Years ago the book club I belonged to read Loving Frank. We all enjoyed the book but did not come away fans of Frank Lloyd Wright the person. For me, that sentiment was tempered somewhat when Randy and I toured his Scottsdale home, Taliesin West, last year.

In the same way, Randy and I have not generally been fans of the Phoenix area. It is huge, the air and traffic can be bad, and it gets a little hot in the summer! We never aspired to spend a lot of time here. However, as we have returned each of the last few years, our sentiments have been tempered.  Okay, more than tempered.  I’ll just say it – We are loving Mesa!

That being said, we are enjoying, but not loving, our RV resort. It is clean and has lots to do but the spaces are really tight. I spent the first week deciding on my on-going activities.  Zumba here and Line Dancing at the resort next door made my list but drumming for exercise did not.

Making mats for the homeless out of plastic shopping bags is certainly a worthy way to spend an afternoon each week but the ladies just weren’t that welcoming so I didn’t go back. Their good work goes on without me though!

Randy and Elko settled right in to relaxing in the sun, doing never ending chores, and chatting with the neighbors.  Here Randy is reading about his new satellite tripod.

Elko enjoys the dog park and one or both of us take him four or five times a day.
It’s black cousin time at the dog park!

Randy’s brother Tim and wife Yvette live in the area and we have had great times visiting with them each week. These posed photos were a little painful for all of us but we were granting a request from our Aunt Lahoma. Dinners in, dinners out, and card playing have all been great.

This drink looked like a good idea, but it really tasted AWFUL.

Scorpion hunting at Tim and Yvette’s house has been a bit of a bust this year but really, that’s a good thing!

We picked grapefruit from their trees and oranges from their neighbor’s trees.

This sign was posted at Randy’s parents’ cabin in the White Mountains many, many moons  ago.    Tim and Yvette have had it in their back yard for years.

After discussing how many times people have incorrectly written the possessive Matthews, Randy decided to remove the offending apostrophe. Better late than never!

On our own, Randy and I enjoyed a ride on the Dolly Steamboat on Canyon Lake. The highlight was the large Big Horn Sheep who seemed to want to strike just the right pose.

Can you find him?

He kept moving so we could get good pictures, or maybe he was watching us like we were watching him.

The same outing took us to Superstition Saloon in Tortilla Flat. They advertise “Killer Chili,” and it was very good, but it was the wall paper that interested us the most!

There are $1 bills covering nearly every corner of the walls all around the large saloon. We were told (twice because I didn’t believe I heard right the first time) that there are over $300,000 on the walls! My guess was $4000 – I was way off!  Pretty amazing!

We have experienced way more around Mesa than I can tell in one blog post. I’m not sure how many chapters Loving Mesa will be in the end but for now I need to go make cookies.

Tonight I have book club here in the RV resort and I volunteered to bring treats. We will discuss the Storied Life of AJ Fikrey. AJ was an admirable main character with none of the complications we had while trying to love Frank Lloyd Wright.

Until Chapter 2!