A SIMPLE LUNCH

A flour tortilla, enclosing some leftover taco meat and refried beans; microwaved for 30-40 seconds.

Not pretty but tasty and fast.

THE FRIDAY FUNNIES

It's nearing the end of the week and the Catalyst's idle mind encountered a question while thinking about The Friday Funnies.

Can he get a laugh without a picture?

As an experiment, let's see.

Okay, okay, I hear you so I'll bring back the cartoons.

Well maybe just one.

Brace yourselves.

With that, I will call a halt to this Friday Frivolity.

I leave you with my standard plea - enjoy yourselves, have a great weekend and always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty . . .

(oooooohhhhhhh)

ThrowBack Thursday

1971 - Indiana:  A smug Catalyst in his brand new MGB,

Less than a year later, the car was back with the dealer and I was on my way to Arizona.

The smug smile remains.

PUSHING THE SEASON

I took this photo in a local store yesterday . . .

. . . so now it's down to 42!

TUESDAY TRICKERY

Up at the pass between Woodchute and Mingus Mountains there is a very unique tree.

While towering over its neighbors it blends into the forest.

But a closer inspection found it to be fenced off. 

Surprise!

It's NOT a tree.

It's a cleverly disguised cell phone tower.

To quote a punch line from an old joke, "Are you going to believe me or your lyin' eyes?"

CHOCOLATE & BLOODY

I told you yesterday about the mini "road trip" SWMBO and I took to the Verde Valley and our viewing the golden colors of the Cottonwoods along the river.

But, as you might expect of us, there were other pleasures experienced on this trip.

On our drive through Cottonwood (the town) we were surprised by this sign.

Now it happens that Judy has a daughter named Gayle, spelled that way, also known here as The BRD, for Beautiful Rich Daughter.

And she loves chocolate so I had to whip out my camera.

And visit the tiny shop.

Where I purchased four chocolate truffles.

They are Lemon, Raspberry, Champagne and, the shop-owner's favorite, Michigan Cherry.

In spite of good intentions, though, the BRD never saw these, as we greedily gobbled them up after we got home that evening.

Oh, and there was one other thing.

We stopped at The Tavern Grille in Old Town Cottonwood for a wonderful lunch preceded by one of these for SWMBO.

That is a spectacularly garnished Bloody Mary.

She said it was made to her taste - very spicey!

She topped it off with a BLTA sandwich and I had a Bleu Cheeseburger, both of which were excellent.

I heartily recommend The Tavern Grille.

And Gayle's Chocolates.

GOLDEN COTTONWOODS

SWMBO and I took a little road trip a few days ago, replicating somewhat my solo visit to the Verde Valley recently.

We stopped on the lower edge of Jerome to snap a couple of photos of the color in the trees and brush.

But the real treat was when we got to the Valley itself and saw all the cottonwood trees along the river in their brilliant gold colors for Autumn.

It is simple to track the course of the river as it wends its way through the area.

The moisture loving cottonweed trees lead the way with their brilliance.

We used to live in an apartment on a bluff looking down on the river and enjoyed seeing the trees changing color as the temperatures dropped.

We were directly above a large open field that occasionally flooded in the spring and apparently held water through the summer because every year a huge throng of Canada geese would fly in and land there for a few days on their journey south.

But that's another story.