The masks, the beads, the feather boas ... is it the opportunity to accessorize on Mardi Gras that turns everyday people into party animals? Well, it couldn’t hurt, anyway.

How busy are flower shops on Valentine’s Day? One store owner said they do a typical month’s worth of business in a single day, thanks to men and women dropping in for fresh blooms and gifts.

What a doll! Make that dolls, plural: Collectors from across Arizona gathered at the Shrine Auditorium in Phoenix recently to buy, sell or just look at hundreds of antique and collectible dolls.

Twice a week — around 9 a.m. Fridays and Tuesdays — senior citizens from all across the Valley gather at Eldorado Park in Scottsdale for a pickup game of softball. Tribune photographer Paul O’Neill captured a few games.

It’s hard to teach tots the finer points of dance when some of them can’t even pronounce words like “plié.” That doesn’t mean they can’t try, though, as Tribune photographer Ralph Freso learned at a ballet/tap beginner dance class for 3- and 4-year-olds at Jeanne’s School of Dance in Mesa.

It’s better to give than to receive — especially when the gift will go to needy children who otherwise might not have received toys or gifts this holiday season.

Each week, InFocus captures a slice of life in the East Valley through the lens of Tribune photographers. The events and activities will be entertaining and something we can all relate to — or at least enjoy.

When your dog interprets “stay!” and “down!” as suggestions, not commands, it’s time for obedience training.

It’s only partly about the scores at spring training baseball — it’s more about autographs, athletes up close and grabbing some rays on a weekday when most of us are stuck indoors at work.

Early winter is a gem of a season in Arizona, and it tends to kick off in the East Valley. For the next two months, rockhounds can browse events from Quartzsite to Tucson; one of the first of the year is the annual Flagg Gem and Mineral Show at Mesa Community College last weekend.

Even the name sounds refreshing this time of year: the Franciscan Renewal Center. Add in The Casa for Paz y Bien (a “Spanglish” phrase that translates into “the house for peace and good”), and it’s not hard to see why hundreds of people visit the Paradise Valley center every weekend to recharge their spirits.

The danger — and the beauty — of Home Depot: You go in to get a gallon of paint, but you walk out with a ceiling fixture, Venetian plaster and trowel, sprinkler head filters, switch plates, terry cloth work rags, floor polish and four plants.

Each week, InFocus captures a slice of life in the East Valley through the lens of Tribune photographers. The events and activities will be entertaining and something we can all relate to — or enjoy.

Each week, InFocus captures a slice of life in the East Valley through the lens of Tribune photographers. The events and activities will be entertaining and something we can all relate to — or enjoy.

Each week, InFocus captures a slice of life in the East Valley through the lens of Tribune photographers. The events and activities will be entertaining and something we can all relate to — or enjoy.

Each week, InFocus captures a slice of life in the East Valley through the lens of Tribune photographers. The events and activities will be entertaining and something we can all relate to — or enjoy.

Maybe it’s for the best that it’s the last weekend of the Arizona Renaissance Festival: Imagine how uncomfortable it must be for the lords and ladies to walk around in all that velvet as the temperatures creep up.

“We look like a painters’ convention,” Bob Sharkey of Leisure World told Tribune photographer Ralph Freso as the Mesa retirement community’s lawn bowling club, all dressed in white, hosted rivals from Venture Out for a match.

“I think people have a misconception of what we do,” says wheelchair basketball player Patty Cisneros of Scottsdale. “It’s very competitive and very physical. It’s a lot more than people give it credit for.”

That happy rainy day has arrived.

NEW YORK - Stocks jumped as U.S.-led troops swept into Baghdad and seized a presidential palace Monday, giving investors hoping for a swift end to the war. But a burst of late-day profit-taking left stocks just modestly higher.