This is one determined, retired school bus, pulling that old pickup along behind. It’s almost as though the decorations of new paint on the bus counterbalance the lack of paint on the truck. I can see in my mind’s eye the fun it must have been to inscribe all of those circles. Now I wish I…
I love reading cookbooks because I get to enjoy all that great food without any calories! THE LAKE MICHIGAN COTTAGE COOKBOOK takes you on a road trip all around Lake Michigan, the only great lake that is entirely within the boundaries of the US. They say the trip, which encompasses parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana…
The Phoenix Art Museum has a wonderful wing devoted to installation art, modern art, post-modern art. Imagine my surprise when I viewed this picture, looked for the artist’s name, and discovered it wasn’t “art” at all, but rather a shadowed window into the museum loggia. Great fun! There’s a saying among prospectors. Go out looking…
One of the fun parts about writing the Pegasus Quincy mystery series is to revisit favorite haunts of mine in the Verde Valley. This low-water crossing is featured in the SILENCE OF WEST FORK. Peg has just discovered that a possible witness to a murder lives in a hidden shack on the other side of…
I love books where I sense the amazing complexity of human experience. RACING TO THE FINISH, a memoir by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., NASCAR racer, is such a book. Let me start by saying I’m not a NASCAR fan. I’ve never been to a race, although I’ve seen them on television. Who can forget the sight…
My cat Foxy is indulging in two of her favorite things, stretching and sunshine! I get vicarious pleasure watching her enjoy life in the moment. I wish I could stretch like she does. I wish I had her sense of time standing still. The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world…
I’m sure there’s a scientific term for the refractions and reflections present in water, but to me those layers of water are endlessly fascinating. Whenever I get near a pond or a creek, my photographer’s fingers get itchy! Perhaps it is the paradox of something so clear and transparent being able to reflect light back…
They crisscross the sky like a gigantic tic-tac-toe game, the contrails of the jets that are too high to see, but there just the same. Because the Verde Valley is right on the fly way, we get traffic from Phoenix’s Sky Harbor to points west such as Los Angeles and points east such as Chicago….
This old wall in Florence, Arizona has had many patches. The adobe, now wearing away, reveals the ancient brick. And the mortar repairs where the brick failed are themselves crumbling away. Notice how the chip board effectively blocks an earlier window design. The structure is old, but still standing. I appreciate the wall’s curves and…
The late afternoon sun was about to set behind the mountains–can you see the shadows? But as I stood there watching, the surf on this rocky coast near Monterey, California had its own agenda. Endlessly the water attacked the rocks, foaming, rushing, churning. I love experiencing the ocean. It allows me to be still near…