Monday, March 19th

Happy Birthday Marg, as you enter a new decade in your life journey, I am so happy to be able to share it with you.

  It was a nice day and the weather just got better in the Valley of the Sun.  Our day started out with a busy telephone and Ipad, with calls from family to their mother.  Just one of the benefits of having a loving family.  There were lots of cards dropped off & birthday wishes for her by friends here in the park.  One of the ladies in the park writes a daily blog and the one she wrote today was about Marg.  It was a very beautiful piece, but it brought a tear to her eye.
  It was her day and she wanted to see what Whole Foods was like as she had heard quite a bit about it from Char & Katie.  So we put the address for the store in Chandler in the GPS and headed out for a bit of adventure.  The store was very different as I would expect from anything affiliated with Amazon.  The displays in some areas were quite artistic, a bit like Save on at home in the produce area, but more decorative.  Just one example I noticed was the asparagus spears were in bunches and stood on end in a tray of water to keep them moist.  Many of the products were organic and many were unique both as to brand and content.  On of the products Marg picked out was Buckwheat pancake mix.  He mother always loved buckwheat pancakes and it was nostalgic and gave her a desire to try them again.  For my part I picked out a 6 pack of Peroni [an Italian beer] as both Craig & Phil seem to favour it.  It was the grooms drink at Anna & Craigs wedding, so I guess a bit nostalgic for me.
  For lunch we went over to the ready to eat area.  This is really cool as they have everything from a Japanese sushi bar to salads you build with many ingredients or other ingredients you can put together for an entrée, even a couple of curry dishes.  For our part we selected pizza slices.  Marg had the pesto and me the Hawaiian.  She said hers was the best pizza she has ever had.  We ate it in the bar area, yes it is not just a wine bar, rather it serves just about anything you like.  Quite an experience today.
  As luck would have it there was lots of other retail therapy in the area and it was really close to another strip mall we sometimes check out on Chandler road.  Went over to the TJ Maxx store where Marg had a bit of luck, but then said she had enough so we headed for home.  On the way we had to pass the Santan shopping area, so we stopped in to check out Total Wine.  Marg got some mixes to use in making margaritas.  One was Mango which always proves very popular here and has become very hard to find.  Me well I just found a nice bottle Glenlivet 12 yr. scotch that was very well priced.
  When we got home there were numerous cards on the step and a nice bottle of wine.  Then it was happy hour so I took a Peroni and Marg a can of flavoured water.  It was a small group today which is always nice.
  After we went out for supper to Red Lobster.  Marg loves lobster, so the dish she chose was very fitting:  Lobster lovers lobster.  We had calamari for an appetizer which may have been a mistake as neither of us could finish and Marg brought home about half of her meal.  A nice dinner and great way to bookend the day.