We got here on October 1st so we’ve been here a whole month. We are getting familiar once again with our surroundings and meeting our friends from the last time we were here. We’ve also reacquainted ourselves with the pool, hot tub and sauna and of course Fat Willy’s restaurant.

I just love taking pictures of the sky here at Voyager.

We haven’t been out site-seeing yet, we’ve just gone to the usual places to grocery shop, etc. But we have enjoyed the shows they have here like the fashion show.

Sharon and I went to the Injoy fashion show that was put on by volunteers from the store and the park on Wednesday October 11th.

The fashion show in the ballroom at Voyager. People from the park were the models for the show. They had a lot of fun putting it on and we had fun watching. After seeing the show Sharon and I had to go to Injoy and check it out.

Myself, Sharon and Marcia went to see “She Came to Me.”

It has Peter Dinklage from Game of Thrones and Anne Hathaway. We all thought it was good, it had an off beat kind of story line.

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On Oct. 14, 2023, We got to see an annular solar eclipse this happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, but when it is at or near its farthest point from Earth. Because the Moon is farther away from Earth, it appears smaller than the Sun and does not completely cover the Sun.

This eclipse will be total for viewers along a narrow path which starts in the south Pacific, then runs through Mexico, the U.S. from Texas to Maine, and southeastern Canada, and finally ends in the north Atlantic. Tucson is about 560 miles from this path, which is why we’ll see a partial eclipse at this location.

They said to look at the eclipse you should have special 3-D glasses, we didn’t so what we did was put a pin prick in a sheet of paper. That wasn’t the best way cause you couldn’t look long at all. But I did manage to take the first picture. The other three were taken by someone else but it is exactly what we saw using our pin prick sheets. It was a neat thing to observe.

Tuesday the 16th I went bird watching with my friend Marcia from Voyager who is a certified audubon bird person who gives tours and knows so much about birds is amazing. I went twice with her last time we were here and I enjoyed it. Not only because of the birds but because of the scenic places I have been to like Madera Canyon and The Historic Canoa Ranch great places to visit and hike.

This time we went to Chuck Ford Lakeside Park, it’s only about 15 minutes from the park. Marcia & I met eight people there who knew a lot about birds too, and then there was me who can only recognize and name a few.

The group was finding all kinds of birds. The first one I knew and recognized was a Blue Heron. If you look real hard you can see one on the shore across from the lake. Below is a picture of what they look like closer.

In the first picture you see water fowl and also mallard ducks, like the one on close to the edge on the 2nd picture. I learned that male mallards mate with all kinds of ducks, so for it to be a true male mallard it has a dark, iridescent-green head and bright yellow bill. The gray body is sandwiched between a brown breast and black rear. Two central black feathers that curve back above the tail give it it’s characteristic curly-tailed appearance.

We saw a total of 32 spicies of birds. What cracks me up is most of the names of the birds. Like the Griseotyrannus aurantioatrocristatus also known as The crowned slaty flycatcher from South America. One of the birds we saw that I remembered is the Lark Sparrow. It was on top of the lights and it’s picture is below.

Tours that Marcia gives are for anyone as well as for people with disabilities and other health concerns. We went on this bird venture on Birdability week 2023 Oct 16-22. Birdability is a non-profit organization founded by Virginia Rose, who fell off a horse at the age of 14 and has used a wheelchair since then. She began birding 17 years ago and wanted to share her passion and joy with others with disabilities. Virginia founded Birdability in 2020. Birdability’s vision is that birding is for everyone—including those with disabilities and other health concerns. It is supported by National Audubon in the U.S. and many other organizations and businesses. In our group of birdwatchers we had a person with oxygen, one with a cane and anotherin a wheel chair, they were excitied to go on the tour. It’s a way to get outside, see, learn and trek along.

It’s Saturday October 28th, how about dressing up for a Halloween party?

 Argh! Rrrrrr Shiver me timbers ya landlubber. Avast ye, ye hornswaggled my booty ye Son of a biscuit eater, I‘ll Crush Ye Barnacles and make ye walk the plank, SAVVY. Do you know what he said! I do you better run.

“Going so soon? I wouldn’t hear of it. Why, my little party’s just beginning.” — The Wicked Witch of the West, “The Wizard of Oz”

And thats what we did. Got our costumes on and went to the Voyager Halloween dance party with friends, ghosts and goblins.

Everyone had an awesome time. The costumes were good and the Raw band was great playing songs from the 60s & 70s.

Hope you had deFRIGHTful Halloween! and Hope all your SCREAMS come true!”

Went with friends to a Porch Fest, for a few hours this Sunday in the Garden District Neighborhood of Tucson. The neighborhood opened itself up to the community with good tunes and good eats. It’s the annual Porch Fest event which has been happening on the northeast corner of East Pima Street and North Alvernon Way, since 2014.

Just in case you didn’t know …. Porchfest music festivals began as a means for neighbors and local community members to highlight their music on front porches. These events are held across the United States and Canada. The concept was to find musicians and porches on which they would play. The original event in Ithaca, New York, started with about 20 musicians but has since grown to over 100. Way to go Ithaca!

People were dancing and singing in the streets together. They had eight residents who volunteered their porches and bands that played for an hour-and-a-half each.

It was really a lot of fun and really good musicians that played a variety of music from Irish, country, folk, blues and good old rock-n-roll. We didn’t get to see all of them, maybe nextyear.

The food was delicious. BOCA is located in the heart of Tucson and was featured on the Food Network, the New York Times, and the Travel Channel with excellent reviews. The award winning chef is Maria Mazon. If your ever in the area and have a yankering for Mexican food go there for sure.

All for of us enjoyed our Mexican food!!