A thunder gourd?

As long as I had to take an almost hour’s drive to town (Yuma), I thought I’d visit a couple of local interesting spots along the way.  One I visited last weekend when I had to get a new battery for the car, but the other one I’d just seen off the roadway.

Right along US 95 is the sign for the Pause, Rest, Worship Church.  It was built in 1995 by Loren Pratt as a memorial to his late first wife.

                                                                       This church is tiny!

The church was destroyed by a freak microburst storm in 2011, but an outpouring of donations helped rebuild it complete with stained glass.  On the pulpit, there is a Bible and a notebook where prayer requests can be written.

Outside, the small place of worship is surrounded by gorgeous blooming bougainvillea bushes.  It was a peaceful spot in the midst of farm fields.

I continued on to stop at Walgreens and Fry’s grocery store.  Last week when I was at Fry’s, I wanted to get some pork ribs for grilling, but I felt $7.99/lb. was too expensive.  This week the price was the same, but if you bought one full rack of ribs, you got two more for free.  So, I ended up with 14 lbs. of ribs for $2.14/lb.  I like ribs, but I’m thinking I ended up with more than enough to last me the five months I’ll be here!  It’s a good thing there’s a small chest freezer for volunteers to use to take advantage of good sales.

On the way home, once again on US 95, I stopped for the second time at From the Farm.  When I first stopped here on Sunday, I thought it might be a vegetable stand.  Turns out it’s more than that.

There’s a garden area that has various ornaments from Mexico (I think).  See that cool frog on the left?  I thought my brother Kurt might like that to put on a section of the wall surrounding his pool.  He’ll have to let me know.  In the middle of this area is a ‘shack’ where you can also eat your lunch at a table in the shade. 

Inside, you can order a lunch, buy local jams, honey, and pickles, and shop for antiques and local artists wares.  There was no fresh produce.  I got the tour of the store on Sunday by the owner along with some free samples.

I ended up buying a jar of dill pickles, and let me tell you that if you like pickles with a little kick, this is the place to get them.  I think it’s the red pepper flakes in the jar that spice them up.

There are also four kinds of iced tea and lemonade that you can buy.  When I was there on Sunday, the guy gave me a sample of artichoke tea.  I’m not a tea drinker, but I had to give it a try.  He told me to just take a little sip, and then give the glass back to him.  I did.  It tasted like tea.    Then he put in a squirt of lemonade, and it made all the difference in the world to me.  It was very refreshing and tasty.

I had never heard of artichoke tea, and he went on and on about its virtues.  So today I purchased a full glass of the tea/lemonade mixture.  It does quench your thirst in the desert, and just look at all the benefits.  I also found out that this is a U-pick farm, but crops won’t be ready for three or four weeks yet.

Now here’s the real reason I stopped here once again today.  It was to get a Thunder Gourd.  There is a local artist that paints and carves these gourds.  These gourds just caught my fancy on Sunday.  I thought about it all week, and decided to get the one with the lizard painted on it.  It’s not just pretty.  There is a kind of skin covering the bottom that a coil hangs out of.  If you twirl the gourd in a circle, it makes the most amazing sound.  I just love it.  I hung it from the visor of the driver’s seat, and every time I go up front I twirl it to hear the ‘thunder’.  Emma is not as fond of it as I am…  It’s hard to describe the sound.  I guess you’ll all just have to come to visit so I can play it for you.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy