Date night at the Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ, March 24, 2025

March 15, the Desert Botanical Garden opened a new exhibit hall with an event called Orchid Fever.  When I was at the DBG on my regular shift, there were long lines to get into Orchid Fever.  I made reservations for us on March 24 which turned out to be a great time to go - very quiet at the Garden on a warm Monday afternoon.  On our way to the orchid exhibit, we walked through the new Desert Oasis.

We discovered a plant that was new to us, weltwitschia - it is from the Namib desert in Africa.

Both the new exhibit hall and the Orchid Fever exhibit were great.

After the orchids, we strolled through the Garden and stopped at Webster Hall to see the Leaf Connection exhibit.  Using iNaturalist, people take photos of leaves and then a clay model of the leaf is mounted on the city map on the wall to show where the plant had been found in the Metro Phoenix area.

Then we wandered out to Sunset Plaza to explore the maze with thousands of hand made flags at the Towards 2050 exhibit - the project is to emphasize the challenge of taking care of our environment.

 

We had dinner reservations at Gertrude's restaurant for 6:00 p.m. and had a lovely dinner with wine.

 

 

After sunset, we wandered the garden for about an hour, and enjoyed the Hybycozo light sculptures before they are removed on April 1.

 

We had a delightful time together at the DBG.

The Dog Whisperer, Portland, OR, March 11 - 17, 2025

Once again, I had the chance to dog sit for one of our children.  We have no grandchildren, but we do have two granddogs.  While Megan was off on a business trip, I got to stay in Portland with Miss Piper.  We walked several times each day, including a two mile walk at and around Laurelhurst Park.

After returning from Spain Sunday evening, Monday was spent doing laundry, exercising and packing to leave Tuesday.  To get to the Desert Botanical Garden on Tuesday morning, I took a Waymo ride, one of the driverless delivery services in Phoenix.  One thing they have is video monitors, one in the back seat and one on the dash - I could see that the vehicle saw all cars and pedestrians around me.

 

After my shift at the DBG, Patty came and drove me and my luggage to the airport.  Then it was a quick flight to San Francisco and a second flight to Portland - I got the complimentary upgrade to First Class on the second flight.

Miss Piper has a raincoat.  It helps with this being the rainy season in Portland, and it rained some every day that I was there.  But that did not stop us from walking.

After our walks, Miss Piper has to rest.

Even though the Spring Equinox is not until March 20, many plants are in bloom.

Piper and I discovered the Shogren House - it is over 100 years old, is a designated historical site and it used to house a museum.  It is now rented out to a family.  I can imagine this being a great site for shooting movie or television scenes.

 

I had a nice dinner at Ben and Martha's Friday - homemade enchiladas and salad.  Megan returned Saturday afternoon as scheduled.  Sunday evening, we got take out from Salavi Thai and ate with Ben and Martha.

And I brought some Spanish chocolates for both Megan's apartment and for Ben and Martha's house.

And then on Monday, Saint Patrick's Day, it was back to the airport and flights to San Francisco and on to Phoenix.

INTED 2025, Valencia and Madrid, Spain, March 1 - 9, 2025

On Saturday morning, March 1, Patty drove me to the airport.  I flew from Phoenix to San Francisco to Munich to Valencia, arriving around 6:00 p.m. Sunday.  It was raining so instead of trying to use the Metro, I chose to spend money taking a taxi to my hotel, Ilunion 3 Valencia.  My hotel was about a six minute walk from the Melia Valencia where INTED 2025 was happening.  I walked there, registered, got my name tag, then got a salad and beer to have in my room before bed time.

Monday morning, the conference opened at the nearby civic center.  The conference is very international, and the two key note speakers were from NAU in Flagstaff, AZ, and University of Oxford in England.

 

 

  

The conference then moved back to the Melia Valencia Hotel.  Besides an area for poster presentations, seven rooms were used for live presentations.  There were three 90 minute sessions on Monday and four on Tuesday.  In each session, there were six presentations of 15 minutes - enough for each speaker to give a brief overview and take one or two questions.  Lots of information presented at a very rapid pace.  

It was like having a fire hose pushing gallons of information at you.  And then it was over.  I had registered for the tour on Wednesday morning, but then skipped it because of the weather - public schools in Valencia were closed all three days.  I went to have lunch with my friends I had met at Vaughan Town in February: Carlos and Kim, and Dee and Hirchak.  We had a delightful menu del dia, then adjourned to Dee and Hirchak's apartment for more conversation and some peppermint tea.

Thursday morning, I took the high speed train from Valencia to Madrid - more than 300 kph or about 190 mph.  I had lunch with our friend Carol.  Then Friday, I visited my friends at Grupo Vaughan for coffee - it ended up being a two hour visit.

Friday evening, I went to the English Speaking Group, La Teinda de las Lanos, at Cafeteria Restaurante Via22.  I chatted with friends for a couple of hours.  On Saturday morning, we boarded the flight from Madrid to Newark - three hours later the flight was canceled due to mechanical issues.  I rebooked to flights for the next day on my phone, then left the madness to go stay in a hotel - the other 300 passengers had to get their luggage, hotel and meal vouchers and rebook their flights.  Instead, I had a relaxing day (albeit at my expense - worth every penny), then flew home on Sunday.

 

I liked it so much, I will see if VTSU will fund me again next year.

 

 

Vaughan Town in El Barco de Avila, Feb. 9 - 14, 2025

 On Sunday morning I set off for another week at the Izan Hotel Puerta de Gredos - it is located at the base of the Gredos Mountains in western Spain in the town of El Barco de Avila.  We had our usual busy schedule each day.

On many of the one to one sessions, we walked to the beach on the Rio Tormes.

On the way into town, there is a sign that tells about the seven types of beans grown in this area.

One day, our entire group walked into town.  Among other things, some of us visited the castle.

 

The city library is upstairs in the building that was formerly the jail.  In the ground floor foyer, they have a model of what the town looked like in the 1500s when it was completely encircled by a wall.

At show time on Wednesday, I did my "Dinner on the Desert" presentation where I shared a first course of mesquite flour, a second course of crickets, desert of taffy and candy made from prickly pear cactus fruit, and after dinner liquor of tequila made from agave.

One of the group activities was this problem where we had to decide which nine people got to go to the island and which three would be left to die.

And then it was time for the certificate ceremony and to say goodbye.

Friday evening, back in Madrid I went to Restaurente Cafeteria Via22 for the regular meeting of the English Speaking Group.

 And then on Saturday I flew home to Phoenix from Madrid via Newark.