Michael Buckley
The SaddleBrooke Nature Club began the 2018-2019 season with a “Fall Kickoff” party September 29 at the SaddleBrooke One Roadrunner Grill. Event organizer Irene Somes planned a fantastic event, highlighted by two entertaining and educational Southwest nature trivia games. Irene also had an ample supply of game and door prizes, many of them homemade at her sewing machine.
The party began with a no host bar. Members gathered to renew old friendships or begin new ones. After some great mingling time, everyone was asked to sit at a table to begin the first of the trivia contests. This multiple choice quiz had many questions regarding local plants, animals and geographic formations. Karen Gray and Toni Blunt tied for the most correct answers. Karen pulled out the victory after a difficult tie breaker series of questions.
Next was dinner! Chef Dave and his SaddleBrooke One staff extraordinaire put together an outstanding menu consisting of grilled skirt steak with South American chimichurri sauce, grilled Mahi-Mahi with mango salsa, as well as a selection of other fine tastes. An additional highlight consisted of several large platters of chocolate brownies for dessert.
Nature Club members put on their thinking caps once again after the meal. This challenge was much greater than the earlier trivia quiz. Version two consisted of difficult fill in the blank questions covering such topics as Arizona’s state animal, bird, flower, tree, reptile and many more. Karin Bivens topped all contenders with an amazing ten of 11 correct answers! She was awarded the evening’s grand prize of a beautiful handmade embroidered apron and a bottle of wine.
Our club is for the nature enthusiasts in SaddleBrooke. Our mission is Appreciating our Desert Environment. We meet the second Monday of each month from fall through spring at the SaddleBrooke One Coyote Room. The club also sponsors several field trips each year in the local and greater Arizona area. If you are interested in nature education and a good time come visit the SaddleBrooke Nature Club.