Our niece, Tonia, returns to Leisure World seventeen years later

Mom and Dad lived in Leisure World for twenty years.  Tonia stayed with these special grandparents often when she was a teenager and as a young adult.  The last time that she was here was in 2008, when they moved into The Springs, an assisted living facility across the street from Leisure World.  Tonia remembers helping to pack her Grandma and Grandpa’s belongings, and saying goodbye to Leisure World.

But now that we live here, Tonia came to visit us, say “hello” to Leisure World, relive so many of the family traditions, and talk about all the memories that she treasures of this magical oasis that is nestled in the middle of Mesa, Arizona.

A family tradition….breakfast at the Leisure World Rendezvous Cafe.

Tonia was happy to see that she could still order her very favorite Leisure World breakfast—biscuits and gravy with sausage!

The Superstition Mountains….with a view of The Praying Hands that Grandma Jeanne, her grandmother, loved so very much.

Tonia wanted to see the majestic saguaro cactus, so we drove out Apache Trail to the  lookout above Canyon Lake and the little town of Tortilla Flats.  It was a special treat for all of us to see the wild beauty of the Sonoran Desert!

 

Tonia came bearing gifts from Kathy and her for her Uncle Dan’s birthday.  The presents were Christmas tree ornaments from Kathy and Dan’s childhood and two beautiful pillowcases handmade by Dan and Kathy’s grandmother Hattie Bunting.

We had an early Happy Birthday party for my Danny….the very first of many celebrations this month for my love.  Thank you Kathy and Tonia.  We will treasure these gifts forever.

Our Christmas present to our niece, Tonia, was her trip to visit us in Leisure World.  We have decided that this very special visit by Tonia, was actually a wonderful Christmas present that Tonia gave to us!

Night Walking

Since we moved to Leisure World full-time in 2019 we have spent a lot of time every day outside in the dark.  In the early morning.  Before the sun even rises in the east.  Mostly all by ourselves, before the world "wakes up."

We have been nightwalking in Leisure World for 5+ years now.....only interrupted by a couple of years of heavy night cycling.  When we first moved to Leisure World we did night swimming for an hour and then night walking for an hour+.

In 2023 we cycled 5000 miles, and the big majority of that was in Leisure World, in the dark.  So we didn't do much nightwalking that year.

Being out in Leisure World, in the dark of the early morning, has more or less defined our living in this wonderful place.

Besides being beautiful almost to the point of being spiritual, these night-time walks and other activities in the dark have produced health benefits to us that we can only imagine. 

Our walks are out on golf courses.  We have two 18-hole golf courses in LW.  So we can be out in the open every day, where it is so very quiet and peaceful.  

LW has several ponds on these golf courses, and many of them are lit up with lighted fountains at night.  Simply beautiful.  

It is so quiet, and peaceful.  And, oddly, we almost never run into anyone else doing these walks.  A few people walk on the streets in the dark at this time of the morning, but for reasons we can't explain, the golf courses are virtually empty.  We can't figure this out.

And, importantly, we engage in these peaceful and spiritual walks together.   

Our dear granddaughter is now 17 years old!!!

It seems like only yesterday when I first held sweet Stella in my arms….she was only an hour old.

It has been a joy for us to spend endless hours and days with her through the last seventeen years as she has grown into a lovely young lady.  Thank you for all the precious memories, Stella.

Stella in my wedding gown a few months before her birthday….she has promised to wear it when she find a man as perfect as Grandpa to marry.

Happy Birthday dear Stella, we love you very much!