Now that we're back in Las Vegas…
/We’ve been home a few weeks now and it’s been a busy time… good busy, for the most part. It seems that almost every day finds something scheduled on our calendar. Do this, do that, don’t forget to get those, remember to complete that, and order stuff for Blanche so we can put that on the to-do list, too.
It’s that time of year for our annual checkups… primary care visits including blood/lab work, dermatologist checks, dental checkups (we both needed the usual cleaning and polishing, but crowns were on the agenda, too), eye checks (new glasses all around). So we’ve made the rounds of physicians and specialists in the area and we’re hopefully good till next year.
House repairs were on the agenda, of course. The sprinkler system in the front yard sprung a leak and David spent a day making sprinkler repairs. Though Paul took care of trimming back the lantana while we were gone, they were again in need of a haircut as were all the front yard shrubs. Our Queen of the Night has been in bloom lately… beautiful to see in the morning, but the subsequent debris when the blooms shrivel and fall off later makes a mess to clean up. While adding air to the R/O, David discovered that the garbage disposal was leaking and needed replacing. Always something!
A friend told us about free exercise and yoga classes being offered at our local community center. The classes have proven to be fun as well as healthy. We go to yoga once or twice a week, the health club 3x/week, and Zumba (yup, Zumba!) twice a week. We still walk every morning for 1-2 miles and after dinner each night for a mile or so.
In nearby Henderson, Nevada, just south of us, there are lots of activities, concerts, and festivals always happening. We attended a free Chanticleer concert one evening. “The GRAMMY® Award-winning vocal ensemble … is known around the world as ‘an orchestra of voices’ for its wide-ranging repertoire and dazzling virtuosity.” It was a most enjoyable evening.
Blanche’s to-do list was and remains long. The usual maintenance e.g. air filter change, oil change, have all been completed. The dealer discovered a leak in the coolant reservoir while Blanche was having her oil changed and wanted a mere $500 to repair it. David ordered one from Amazon and completed the job in about ½ hour for under $100. Nice having an engineer around the house. Additionally, David has been working on some of ‘wanna have’ items for Blanche like a new mask (bra) for Blanche’s nose and adding better, more convenient reading lights over our bed.
Blanche’s new Bra
We took a morning to watch the annular eclipse. Mary joined us and we all watched the spectacle, with our eclipse glasses on of course, while sipping coffee in our own backyard.
We’re fortunate to have a fairly nice, inexpensive Cinemark movie theater nearby. ($5/tickets for the movie and $25 for the accompanying popcorn and diet-Coke!) We went to see Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Based on David Grann's 2017 best-selling book, this 3+-hour film was excellent, eye-opening, riveting, brutal, and so very sad. We’re now in the queue at our local library for the e-book.
We thought it would be fun to watch the recent Orionid meteor shower at Valley of Fire, so we packed up Blanche and decided to camp for the night at the park to watch the meteors. We were up for about an hour twice during the night and observed more of a drizzle than a shower. We saw about 10-12 meteors total… and they moved so fast as they flashed across the sky, if we weren’t paying rapt attention, we missed the show. Probably not worth the loss of sleep, but a night at Valley of Fire is always great.
What we saw looked nothing like this! Photo credit: Vanderbilt Museum
We headed back to Henderson one Sunday morning for a Native American Festival which was interesting and entertaining. The dancing and drumming were particularly enjoyable.
This particular dance was Azteca.
For my birthday, we spent a night at the Historic Boulder Dam Hotel, a boutique hotel in downtown Boulder City. It’s a delightful place as is downtown Boulder City. It would definitely be worth doing this again with a repeat of the champers that accompanied my birthday gifts. Thank you, David! According to Travel Nevada when the dam was being built, “The property became the go-to accommodation for businessmen and government mucky-mucks, but also movie stars like Bette Davis, who stayed at the hotel in 1934 while on vacation following the filming of “Of Human Bondage”; Will Rogers, who performed at the nearby Boulder Theater; Howard Hughes, who recuperated at the hotel after wrecking his airplane on Lake Mead; and even Shirley Temple.”
When the Hoover Dam (originally called the Boulder Dam) was being built, all the celebrities and government ‘mucky-mucks’ stayed here.
We’ve caught up on paperwork and blogs and bill-paying. I decorated for Halloween and then packed it all away and got out the Thanksgiving decorations. I’m in the process of preparing for our Thanksgiving feast. There’s Christmas shopping and wrapping gifts and writing our annual Christmas newsletter to complete. And as old-fashioned as it might seem, we also send out a few Christmas cards each year. Before you know it, the Thanksgiving decos will come down and the tree and house decorating for Christmas will begin.
This year, we’re planning to drive cross-country to New England for Christmas with Lin and family, and then down to Richmond, Virginia to spend time with Brennan and Hannah at the New Year. We’ll leave shortly after Thanksgiving, so there’s lots to do before we head out. Along the way, we plan to visit friends and family we’ve not seen in a while. I’ve also been trying to find a different cross-country route for this road trip to avoid boring interstates as well as traveling the same old roads. It’s as much about the journey as it is about the destination. Research is in progress.
We recently learned, by the way, that Doug Kirby, one of the authors of Roadside America, is the son of one of our new community center friends… small world! We love that site! You can bet I’ll be consulting it frequently as we make our way across the continent. Don’t want to miss anything… especially if it’s quirky!
There’s never a dull moment lately and we like that just fine. We’re happy and healthy and looking forward to a fun road trip in December and an awesome holiday season.
What about you? What’s going on in your world? Thanksgiving at home or away? Plans for the holidays? Holiday shopping in progress or done or not at all? Come on… spill the beans!