A Serendipitous Day!

We had a busy morning -- Forry installed the two new fire alarms we had gotten yesterday and I put up the new sun screens. The screens are attached with pins into suction cups. All of them had to be shortened after I got them hung. The mesh doesn't ravel, so it was just a matter of cutting them off to the right length. It was a warm morning and it was very dramatic to feel the difference after the shades were hung.

After lunch we went to see the Casa Grande Ruins. They are just on the outskirts of Coolidge. But when we drove up to the entrance, we were told that the visitor parking was closed as they were having an American Indian Music

Fest. We were told to drive back to the Safeway parking lot and take the shuttle bus in. We debated about whether we wanted to do that, but decided we would -- and am I ever glad! We walked around the ruins which are actually the first National Monument site. A roof has been built over the large building (Casa Grande) which was over four stories tall, made out of caliche mud plastered walls.

As we walked around the ruins, we could hear flute music coming from where they had set up stages on the edge of the ruins. There was a main stage for the featured performers and another where they had an "open mike" and anyone could play. This picture is of a flute player named Travis Terry. He's a Pima/Navajo who is an incredible musician. I got to use a set of bells as accompaniment to his flute! (He handed out a gourd shaker and bells.) There was a couple of lines of booths selling jewelry, CDs and gorgeous flutes. Forry has been eyeing the flutes at pow wows, so I broke down and bought him one for Valentine's Day. (He's been playing with it since we got home and he sounds pretty good!) In the picnic area they were selling Indian tacos. We watched them make the fry bread and then heap it up with hamburger, beans, lettuce, onions and tomatoes. They were really scrumptious!

The main performances started a little before six (the schedule said 5:30, but it's Indian country...) and it was neat to sit and listen while we watched the sunset over the mountains in the distance. We hadn't planned to be there after dark, so hadn't brought heavy coats (I had on my sandals!), just our light jackets. In the desert it gets COLD when the sun goes down! We held out until about 7:30, but by then were just too cold to stay any longer. The heater in the shuttle sure felt good as we headed back to the car.

HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY TO ALL!