Fun and Games Dept

We are in a hipster diner and I’m drinking a hipster beer but I am so not a hipster.

We went to a local restaurant called “The Barnyard” for supper. I was planning on an instrument flying lesson with trusty instructor Prabesh but the winds were a bit on the high side and the high temperatures of the desert would have made for a bumpy ride.

We had a nice time at The Barnyard.

My husband is out socializing and the others in the house are eating leftovers, so I am left to my own devices for supper. I fell to my standby of popcorn and soup. It was delicious.

Jinx and Lucky are out on their first major field trip. So much to pay attention to!

We’ve rented a ramada at Lincoln Regional Park here in Tucson for a family picnic. We are celebrating Jamie and Mike’s birthdays today and we decided to do it with a picnic. It’s a beautiful day for an outdoor gathering. My husband and I went ahead and arrived early to get things set up; the rest of the family will be here shortly. They’re bringing the puppies along for their first outdoor adventure.

Traditionally I’m not a fan of vaccines. My family doctor in Chicago was after me to get the shingles vaccine before COVID moved into our lives. I never followed up with that plan during the pandemic. Luckily, my Tucson doctor hasn’t brought it up yet.

Even though I’m not a fan of vaccines, I’m totally onboard when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccines. As soon as we were eligible (the first week of living in Arizona), we were at Walgreens getting our shot. We got our second shot on schedule and our first booster when it was time to do that. We’ve rolled around to being eligible for our second booster and my husband and I went to down to the local Walgreens and were officially boosted today. Five hours later I am feeling zero ill effects from the experience.

As a bonus of the experience, I snapped a photo before I pulled my pants up. He get to see a little bit of my underwear today.

Even though it is quite early by my standards, the world feels a bit better after a solid night of sleep and waking up naturally.

Prior to moving to the desert, my husband and I would go for a picnic on Easter to mark the start of nicer weather. This is when we lived up north and the weather could vary wildly on Easter Sunday. Sometimes it would cold and rainy, sometimes it’d be pleasantly warm, and one year it was almost 90 degrees.

This year the five of us are having Easter dinner in our dining room, complete with the new dining room chairs that arrived this week. I’d say that’s worth celebrating.

Since Easter is a Christian religious holiday, I can’t help but think about my religion in my upbringing. I’d best describe the experience as casual Methodist. Aside from the prayer before supper every night, we didn’t really talk about it that much. There was a time period where my sister’s kindergarten teacher, who was married to the minister of a church down the road that was decidedly not Methodist, convinced my mother that the family should go to their church. That went well for a little bit. It was my only experience with “Vacation Bible School” that seemed a lot like school during summer break. The minister and wife took four elementary aged boys to Marineland in Niagara Falls for a day trip. That was fun. We had a prayer circle in the parking lot. But then my sister and I were told we couldn’t go to heaven because we were “sprinkled” and not “dunked” when we were baptized and Mom promptly pulled the plug on that. We resumed going to the Methodist church in the village on holidays and special occasions. Some in the congregation were judgey because we lived out in the farmland but we made due. My grandmother always had a problem with the fact the church paid the organist; before the closer Methodist church shut down she had volunteered to play the organ for many years.

Easter wrapped up what I thought of as the “Holiday Trifecta” when we’d going from eating at the dinner table inside and start having family picnics as the state park once in a while. As a kid that was more fun for me.

But I always enjoy spending time with family on occasions like this.

I had never been much further west along Ajo Way much beyond Ryan Airfield. I told my husband I wanted to go on a road trip and so off I went with his blessing.

Beyond Ryan Airfield is 120 miles of open desert with a brief stop here and there for small hamlets that have very little in the way of population. I did pass through a couple of Border Patrol Checkpoints, as my ride did take me fairly close to the border.

I did stop so a dust devil could cross the road.

Random fact of the day: Alice and Tommy are driving from the east to west coast when they break down in the opening credits to “Alice”. However, lookup up at the sign that says “Phoenix”, the other sign says “El Paso”, which means they’re in Tucson, and coming up from Nogales.

Here’s a link to my favorite version of Linda Lavin singing “There’s A New Girl In Town”.