it up, free green beer on the patio with lots of music.

• McDowell Mountain Regional Park: Scenic Trail. This was our first hike on our own and we got there later than we should have (hardly any shade on the trail). We learned of this trail from our same book, Hiking Phoenix, favorite day hikes. The effort was fairly easy but not so easy you might as well walk around the block. Little Piece of Luck: we happened upon a Ranger giving a nature walk and joined in. Now we know what Mormon Tea bush is (echinacea, now a no-no in diet pills) and Brittle Bush and smelled the wonderful Creosote (the Ranger poured water on it so we could experience what the desert smelled like when it rains). Back at the visitor’s center, Ray found a new hat for his ever expanding collection. It was a Horny Toad Lizard, very neat. We also bought a couple books on wild flowers and cacti and a children’s book for the grandkids.
• And, lastly, the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center. This is really a nice facility and a great place to learn about other places like the Gilbert Water Ranch for bird watching. Walks are held along the Salt River twice a month through March Saturdays at 8 am. Our favorite sighting was a pair of Cinnamon Teals. We also saw a Virdin, Green Heron, Anna Hummingbird, and a good number of the famous little brown birds. Next year we need to remember our bird guides and to buy a second pair of binoculars.