This coming week will be a Day 2 -- That was the general consensus. While Green, it was still very pleasant and provided a great amount of shade. We're keeping the time at 7:45 for this coming week. And, you'll find the directions for Verde River Access Point on the right.
Suzette and I arrived there and discovered that the area looked dramatically different from the last time we were there which wasn't all that long ago. This meant that we did have to look around.
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| Suzette wandering around |
As Suzette wandered over towards where the river is flowing peacefully before breaking off into our usual area, she discovered there was someone over on the other side. So, we went to check out who it was and found that there was not just one person but two.
The first I encountered amongst the greenery was Bob.
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| (L to R) Suzette, Bob in his spot |
Now, where Bob is standing is an area that used to be totally open, there were no shrubs there creating the narrow walkway you see now. This next photo shows what I mean a bit better and you'll also see the person we saw when we initially started wandering.
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| Bob and in the background is Betty |
Well, as you now know that first person we saw in the distance was Betty in her spot.
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| Betty |
Then as I was looking for a spot I saw this person wandering through the jungle. Geez, not a wonder that it's called the "Verde" river.
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| Denise |
That was Denise with a big smile as she wound her way through the greenery looking for a spot. As I started to set up my tripod in my spot I heard some talking in front of me and discovered that Cathy had arrived. It looks like she's hiding her face, but I think it was just that she was waving hello.
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| (L to R) Suzette in her spot and Cathy waving |
Next to come along and arriving at the same time were LeAnne & Carolyn. Oh and look, we now know where Denise found her spot.
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| (L to R) Denise, LeAnne, Carolyn and her trusty chair/stool |
Next, taking the high road around Bob and his shrubs is Nita with a timestamp of 7:59. Not bad Nita, you made it there before 8, but you do know the start time was 7:45 😊.
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| (L To R) Bob, Nita, Denise |
See what I mean about how different things look. All those shrubs are new. Wonder if they'll come along and get rid of them when they do cleanup.
It's like people just show up, you don't see them coming and all of a sudden they're there. For instance here's Tecla, I just turned around and she was there.
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| Way in the background is Denise then in front we have: Barefoot Cathy, Tecla & Carolyn |
Yes, Cathy always loses her shoes when she gets here, she claims it feels really good under her toes. Me, the sand stuck between my toes would drive me crazy the whole way home.
So while I was busy taking pics of these next few spots, someone else arrived.
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| LeAnne in her spot -- as usual pretty in pink |
Carolyn has a friend that arrived separately
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| Carolyn and her buddy in her spot |
Yes, we have seen this pup before, he belongs to the lady in black.
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| Lady in black |
See the way she's holding her dress. Turns out she uses it to hold all the rocks and interesting pieces she collects while there. She then goes over and puts them in her backpack (which was loaded with rocks) and resumes searching for more. She finds various interesting pieces in the rocks from the riverbed. She showed me a few. Some that looked like they were used for cutting like a knife, a few that were beads. In the below picture you can see the holes in the beads if you look close. The positioning of the hole makes it look like they were strung together.
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| Look at the little rocks on top of the 2 bigger rocks. On the front 2 little ones, you can see the holes |
Nita walked off behind us to find her spot. It was near (can you guess) a dry wash of rocks.
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| Nita Walking to Her Spot |
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| Nita in her Spot |
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| Nita's VIEW |
I bet you thought it was just some random photo, but no. That's what Nita was looking at - her favorite, Rocks!
So, now after all this time you probably think I forgot - or maybe you forgot that I was going someplace before I showed you all these spots. Lets have a quick refresher. While I was off taking pics of artists' in their spots another artist arrived and I caught her setting up.It was Nori and this is her spot.
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| (L to R) Denise (my she stands so straight) and Nori in her spot |
Speaking of Nori, WOW, wait'll you hear this!!! There is a rather extensive article about Nori Thorne and her paintings in Art of the West magazine in the July/August 2023 issue. Here is a link to an excerpt from the article located on the magazines' website:
You'll also see 2 of her paintings there. Congratulations Nori!! Now while all the artists in our group are wonderful, you have to admit that we certainly have a few that are beyond exceptional, Nori of course being one. What a treat to be able to paint alongside her and the others. In fact, after having seen her painting in the gallery, I felt compelled to go home and add a little more color to my very bland milk chocolate colored river.
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| (L to R) Denise, Nori, Carolyn Bob and those specks of color in the weeds that aren't green located to the right of Bob are actually the artists Betty & Cathy who were chatting |
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| (L toR) Suzette, My spot, Cathy, Denise & Carolyn seated |
I did go looking for Tecla but never found her, turns out she was off hoping to try her luck on a Swing that was hanging from a tree. But, like clockwork, she showed up as we were all packing up.
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| Center is Tecla with her back to us |
With some effort and finagling of some of those river rocks against a very large tree root, plus Carolyn's trusty stool and someone else's camouflage stool, we built our gallery.
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| The Gallery as we saw it |
Some blow ups of it since it had to be pieced together for showing
We had to find an area where we could all stand for our group photo and while you would think after the number of times we've done this it would be easy 🙄 but no, beside a lot of chatting it takes a lot of shuffling ... so shuffle, shuffle -- shuffle, shuffle and then shuffle again. Ok, let me check, we're all in and it's a smile on 2!
Well, one thing about all the shuffling (and no it's not that it keeps us limber - although it probably does help), but it makes us all smile.
Oh, I almost forgot -- I think it was Suzette, may have been Denise or possibly even Nori (isn't this helpful) anyway they mentioned using dryer sheets in your hat to keep the bugs away. Whoever it was, it was someone wearing a beige hat and they swear by it, certainly worth a try.
So, yes, with the abundant shade and great temps, we're heading back for another fun day at the river. Hope you all can make it.
Cecilia