More From Marcel

 More From Marcel

Marcel has been gracious enough to keep in touch with our group from his home down in Arizona.  Recently he made it out to a club meeting.  Here are some pics sent our way.

He recently visited some friends at the ABTO.

(Remember, you can enlarge the images by clicking on them and return by clicking outside them.)

As the shirt reads, ABTO stands for...

...the Arizona Big Train Operators group.

And...what a glorious operations they have.

Lots of fine structures.

Nice shade which reminds us of St. Helens.

Creative colours with plants.

Multiple trains running simultaneously.

Marcel tells us that this is a scratchbuilt bridge.

A mound or a mountain?

Hard at work...

...on hands and knees.

Back at home, Marcel snapped this shot of the woodpecker doing what woodpeckers do best...creating holes in plants of all sorts...this time...it's Marcel's prickly cactus he's working on!

One of the many inspirational messages Marcel sends our way.

Holy oranges Batman!  Check out the size of these ones!  Marcel tells us, "These are Navel oranges. I have a tree in my back yard but mine didn't get enough water this summer. I didn't set the sprinkler on long enough for the hottest summer on record down here. Thank God for neighbors (American spelling) HEHEHE who share everything."

While Marcel was happily playing trains...

...we up here in Canada...

...were merrily...

...shoveling our driveways clear...

...in our "winter wonderland!"

Below is Marcel's note to me from the other day outlining his activities.

"Hello Mike. All is well here. Temps are 10 to 15° above normal for this time of year. Getting a little 'cool down' starting Tuesday with a slight possibility of showers. We have only had one day of rain since Nov 13th and since August the 20th before that. A nice shower would help the fruit trees but that's all. I joined a group called the Arizona Big Train Operators last week and attended their first meeting of this year yesterday. They move the meetings every month to someone else's layout. Most of the layouts are in Southeast and Southwest Phoenix but we hope to have a meeting up here in the Northwest sometime to show off our accomplishments. We'll see if we can get the old timers to move around a little. 

I am playing softball three days a week and sometimes tournaments on the odd weekend. The music arrangement sounds good for you. I couldn't bring a guitar down this year because we were flying down and I miss it. Hopefully by the time we get back things will be better to get together and play. I am registering for the vaccine on Tuesday and should get the first shot by mid February or so and the second shot 21 days after that. The Governor has permitted Snowbirds to be vaccinated free of charge also. Arizona doesn't mess around with things like that. Everybody is treated the same. Makes sense so we don't infect others. 

As I am writing this a large woodpecker is trying to enlarge a hole in my Saguaro (pronounced Sawaro) (little bit of Spanish lesson) Cactus. I think he's gonna have a bad headache. LOL. I'll send some pictures of the layout from yesterday later this afternoon. Take care, stay safe and keep in touch. Marcel. Say hello to Lisa and anyone else you see from the OVGRS.

Thanks, Marcel, for the wonderful images.

All the best, Mike Hamer, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada