Greek Orthodox Monastary & Cacti

On Sunday we were invited to Neil & Dorothy's for dinner...we visited and Neil said that we should go out to the monastary.... so away we went. From Mesa we headed east to Florence Junction then south on Route 79 towards Florence (which is on the way to Tucson). We got there and they were closed for tours. So we decided that since we were going to visit Memory on Monday that we would go via Florence. Florence by the way is a prison town..both state and federal. In the monastary grounds you cannot enter unless your legs and arms are covered...ladies had to cover their heads as you can see here...yes that is mom and gran. The monastary was started only 13 years ago by 4 Greek monks...there are over 40 monks living there now. All the material and engineering is from Greece. There were several buildings...a church and several other places of worship and residences.
The grounds were lush. Several palms, an olive grove, several fig trees, an orange and grapefruit grove as well. Much new construction going on as well. The two pictures of the grounds were taken from the gate on Sunday... I ruined all my Monday shots with an incorrect exposure...except for the one of my two girls.Cacti really made me smile... these little lovlies are called prickly pears...
This is a prickly pear in full bloom... it is so strange to see these beautiful blossoms coming out of the cactus.More cacti...I cannot find these in my book....
And these are my absolute favorites...they are the saguaro...apparently (sawaro). These are gorgeous... apparently the saguaro is 75 years old before it gets its 1st arm... these babies must be ancient...also found in lowere elevations. As we drove to Sedona..in higher elevations...there were no saguaro cacti.

Sedona & Jarome

Well this is a little late for posting but it certainly is timely in that we are in the middle of a springtime winter wonderland. Just looking at the pictures warms the bones...in thought anyway. As your dad has a reputation for driving to a destination and then driving around to explore that destination...well let me not disappoint. Once in the Phoenix area, I had to take a run up to Sedona...well because I wanted to. The pictures really do not do justice to the colour or the expanse of these hills. The drive through the desert was spectacular. We had Neil and Dorothy along with us and they gave us some interesting facts about the area. They explained the areas where certain types of cacti grew and where the division lines were. The trip to Sedona took us to higher altitudes and in these areas, my favorite cacti - the saguaro (sewaro) - the ones with the arms pointing upward, do not grow. We were up around 5000 feet or a mile high. I didn't get many pics of Jarome - the largest ghost town in the USA..but one funny picture of a 'Support Hillary' display. I would like to be able to revisit this area and spend more time exploring...get it..go to a destination and explore.


This picture made me chuckle. We were in a Mexican style market Teliquapaque (or something to that effect) and we found these lawn chairs made of large stones...you cannot really tell...and dear gran in a wheel chair...very reluctantly in a wheel chair.
Here is the 'Support Hillary' sign some lady had on her fence in Jarome... I am not sure what kind of support she was offering to Hillary.

Ernie & Wanda April 19, 2008

Mama in her new outfit...check out the shoes...
The wedding party...Ernie, Wanda, Wanda's grandkids Dylann and Kade, Ernie's grandson Alex, Carmen - Wanda's daughter, and Alvin - Laura's father-in-law.
Wanda with her two sons....Gran, Mart and Neil...awaiting dinner...

Mom with Ernie's step-sister Brigetta and her husband Robert Sand
Neil & Dorothy's daughter Shelley and her hubby Tony...
Neil & DorothyLaura & Ryan

Lisa and fiance Shaun Glines....

Neil & Dorothy in AZ

Here we are at the gorgeous Hospitality Suite Resort (2 stars...and stretching that)...Marian & gran reading the paper by the pool...Gran with Dorothy on their front stoop...beautiful sunshine...we were invited for supper on the Sunday after we arrived...great ribs and chicken...and all the trimmings...Mom with Uncle Neil...catch the palm trees in the back...A couple of doors down there was this humming bird sitting on her eggs in the tiny nest..that itself looks like a bird... A couple more doors down there is a dove roosting on a Christmas wreath...
You guessed it...gran enjoying the freshly pick grapefruit...
Weird looking cactus ...

This is the view down the lane from their trailer... I really love palm trees...

Tucson with Memory

We had a great day on Monday. We travelled to Tucson via routes 60 east to Florence Junction, south on 79 through Florence (a prison community - both a State prison and a Federal penetentiary). Just south of Florence is an amazing Greek Orthodox Monastary which we visited and then south again on 79 to Oracle Junction then south on 77 to Pima College in Tucson where we met this great young man Memory...here with mom and gran...
We had a great visit with a mediocre late lunch at Olive Garden...shorts and sunshine...what a treat...and Alvin the next one is just for you...
This is Memory's ride...he said that I should not take a picture...but I assured him that you would want to see his ride... The vehicle behind Memory's is the rental that we had for the week...Toyota Highlander...