SATURDAY SALMAGUNDI

A friend posted a photo of this sign on Facebook.  I may have to make one up for our front door.

I particularly like the line about thin mints.

It is definitely autumn in Arizona.  Here's the evidence.



Only 10 more days until this year's election season is over.  Joy, joy, joy.  I only watch the evening news and while I read a lot on the Internet and look at a lot of political polls, I only put my trust in Nate Silver, who has a magnificent blog on the New York Times.  He is much less hyper than Fox News or MSNBC or the two campaigns.  And he correctly picked the winner in 49 of the 50 states in 2008 as well as picking the winner in each of the 35 Senate contests that year.  So rant away, supporters of both sides, I'll take Nate Silver.

What follows is a gratuitous critter picture.

"Uh, what are you looking for?"

FRIDAY FUN

A friend of mine up in the far eastern part of Canada, Wanda Dawn Drover, tweaked me on Facebook recently.

Well, here's what I had for dinner last night.



Tangerine topped pork loin scallopini!

O.K. Wanda Dawn, take a breath, the suspense is over.

Incidentally, she's a gorgeous girl who takes great photographs.

 Changing the subject just a bit, I caught my big black boy cat, Blackwell, taking a nap on my bed yesterday.

He quite obviously loves it when he can catch a ray of sunlight on his belly to warm him even further.



Blackwell is an all-black cat but the sunlight on his fur makes him appear to be black and white.

That nap looks good.  Maybe I'll join him.

FALL FLOWERS

Anybody know what these are?

The blossoms are shaped like daisies but I don't think that's what they are, especially with this burst of color.  I found them in a yard near the BRD's residence that is quite nicely landscaped.

The following photo is a gratuitous critter picture, not taken by me.



"I've told you before: don't play in the street!"

IT'S A 41!

I saw this while I was out running* around today.



Well, you know me.  Never run to resist taking a photo of a classic car.  As you can see by the license plate frame, this is a 1941 Chevrolet.  And it's a beauty.



The proud owner told me he had done all the restoration work himself.  And it only took him 10 years!

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* - Running is a figure of speech.  It's been quite a few years since this lad did any "running" around.

TRIOS

My friend, Meggie, sent me these pictures the other day.  I liked them so much I decided to post them.  Enjoy!

The end(s)!

MORE FROM BRONZESMITH

You may recall my post recently about a reception at Bronzesmith Gallery and Foundry. 

It turns out I had a few pictures left over so I thought I'd use them today.

These are some of the wax figures for a work in progress.



Some completed works of western art.



I met another self-taught sculptor at the reception, Dennis Gallagher.

You can find out more about him and his work here, at his studio website.

Lots of talent in this area.

PUMPKINS

I've been meaning to take some autumnal pictures but just haven't gotten around to it.  Today, in front of our Trader Joe's store, the opportunity presented itself yet again and this time I didn't pass it up.  It was a huge display of pumpkins.

These are some of the stranger looking types.  I had to ask SWMBO if they were pumpkins or gourds.  But she said she was pretty sure they are pumpkins.

Right next to these was a display of what I knew to be pumpkins, just ready to be made into delicious pies and strange and hideous jack-o-lanterns.

Happy Halloween, everybody.  (10 days early)

TAKE A LOOK, ROMNEY SUPPORTERS

SOUTHWESTERN ART

I had the good fortune Wednesday evening to take up the BRD's invitation to come across town to the Bronzesmith Gallery.  It encompasses both a gallery of fine western art but also a foundry that casts many of the pieces in bronze.  The gallery was unveiling this sculpture of "Not-So-Gentle Tamer", which when completed is scheduled to reside in front of the Prescott Valley Civic Center.

You may wonder at the look of grim determination on this woman's face.  A glance at the full-length form will show you the reason.

You can then see in her right hand the body of a large rattlesnake that this pioneer lady has just beheaded with the shovel in her left hand.

The artist is an acquaintance of mine from years ago, Bob Boze Bell.  (I must apologize for the fuzziness of his portrait as I was having some problems with my camera.)

Bell is a long time very-talented artist and chronicler of the Old West through several books he has written and as the executive editor of True West magazine.  Of his latest sculpture he says:

"Whether they were wrangling ornery kids or dispatching hogs, chickens, scorpions and rattlesnakes, the women who lived in Arizona Territory had to be tough.  We, their offspring, admire and thank them for their grit."

Smaller bronze models of the "Not-So-Gentle Tamer" are available in Limited Editions.  Here's one that has been bronzed and patina applied.

This is the patina artist, Carl Wolf, in his studio.  He said he has been with the foundry/gallery for 18 years doing this work.



And I couldn't resist taking this photo of his tools.



It was a very pleasant evening at Bronzesmith in Prescott Valley.

NUFF SAID

(Cartoon by Steve Benson in the Arizona Republic)

LEONARD LIVE IN LONDON

I have stated before (ad nauseum) that I don't really care for Leonard Cohen's singing.  But he gave a great performance in London singing his song "Hallelujah".  So for those who love him and those who don't, take a look.  And note: I can be swayed.



ROCKY RIDGE

Have you ever wanted to live in a house high on a hill, surrounded by BIG rocks?  Well, someone does in Prescott, Arizona.



AUTUMN, SWEET AUTUMN



A GUEST BLOGGER'S STORY

I received an email today from a former colleague of mine in Indianapolis.  I knew of his battle with cancer previously.  But I thought this piece of writing was so beautifully done that I asked his permission to post it on my blog.  He generously granted that permission so here's the story.

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I am a fairly emotional person. Apparently I display it only through my work. Now, that I think about it all of my feature reporting for TV and Radio has been based on what I feel must be right. Then I would find someone with those virtues and extol them. These found me.


Just the other day as I got out of my car a man (and his wife) came towards me from their position of waiting. I thought it might be for a bus, but they were not in the correct spot. Maybe he would ask. Then he told me they were waiting for a taxi to “go see the maples.” My first impression was that they were Japanese. He corrected me. “We are Korean, visiting from Chicago. We came by the big GreyHund last night. I have been here 35 years and no learn English.”

I convinced him his language was fine. I did not tell him he was miles away from the color of “the maples.” Then the taxi came to take them back downtown. They could not get a hotel there last night since they had no credit card. Somebody referred them five miles out of the center city for a fifty-dollar night. We met; I did not really help. I did not give directions miles away to the colorful trees. But he felt the need to talk about it. He came to me with her in tow. Then they were gone.

At their elderly age they were ready to get up and go to see things. They had no plan. They just went. They had a purpose. And they just went. Happily.

This was the same day I went… to hear the beginning of my prognosis for prostate cancer which has become very aggressive since we first took note in early December, last year. Since then there has been a plan and a purpose but it did not seem obvious to me. Every three months I receive a hormone shot to maintain the speed of the cancer growth into the lymph system. Happily, the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test shows a great reduction in numbers indicating cancer. But that is almost too late.

A full-body bone scan early this year indicated the presence of lesions in my liver, possibly in my pelvis, and maybe more. A month ago it was determined with a new MRI that a major growth on my left femur just below the hip was the reason for a major complaint while attempting walking. That curtailed my part-time position as a tour-guide inside the Lucas Oil Stadium for a while.

Immediate surgery to “burn” the tumor off the bone with RFA (radio frequency ablation) proved it was the same cancer which had traveled from the prostate.

Confirmation is one thing. Consternation is another. We are advised as older males to be constantly vigilant for the prostate problem. It can arrive in young males too. It is the most prevalent cancer in males, after skin cancer. Prostate Cancer can start with no symptoms. Apparently mine started without me. It was immediately labeled aggressive and has been so. I have been told not all cancers are detected. I have one which slipped through.

The doctors mentioned many months ago that there would be no cure, just maintenance. Maybe two to five years of maintenance. They mentioned it again this past week… along with the fact that several other methods could be used, including some new ones just on the market. Each month there will be a shot (Xgeva) to maintain the bone loss (which allowed the tumor outside the femur) plus another attempt to curtail the growth in the lymph system.

Many friends constantly ask the regular question “what did the doctor say?” This, then, is an effort to compile the words he said along the way. Mostly it has been a wait and see procedure. Now, it will be a more aggressive approach to an aggressive cancer.

For now, there is no radiation or chemo planned but that may change.

I am an emotional man who lives alone, but I am not lonely. I have many friends around the world. And I have my family here in Indianapolis, my hometown. On the way home from the doctor I became suddenly aware of my future while listening to one of my favorite styles of music. It prompted many tears… of realization of how good I have it with my medical treatment.

I have a plan. I am pleased, too, that I met that Korean couple just passing through Indianapolis to see “the maples.” I will continue to follow this adventure of mine, as far as it goes.                                                       
                                                           ---Will Murphy

          

 

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Thank you, Will, for sharing your story and all the best of luck with your treatment.

AUTUMN THOUGHTS

There is no question about it.  Autumn has arrived.  Tree leaves are either changing color or dropping to the ground or both.  The temperature has nose-dived.  Here in Prescott Valley at 11:15 on this Friday morning the temperature outside is 53 degrees Fahrenheit.  There are water puddles on the ground from an overnight rain.  A friend who lives in Flagstaff, which is a couple of thousand feet higher than here, says she turned on her furnace for the first time last night.  And a mountain near her has snow on it for the first time this year.

I love cold, rainy days if I can stay inside.  When I was a teenager in North Dakota, I had a tiny room with a steam radiator, an old armchair by a window that looked out on the outside world, books and my short wave radio.  I would tune the bands and listen to stations from London, from Moscow, from Quito, Ecuador, and, of course, the Voice of America.  I escaped that cold rainy (or more likely, snowy) world outside.

Some years later, a ham radio operator in New Mexico told me he used to like to turn off the lights in his room, lean back in his comfortable recliner and listen to tunes from Radio Tahiti.  It helped him wipe out the stresses from his job.

Nowadays I no longer have a short wave radio but I've got something even better - the Internet.  There are thousands of radio stations I can connect with and listen to their programming as if it were a local station.  No fading, no static.  Of course, that kind of takes some of the romance out of it but I still like it better than the old "analog" days.

And there are Internet radio sources.  One of my favorites is Pandora.  Right now I have it on and am listening to some soft jazz on French Cafe Radio.  I also have Brazilian Radio, the Hot Club of San Francisco, the Turtle Island String Quartet, and Le Surdoue on my favorites list.  One can search by artist, genre or composer to find just the type of music you like.  As you can probably tell, I favor soft sounds at home  When I'm in my car the radio is usually tuned to NPR although sometimes I tune in a Classic Rock station.

Radio has always been a big part of my life.  It began with a big floor model Philco in our living room on which I listened to the Lone Ranger, Fibber McGee and Molly, the Great Gildersleeve and Amos and Andy.  Then I moved on to my short wave period.  Then I became a ham radio operator.  Later I went to work at several radio stations, work that finally took me away from North Dakota to Indianapolis.  I had also worked for some television stations in North Dakota and that experience helped me land a t.v. job in Phoenix.  Almost 20 years later I found myself out of work and a couple of years from Social Security.  I landed a job with a radio station in Prescott and spent three years there.

Oh, I should include our period in the late 80's/early 90's when we took an early retirement and moved to Mexico.  My ham radio "rig" kept us in touch with family and friends back in the United States.

Well.  This has covered a lot of territory since I began writing about autumn.  I've been meaning to take some pictures of the pumpkins everywhere, of the fall flower displays at stores, and probably some of my  immediate surroundings.  But today, I'm just going to stay inside where it's warm, listening to Louis Armstrong singing and playing "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" on Pandora.