Category: Interim News

Yes, I’m heading back to Europe this week but before I go I thought I’d get you caught up on what I’ve been doing since I got back from the trip with my girls.

After relaxing at home for about a month, I headed off to Chicago to see family and friends. I took my time driving back, stopping in Sante Fe and Dodge City.

Then I headed to Kansas City where I visited with my dear friend, Themum.

Then it was off to Omaha, where I stayed with more good friends, Kathy and Tom.

After stopping to visit friends in Iowa, I headed to Chicago where I spent the next two weeks housesitting for my nephew and his family as they headed to Japan for vacation. While there I…

Went to a concert at Pritzker Pavilion.

Met with my dear friend Christine.

Visited the Chicago History Museum. I hadn’t been there in years and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Visited the Field Museum with my niece, Mary, and cousin, Michele.

I played a few rounds of golf at a 9-hole course near Mike’s house.

And of course, I took a few trips to my favorite place in Chicago.

My niece, Jen, hosted a family gathering for me at her beautiful house in DeKalb, but unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures. OMG!!! I had a great time catching up with everyone.

I also visited my Peter on the first anniversary of his death.

It was a wonderful two weeks catching up with family and friends. While not terribly hot (only in the 80s) it was very humid so I remembered very quickly why we moved from Chicago to the dry weather in Arizona. I’ll take our 110 degrees with 10% humidity any day over the hot, sticky mess that is a Chicago summer.

On my way back to AZ, I stopped in Kentucky to visit Mammoth Cave. The cave is gigantic, but not terribly impressive when compared to other caves.

I also stopped at Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home.

I played a decent round of golf in Cave City, Kentucky.

I passed through Hope AR so I stopped at the only thing to see in the town….Bill Clinton’s birthplace.

My last day on the road I stopped at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I was in the first group into the cave so I got to enjoy it virtually on my own. It is a beautiful place.

After 3 1/2 weeks and over 5700 miles, I made it back home in early August.

My fall as been busy with my various hobbies. My golf game had deteriorate so I had a playing lesson with one of the golf pros. It was like magic and I’m playing better than ever.

I went to a few concerts with friends.

Stephen Schwartz wrote the music for Wicked, one of my favorite musicals. He performed with the Phoenix Symphony and it was a great show. It was so fun to hear stories of how he wrote the music.

Then I also saw Frankie Valli. He’s 90 years old and didn’t move around much, but he could still hit those notes.

I decided to switch from stained glass to woodworking. In spite of having very scary tools, I’m having a ball.

It’s been a ton of fun learning new skills and the other members are incredibly helpful. It’s a bit scarier than stained glass where all I had to worry about was needing a band aid on a cut. In wood I have to worry about reattachment surgery but so far so good.

Anyway, that brings us up to this week. I leave on Wednesday 11/20 and am looking forward to visiting the Christmas markets. Hope you can come along with me. Talk soon.

Note: This post summarizes what we’ve been doing since we got back from Puerta Vallarta in November. If you already know or don’t care, feel free to stop reading. The next post will start our 4-month EPIC ADVENTURE beginning in London.

Thanksgiving weekend I went to Tucson with some friends to see Hamilton. It was my first time seeing the show and it was amazing! It was so great to finally see it live after watching it on Disney Plus about 50 times. It was weird, though, to hear the parts sung in different voices than the original cast. I’d see it again in a heartbeat.

Peter and I went to several concerts at Symphony Hall including a wonderful Holiday Pops show.

There was also a very nice Christmas concert here at the Ranch.

We had a holiday block party in our garage to meet as many neighbors as possible. We had about 20 people attend so it was a great time. We were hoping it would start a monthly roving happy hour but nothing so far. Oh well, we tried.

The day after the happy hour I had surgery on my shoulder to take care of a bone spur that was keeping me from participating in my activities. It had gotten to the point that I couldn’t play pickleball or golf and even stained glass was difficult. So, I decided to have the arthroscopic surgery and take care of the problem. Surgery went well and I started PT just a few days later. Within a month I was allowed to play pickleball with my left hand and, while not easy, at least I was able to get on the court. Everything is back to normal now and my shoulder is doing great.

A few days after my surgery we took a drive up to the Phoenix Zoo. Compared to San Diego Zoo, Brookfield and the Omaha Zoo it wasn’t much. But it was a nice day, and it was fun to be out.

In January I saw the Temptations and Four Tops in concert. Peter was a bit under the weather, so our friend Stephanie joined me, Jim and Kathie for a wonderful evening. In each group, the only surviving founding member still sings.

Duke Fakir of the Four Tops is 86 years old and while his voice wasn’t what it used to be; it was incredible watching him perform. For the most part he sat on a stool but every once he’d get up and join the other guys.

When the Temptations came out there were only 4 of them and we were worried that founding member Otis Williams (80 years old) wasn’t singing. It turns out that they had a brand-new member who had only been with them a couple of months. He joined them for the last song. The keyboard player joined the guys on vocals which gave them the sound for which they were famous.

In February Peter’s sister, Mary Beth, visited for a week. She was here for Peter’s birthday on the 1st, so we celebrated by driving to Tucson to see Wicked (their first time, my fourth). It was a wonderful production and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We also went to Tubac for an afternoon of good Mexican food and shopping for outside wall art.

Mary Beth had a great time learning to play pickleball and then on her last day, we went to opening day of the Renaissance Faire in Gold Canyon AZ. It’s just over an hour away up the back roads through the desert. Mary Beth goes to the Faire in Kansas City with her family every year and was very impressed with the layout. It was a beautiful day and, other than an hour-long wait to get in, we had a great time.

One of the many skits.

We were in Las Vegas for Super Bowl Weekend. Peter spent most of the weekend hanging with his vending buddies who meet in Vegas for the weekend every year. They hadn’t gone for the last couple of years, so it was fun for them to get together. I was there to help with the driving as it’s only 5 1/2 hours so, if you consider how early he’d have to get to the airport, it’s just as fast to drive as it is to fly. Peter and I did spend time together Friday night when we went to see Mat Franco’s show. Mat won America’s Got Talent in 2014 and is an amazing magician. Here is one of his performances from AGT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JdlabjN3p8&t=342s

Peter and I were sitting on the aisle about 3/4 of the way up the relatively small theater. At one point Mat disappeared from the stage and a split second later was standing next to Peter in the aisle. How did he do that? It was an incredible show, and we were so glad we went. If you ever get to Vegas, check it out. He announced that the Linq Hotel and Casino just signed him for another 5 years. Congrats Mat!!

On February 19th we went back to the Valley to see Andrea Bocelli in concert. To say it was amazing is an understatement. The seats on the main floor were $700 per ticket so we opted for seats in the upper level which were still $169 each but worth every penny. The concert started 30 minutes late (Italians have a very loose definition of time) but once it started it was mesmerizing. The first half was all operatic numbers and, while I would rather have my eyes scratched out than listen to opera, it was truly incredible.

After a 20-minute intermission, the second half was all pop numbers. There were several guest performers including 2 of his children. First, his 9-year-old daughter, Virginia, sang Hallelujah.

At our concert, Virginia suddenly stopped singing one of the verses, starting back up again at the chorus. At the end of the song, Andrea admitted that he messed up the lyrics and, since she didn’t know what he was doing, she just stopped. She was quite poised for such a young girl singing in front of 20,000 people.

Here are a couple of short videos I took.

As a final encore (there were 3) Andrea and his son Matteo sang Ed Sheeran’s Perfect Symphony. It was amazing. There is certainly a lot of talent in that family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVz0xPyWZG0

In early March my niece, Christina, visited from southern Illinois. She’s a high school special ed teacher and was only able to come for a long weekend but it was fun to see her.

I wanted to get a nice camera for our upcoming trips, and since, in addition to being a teacher, Christina is also a professional photographer, she helped me pick one. She learned photography on a Canon Rebel, so I bought the Canon T7 which is the latest version of that camera. It’s better than a point and shoot but not so sophisticated that I can’t use it. She used it to take some nice pictures of me and Peter.

Just a few days after Christina left, my sister Sue came for a visit. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. She watched me play a few games of pickleball and also went out with us to play golf at our Lady Lynx St. Patrick’s Day Scramble. It was a lot of fun.

Sue wanted to learn how to do stained glass, so she made a cute Christmas tree ornament.

We also took a trip up to Scottsdale to have lunch with dear friends after which we went to the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit. Sue had been wanting to see it but didn’t make it when it was in Chicago. Luckily it was extended in Scottsdale so she was finally able to attend.

We drove down to Tucson to see Jersey Boys. Since we all grew up with the music of the Four Seasons, we thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Our friends Kathie and Jim came over for pizza one night. Peter has been working hard perfecting his crust and it was delicious. Sue was here for 10 fun days, and it was wonderful to have her visit.

Since then, we’ve gotten back to our full schedule of activities…Peter swimming and working out at the gym 5-6 days/week. I started lap swimming for the first time since I retired from the Navy in 98. The first few times were pretty rough but I’m getting back into the “swim” of it. I also am back to pickleball twice a week and the shoulder is holding up pretty well. At least it was until I fell hitting a low shot. I was off balance and my momentum took me right into the net, which kept me from face planting on the court but hyperextended my back and my right shoulder. I was stiff and sore for a few weeks but then I was back on the court.

I’m still working hard in the stained-glass studio. Here are some of my latest projects.

In April we went to a spring training game at Sloan Park, the Cubs winter home. We played the White Sox, and it was a real pitchers’ duel….Cubs won 15-9. Our seats were great, 3 rows behind the Cubs dugout. At Wrigley these are $400 seats; we paid $69. We had tickets to see a game while Sue was visiting but the lockout canceled that game. 🙁

The following video is the dugout celebration after a 3-run homer by the good guys.

While we enjoyed the game, it was weird to see the team with so many new faces. After the trade deadline massacre in July of last year the team looks totally different so it will take a while to become familiar with all the new players.

Then in May we went to Chase Field to watch the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks. We went with a large group from Robson and had a great time. It was nice to be on the bus so we didn’t have to worry about driving and parking.

We went to a few more concerts including Chicago and Brian Wilson and Al Jardine from the Beach Boys. All of these guys are pushing 80 years old, and the voices aren’t what they used to be, but it was a fun concert.

We also attended a concert where a string quartet played the music of Queen. It was absolutely beautiful. Who knew Brian May’s guitar would translate to violin, viola and cello? Here’s the one video we were able to take.

We went to several pool parties in the community, played bunco every month with the Democratic Club (I actually did quite well at some of our bunco nights), went to several movies at our Dive in Movie nights at the pool and hung out by the pool several days a week. Peter is addicted to jigsaw puzzles, so he spends a lot of time in the community library putting those together.

When it’s cool enough in the evening we’ll sit on our patio in our beautiful backyard listening to the fountain. We continuously have to pinch ourselves to make sure it’s all real. We are living the dream and absolutely love being retired! We have many friends here and are so glad we made the movie.

Today is 4th of July and we only have 18 days and a wake up before the start of our next trip. On July 23rd we’re heading off to London for the beginning of our first European adventure in 3 years; and what an adventure it will be!!

Talk with you then. Love to all….Lynn and Peter

August 2021

Ok…so when I last posted in March 2020 we were heading home from Aruba and looking forward to our summer trip on the Queen Mary 2 followed by 5 weeks in the UK. Obviously that trip didn’t happen. Like everyone else in the world we stayed home for what seemed like an eternity before we started getting out a little bit during the summer.

Here’s a summary of what we’ve been up to in the last 18 months.

We attended my niece’s high school graduation in May 2020. It was a drive-by and each graduate was allowed 2 cars. After the 30-second ceremony we went back to the house for pizza and a socially distant celebration.

Then in August we had an addition to our family. Our granddaughter, Deanna, had a beautiful little girl they named Kimberly. When she was about 3 weeks old Grandpa and I babysat so Deanna could run a few errands. We watched not only Kimmy, but her two older siblings who were attending school via Zoom. We were only alone with the kids for about 30 minutes so we did okay. Thank god the diapers are marked with “front” and “back” or we might have had a bit of trouble when it came time for a diaper change.

We stayed in Chicago for our 5th wedding anniversary and while it wasn’t the celebration in London we’d planned, being together on our special day was enough. We spent the night at the Waldorf Astoria in Chicago and enjoyed a delicious meal at a local Italian restaurant. Of course we could only eat outside but the weather was beautiful so it was a great anniversary.

And then in early October when the forecast for Chicago was in the low 30s, we decided we couldn’t take another Chicago winter and made the big move to Arizona. We’d been looking for our perfect retirement place for several years and after our month in Glendale AZ in 2019 we knew we wanted to be in the Phoenix area. So, we got in touch with realtors on both ends and within 10 days we sold our house in Minooka, bought a house in Eloy AZ and were back home packing for our retirement move.

While our original plan had been to live in the Mesa AZ area, we ended up at Robson Ranch in Eloy AZ, about half way between Phoenix and Tucson. Click the link to view a video of the community. https://www.robson.com/communities/robson-ranch-arizona/

The community is in the middle of nowhere, about 45 minutes from the closest Target in Chandler. We stayed here when we were house hunting as a part of their guest program. We paid $110 for a 3-night stay in a 2 bedroom house. For that price we also got 18 holes of golf and a free dinner at the onsite restaurant. We had absolutely no desire to live here because it was so far from Phoenix but fell in love with the 5-star resort atmosphere and the friendly people. It would have taken 6-9 months to build a new home but luckily we found a resale that we loved. It was built in 2018 but had only been lived in for about 9 weeks. So, it was basically brand new. We closed in AZ on Monday of Thanksgiving week followed on Tuesday by the sale of Minooka. It was a whirlwind 5 weeks but we couldn’t be happier. Our home is just over 1700 square feet and has 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a den for Peter. It’s significantly smaller than our Minooka house (3500 square feet with the finished basement) but we don’t miss the space. We gave most of our furniture to the grandkids and bought a few new things here. It’s a perfect size for us and we love the community.

Before leaving Chicago we did a couple of “last” things.

Since moving in to our new house we painted the walls a beautiful soft grey, added ceiling fans throughout the house and the patio, installed under and over cabinet lighting in the kitchen, installed a customized master closet, added storage cabinets and epoxy flooring in the garage and did some amazing hardscaping in the backyard. The landscaping had already been done but we added the paver patio, pergola, outdoor kitchen (with Peter’s pizza oven), fire pit and fountain. We also bought a golf cart so we are officially old people in a retirement community.

We live in an active adult 55+ community which has a ton of amenities and activities. The community has a very nice golf course so we play quite a bit. I’m now the VP of the Lady Lynx, a 9-hole women’s golf league. It’s a fun group of women and after we play we gather for drinks and a bite to eat at our onsite grill. I’ve also learned to play pickleball (graduated out of the Novice group in April and now play with the “big kids”), have taken up stained glass, participate in water aerobics and take an occasional Tai Chi class. Peter works out at the onsite fitness center and swims a ton of laps almost every day. We also played in the summer corn hole league. Neither of us had played before so we’re not very good but we won a few games. Most importantly, though, we had a lot of fun and met some great people. Peter met a guy who went to the same high school. Talk about a small world.

We went to a Cubs Spring Training game in Mesa.

We’ve been trying to see some of the local sites . Even though we’re in the middle of the desert, there’s quite a bit to do/see within a few hours’ drive.

In addition to day trips, we’ve enjoyed some entertainment in our community. We attended quite a few concerts including groups covering the Everly Brothers (one of Peter’s favorite groups) a British Rock and Roll cover band and a Journey cover band. We also attended a Christmas concert, a cover of Carole King and a cover of female artists like Whitney Houston and Ella Fitzgerald. We thoroughly enjoyed each concert.

Here are a couple of YouTube video links.

https://youtu.be/RKtVMx3aA8I British Rock and Roll cover band.

https://youtu.be/cT7zy-onji8 Journey cover band

We took a trip up to Mt. Lemon with one of the community groups – The Roving Ranchers. We drove up the mountain in our own cars and met for lunch. This was our first trip with the group and we look forward to doing more.

The community had pool parties for both Memorial Day and 4th of July. Several hundred people collected at the pool for music, food and drink.

Here is a short video of our community 4th of July celebration by the pool. https://youtu.be/5vN8jjI3eF8

Speaking of the heat, the high desert temps really aren’t that bad because of the super low humidity. We’ve played golf with the temp as high as the low hundreds. We can play 18 holes as long as we start no later than 7:00. If the temp is going to be too high, we get out early or only play 9 holes. Between playing golf and going to the pool several times a week, I’ve gone through about a gallon of sun screen. Peter has a crazy dark tan and has lost about 25 pounds. Between getting a lot of exercise and not being in the house to snack, the weight has been falling off of him. He’s looking and feeling great!

In late June my nephew Mike visited with his family. They hung out with us for the day and were our first overnight visitors. It was great to spend time with them.

In mid-July the Cubs were in town to play the Diamondbacks. We went to games on both Friday and Saturday nights. Since it’s about an hour to Chase Field we stayed in Phoenix Friday night. We had a great time and our beloved Cubbies won both games. Of course this was before the Trade Deadline Massacre when our core players were traded. It was fun to see Riz, KB and Javy for the last time in Cubbie Blue. Thanks guys….we’ll miss you! 😢

Then in August my sister, Amy, and her daughters Gina and Madison paid us a visit. It was a first plane ride for the girls. Luckily, the weather was great, so it was a smooth flight. They spent a couple of days here playing pickleball, enjoying the pool and doing a small stained-glass project.

Then we headed to San Diego for 5 days. There we enjoyed the beautiful San Diego Zoo, Old Town, Sea World, Balboa Park, the USS Midway and Mission Beach.

After 5 days in San Diego the girls flew home. We had a wonderful time and it was great to see them. Hopefully they can come back again sometime soon.

As I write this it’s Wednesday August 25th and we’re packing for our next adventure. Tomorrow we leave for 2 1/2 weeks in the mountains. We’re heading to Sedona AZ, the north rim of the Grand Canyon and Colorado. We’ll spend our anniversary in the Colorado Springs area before checking out Rocky Mountain National Park. On our way home we’ll spend a couple of days in Sante Fe. It will be great to be on the road again. I’ll post pictures from our adventure so keep checking the blog.

Talk with you soon. Love to all from Lynn and Peter