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| Yavapai Vista - Thataway |
Well I arrived at Yavapai Vista parking lot and saw Pat as I was driving through. My first thought, oh good, someone else is here. Then as I got out of my car I saw someone else with a perky smile drive by. It was Kris
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| Kris getting stuff out of her car |
Then I thought, even better, there are 2 others. But, it's still early so I'll wait to see who else might show up. So, As Pat and Kris went on their way, I hung out at the bench waiting until just after 9:30 to see who else might show up -- No one else showed up.
So, I gave up but was surprised because it was such a beautiful morning and couldn't imagine where the regulars were. In fact it became so warm that I immediately had to take off my hoodie. I found a spot not far from Pat's spot.
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| Pat in her spot |
Thankfully she was wearing a very noticeable hat!
I actually took the first trail you come to right before the bench instead of going up past the bench, therefore, I didn't catch Kris in her spot -- however, here she is on her way to it.
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| Kris on her way to her spot |
It was really good of these two to have worn something that made it easy for me to spot them!
Anyway, I went on to my spot and was painting away while time was ticking. Then somewhere around 10:40:42 or close to it, I heard this voice I recognized saying "So that's where you're hiding". I looked up and saw Betty looking over towards Pat and talking.
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| Betty came and found us |
I was so surprised. It turns out that Betty and Bob got there around 9:15 instead of 9:30 and Betty said that Mike was around someplace too. How about that! So, while I was busy waiting for people to arrive, they were busy finding spots and getting started (without me 😢 ) However, I really was glad to learn that they all were there, someplace.
I did start to go up to the actual "vista" to see if that was where Mike was, but instead turned around and just decided to pack up and head down to the bench.
After hanging out there for a bit I finally got to see Bob
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| Bob getting ready to bring his painting over |
I had seen Pat head down towards her car, turned out she was just putting her stuff away. But, while on her way down a fellow on a bike stopped to comment on her painting and mentioned that his wife is an excellent watercolorist and they live here part time. So, he stopped by me to ask how his wife could become a part of the group - her name is Anna. Well, needless to say, he stopped to ask the right person and I gathered her info and she's now on "the list". Although they'll only be here until March when they'll head to their other home someplace in the cold. Gee, that's too bad because as WE ALL KNOW, March, April & May are some of the prettiest months here with fantastic weather. In any event, I know we all look forward to meeting Anna.
Oops, almost forgot -- I heard that Nori was there as I think Betty & Pat saw her. However, she left early because her husband wanted to go skiing. So she went from painting in the hot sun to skiing on the sunny slopes.
Ok, back to waiting for the rest to show up, I spotted Mike through the trees (no surprise there, except he was walking and not sitting and painting).
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| Mike in the trees - I snapped a second too late |
Oh look! There's a sneak peak of the gallery. Anyway, we all got to stand there and chat while waiting for Kris, she was blissfully painting away and not paying attention to the time. Also, as we all know, 2 hours goes by pretty quick.
But, I was able to find her and helped her gather her stuff and we headed down for the grand showing. As always, the trusty bench made a great gallery for our paintings (which you all already know because you just got a sneak peak prior to any shuffling). But, here's the real deal.
And then we gathered together and very cheerily smiled on 2.
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| (L to R) Bob, Me, Mike, Betty, Kris, Pat |
One more thing - see it was not only warm enough to shed hoodies and stuff, a few of us even rolled up our sleeves.
Well, not sure about next week as the weather they're talking about is not at all like this day was. So we shall see when we get closer. Hope it's not as long a break as these past few weeks were! Hope to see you soon.
Cecilia