Wow, here it is Nov. 14 already! I don't know where the last 2 weeks have gone. I had to spend quite a bit of the time looking for a place to live after Xmas, as could only get the one I'm in until Dec 31. Finally found a nice casita a few blocks away that is further from the hwy, which will be nice as it is too noisy here. It's a little higher, so can see the Santa Rita mtns. it was the last place still available in the whole area, as everyone books a year in advace; 75 % Snowbirds from Canada, as well as from the Northern states. Most people only use their properties occasionally and rent them out the rest of the time. The population probably triples in the winter mos, and hardly anyone is here in the summer when the temp. is often 40 degrees!

There are numerous recreation centres in the immediate area that are open to everyone for only $35/mo, including sports/ fitness/crafts etc. Pretty well everyone is a Babyboomer like me. I'm already busy with golf/David Hawkins/drawing and painting, so don't know how much more I can squeeze in. There's no reason to get bored anyway.

Yesterday, I had an awesome day, as I went to see a professional golf tournament (PGA) in Scottsdale. It was the final of the Charles Schwab Cup of the Championship tour. It was amazing to be up close and personal with players of that calibre. I walked 9 holes with one of the pairings of 2, and then sat on the 18 th green to watch everyone come in. At one point the ball landed about 8' away from me, and I thought it was going to land in my lap! I got to see him make a very nice chip to the green from there. The course is amazing; quite hilly with lots of elevation changes, and lush, lush grass. From the first tee you have go across 275 yds of rough just to get to the start of the fairway; quite spectacular. T.V. doesn't do it any justice. I hung around for the awards ceremony; Paul Goyados won by 1 stroke over Bernard Langer in an exciting finish. The drive home was long, at 2 1/2 hrs, but well worth it and I would definitely do it again.

Saturday was a fun day. I went to an Xmas craft faire, an antique car show, and then over to the "Pecan Festival". There's a farm with hundreds of acres of pecan trees that has a festival in the Fall when the nuts have been harvested. It was like one of our Fall Faires at home, with antique cars and farm machinery, a tractor-pull, live country music and dancing, a midway for the kids, food/merchandise vendors, farm produce, and the like; very popular; a lot of people there. Since I'm living in the country, it was only minutes away.

The election has come and gone, without any overt signs of "bizarrness", fortunately. It was pretty much like our elections back home, a lot of rhetoric, accusations and promises. When it comes right down to it, the American people are the same as we are, with some on the right, and some on the left. Unfortunately I believe there was only about 53 % of eligible voters who turned out to vote. I haven't seen any aftermath demonstrations, but then I haven't been to Tucson for awhile. It will be interesting to see where it all goes. I don't feel at all uncomfortable here because of it; after all, Canadians make up a large part of the population in the winter.

There was a lot of nice jewelry at the craft sale; mostly silver and torquoise, and other stones, since they're so abundant around here, and very cheap. It makes me want to do some, but unfortunately, I didn't bring all my jewelry tools down with me; can only do so much anyway. There are a lot of minerals in Arizona, and there's two huge mines right close to here, mining copper and moly. I'd like to do some rock-hounding.

The desert wildlife is scant, but interesting; I've seen "Roadrunners" around the golf course, and a lot of different birdsongs, with hawks in abundance. The golf courses have "rattlesnake warnings" posted, if you go off the farways! Haven't seen one yet, and hoping I don't. When I was driving through the golf course sub-division the other day, a wild pig ran across the road in front of me. It caught me by surprise, and didn't know what it was at first. It had spots and spikey hair; very weird looking. Sometimes it feels like I'm in Austrailia or some other exotic place. Everything is so different. It's quite common to see little lizards outside my casita; no scorpions yet though, like in Mexico. No insects to speak of. I feel sorry for the dogs here; they all look like, whaaat the....! and have a very thirsty look. It's torture for them. Of course, there's also coyotes and mountain lions, which are pretty illusive.

Another day in the wonderful desert tomorrow!

Tucson, Nov 14, 2016