Monday, May 28, 2018

IT'S A HOLIDAY!

Wow!  A 3-day weekend.  How should I spend it?

Oh, wait, I know.

The Monday Merry-Go- Round!








Barbecues, swim suits, getting together with friends and family - it's all a good thing, right?

But let's not forget what Memorial Day is all about.

The boys and girls, men and women, who bravely defended our country and lost their lives doing it.

Take a moment from all the frivolity to think about them.

Now, here kitty-kitty . . .


Sunday, May 27, 2018

GOOD EATIN'

When our friends Tom and Lana visited us recently they wanted to treat us to a Sunday brunch and Judy suggested her favorite restaurant.


We warned them going in that it was a funky old place and not to be put off by it's appearance.

The building that houses the Iron Springs Cafe is an old railroad depot that was built in 1894.

It was moved to its present location in 1974 and became a restaurant.

SWMBO (Judy) and I have had brunch there several times and she and her daughter, Gayle (the BRD) have lunched there many more times.

We can all attest to the quality of their giant Bloody Mary's.

Fair warning though: they can be addictive.

The menu features Cajun and Southwestern food.

We all claim the Blackened Catfish is the best we've ever had anywhere and tops the list when it's offered.

Tom had it on our recent visit and loved it.

And he's a foodie!

But he also got a dish of their famous gumbo with andouille sausage and chicken which all four of us tasted and loved.

That was a new food experience for us and one we'll be sure to repeat.

Everyone left, as the old expression goes, "fat and sassy."

If you're lucky enough to get to Prescott, Arizona, give this famous, fun place with delicious food a try.

Here is a link to it.

Saturday, May 26, 2018

COWBOY IN A STORM

I visited the Bronzesmith Fine Art Foundry and Gallery yesterday to get a look at their latest sculpture.


It's the 14-foot-tall "Cowboy in a Storm" sculpture, showing a cowboy on his horse with a hefty calf roped beneath him as the horse bucks and the cowboy's hat flies off.

The impressive work is being shown at the Courthouse Square in Prescott during the Phippen Museum's art show and sale.


Some time later it will be installed in it's permanent location in the roundabout at the entrance to the museum.


It's a fitting location as the sculpture was the last done by legendary western artist George Phippen before his death from cancer at age 50 in 1966.

Phippen was a pretty much self taught artist who created some three thousand works of art in his brief 20-year career.

He was also a co-founder and first president of the Cowboy Artists of America.

Friday, May 25, 2018

BONUS POST: I GOOFED!

Somehow in my inept way I had screwed up the comment part of my blog and a number of you kind folks didn't get your comments published.

I think I've fixed that now as I see a bunch of comments have suddenly popped up.

If your comment didn't make it, please send it again and let me know by email if there's a problem.


I'm sorry.


THE FRIDAY FUNNIES


To be serious for a moment, there is a Red Flag Warning for our part of Arizona for today and tomorrow due to low humidity and high winds.

That means critical fire danger so, like Sergeant Esterhaus used to say on Hill Street Blues, let's be careful out there.

But for this motoring weekend, we have a theme!

Yes, the Friday Funnies (thanks to Seattle Lori) are going to poke a little fun at one of your summer favorites - high gasoline prices!














And on that happy "note", Gentle Readers, I'll put up the stop sign on this high octane collection.

As you're "walking" around this wild and wooly weekend (3-days off, YAY!) I want you to have a wonderfully wacky time, wide-open to whimsy.

And always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .


Wednesday, May 23, 2018

A QUICK VISIT

We had a couple of visitors here at the Old Manse over the weekend.


No, no, I don't mean them.

The Eurasian Collared Doves (thanks, Phil) are here throughout the day, every day.

As a matter of fact, they apparently landed with such an impact the other day that they flipped the top half of the bird bath upside down onto the ground.

I noticed it after the fact and returned it to its rightful position with a fresh filling of water.

But no, those aren't the visitors I was referring to.

It was Tom and Lana from Cambria, California, who dropped in for a whirlwind visit.

They are old friends (older now) from my Indianapolis radio days back around 1970.  

So our friendship is rapidly approaching a half century of existence.

Curiously, for someone who seems to live with his camera in his hand, I came away with no pictures this time.

As we chatted over the weekend the topics veered from "how did we ever get this old?" to "whatever became of him/her?" to "is he/she still alive?"

Judy has joked that old people only seem to talk about their various maladies.

And we all discussed those, too.

But there was still time for some wine and some great meals.

As usual Judy performed wonders in the kitchen, producing such tasty comestibles as orange-carrot-nutmeg soup, gazpacho, picadillo empanadas, corn and black bean salad, smoked paprika shrimp, lemon pound cake topped with lime-flavored Greek yoghurt, and choclolate meringues.

Ah, those chocolate meringues.

Mind you, that was not just one meal.

Did I mention the wine?

The visitors treated us to a delicious Bloody Mary-infused Sunday Brunch at the funky old Iron Springs Cafe . . . a favorite spot of ours.

Great gumbo, by the way.

It had been three years since we had seen them.

Three years marked by some doctoring all around and some more aging becoming apparent.

But, as is often remarked, with old friends it just seems like yesterday.

Friday, May 18, 2018

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

Ah, Gentle Readers, it is Friday and you've nearly made it through another week.

Time for some humor.


This week we're headed for the wide open spaces.

Sort of.





Told ya!




O.K. I can hear you screaming with laughter so I think that's enough for this week.

Now, listen up: your mission this weekend is to have an excruciatingly elegant time, the envy of your neighbors and ending everlasting ennui.


Uh, yesssss.

And always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .


Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Monday, May 14, 2018

SHADOWING


"No, not that one."


"THAT one."

Saturday, May 12, 2018

CURIOSITY AND THE CAT


"I'm studying it."


"I gotta have it."

(the strap from my camera)

Friday, May 11, 2018

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

If it's already Saturday where you live, I'm sorry, okay?

I know I'm late but I've been busy.

There's a huge brush fire quite near to me (burning away from me, thankfully) and I've been keeping track of it.

At any rate, it's bearing down on the weekend and you know what that means.


Well, yes, there is that, of course.

But today (or yesterday, maybe, where you live.  Sheesh!) it's time for The Friday Funnies.

And to get them started, I offer a bowl of soup . . .


 . . . and salad!




Are you sensing a theme here?


All right, just to change the focus a bit.

Just a wee bit.


And in case you really didn't get the message . . .


Okay, with that final (heh-heh) happy thought let me wish you a phantastic, phabulous weekend full of words that begin with p but you'd never know it.

Like "pneumonia".

And always remember to keep laughing!

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(uh-oh)