Glimpses of Arizona Life: July 2016

She's 15 years old now, so hard to believe. So encouraging to see that she has not lost her sweetness, kindness and excitement for life. We spent time in our courtyard talking about life. Grandparents have more time to listen and it was a privilege to be able to listen to her tell of her trips to Ohio and the work she does in the animal shelter. We were amazed again by her beautiful singing voice and the passion she puts into her performances.

We crammed so many things into 12 days. Opa's priority was to get her outside into this beautiful southwest desert. We hiked the Chiricahua's https://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm. It was exciting for us because even Opa and Oma made it up to the Fire Tower. Of course Cyenna beat us up there but in the middle of July, hiking behind a 15 yr. old, it was an accomplishment for us.

Then of course, Opa had to take her on a ride with the ATV's. Our friend Jim let us borrow his Arctic Cat and off they went, Oma praying the whole time. She had a great time and saw more of this beautiful valley.

Most days we were able to get her up and out to continue her cross-country training. It's something she is excited about, especially the camaraderie that comes with sports. We have a great high-school track here in Benson. Opa and I might just have to use that more often. We usually walk up the hills in our neighborhood with our dog Bear.

The trip to Mt. Lemmon is a tradition every time she comes. It's wonderful to get into the cool mountain air in the middle of 104 degrees in Tucson. We always stop at the Iron Door restaurant which has a great deck where you can just admire the birch trees and humming birds on the feeders. It's such a treat to just sit there and enjoy a Sunday afternoon. We have done this now for 3 years in a row and it never gets boring. Then we stopped at Inspiration Rock where Tom's ashes were scattered. It's an amazing spot and the view to the South in breathtaking. One thing that struck me as really sweet was that when we got back into the car to drive away, Cyenna turned on the radio and the song "Hotel California" came on. That was one of Tom's favorites and I told Cyenna that Tom was telling her thanks for visiting. I'll have to share this with Monika when she gets back from France.

The most important project on the agenda for this visit was to teach her to bake and cook all the German specialties that we enjoy in our family. The first day we baked "Hefezopf" which is the breakfast bread that we all love with lots of butter of course. She even learned how to braid it. I wrote down all the recipes and even a diagram of how to start the braid. After that I showed her how to make Opa's birthday cake. This Black Forest Cherry Torte is a must once a year for Opa's birthday. It's a bit complicated but she handled it like a pro. Even the egg separation and the folding in of the flour wasn't a problem. I kept reminding her that I learned all of this at 12-13 years of age, so she was out to prove something to Oma. After the torte was finished (see photo's attached), the final task was to make Sauerbraten and spaetzle. I'm looking forward to the Christmas visit and she promised that she would make it for us again at that time. I guess I can put away my apron and hand it to my granddaughter now. My work here is done!

To round out the visit we took a trip to Bisbee and actually toured the copper mine. Very interesting but also hard to see how tough a miners job really is. The Bisbee Breakfast Club didn't have any pie's that day. Probably good for our waist line.

So on the last day, on our way to Phoenix to drop her off at Skyharbor airport, we had to stop at La Encantada,Tucson. Cyenna was so happy to see all the stores that she's used to from Naples, FL and educate Oma and Opa on how the 1% live. I try to share her enthusiasm but always remind her that it's important to share when God has blessed you with prosperity. Don't know if that message got across but I tried to plant a seed. I know that she's a generous and giving person, which gives me hope. We got to experience "Lush", a really great beauty and bath product store and so full of young people.

One last thing I was able to teach Cyenna was crocheting. She seemed exciting and she got a great start by making a bookmark for Opa. She was afraid to take the hook on the airplane so I just mailed it off to her today. I'm expecting to get a bookmark for Oma in the mail soon!

Enjoy the photo's: