Veteran's Day 2018

One hundred years ago today, the armistice was signed that ended World War I.  Anthem has their Veteran's Day memorial and we attended the ceremony last year.  This year, we will be in church so Steve and I checked out the memorial yesterday at 11:11 to see the sun shine through the openings of each pillar to light up the seal of the United States.

We weren't the only ones to have the idea, as you can see....

Last week were four vehicle inspection Zone Conferences.  Tuesday, we went to Prescott, Wednesday was right here in Anthem, Thursday was in Phoenix and Friday was in Goodyear.  Steve and I plan to arrive at each location by 8:00 so the missionaries have an hour and a half to clean their vehicles before the conference begins at 10:00.  And it has been chilly all week!  I expected it in Prescott but not so much down here in the valley.  And Wednesday's breeziness didn't help, either.  This was an extra special vehicle inspection because all 60+ TiWi's were replaced.  Nancy McKay from Fleet in Salt Lake came down to supervise the operation.  Mike and Landon were the technicians.  The new TiWi's are a bit more sensitive (and they have a female voice) so Steve has been getting texts ever since with complaints about "I got an aggressive driving for making a U-turn", etc.  Sigh.

Here we are on Tuesday with Nancy. And below that are photos of Landon and Mike as they work.

We celebrated my birthday a bit early on Saturday by driving to Wickenburg (about 40 miles west of us) to their annual Bluegrass Festival.  The drive was nice - Wickenburg is a lovely town nestled in desert-y hills - and the music was just fantastic.  Temperatures were perfect, although a bit cool for me in the shade.  (not for Steve).  In addition to hearing three professional groups, we also got to hear the mandolin competition and the group competition.  It was held at the rodeo grounds and was very laid back.  We could have brought our RV and camped and listened to bluegrass jam sessions all night, if we had wanted to.  

Driving home, and just out of Wickenburg, the Hassayampa River surfaces (apparently, it goes above and underground quite a bit) to create a lovely riparian oasis and there is a rest stop right there.  I actually believe I have been there before waaay back when I was 8 or 9.  I remember stopping by the Hassayampa River to eat a picnic breakfast on our way to visit my sister Judy in California.  We had been visiting Jerri in Mesa and, in usual fashion, we left at the crack of dawn (my dad's modus operandi) and, by Wickenburg, it was time to eat breakfast.  As Steve and I walked around, I am pretty sure it is the same place.

We checked out the DVD "Man of La Mancha" and watched it yesterday evening.  Although a bit dated, it is still a good story with wonderful music.  

And there you have it for this week.