Lunch+++++

That tuna melt lunch yesterday was pretty good but not nearly as good as lunch today with the BRD and SWMBO at the Asylum in Jerome. This hotel restaurant has marvelous views with a few tables right by the windows overlooking the Verde Valley.
Here's a guy with one of the busiest jobs in the place.

Dark wood. Candlelight. It's enough to make you want to spend the day. And the night. If you didn't have to drive back down the mountain to home. Nice afternoon, though.

Lunch

A few . . oh, that's a lie . . . it was more like 15 years ago, I had my first tuna melt sandwich. I liked it but I don't think I'd ever had another one. Until today. I stopped at a Subway sandwich shop with tuna melt on my mind. They don't have one on the menu but I asked if they could make one and the guy said "sure!"

So I ordered tuna salad on Italian bread topped with pepper cheese. That went into a toaster oven for a minute or so. I had them top it with some chopped black olives, chopped green bell peppers, and chopped red onion. Topped it off with a splash of vinegar and oil dressing. And it was pretty darned good. SWMBO was amazed.

Rain on the horizon

I took a couple of pictures from behind the wheel yesterday.

Yes, I know I shouldn't try to take pictures while I'm driving down the road at 65 miles an hour. But it was only a couple of snaps and I wanted you to see our rain.

You can see it better if you click on the photos to expand them.

Speaking of music . . .

. . . and of old memories. Here's a song that's come to be popular on the Internet. The singer is Tom Rush.

Jazz

This past weekend the Prescott Jazz Summit kept aficionados of the form content for three days. I stopped downtown to visit with an old friend, Joel Goldenthal, who is the executive director of Jazz in Az. He performs as Joel Robin and has played piano behind many newcomers who have become stalwarts. I reminded him that I had seen Margo and Francine Reed perform for probably the first time in Arizona. It was at a big outdoor jazz festival at the Town and Country Shopping Center in Phoenix. The Reeds had just moved to Phoenix from Chicago and came out of the audience in blue jean cutoffs to perform with the Armand Boatman band. They tore the place up! Joel said "that was my first gig in the Valley, too!"

Later he said he met Timothy Johnson, who opened Timothy's Restaurant. Johnson asked Joel what he thought about bringing in some live music. Joel, always looking for gigs, brought in Francine Reed and the place became a reknowned jazz club. Francine, incidentally, is more commonly known these days for performing with Lyle Lovett's band.

I didn't get to hear much of the jazz this weekend but what I heard was spectacular. Mike Vax, who fronted the Stan Kenton bend for years, did a great job in putting it together and bringing in some great artists. Toni Tennille was the headliner but Margo and Blaise Lantana and Joel's wife Delphine Cortez and Dennis Rowland were on hand for the festival, as well as a number of very talented musicians. The BRD and her Beau took in one of the final sessions at the Hassayampa Hotel and she said the jazz was fabulous.

Next year I may have to shell out the money to attend myself.

Building update

It's been awhile so I figured it was time for yet another look at the new Prescott Valley Library building.

The brand new building, which will also hold classrooms for Yavapai College East, is due to have its grand opening on October 10th.

Down the way a bit is this fenced-in construction project going on in the Entertainment District. Looks to be a huge building. What can it be?

Ah! Yet another place to enjoy a burger. Fuddruckers also is due to open in the fall.

And I don't have a photo but the Hobby Lobby opened a large store this week and a new Chase Bank is nearing completion.

Arizona Beach Party!

Now this may seem pretty strange. Scheduling a Beach Party in central Arizona, far from lake or seashore. But never put Prescott Valley down. This one, in the heart of the Entertainment District, is the 4th annual!

So, the first thing you need for a beach party is a beach, in this case created by a number of loads of sand dumped in a parking lot.

From there on, it's whatever you can find. In this day and age, huge inflatable toys seem to be a favorite of the youngsters.

But it's not all for kids. Look what I found.

One thing we do have plenty of for a beach party - heat. More imagination and some water features help cool the mind, at least. This is a miniature golf course.

And there is a radio-controlled boat in a small pool of water.

Of course you could take to the air in one of these RC-control airplanes.

Getting back to the adults, there's also an RV show on site for dreamers.

There were some classic cars on hand too, including this Dodge Hemi.

Seems like that big air scoop would hamper the driver's vision but maybe he just brings it from show to show on a trailer.

At any rate . . . a pretty good beach party.