Sunday, March 18, 2012

WINTER COMES TO CONGRESS, AZ

The stormy weather predicted to blow in from California arrived right on schedule.  Rain pounded on our roof last night, the temperature plummeted, and I wasn’t surprised to see snow on the nearby mountains when I peeped out the window this morning.  As I write at noon, a blustery wind is blowing, rain drops blur the windshield from time to time, and the temperature is around 40 degrees cooler than yesterday at this time.  Very wintery!

Snow on the nearby mountains

Coming our way

Awoke to snow near North Ranch Coming our way

What a complete change from the weather we’ve enjoyed during the past few days!  We’ve spent much of our time outdoors, hiking, reading, and socializing.  Walking around North Ranch, we often run into people we know, or end up in conversations with friendly residents of the park.  Yesterday, as we stood outdoors talking with Jackie Hada – a Boomer friend who had organized a happy hour at her place soon after we arrived – we were surprised to see a woman approach pushing a stroller holding her cat!  As she got near, she asked “Are you Odel and Laurie?”  Thus we met Pat McFall, familiar to us through Mike McFall’s blog, Mike and Pat’s Travels.  We’ve had several such serendipitous encounters since we arrived.

Here are some photos of our recent desert explorations (hover your cursor over a photo to read the caption); quite a change in the weather!

Vulture Peak Trail Rest break with trail on the right
Odel and Crested Cup Cactus in bloom
Pink cactus flowers Easter Cactus in bloom









These two cacti are blooming here at North Ranch.  Many of the lots have beautiful desert landscaping with cacti in bloom.

Odel (engrossed in watching golf and basketball) just leapt up from the couch and yelled “it’s snowing!”  Yep, I see some flakes mixed in with the rain.  I hope you all are warm and dry, wherever you are.  Think I’ll go make some cookies.

11 comments:

  1. I was wondering if you two and the Bayfield Bunch would see snow!! Loved your cactus photos...also loved the way you captioned them..Can I get that on Live Writer?? It sure saves space in the blog!!

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  2. Donna (or Dennis?), when you add your photo in Live Writer, look for the "Alt Text" command at the top of the page (in the third line). Click on it, and a box opens up. In the blank field called "title" (the second field), type in what you want the caption to say. That's all there is to it!

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  3. wow snow...hard to believe in AZ...was hot sunny and 83 here today...which made for a warm travel day...I'm sure it won't last...have a super week

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  4. Those cactus blooms are gorgeous, Laurie. We are settled in to the front row again at Harris Beach and it is brilliantly sunny, breezy and gorgeous. Cool, but gorgeous. It never rains in California, right? it all blows into Arizona! glad you are hunkered down and warm and cozy.

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  5. Cookies and snow what a GREAT combination! Hot and buggy here in Florida. Really early for both. Think I'd rather be with you.l

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  6. Not warm here! NASTY here. No snow but TONS of wind and rain AND cold! I hope those blooms hold out till we get there. They are just lovey! ~wheresweaver

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  7. Beautiful Pictures and we're only at 75 F here in Tecumseh, Ontario

    It's about time/

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  8. Lovely cactus blooms ... I never much cared for the desert before, but now I'm anxious to see the colorful blooms that add cheer in the spring.

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  9. It was real good meeting you folks....Hope you are enjoying North Ranch,,,,,,,,

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  10. Always loved it when I lived in AZ and it snowed. Your photos of the cacti are stunning!

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  11. Wow. . .those desert blooms are gorgeous.

    I just told a fellow Texan who is headed your direction, that the desert should be in bloom. . .she's going to love it!

    Janice
    ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing.com

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