A cut from the life of the Rosholt Selles; A slice of culture from central Wisconsin; A piece of overseas mission; all from the heart of one who is richly blessed by the Heavenly Father.
Days here in Phoenix have flown by quickly - hockey game with the Phoenix Coyotes and the San Jose Sharks; visits to morning markets; lunch with former Peace participant, Alex Foster; Christmas lights in downtown Glendale; Sunday worship; watching the Packer win in the golf clubhouse; hot tub; euchre, and picking lemons.
Warm-up at my first ever hockey game. The Sharks won in a shoot out after a tie game and one overtime. We did sit high up. Was surprised that the bass sounds from the amplifying system made my whole system vibrate.
Downtown Glendale celebrates the end of the year holidays with lights in the downtown square. People bring families to enjoy the warm nights.
Cotton picking time in Arizona - pressed into bales that await transport to some processing plant.
Cotton before being harvested. Even after the picker goes through, lots of cotton remains on the plants.
Jean and Paul call this the "Mexican Flea Market." The Saturday/Sunday market offers fruit and vegetables to washers and dryers to tools to tires and cosmetics. I think their naming of the market comes from the Hispanic population that both sells and buys. (I heard lots of Spanish)
A climbing wall for the kids, and a mariachi band for the adults can be found in one corner of the market. The market covers perhaps two square blocks.
Our afternoon expedition was a 45 minute drive to the west from Glendale to a park (of course, right in the middle of the desert). We did a 2 mile round trip walk to a water falls (very little water) that I was surprised was located in the desert. The saguaro cactus were impressive.
Of course, since Paul and Jean are first class tourist guides, they simply insisted that we ride in their 1999 Chrysler convertible. It was from this vantage point that we saw much of the park.
I'm thinking that the saguaro are like the snowflake; no two are alike. They say that it takes 75 years of growth before an arm can grow.
This series reminded me of Calvary (Golgotha).
Near the end of the trail, we were able to view the petroglyphs located on some of the larger stones.
The morning visit today was to a famous local chocolate candy company. The owner has been there for 66 years, and we had the opportunity to meet him. Cerreta's chocolates have no preservatives. The chocolate is formulated in San Francisco and then shipped here to Phoenix.
As a part of our tour, we were able to sample each of these candies.
Jean and Paul chat with one of the very happy and satisfied employees (she used to work in the corporate world) at Cerreta. She says, "No stress and, it's like a family."
I've discovered that the flowers here, most of which I do not know, are, like flowers everywhere, very beautiful. I've tried to get a variety of flower pictures even though I don't know their English, or, for that matter, their Latin names.
So, scroll down the page and enjoy this aspect of God's wonderful creation.
This morning, Jason, Karol and I visited the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. We didn't know what to expect, but Paul and Jean indicated that it was a wonderful place. And it lived up to the way in which they described it.
The museum exhibited instruments and music from most of the world countries (including Cuba and North Korea which we don't recognize). After paying the $18 entrance fee, one received headphones and transmitter because at most of the country stations, you could hear music or listen to an explanation. That was very well done, because as you left one area, the transmitter automatically picked up the next area. Because of the headphones, the museum was basically quiet, and, although there were many people, it didn't seem crowded.
We'd advise a visit there if you're ever in the Phoenix area. Check out some of the photos....
A very unique guitar.
We could "bang" a replica of this Indonesian gong in the experiential area (and I did). Sounded just like gongs in Japan or in China.
The displays were very interesting with most having the screen to share the types of music.
We were encouraged to begin with Africa - much of the music must have originated there.
We needed to rest two-thirds of the way through.
I liked some of the music from my early days.
Harmonicas galore.
AFTER THE WHOLE TOUR, WE COULD EXPERIENCE PLAYING SOME OF THE INSTRUMENTS OR LISTEN TO OTHERS WHO ARE EXPERIMENTING.
