St. Patrick's Day

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I am having a hard time sorting all of my thoughts to write this blog. I have many past memories regarding St. Patrick's Day, plus it is a big day in our Park. My maternal great grandparents immigrated from County Cork in Ireland, so St. Paddy's Day has always been an important event as I was growing up. My parents always made this a fun time around our house.
Some years ago, Shari and I enjoyed a fantastic trip to Ireland. We flew to Manchester, England....traveled into Whales (reminded me of Mary Poppins) and ferried across the Sea into Ireland. A few of the places we visited were the Ring of Kerry, the Muckross House, Bunratty Castle, Blarney Castle, County Cork, The Cliffs of Moher.....and of course, Waterford Crystal Factory, where I went wild for myself and a client. Much to my amazement I was able to kiss the Blarney Stone...after Shari assured me that they clean the stone after each kiss! We stayed in Bed and Breakfast Inns, so we could enjoy meeting an assortment of people. Shari did all the driving on the left hand side of the road and to this day she accuses me of leaving my drivers license home on purpose...ain't so. Ha.

Now to the present.....our Park celebrates the day with a parade led by Bagpipers, followed by wagons carrying our Park Linedancers and another with our Park Choir. Decorated golf carts are in the line-up, residents are in costumes and even the dogs are in proper attire. Oh yeah....they have the green beer wagon that is served along the way. Del said the green beeer tasted like the regular....ha! Let me tell you....this is a HOOT. Rob and Ted always skip school to enjoy the fun (along with Molly dog) and this year we enjoyed friends, Del and Pat Bosman, who participated in the parade with us. They were not acclimated to our hot weather and I think our 90 degree day was very well felt.

The day's celebration is always followed by a dinner of corn beef and cabbage at the club house. I did not reserve our tickets in time, so we all enjoyed Chicago hot dogs at Kenny D's. My group picture did not turn out, but Kenny D's is a little hole in the wall that serves great dogs....I still have an aversion to Chicago, as I explained in an earlier post.

Wayne and I finished the afternoon with the boys at Little League Ball. Then home to do a little business in the office.

A big thank you to Del and Pat for experiencing this with us.....and, what an experience it was!! Another day of signing off as a very tired Arizona Gramma, but still able to count my blessings. Mary Ann

PS.....hmmmmm I still don't understand why we celebrate an Irish day in the United States

Awards and Batter Up

This Arizona Gramma is having a hard time keeping up with life. My daily schedules have had me coming and going. The most important schedules have included Rob and Ted. I had forgotten how busy two boys can be.

Today was awards day at their school. I was sooooo proud of them as they each received the highest award....The Principal Award for each of them in their class. This award is for academic achievement in their class. As usual, this Gramma was busy drying her eyes.

Then.....it's time for Little League Baseball. Of course, Gramma has to go to practice and then the games start. Both boys are so tall. Teddy is actually in T-Ball, but they allow him to practice on Rob's team and he does quite well. Rob is the tallest on his team. They are going to be two very big boys. They needed a Manager for their team and when no one else was available... yep, Shari is now the team manager!! The kids call her "Coach Lowell". She definitely is NOT the Coach, but as an organizer, she is right in there managing and keeping all the boys and parents organized. She is a super Mom and very involved with her boys. It is funny to watch her arrive at the ball field with all the bats, balls, water, first aid supplies, etc. etc. Tom handles all the Boy Scout stuff.

A little of my day involved an early Doctor appointment to have some minor surgery on my neck.....raced to pick out new eye glass frames.....stopped to buy gluten free food and flew home for lunch. I comforted a neighbor who just lost her husband and rejoiced with another neighbor who was excited that her dog passed his 'service dog' test. Jumped in the car and raced to the School for the Awards Ceremony.....back in the car to pick Wayne up at the Airport. We went directly to the ball field to watch the boys practice. It is a good thing that I didn't have to walk far with any of these activities.....with my bad back and Parkinson's, I would not have made it through the day.

I feel so blessed and have so much to be thankful for. However, tonight I am signing off as a very tired Arizona Gramma.
Mary Ann

Winter Is Guest Time

Just a quick catch up with activities around here....the days quickly pass and I have a hard time keeping track of the days.
This is the time of year that we host many guest....always a fun time, but keeps me hopping. Often it is just people passing through. Yesterday was one of those days and it was exciting to have friends from Birch Bay, WA to spend the day. We ate a quick lunch here at home and then had the entire day to visit and chat. We were also able to pick oranges and lemons for them to take home We took a tour of our Park....they were especially impressed with our swimming pool as our water is kept at a nice warm temperature all winter. Tomorrow I will be picking up more friends at the airport.

Knitting: I love to make different neck huggers.....not sure what I will do with them, as we certainly don't wear them in Tucson.
One hugger I have completed and the yarn on the needles is the beginning of another....raspberry yarn with a stran of mohair. It really is very pretty. I just have a hard time finding the time to knit. Friends in the Park stop in daily and I love that....the day is over before it begins.

Tonight I enjoyed a Chicago Hot Dog from a cafe close to our home. I love a good Chicago dog, but I must admit it is the only thing I like about Chicago right now. Our world situation is very scary, however, it is also exciting to see Biblical Prophecy happening before our eyes. My prayer list grows daily and I do pray for many of my readers. Continue to count your blessings,
Mary Ann

Front Yard....work in progress

Okay......it is time to post a few pictures of our front yard of our little mobile nest. It is still a work in progress, but we finally have it to where we are happy with it. The house was blue and no yard when we moved in. After deciding that we loved this little place and didn't want to move, we thought we had better make it look a little better.

Thanks to Randy who made a trip down to help paint......we removed the dirty white rock and replace it with new rock. We moved my lime tree/pot to the front stump and found a few pots that we liked. As I said.....it is still a work in progress. You can see my porch where I sit with my iced tea.....I love my porch!!

Let me know what you think.....there is only so much you can do to a mobile home, but it is much larger inside than how it looks outside and we do love our neighbors and the Park. We have plans to enlarge the porch and add an Arizona room so we can welcome guest.....just waiting to see how the economy shakes out. Our temporary move is becoming more permanent and we love our resort lifestyle.


We do have many blessings that we count daily. Mary Ann

Mesquite Gardens

One of our favorite pastimes is visiting our local nursery and gardens. Mesquite Gardens is like a breath of fresh air, or an oasis in the Desert. Best of all it is very close to our home, so we love to visit often. It does the soul good to wander around and among this awesome nursery....it is not the usual nursery, but it is a haven for anything and everything that you could possibly be looking for your yard or garden. They feature the works of many artisans.....they grow all of their own flowers in their many large hot houses. They have large buildings that house citrus of every kind and type imaginable. In the background of all the many acres of floral masterpieces looms our Catalina Mountains. During the winter it is possible that there will be snow on these mountains, yet the array of floral colors loom below.

It is impossible to feel depressed or lonely after a walk around these Gardens......God has truly provided a special beauty and nourishment to add joy to our lives.

Remember to keep counting your blessings,
Mary Ann

Tom and Shari's New Toy for the boys

Tom and Shari picked up their new toy today and the boys are totally delighted! Airstream (remember them) is manufacturing a retro look of their first little travel trailer called "Taking Back America" and it is made in the USA. It looks like a bubble....small enough that they can pull it with their Honda Pilot, but large enough that the four of them can sleep inside.....It is an adorable little yellow bubble, that my neighbors named "Yellow Bird". It has a Clam Shell back and when opened reveals a complete outside kitchen. It has air conditioning, heater and has TV and Stero....stero speakers are also in the outside kitchen. They do plan to pull it up North this summer, but they will mainly use it for day trips to be comfortable in.

Shari is not a tent camper and when they are out with the Boy Scouts and the guys are in their tents, she can be comfortable and cozy in her little bubble. It will be fun to use on picnics with the family.

I am posting a couple of pictures that really don't do it justice....so for a more complete picture visit:

Our cul-de-sac neighbors gathered for a good look and everyone ended up on our porch to eat and chat. A good ending to a perfect day.....sunny, warm and 80 degrees....yeah!

Wayne completed the day by putting finishing touches on our outside house paint and trim. With our new front yard our little nest looks neat and sharp.

Until next time....remember to count your blessings. Mary Ann

Knowledge Is Wisdom

Tons of activity and confusion is going on in our Country right now, it is hard to know who, what, when or where. However, I believe knowledge is wisdom so I watch the news regularly and try to balance different views.....I also read all that I can about what is happening in our Country.....and, I don't like what I am hearing.

Again, as I just read another article by Bruce Fong, he concurs with my thoughts completely and he explains it far better than I can...... Again, I quote from Bruce: "My skills at government talk is quite modest. However, I am going to try and decipher out loud what I’m hearing. Maybe hearing myself explain things will help me digest things a little better.

If a homeowner has not been able to keep up with his house payments as he promised he would, there is help on the way. Even though he has legally entered into an agreement with his lenders he will be the recipient of a bail out. But, he only qualifies if he has been missing payments as he promised he would do.

Also, if the house that he agreed to purchase is now worth less than what he paid for it there is also help on the way. “They” will reduce the principle of his mortgage in order for him to restart his payments. “They” will also wave late payments, that is payments that have been missed will be forgiven.

In addition whatever the interest on the agreed mortagage will also be lowered as the priniple is reduced. “They” will rework the numbers to make it more comfortable for the homeowner who has been delinquent on his payments.

Finally, “they” will given him a reward for participating in this restructuring of his past agreed to terms. If after one year he is able to keep up on his new payments then, they will give this homeowner a $1,000 cash reward. This is like hearing about Christmas coming in February.

Now, since I have been keeping up with my mortgage payments without a miss since I promised to do so years ago, I do not qualify for this bailout. Furthermore, since I have been faithful in my payments then I will not have the principle of my loan reduced. Nor will the interest on my loan be reduced. But, I am included in this bailout plan because I am one of the “they” that is paying for all of this."

I repeat....Knowledge is Wisdom