Best of 2017

2017 has been an exciting year for us.  We enjoyed our last three months of living on the ranch, January-March.  http://winchesterranch.blogspot.com/  We moved to Tucson full time in April, where we explored as if everything was new to us.  (Adventures posted here.)  We left on a seven week trip to Italy in May, with Audrey, Whitney, and Claire’s families joining us for a week near Verona . We flew to Sicily for three weeks, where we spent a week with Claire, Emerson, and Colby climbing around ancient ruins, and we ferried to the Aoelian Islands for a week.

We took several short trips to visit family, including a couple of trips to Kentucky, one to Dallas to deliver furniture and to visit Whitney and Brian, one to Chicago to visit Audrey’s family, and a couple of short trips to San Antonio to see Lynne.  We spent time with our Boys and Girls Club kids and BGCT honored us with the “Louise & Dale Henderson Learning Center.”

We left on November 3, on a cruise from Dubai, UAE, to Cape Town, South Africa, with stops in Oman, India, the Maldives, Seychelles, and all along the east coast of Africa.  We spent every day in a state of amazement and wonder at all the new things we experienced and saw.  We particularly liked the interior sands of Oman and Cape Town plus surrounding area.  (Many photos here.)

In the words of Ahmed, whom we met in Petra some years ago, “Every day is a good day!”  We try to be sure of it!

Riding a Horse

We took Colby to Westward Look Stables for a short horse ride.  Pancho, the cowboy in charge, was terrific and talked to Colby the whole time.  We spent the rest of the day playing at Manzanita School playground and going to the Flandrau Planetarium Museum on UA campus.  Emerson and Colby enjoyed all of it.  So did we! 

Tucson Children’s Museum

The Children’s Museum is in the old Carnegie Library, built in Tucson in 1901.  Emerson and Colby found lots of science experiments, crafts, building projects, and even Papa and Claire got in on the action.  We had a terrific time!

In the afternoon, Colby collected sticks, crumbled all the luminaria bags, and stacked them all in the fire pit.  He and Papa built a fire together.  Colby loves fires!

Air & Space

We went to the Pima Air & Space Museum, arriving early so Emerson and Colby could participate in a children's program.  They took a short tour of airplanes, then made their own airplanes to take home.  We walked about the planes outside, including an Air Force One, lots of military planes, and various commercial and private planes.  We went inside to see a B-24 Bomber, the Blackbird, Bumblebee, and so many more aircraft.  All of us had a good time! 

After lunch at Beyond Bread, we came home and took down our Christmas tree.  Colby helped Papa hack up the tree and burn it in the fire pit.  Colby and Emerson love building fires every day!

Caving and Hiking

We went to Colossal Cave this morning and were the first guests of the day.  We had a private tour of the cave and loved every minute!  We had a good history lesson about the cave and the CCC's work on a path through the cave and the big stone building at the entrance, now used as a gift shop.  Our next stop was at Saguaro National Monument East, for a short hike.  It was a beautiful day and we loved being outside. 

After dinner and a game of charades, comes the best part of the day... story time with Papa!  

Another good day!

Christmas

Claire's family arrived on the 24th, just before noon.  After lunch and getting settled, we sat outside in the sun a bit, then went to a family Christmas Eve service at St. Philip's in the Hills.  We had dinner, followed by our traditional chocolate fondue with fruit dippers.  Emerson and Colby wrote a note to Santa and left it by the fireplace.  Emerson read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, before we went to bed.  Santa magically appeared overnight!

We opened gifts this morning, had a big breakfast, then walked to Manzanita playground to burn some calories.  By mid afternoon, we hiked part way up the Finger Rock Trail, then came home to make dinner and put together luminarias for Christmas night.  As is Henderson tradition, it seems we have dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Claire made chocolate chess pie for lunch and we had maple pecan pie after dinner.  Magic cookie bars are always in the picture too!  Emerson and Colby had great fun playing outside, lighting candles, and keeping a fire burning in the fire pit.    We had a wonderful Christmas day!

Winter Sunset Over Tucson

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays,
We began 2017 by celebrating our 36th anniversary on January 3. Over the next couple of months, we flew to KY to be with Lulu's Mom ​for Sonny's memorial service, drove to Dallas with a load of furniture for Whitney and Brian, took Sarah on her 12 year old trip to Disneyworld and Kennedy Space Center, then drove back through south Texas to visit Lynne in San Antonio. In mid-March, we enjoyed our last days on the ranch with Carla and David staying with us a couple of days, hiking and enjoying sunsets. We made multiple trips to Tucson with loaded Hummer and truck. By early April, we made our final move from the ranch​ to Tucson. We hosted a "come and take our stuff party" for our Boys & Girls Club kids. We pared down, settled in, redecorated a bit, and soon we felt at home!

We flew to KY in mid-April for Lulu's Dad's heart surgery.  He has made good progress since. In late May, we celebrated Papa's 71st birthday with Brian & Whitney's families in Dallas, and flew to Rome the next day on a seven week trip in Italy. We stayed in a convent in Rome where we visited basilicas we hadn't seen before, took the train north and hiked the Cinque Terre, spent an afternoon in Pisa, stayed a week in Tuscany where we enjoyed Siena, Florence, countless small villages, and a day in Orvieto visiting the University of Arizona Study Abroad Program. We took the train to Verona where we rented a house for 10 days, with Audrey, Claire, and Whitney's families staying with us and celebrating Lulu’s 60th birthday. We made family visits to Lake Garda, the waterfalls of Molina, and the Verona Arena.  We left Verona via train and enjoyed four days in Venice during the Biennale. Then we flew to Sicily for three weeks, spending time in the Aeolian Islands, a few days in Trapani, then crossing the island to visit the Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto. Claire and her children spent the last week with us, hiking on Mt. Etna, exploring the theater of Taormina, hiking the Valley of Temples, and visiting Selinunte.  We walked over 250 miles while in Italy, ate our weight in gelato, and saw numerous UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  We had a wonderful trip!

We visited Audrey's family in Wilmette in mid-August, enjoying a family dinner with Dan's extended family. We spent a few days in October with Lynne in San Antonio. We explore Tucson every free day, visiting farmer's markets, libraries, museums, historic walking tours, UA campus, enjoying the flora of the Sonoran desert while hiking daily, and volunteering at the Boys & Girls Clubs. We enjoy lots of meals with "our BGC kids." Papa bikes daily on Tucson's ​Loop Bike Path.  He continues to work in his leather workshop.  Lulu writes at luluandpapa.blogspot.com.

We took ​a cruise from November 3-December 10, from Dubai to Cape Town, with visits in the UAE, Oman, India, the Maldives, Seychelles, Zanzibar, Mozambique, Kenya, and South Africa.  We enjoyed every day, exploring and talking to locals.  Our impressions of every country changed considerably from our thoughts before traveling.  We particularly loved Oman and South Africa, with Mozambique a close third.  We are always up for an adventure! Claire's family will join us for the holidays in Tucson. We hope 2017 has been a healthy, happy year for you. We wish the same for 2018. We love hearing from you! 

Happy Holidays!
Love,
Lulu & Papa

 

Ornaments

We have accumulated lots of ornaments over the years.  When the kids were young, I bought them a new ornament every year and would put them in bags with their names on it, so they could hang their own ornaments the next year.  As they got married and had their own homes, I gave each of them some of their ornaments.  Most of our ornaments come with memories, like the sand dollars we found on Upper Captiva one summer.  We wrapped over 60 in our suitcases and took them home, put ribbons on, and hung some on our Christmas tree that year and every year since.  I made 30-40 calico birds and star ornaments before Papa and I got married in 1981, and we still use them.  We've received ornaments as gifts over the years, the Twelve Days of Christmas balls, angels, mini paintings from a trip to Ecuador, and a bird house full of birds this year.

Holiday Party

We invited our Boys and Girls Club kids for dinner last evening.  We served an Indian dinner (purchased from a local restaurant) plus we grilled shrimp and I made a large fruit salad.  There are always some of “our kids” that are unable to come, due to work, family obligations, study, etc.  We enjoy those that show up, last night we had Jackson, Freddy, Rudy, Sabrina, David, Alan, Tatiana, Meybelyn, and Karla.   Everyone gets an opportunity to tell what is going in their lives.  We ate dinner on the patio.  We played Chinese Christmas with gifts we picked up on our trip.  We went back  outside to roast marshmallows and make s’mores.  We enjoyed every moment!  We are really proud of each of them!

Ole' at Tucson Desert Art Museum

We received a flyer in the mail while we were away, about the exhibition, "Vaquero and Charro: An Enduring Legacy, photographs by Cody Edison and artifacts from the Arizona Historical Society," at the Tucson Desert Art Museum, including art, music, and dance.  We went this evening!  The setting for the event was at the Tucson Desert Art Museum on Tanque Verde Road, a beautiful space with a permanent collection that includes pre-1940's Navaho weavings, weavings of the dance: early Yei textiles, art of the early masters of the Southwest - Maynard Dixon, Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt, and contemporary Southwest artists such as Ed Mell.  The permanent collection was amazing and quite colorful.  The Vaquero and Charro exhibition was well done and we chatted with the photographer Cody Edison about his work.  We especially enjoyed the mariachi band that performed.  We had a wonderful evening!