Category Archives: Southwest

My first Bed Turning

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It supposedly originated in Amish country but my first experience at a bed turning is clear out here in Arizona. I was at the Havasu Stitchers quilt show. They held an event they called a Bed Turning. They had a stack of quilts, a combination of newer and antique, stacked on a bed. They showed and talked through the history of the quilt and its maker and the design details of each of the quilts. Some of them were made in the 1800s. I think it was fascinating. It is probably just as well that Kent opted to stay in camp for this outing.

Seaplane classic

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A cruise-in of seaplanes. Radio controlled seaplanes that is. The local club is having a rally here at the park. It is a pretty big deal with lots of planes. The windy weather delayed some of the festivities but we still got to see both daytime and night flying. They have some pretty fancy lighting and amazing flying skills.

Wild burros and a bobcat..a great hike

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Today we encountered some actually wild, wild burros. They were wary of us but also very curious. They kept their distance but watched us closely until we moved out of sight around the corner. We teased them a little (bad, I know) They even moved to be able to see us when we hid behind trees.
The bobcat: we got a nice long look at a bobcat down by the river. He just cruised by, not at all bothered by our presence.

Wee….a slot canyon with a slick-rock slide

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Crack in the Mountain hike. The locals recommended a hike that runs though a slot canyon down to the Lake. It starts in a dry wash but the best part is a section through a gradually narrowing, smooth walled, canyon. There are lots of small rock falls to scramble through and one about 7 feet high that we “had to” slide down like a playground slide. Fun. We returned on the high route—not climbing back up the slot canyon—and had some great views of the lake. The locals are right, it is a good hike.

Surprise visitors

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It was a quiet, moonlit evening and I was out enjoying the cool evening air. I heard a terrible racket from the nearby mesquite brush. It sounded like elephants breaking their way through the underbrush. Then there was a growling sort of sound and more crashing of limbs. I was spooked enough to climb up on the picnic table but stayed to see what might be coming…..it was feral pigs! A sow and four piglets and one other adult. They wandered around between camp and the lake then came in close to chow down on the mesquite beans at the corner of our site. This park is lakeside and the other three sides are surrounded by city/residential. Seems odd they would tolerate these beasties. It pretty much disrupted the tranquility of the evening but no\ harm and fun to watch. They scuffled a little over the best mesquite beans and the piglets kept insisting on nursing.

Symphonic winds..Ghostly Interlude

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A 30 piece group of local musicians. They played Halloween/Horror theme music….Bach: Toccata in D Minor, Strauss: Thunder and Lightning, Grieg: Hall of the Mountain King, and some scary theme movie music. Abracadabra: Frank Ticheli was the coolest piece.
The theme from Jaws was accompanied by a fly over of a radio controlled Dirigible shark.
It was by no stretch a polished professional performance but the musicians seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves as did the audience. We had fun…could have gone in costume and maybe won a hand carved pumpkin but we missed that detail in the concert announcement!