The Trip

SWMBO and I made a trip to Phoenix this past weekend. Once in awhile, we decide to go to the big city and "blow it out". This was one of those trips. It will take a while for our waist lines and our budget to recover but it was worth it. A great trip.

The main reason for going was to attend a reunion party of present and former employees of KPNX-TV in Phoenix. I worked there from 1972 to 1985 so I was not expecting a lot of people from my era. What a surprise! The party drew about 275 people, including probably 20 to 30 from my days at the station. It was great fun and I had a fabulous time renewing acquaintances with many former co-employees.

But after the party, we still had things to do. Sunday we went to a very well-juried art fair at City Center North . . . in far north Phoenix. Great art.

One young lady had a great time pulling the towels off the bottom of several of these wire sculptures to see what was underneath!

Since they're pushing up to Christmas, there were even some carolers.

The day before that, we decided to ride the new Light Rail system and got on it at Central and Camelback in Phoenix and rode for nearly an hour to Mesa, then back again. The system is very smooth and convenient and travels directly through central Phoenix, with stops at museums, downtown, and sports stadiums . . both in Phoenix and on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe. It's a great addition to the city.

Here are some photos from the train. The first, a nice view of the historic Tovrea Castle.

I felt like we were in San Francisco or Seattle as several riders wheeled their bicycles on board and hung them up vertically on rails.

There were some fabulous sculptures alongside the stations.

And a great view of Tempe Town Lake as we crossed the water.

Now let me tell you about the food.

On the way down to the city, a stop at Rock Springs for huge cheeseburgers and patty melts.

Friday night a wonderful meal at Steamers' restaurant in the Biltmore Shopping Center. Just forget about the S'mores dessert. After a huge prawn appetizer and a seared Sea Bass for me and a wonderful Calamari in Thai Sauce appetizer for SWMBO topped off with Swordfish, the dessert was extremely amateurish. But the rest of the meal, the restaurant and the service was fantastic.

Saturday early afternoon, we stopped at the Cheesecake Factory, where SWMBO dined on a pulled pork sandwich and I had a Flatiron Steak, par excellence. My steak was not thin like the Flatirons I had had in another restaurant, but more like a New York strip. Perfectly done and tender. We shared a great signature dessert which combined Red Velvet cake and cheesecake.

Sunday was careful. Just some snacking from our own hotel cooler until dinner at night. Then we went to an old favorite, Tomaso's Italian Cuisine. Owner Tommy Maggiore was in the house and I told him we had been coming there since he first opened the restaurant back in the 1970's. I had Clams Casino and SWMBO Stracciatella soup for appetizers, then she had Veal Marsala and I dined on Veal Osso Buco, which I had enjoyed there before. The risotto was marvelous and our shared Cannoli with some Lemon Gelato topped the meal, along with Tomaso's special Cappucinos.

Today was a coming-home day so we made the traditional trip to Trader Joe's market, checked out AJ's market (way too expensive for us) and went to a Miracle Mile delicatessen for Straw sandwiches before heading for home.

A quick stop when we were about 25 miles from home to finish off the trip with iced mochas.

And now the diet starts.

Well, actually, that may not be until Friday. After all, Thursday is Thanksgiving!

And here's one of the greatest "cats" of all time.

Catz

This cat looks like my Smoke but he isn't. Must be a distant relative. I must thank Warren from Touch the Wind for sending him and others along. I'll be sharing more of them with you in the days ahead.

Once I was blind . . .

I just had SWMBO take these photos to show how I inflicted myself on my fellow citizens today. I wasn't really seeking sympathy but I needed a long-sleeved shirt and this was the one I pulled out of my closet. I thought it went perfectly with the hat and glasses so I sallied forth.

Here's the rest . . . as Paul Harvey would say . . . of the story.

The shirt is actually some free advertising for a friend of mine who has a venetian blind company in Prescott.

You may all now release that breath you've been holding!

The Lacuna

I have just finished reading a new novel by the author Barbara Kingsolver. "The Lacuna" is a marvelous tale that leads a young boy to move to Mexico at the age of 12, to eventually work as a cook and other minor jobs for Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Lev Trotsky. After Trotsky is murdered, the boy moves first to New York and then to Asheville, North Carolina. He becomes a famous author with his novels based on Mexican history before running afoul of the House Unamerican Activities Committee during the Communist scare of the late 1940's and early 1950's.

The book is a spell-binding tale that weaves in and out of Mexican and American history.

Highly recommended by this blogger.

Patience and Wisdom

The Doctor is in the house

Superstitious?

Friday the 13th. One of those mythically dangerous days when one must watch out for black cats, not walk under ladders, and the like. But there's more.

There is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla, their heaven. In walked the uninvited 13th guest, the mischievous Loki. Once there, Loki arranged for Hoder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder the Beautiful, the god of joy and gladness, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Balder died and the Earth got dark. The whole Earth mourned.

There is a Biblical reference to the unlucky number 13. Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th guest to the Last Supper.

A particularly bad Friday the 13th occurred in the middle ages. On a Friday the 13th in 1306, King Philip of France arrested the revered Knights Templar and began torturing them, marking the occasion as a day of evil.

In ancient Rome, witches reportedly gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

Both Friday and the number 13 were once closely associated with capital punishment. In British tradition, Friday was the conventional day for public hangings, and there were supposedly 13 steps leading up to the noose.

It is traditionally believed that Eve tempted Adam with the apple on a Friday. Tradition also has it that the Flood in the Bible, the confusion at the Tower of Babel, and the death of Jesus Christ all took place on Friday.

Numerologists consider 12 a "complete" number. There are 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 apostles of Jesus. In exceeding 12 by 1, 13's association with bad luck has to do with just being a little beyond completeness.

And there's more.

More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.

Many airports skip the 13th gate.

Airplanes have no 13th aisle.

Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.

Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.

On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.

Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue

In France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.

Many triskaidekaphobes, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.

If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names.

Here in sunny Arizona, it's a typical Friday the 13th day. I woke early and suddenly this morning with what sounded like two gunshots. When I got out of bed, both cats were acting nervous and looking toward one side of the house, where there is a sunporch with windows. I looked and looked but saw nothing. No police cars. No bodies. Nothing.

Nothing that is except a very grey day with wet streets indicating a light rain had fallen. Nothing else. One might say "a perfect Friday the 13th day."

All historical trivia courtesy of http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html#friday

So...I'm picky!

Jazz is very particular about her water dish. She wants it freshened every day. But when it's fresh, there are a bit of foggy bits rolling around in it. So Jazz hunkers down over it and watches it until the water is clear. Then, and only then, can she drink. And drink. And drink.

Cats are so good to live with. They can teach us so much.

How much . . .

. . . . room does it take. Here's a couple of photos of a single-family home in north Prescott.

I'm not sure these photos do justice to this place.

It. Is. HUGE!

Blink!

Much more at http://icanhascheezburger.com

The past is passed

A former colleague of mine and I got in touch recently and have been exchanging some photos from our past. These two, that I received today, are of a going away party when my friend went across town to become my competitor. In the first photo, I have surprised him with a small gift of some kind. In the second photo he is being gracious and saying goodbye.
Two things stand out to me. #1, look how skinny we are! I've put on close to a hundred pounds since those days. #2, notice I am not without a cigarette in either photo. And that was inside of our studio, on the second floor. Nearly everyone smoked in those days and there were no laws about it. "Those days" - this was in 1968, some 41 years ago! (Incidentally, I stopped smoking, finally, 18 years ago but I still had to have a pacemaker installed a few years ago.)

Autumnal Beauty

So, okay. My last trip north to see the fall colors was a failure. But that was several weeks ago. Friday we went to Flagstaff to visit a friend. Saturday morning we came back down Oak Creek Canyon. (As I have said before, it is a place of great beauty on the earth.) And this time we got lucky. The colors were magnificent.

Doesn't this shot, with its apples for sale, look like New England. (I've never been there but I have a very good imagination.)

Governor Kinky?

Let's see . . . Bob Luzius is soon off the Prescott City Council, Steve Blair is back on, along with Tammy Linn and John Hanna. Paul Katan, as expected, finished a distant last. The voters approved an initiative to put any expenditure by the city over 40 million dollars to their approval in special elections. (Read: an attempt to stop the city's plan to pump needed water from the water ranch they bought.)

On the national scene, Republicans elected governors in Virginia and New Jersey (so long, Jon Corzine), Mayor Bloomberg's 100 million dollar gamble to win a third term in the Big Apple was successful, and the voters of Maine turned their backs on a significant part of their population as they reversed same sex marriage. But there was some good news nationally: Whackos Sarah Palin and (my old college pal) Dick Armey and their stooge were defeated in upstate New York as Democrat Bill Owens was elected to Congress.

But the best news of all? Kinky Friedman is running for governor of Texas again. This time he's decided to do it as a Democrat. (As he put it, the last independent elected governor in Texas was Sam Houston and that was a long time ago.) Politico has the full story.

What's that smoke?

This smoke is up on top of Mingus Mountain. It's yet another prescribed burn. The Prescott Daily Courier has all the details.

Halloween - Prescott - 2009

Some say Halloween is the biggest holiday of the year in Prescott. I may agree. Costumes are amazing.

But this guy may just be "normal" for the day.

But close behind the costumes began.

My wife tells me dead celebrities are big this year. Like Michael Jackson.

Some are traditional (the cat in the hat), others are showing the zombie look.

Then there's the . . . transsexual look?

Ladies seem to like the sexual look . . even when accompanying their teensy children.

Or not.

And then, the zombies are back.

And the kids.

A pirate? Wasn't that last year?

There was "the Wild Gang".

Bat-er up!

And finishing up . . . the zombies again.

I talked to a cab driver. She said most people were having dinner. The "action" didn't really start until about 9 p.m. The bars have their costume contests beginning at 10.

I'm too old for this!

Have a scary day!

Vegetables (twice)

SWMBO let her artistic side come to the front recently. She created this pretty relish plate for one of our meals. Red, orange and yellow peppers, quartered dill pickles, red and yellow cherry tomatoes. And you know what? It tasted as good as it looked!

Then there were these two vegetables, echoing each other's nap positions, though Muggles' eyes are wide open, casting a wary look at me. Don't be fooled by their proximity, however. Muggles initially used to nap on the bed in the afternoons. Then Smoke came along and discovered the comfy spot for himself. Now he usually beats Muggles there. She comes in a little later, jumps up on the bed and haughtily circles Smoke, sniffing at him, doing everything she can to get him to run away so she can take over the spot. Smoke is generally a very placid cat but he isn't easily bullied. So eventually Muggles lies down as close as she can get without actually touching him. Except for an occasional lazy flip of her tail in Smoke's face.

And there they stay.

Meat on the hoof

I know I've done this before but my camera just can't resist. For you city-folk and Easterners, here's what your steaks and hamburgers look like long before it gets to your plate.