Dec. 12 -Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe

You can't live in Arizona without being aware of Mexican festivals.

Today Mexicans celebrate the Festivities of

Our lady of Guadalupe.

Although Christmas officially starts on December 16th with Posadas; journeys to the church. In Mexico these occur nightly.

Here in Puerta Vallarta, young Mexican girls ride the floats as Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Young Mexican boys dress as their Indian ancestors

and march in the Posada.

These are held nightly until Christmas in the towns and Villages of Mexico.

For several years we joined

other tourists in participating in this celebration.

December is a special month to visit Mexico.

Seasons in the Santa Cruz Valley

Often people from the north will ask "How can you live where there are no seasons?"

My response is always "What do you mean, we can have 4 in one day. You have 4, two of which you complain about". Yes, it is not unusual for us to be in the 30's in the morning and the 70's in the afternoon. When I was around 10 years old my family drove from Minnesota to Miami over the Christmas Holidays. I could not understand Christmas without snow.

For those from the north we do:

Decorate our palm trees

Put Santa Hats on our cactus

Put bows on our pyrocantha

What roadrunners eat

A roadrunner peered in the sliding glass door. Twenty eight degrees outside. It made me ask the question "What do road runners eat in winter. In the summer they eat lizards, other birds babies and insects. But these things aren't around in the winter.

This chick is being fed by mom this summer but WHAT do they eat in winter?

Windy City of GV, Az

Colorful sunrise often predicts an inclement day.

Winds up to 37 mph nearly blew the hair off

my dogs.

And threated to blow my hubby over.

Football in the snow

Watching college football being played in the

snow in the east today brought back memories of season tickets to the Vikings. Spent many games in the cold and snow, watching Green Bay Packer fans drinking snapps with dripping noses forming icicles. Good to be in my warm Az. home.

Photo of grandson Nick at the top of Kitt Peak during his visit to Az. What a deal! A kid from Minnesota visits Az and it snows. But only in the mountains. In grandpa's house it is nice and warm. AND we don't have to shovel it and our

cars start.

The Road From Here to There

The Road From Here to There

For ten years, I couldn't get from there to here.

The next ten years, I couldn't get from here to there.

Twenty years later, they are building a road from here to there.

Right now it is hard for me to get anywhere!

Ugly

The ugliness of the health care debate continues. The right are still fear mongering and the left refuse to come up to the plate. Meanwhile the consumer flounders between high cost and rationed care. Yes I said "rationed care". Those who feel that we don't already have this are mistaken. Those already established with a doctor still takes weeks to get an appointment.

Those wanting a an initial appointment take months. How do you get seen sooner? Go to an Urgent Care or an ER. I mistakenly thought that these places were filled with the uninsured but -no- they are filled with people who can't get in to see their own primary physician. That has been my experience.