Festival Time

It is festival time in Arizona. SWMBO and I traveled in to Prescott today to spend some time at the 29th annual Prescott Bluegrass Festival. Good music.

The festival was held on the courthouse square in the heart of town and a good crowd was on hand.

As is common at such events, there was a plethora of dogs in attendance.

This big fellow was very calm and sat quietly by his master, looking on with interest but barely twitching when other dogs big and small walked by.

Just across the walk, this much smaller fellow couldn't stop his tag from wagging.

There were even a couple of "hot dogs" in attendance. The girl runs a hot dog shop on the square and was trying to drum up some business.

And to top off a juicy hot dog, what is better than some delicious ice cream.

As is common in Prescott some costumed people were in attendance. This pair was selling raffle tickets.

And a couple of young lads had freshly drawn-on eyeglasses from a nearby shop.

At any festival in summertime Arizona, one can see an amazing collection of tee shirts. But this one was my favorite!

I hope you're attending a festival in your neighborhood this summer!

Roses and roses and roses

(Note: the photos are more stunningly beautiful when one clicks on them to expand the view.)

Alas, my camera and I have been neglecting SWMBO's roses this year. I have waited nearly too long to photograph them. But still . . .

The yellow and white ones are suffering in the hot sun without rain.

But, I am told, while they may die out . . they will bloom again, bringing color and joy to our lives.

He's My Man

This is sort of an apology. You see, SWMBO had ordered "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man" from Netflix. It came a couple of weeks ago and has been lying around the house ever since. Tonight she finally got around to watching it and then brought it to me and asked if I wanted to see it.

I said rather vehemently "I don't think so. I can't stand Leonard Cohen. He sings atonally and I don't care for his poetry."

SWMBO said "O.K. Do what you want but just don't say anything more to me about it because I loved it."

Well, I said I might take a look.

May some higher power or another strike me dead. I just watched the whole program and I, too, loved it.

It's a tribute to Cohen and his work and features performances by a group of artists performing his work one evening at the Sydney Opera House. I particularly enjoyed Rufus Wainright (who could be played by Johnny Depp), his sister Martha, Nick Cave, Perla Battala and Jarvis Cocker. Mixed throughout are segments from interviews done with Cohen. The documentary ends with Cohen singing (sort of) his "The Tower of Song" backed by the boys from U2.

It's a great "show" and I recommend it highly. Rent it. Watch it. Enjoy it.

And I take back everything snide I ever said about Leonard Cohen.

Just moonin' around

Lovey Dovey

Weird night lights

Wow! Take a look at this!

I was trying to take a picture of the lights over our arbor last night but I couldn't hold the camera still enough, apparently. It made for some interesting photos.

Here's a look at what the lights look more like. I don't know how I got this one.

The light comes from a rope light.

The Riordan Mansion

In 1904 two brothers, who had taken over a lumber mill in Flagstaff, Arizona, had a mansion built for their two families. One family lived in one house, the other in the other. But the homes were joined and very modern for their time. Here are some photos of them from a tour SWMBO and I took recently. The homes are now the center of a state historical park.

For the two young men with a lumber mill, they had an ample supply of wood for building material. But they also used native stone.

Of particular interest were the stained glass sections of various windows.

Photographs are not allowed inside but if you're ever in the area a tour of the mansion is highly recommended.

Mag 18

British haiku

Pencils are sharpened,
Edward is gone – George is King,
so what is the point?

=============================

Read more at Magpie Tales.

Keeping an eye on things

Not one, but two ravens perched up high, talking and watching.

Some pretty bad "art"

These two, uh, creations are outside of some weird business outside of Cottonwood, Arizona. The first is a rather poor representation of Kokopelli. You can read more about him by Googling him.

The second is alleged to be a "good luck" statue from some small island south of South Korea.

The most amusing thing about these statues is that they are parked on land directly across from a huge new Roman Catholic church. The bug-eyed one and a twin companion both stare at the church all day.

The creators may have a bit of a screw loose but at least they have a sense of humor!

A promise of rain

It's not the monsoon but we did have a bit of rain this morning and the skies seem to be telling us more is on the way.


Regardless of rain, the temperature has dropped about 25 degrees, into the lower 60's and it's a nice respite. Plus the air smells good.

Ah, the Karmann-Ghia

Remember the Karmann-Ghia?

I don't know what year this model was that we spotted in Flagstaff today but it looked to be in marvelous condition.

Volkswagen introduced the car to the United States in 1956. It was a product of the small VW engine, a body designed by the Italian firm Ghia and built by the German coachbuilder Karmann.

It was very popular in the United States and, apparently still is for some drivers.

(I blotted out the license number to protect the owner, who wasn't around when I snapped these photos.)

Random photos

Just cleaning out my photo file.

Muggles and her doppelganger

A very yellow day

I have no idea what these flowering shrubs are . . so don't ask me.

Tell me!

No, wait! I did what I should have done in the first place - asked SWMBO. She says it's forsythia.

Eeeeeek! What is it?

A yellow rose

Hey there buckaroo . . .

Runnin' with the big dogs!

Wow! I hope the driver survives this landing!

Yeah, I guess he'll be okay!

This is a radio controlled automobile track in Prescott Valley that I just stumbled across yesterday. (By the way, the pictures are more impressive if you click on them.)

It seemed to be a very popular place though many cars were in the pits when I was there.

But get up some speed and they can all take the jumps.

A fun afternoon for those who don't really want to get behind the wheel of a real race car!

Memorial Day

Moon over . . .

Before you criticize, recognize that was hand held (pretty unsteadily), with a teeny, little camera at full zoom.

So . . shine on, shine on . . springtime moon.

And the winner is . . .

Warren from Tucson, who was first with the correct answer (to the "puzzle" in my previous post) almost instantly. I should have known better than to try to fool an engineer! For those of you who are not familiar with Warren, be it here known that he is also an expert photographer. You might want to take a look at his blog.

And for you, Warren, please accept from me . . . a million praises!

Now, I might add that Sheri also came up with the correct answer but she was a little late. (You're supposed to be checking my blog by the minute, Sheri!)

An amazingly honorable mention goes to the revered Joey Polanski, who came up with an answer that I had to google to figure out what he was talking about. I bow to you Joey.

As to the rest of you . . . well . . . enough said.

???

Anybody know what this is?

The first person to identify it wins a million!*






*A million praises!