Quilter's hop (long)

Howdy!

Taria asked:

Where you been birthday girl? Go somewhere fun? Eat something chocolate? Inquiring minds..... Taria

Sandy Ellison wrote:

Well, I went to Butterfly's house, of course! ;-D

Darling Husband & I were sent to a luxury resort palace kind of place in Scottsdale, AZ, by Mercedes-Benz; he and a few dozen other parts & service managers and directors who had exceptional sales last year got this award, so away we went. Over the river and thru' the mountains, where a 2 1/2 hour flight takes 1/2 a day, ya' know.

So, anyway, we were out there at the Fairmont Prncess, a very nice oasis in the desert. It was warm and clear and pretty... kind of like north Texas in March. But it was a Dryyyyyyyyy heat! Very dry. My hair is crackling. We're guzzling water and other fine beverages. We were pampered and spoiled, wined & dined, fluffed and ever-so-gently folded. The resort is huge. I'm talking HUGE! So we walked. And for all the fine dining (lots of chocolate every night and exquisite rum&coke

--my choice, you can have the flavorful margaritas) I came home w/out a couple of pounds. It all balances out, right?

I skipped the spa treatments; it's just not something I wanted to do, get pummeled and pounded into submission (sleep) when we had more activities to enjoy. Breakfast on the balcony in our room, overlooking the ducks, geese, rabbits & quail playing around one of the many ponds below us, listening to the golfers out on the tournament field south of us; we didn't take any clubs so skipped the golfing (golf--I've heard of it...). They offered us soaring, horse riding, exploration trips to the desert (would they really bring me back? we tend to clown around at these things), and a dozen other activities we just didn't have time for in

4 days. I traded my (intended) massage for a shopping trip; my trade-partner's husband and I were happy w/ that deal (apparently she can Shop! ). Found a nice Ecco shoe store and bought 2 pairs-- Yeee-Haw! And some books. And a new-to-me quilt magazine. Can't get too much unless I find a shipping store; we travel via air w/ just backpacks (no checked bags, no lost luggage). After a lavish lunch Gene & I went w/ a small group to Taliesin West, out there just east of Scottsdale. Frank Lloyd Wright was crazy, ya' know. While I admire his architectural genius, the man couldn't build worth a dam.. er..damn. Place reminds me of a Boy Scout Camp, build some real housing, then just camp in it for the next 75 yrs. And that's what the current students do, they pretty much camp out there. No major repairs are done or planned. However, it is a beautiful area (esp. if you like desert and lots of it), the tour guides/docents are amazing (they love the place!) and we had a good time. I'm glad to have seen it. But FLW was crazy. ;-) Dinner at the Wrigley Mansion, another ... odd conglomeration of building. Started as a hotel, went bust in the Big Crash (1929) so Mr. Wrigley bought it and turned it into a private home. Good for him. It's just a pile of a building, rooms on rooms on rooms, and kinda' spooky, long hallways, curving hallways that disappear into storage closets and then reappear in a bedroom. Mr. Wrigley, of the chewing gum fame and Chicago's Wrigley Field (baseball) made Phoenix his winter home. Mr. Wrigley died there and his wife stayed on, living there alone. ooo---hmmm.... The house has been sold a few times since then. The dinner was good, but we were disappointed to not be offered an after-dinner stick of gum (you know how restaurants have a bowl of peppermints waiting by the door?). Oh, well, the view out over Phoenix was fabulous, and we wondered if any of those planes would break pattern and come on into the dining area. These are older pics which more than do justice to the facility; once upon a time... Off to B-fly's house in the next mountain range. It's a beautiful house, and they're just settling in, w/ quilt studio in-progress. It's going to be great, lots of light, lots of electrical outlets, right off the kitchen. Met Mr. Joe; he's doing pretty good; we talked briefly; the poor guy needs some peace & quiet & time to recover! B-fly's s-i-l was there; she spends 1/2 of her year in Texas, smart gal. ;-D Just felt like we were at home w/ family. Upon entering the house I spied a gorgeous quilt on the futon, just fell in love at first sight, walked toward it to inspect, w/ Butterfly looking at me, and then I realized: I quilted that! It's been a couple of years since I saw it! Met & re-met her son, saw the quilts he worked on, smart guy, and cute, too (he's single, btw). ;-P B-fly treated us to a Bed Turning (that's the term I was hunting for), showing us layer after layer of quilts and afghans on the bed. Lovely, gorgeous, beautiful, heart-touching (the knitted one w/ all the special symbols/emblems/memories), and just fun! She has lots of color on the walls in that house, and it's great! (I don't do white walls. ) She fixed us lunch, we made pigs of ourselves, and had a hard time leaving because we couldn't stop talking. (We went by the quilt shop she mapped for us but Gene was really anxious to get to the amplifier tube warehouse and it was my turn to be nice. )

More wining and dining, some good music from William Eaton Ensemble, look at this instrument:

I asked for a cd, which started the MB people thinking, they orderedseveral dozen and we all got a complimentary copy of Sparks & Embers.(about as far from Metallica as I (w)could go ) The female flutistgave me a good lesson about clay pipes. W.E. demo'd the koto harp guitar,the percussionist did a drum solo. Nice, very nice. Everyone at the resort was friendly, helpful, outstanding service and courtesy. I kept asking people where they lived, where they were from, collected some good stories. (It's like much of n.Tx. and Calif-- who actually came from here/there?!!? ) Water gardens, a kind of Aztec & Native American blend..or interpretation.. which the New Jersey folks just loved, "Isn't this amazing?" Yeah, it's amazing, and amazingly familiar to us. Very impressive level of service. Which is why people go to resorts/spas, right?

Impression of the area? They're using a lot of water to create an oasis in that dessert. Sand, flat houses, sandy flat houses, easy to drive thru and find what we were looking for, lots of Winter Arizonans, like there are lots of Winter Texans, older population like s. Tx. for 6 months of the year. A lot of times I was reminded of El Paso, mountains in the background, lots of cactus. Of course, the saguaro is unique to Arizona. It's a beautiful blend of cities (but they don't say Metroplex as we do, w/ our dozens of cities running together). Lots of building & growth going on.

Coming home our plane was delayed for 4 hrs.. This was just too ridiculous to not be funny: the plane was headed to Dallas; hydraulic line went out, oil puddling under plane (thank goodness it didn't happen in the air, right?), need a new line to fix this problem. Call for PARTS!!!! Where is this part/hyd-line? In Dallas, of course! So we got another flight & went to Dallas while the other plane, crew, passengers were waiting for that part from Dallas (at one point Gene called his asst. mngr in Dallas and said, "Would you please go out to the airport and pick up a hydraulic line for a _ _ _ plane and FedEx it to Phoenix?" ) "Parts is parts!" American Airlines: we know why you're having problems.

Back home to the lush and lovely green-ness of north Texas. I'm a farmin' country girl. I gotta' have green. But the change to desert was interesting, the resort was fun (need a vacation now), and the folks "out there" are friendly and familiar. What a way to celebrate birthday week, huh? One of the couples was on their honeymoon, had just been married the day before they got to Az.. "So, Mr., how do you top this? She'll be expecting a big anniversary do!" Mercedes-Benz did a good job putting this together. Now it's back to the Real World and quilting. ;-D

Cheers!

Ragmop/Sandy -- enjoying a glass of tea, just plain tea, tea kinda' tea