A couple of sessions of pickleball on Tuesday pretty much wiped me out. Kay is playing better and better and had good matches. The mixed matches Tuesday evening were fun, but it was difficult to see well on the dimly lit courts.

Kay played golf Wednesday morning, and I stayed in from pickleball  because of 20+ miles per hour winds. Thinking the scheduled concert for the evening was at 7 PM, we discovered it actually began at 6:30 pm, but we were only a few minutes late. The show, Tapestry, the Album, is Katherine Byrnes and Khris Dodge’s collaborative tribute to one of the greatest albums ever recorded. She also co-leads the band Sweet Ghosts with her partner Ryan Alfred, who played bass. The show was excellent, and the band even better. In fact, all the band members were musically educated with at least a Masters Degree, and vast experience in symphonic and jazz music.

Yesterday’s winds brought in cold weather, at least for this part of Arizona, with the low temperature Thursday morning being 27°. Fortunately, our tee time was for 11:35 am, and it had warmed enough to play at least with a jacket. Steve, Rod, and I played at the recently re-opened Arizona City Golf Course, and since there were just the three of us, we played a game called Wolf. It was a lot of fun, even though Steve won all the money!

Winds were again the major distraction from events at Palm Creek. The hot air balloon fest was canceled as were other special outdoor events scheduled for the weekend. With 21 miles per hour winds forecast, Kay and I opted to travel to the Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Friday morning with camera in hand. Even though it was only about 40 miles away, the forecast there was for 6 miles per hour wind. I knew we were in for a difficult day when the areas along Pond 5 where the photographers normally gather were totally empty. We saw a few hummingbirds nectaring, but few offered a decent photo opportunity. There were almost no shore or water birds, at least within camera range, and we saw very few flying in and out of the ponds. While a few photographs were made, it was almost a shutout—and the fewest birds I have made pictures of at that particular location.