Eurocars!

Lovers of European motorcars were in for a treat yesterday in downtown Prescott.  The British-Euro Auto Tour around Arizona made a stop on Whiskey Row.

There were some German cars mixed in - BMW's, Mercedes - but the majority of the cars were British, like this E Jaguar.

And some others, familiar to drivers who loved these "sports" cars back in the 50's and 60's.

There were grinning grills . . .

. . . great lines . . .

. . . and lucious leather.

Also some funny license plates.

For those with a big budget, some big (and expensive) cars.

But I think this beautiful blue Morgan was my favorite.

All in all, a treat for the senses.  You can read more about the "pit stop" in a fine article by my friend Doug Cook in the local paper.

Chalk Art

Prescott, Arizona, is a place of festivals throughout the summer months.  Today there were a couple of them.  First the Summit Bank chalk art gathering, in which artists of all ages and talents are invited to use the parking lot for their creations.

As noted, the talent runs the gamut here.  But everyone has a good time.

This artist, Lysa Ashley from Corona, California, is in a professional division.

The subject matter runs from realistic to cartoon characters.

This fellow has the right idea, stretched out on a chaise to work on his art.

Another one of the professionals from California, Lori Escalera from Vista.

The festival is in its second or third year and continues to gain in popularity, for the artists and for the onlookers.

Tomorrow, I'll show you some scenes from a European motorcar stopover.

Sedona

SWMBO and I drove over to Sedona today to celebrate our 40th anniversary.  8 days late but at this age, we wait for the weather to cooperate.


First stop: Tlaquepaque.

It's a touristy arts and crafts center but it's done so well, it's always been a favorite place of ours.  It was modeled after the town of Tlaquepaque, Jalisco just outside of Guadalajara in Mexico.

Lots of Spanish/Mexican style architecture.  Beautiful big sycamore trees dominate some of the plazas.

Most of the art is Southwestern-oriented but Sedona being what it is, you can find plenty of Asian influences as well.

There's also a touch of whimsy afoot, as in this sculpture of a big pig.  A nearby placard says the name of it is "Eat More Beef."

Inside El Rincon, a Mexican restaurant and tavern . . .

There's a group of "guardians" . . .

Though this member of the group looks about as tired as I felt after awhile.

One shop features treasures from the sea . . .

This sleepy fellow appeared to be related to the pig.  He was standing watch over a parking lot, next to a sculptured Saguaro cactus.

It's a very pictureresque place, tempting to the camera . . .

But after a period of walking around, staring at the goods in the shops, one grows weary.  And thirsty.  So . . .

Our visit to Sedona ended with martinis and a great lunch at Shugrue's Hillside . . . and then the drive home.

Who are those guys? Or gals?

I was just looking at the stats on my blog.  Pretty interesting.  For example, there have been 265 page views in the past week.  I expect a bunch of them have been mine.  219 of them were from the United States.  But also represented were Australia, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Canada.  I can understand that because I frequently read bloggers in all of those countries.  So they read me.

But what I find interesting is the other countries represented.  Iran, Malaysia, Egypt and South Korea.  Iran is my second highest number of page views with 18.  I don't think I've ever had a comment by anyone from Iran, not to mention anyone from Egypt or South Korea, so that has me curious.  I think I have heard from someone in Malaysia once but it's been a long time ago.

In a line made famous by a movie in which either Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) or the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) said it over and over as they were being pursued by a Pinkerton man . . "who are those guys?"

http://youtu.be/ZIie9OosnEM

Comfort

Jazz is happy.  He got a larger box.

Meanwhile, Blackwell has found a new snoozy place on a ledge of the cat tree.

Hmmm.  I think I'll go take a nap, too.

Lazy Bones

Today was just one of those lazy days.

About the only thing I got done today was to re-shape my beard.

Hoagy Carmichael wrote the song for the day but Leon Redbone does a great job of singing it.

No snow, sun back

Ah, winter is gone.  Again.  There was snow on the ground this emorning but the sun was out today and the temperature climbd to 51 degrees.  Tomorrow the high is predicted to be 64.

Meantime, Jazz was pouting last night.

I'm not sure if it was because of the cold, snowy weather . . . or because her box was too small.

April in Arizona!

The "wooly worm" was right!

This is what I woke up to this morning after a late winter storm blew through.

Of course Blackwell slipped past me and went out to explore.

Over in Prescott snow had fallen overnight, too.  The BRD snapped this photo in her back yard this morning.

Now just to warm you up, here's a picture of some cloverleaf rolls I baked a couple of days ago.



Here's hoping you have a warm weekend.

Wooly worm weather predictions

Yesterday, I saw a wooly worm hurrying across my yard.

Well, now, I thought, that's unusual.

Wooly worms are supposed to show up in the fall, aren't they?  To predict winter?

By the way, that picture above is just to show you the relative size of the wooly worm.

Turns out the wooly worm was right.  A winter storm is blowing into the state as I write, bringing more snow.  We may not get much here but the weather wizards are predicting up to 10 or more inches up around Flagstaff.  That's 80 miles away and about 2,000 feet higher than here.

Oh and one more thing.  That "wooly worm" is actually a caterpillar.  But I like to call them wooly worms.

40 and counting!

Take a look at this young clear-eyed couple.

Straight out of the Old West.

Or at least out of the Old West Picture Gallery. 

The (rather costumed and posed) photo was taken nearly 40 years ago of my wife and myself.  Yes, that is truly SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) . . the love of my life.

Let's take a closer look.

They look to be filled with hope and confidence as they head into the future. 

Today it is exactly 40 years since we were married.  We don't look much like that anymore.  And, as the oft-told story goes, "...man, what a ride!"  We've covered a lot of territory in the past 40 years, had some great and some not-so-great times.  Amazingly, we're still together and content to stay that way until the trip is over.

Some of my long-ago friends have said in the recent past "my God, I'm amazed you're still alive."  Considering some of my adventures I'm a little surprised at that myself.

But older age has brought less adventures, less risk-taking and perhaps even some common sense.  Most of that I owe to the beautiful gal who has stayed at my side all of these years.

Whaddaya say, girl?  Let's go for 50!