Whitney’s family arrived in Tucson today at 1 pm. We went to El Corral for an early dinner of ribs - delicious! After dinner, we went to see the lights in Winterhaven, a Tucson neighborhood that has been decorating with Christmas lights for decades. We walked up and down streets with names such as Christmas Avenue and Treat Circle, enjoying the lights and all the happy people.
Happy Holidays 2025,
We rang in 2025 just after a week long cruise in the Caribbean with Audrey and Whitney’s families. In mid-January, we visited Mexico City and had a great time visiting museums, Teotuacan ruins, and the food! We flew to the Yucatan to visit more Mayan ruins, plus a boat ride in Celestun to see flamingos.
In February, we visited Audrey’s family in Albuquerque enroute to New Orleans, on our 8th Lulu and Papa trip, with Taylor. We enjoyed the music, parades, NOLA food, and Preservation Hall. We did our first Escape Room with Taylor. We had lunch with Louise’s school friend, Pam and her husband. We had fun with Taylor!
Mary came to Tucson in late February for the Tucson Rodeo, with our friend Jennie joining us. We enjoyed Tucson during winter - the sunny days, hiking in Sabino Canyon, San Xavier del Bac Mission, a mariachi festival, and Mexican food. We had some renovations done on our home, completed by the end of February.We had lunch with two of our Boys and Girls Club kids in Phoenix, and saw our Tucson BGCT kids several times. We took a few trips to Phoenix and visited Claire’s family. Louise flew to Fort Lauderdale in early April to spend a few days with Whitney, while Greta competed in a National Ice Hockey Tournament.
We returned to our home in Lectoure on 29 April and enjoyed a busy schedule until October 16. We celebrated Dale’s birthday with friends; lunches, picnics, and dinners often with friends, vide greniers on weekends, and Friday markets in Lectoure. In early June, we visited our neighbors, Claudie and Lionel’s cake factory 3 hours north of Lectoure. We explored the Citadelle de Blaye and troglodytes on our drive north. We stayed in an ancient abbay in Saintes to visit Roman ruins. We had lunch in Cognac, then stopped at Chateau La Grande Clotte near St. Emilion. We visited La Grande Clotte in 2019. The vineyard and the chateau are beautiful!
In late June, Louise hosted lunch for 30+ girlfriends at Racinette, with friend Lesley, exhibiting her art. We took a short trip to San Sebastian and enjoyed walking on the promenade. We visited Pamplona a week before the Running of the Bulls and walked the ancient walls. A few miles north, we visited the Abbay de Roncesvalles and the Collegiate Church built in the 12th-13th centuries, with beautiful stained glass windows. We stayed a night in Saint-Jean-Pied-a-Port, built on a river and popular with pilgrims enroute to Santiago de Compestella.
July and August were busy months - Louise worked in a friend’s garden preparing for their niece’s wedding. We went to Lundi Nuit street parties in Lectoure with friends, enjoyed many summer concerts, picked fresh fruit at friends houses and grapes from our garden. We watched the Tour de France from Mirande. We watched the Lectoure hot air balloon festival from our balcony, and enjoyed Ornella and Donato’s visit in mid-August.
In early September, we went to our friend’s niece’s wedding and had a wonderful evening! Dale’s sister Mary and cousins Carol and Ken visited Lectoure for a week in mid-September. In late September, we visited two favorite painted churches in the southern Gers with friends. We hosted a wine and chocolate party on 7 October with 63 friends joining us. We enjoyed every moment and were happy to introduce friends to friends.
Our last week in Lectoure in mid October was a whirl of time with friends and too much to eat! We flew to Greece for a week of cruising the Cyclades and a few days on the Aegean, and returned to Arizona on 28 October. We are back to Tucson for winter, with Dale going to the gym 3-4 times/week, Louise walking every morning with Ornella and working out in her home gym, doing yard work, and enjoying the desert. We spent a November weekend in Phoenix with Claire’s family and attended the Arizona State High School Cross Country Championship to watch Emerson. We spent Thanksgiving week with Audrey’s family in Albuquerque. We are celebrating New Year’s weekend with our whole family in Phoenix. We are full of gratitude for life!
We wish you a happy holiday season and a happy and healthy new year!
Love,
Louise and Dale
Whitney flew into Tucson on Thursday afternoon for a long weekend visit. Her requests were small: Mexican food and shopping at Trader Joe’s. We had an early dinner at Victoria Cocina Mexicana on our way home from the airport. We shopped on Friday, with stops at Trader Joe’s Whole Foods, and La Encantada. Claire drove down from Phoenix on Saturday by noon. We went for dinner at North Italia. We were up early on Sunday, to drive Claire and Whitney to the start of the Tucson Half Marathon. We went to the finish line an hour and a half later to watch them finish. It was so much fun for us to see, bringing back memories from 20+ years ago, when they were competing in swimming, cross country, track, and triathlons in Florida. We went out for breakfast at First Watch after the race. They left Tucson soon after 1 pm. Papa and I enjoyed every moment of their visit!
Last evening, we met our friend Jennie for dinner, then went to the Lights Up exhibition at Tucson Botanical Garden. Holiday music was playing throughout the garden and there were lights in the trees, an electric train running through historic model Arizona buildings, and a spirit of wonder amongst the guests.
On our drive back to Tucson from Albuquerque, we stopped a few times in Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, to see birds. Located just south of San Antonio, New Mexico, the Bosque was established in 1939 to provide a stopover site for migrating waterfowl. It is a refuge for tens of thousands of cranes, geese, and ducks every winter. We saw a few hundred Canadian geese and ducks.
Papa and I drove to Albuquerque on Tuesday. We left at 7 in the morning and arrived by 2:30 in the afternoon. We were very happy to see Audrey’s family! We went for dinner in downtown Albuquerque at Sawmill Market.
We were up early on Wednesday morning. I went with Audrey to watch Lauren run the Turkey Trot 5K race with two of her friends and 3000 more people! It was a big race! Lauren and her friends had a good time. We came back to Audrey’s house and prepared Thanksgiving Dinner - honey baked ham, sweet potato casserole, roasted Brussels sprouts and carrots, hot rolls, Moroccan salad, and desserts of chocolate brownies, pumpkin pie, and maple pecan pie. We ate mid afternoon, then went on a hike. We played games and watched a movie in the evening.
On Friday morning, Papa went to the gym with Audrey. Dan put up luminarias on their front terrace. Lauren painted a new bulletin board for her room. I hiked from Audrey’s house in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, for an hour. I played games with Lauren and Taylor. We went out for a Thai dinner. It was a good day! We’ve had a wonderful time in Albuquerque!
“I don’t see life as endless anymore. So these lovely things that come to you, you have such intense gratitude. That’s the big thing about this moment in time: It’s insane gratitude.”
Quote by Mary Steenburgen in an article I read today.
It spoke to me and is exactly how I feel all day every day, at 68 years of age! So fortunate and so grateful for every moment.
We worked in our garden a few hours every day this week. We had neighbors for apéros on Tuesday evening and our friends, Ornella and Donato for a French dinner on Friday evening. We met our Boys and Girls Club kids for a pizza dinner this evening. It was wonderful catching up with them and FaceTiming with David traveling for work in Northern California. We are proud of each of them!
Papa and I drove to Phoenix on Friday afternoon, to attend a dinner celebration hosted by ASU’s Watts School of Public Service. Papa has served on the CDH Foundation Board for several years and they have donated funds to the program. CDH was honored with an award that Papa accepted during a ceremony at the dinner. It was an interesting evening for us, with over 200 people attending the dinner, and we learned about this interesting field of study.
We stayed overnight in Phoenix with Claire’s family. Mary came by on Saturday morning for a short visit. I walked with Claire and David on their daily dog walk around the neighborhood. By 11, we drove to Thunderbird High School to go the Arizona High Schools State Cross Country Championship, to watch Emerson compete. We were there over 3 hours for her 20 minute, 5000 meter race. Emerson was 2nd in her school’s division! We were happy to see her run!
Over the past week Papa has worked in our yard. We had dinner with our friends, Ornella and Donato, celebrating both our returns to Tucson. We went to Nogales, Sonora on Wednesday, to the dentist for a regular cleaning. I had my hair trimmed on Thursday. We had neighbors Sheila and Joe for dinner on Friday. Every day, I go for walks in the desert, from our house. I never tire of seeing the mountains covered with saguaros.
“The saguaro is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and a small area of Southern California. Saguaro typically grow at elevations ranging from sea level to 4500’. In 1933, Saguaro National Park the east and west sides of Tucson, was designated to help protect the species and its habitat. Saguaros lifespan often exceeds 150 years. A saguaro can absorb and store considerable amounts of rainwater, visibly expanding in the process, while slowly using the stored water as needed. Saguaros have been a source of food and shelter for humans for thousands of years. Their red fleshed fruits are turned into syrup by native peoples. The saguaro is a common image in Mexican and Arizonan culture, and in cowboy films.” The mountains on all four sides of Tucson are covered with saguaros.”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saguaro#Ecology
I took these photos on my hike this morning.
I took this one last evening on a short walk before sunset. I am the shadow in the sand.
