Fun Fall with Fab Friends

One bonus for us living in Sunny St. George is, 

St. George is a Destination.

In the spring, winter and fall, it is our Gravy Time!

Visitors to St. George come in throngs, some of whom are our dear friends. 

I have referred to my love of my fellow Balladiers from USU many times throughout this blog. 
Don Gardner, our musical director and dear friend, called to say that he and his wife, Kathy, 
were coming from Ogden to stay in Mesquite, and they wanted to get together with us, 
so I invited them to dinner.
Don has been the main force behind the Balladier's reunions for the past several years; 
he and Craig Jessop cooked up our big concert in Logan 
and he booked us at the Stanley Lake Lodge when we reunited there 
at Linda and Kent Smith's cabin.
We love these guys!

Karleen, my dear friend from Ogden, and I have made it a tradition for her to come visit us in St. George 

and go to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. 

This year, Jan Noyes, also a dear friend from Ogden, came and visited Roger and I in St. George. 

She lives in Texas now, but came to Utah for her missionary reunion, then headed south. 

She joined Karleen and I in St. George in 2010, also, 

and we had a great time at the Shakespeare Festival. 

Kathy and Jim Jensen, also dear friends from Ogden, joined Karleen and Roger and I, 

as they have done before, to go to the Shakespeare Festival. 

The girls drove in one car and the boys, in the other.
We drove by the new temple site in Cedar City, then had lunch, 
attended the pre-briefing, 
then saw the matinee of, Charley's Aunt. 
We laughed a lot.

That evening, we saw, Dracula. 

We may have laughed at unexpected moments, 

like when the good guys finally drove a stake through Dracula's heart, 

and blood squirted nearly up to the high ceiling of the stage. 

It was the original play of Dracula - 

very dark, but entertaining and well-done.

"William" with his fans

We attended pre-show briefings . . .

. . . and enjoyed lunch at Pastry Pub and dinner at The Depot.

We love these guys!

Karleen, Jan and I had great fun at our home while they were here.
We had a big breakfast Wednesday morning, 
then talked the entire day through, eating snacks 
and basically being in the same spot 
  when Roger returned from work at dinnertime that we had been in when he left. 
We stayed up talking late for three nights, had some tasty meals, went to Brickey's D and C class, 
and basically had a grand time together.
There's nothing like old friends!

Our doorbell rang on an evening mid-October, and standing at our door were 

Carol and Danny Gibson and Chris and Lyle Johnston. 

They were in town to play softball in the annual Senior Games,

which they have done for 20 years.

We didn't take pics, but we had a lively visit 'round our table and caught up 

with each others' lives and others in Roger's Class of '62.
We love these guys!

Another blast from our past, Bob Rashka called to say he wanted to visit us. 
Now living in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, he was on a road trip through the Southwest.
He was Roger's former flight commander when we lived at Keesler AFB in Biloxi 
AND he and his wife, Judy, were our bowling partners in a pilots' bowling league. 
He has kept in touch, through Christmas cards, over the years and we reacquainted 
at a 3389th PTS reunion in Canton, Ohio. 
We invited him to dinner and to stay overnight with us 
and I brought him home some brochures about the Southwest 
from the Chamber of Commerce, where I had volunteered that afternoon. 
We enjoyed catching up together - he's a good guy, lonely (now divorced) 
and still caught up in his glory days as a pilot!

We love friends to come a'visitin'.
We also had fall fun with family, so stay tuned . . .