CEDARHILL

A Ripley's moment

The things you have to worry about that you never saw coming!  Last week, my friend Deb was sledding with her brother up on the mountain. Seems reasonable. That is until the sled hit something BIG on the hillside and fractured into many pieces. One of which was this is a 6" piece of wood which splintered and went into Debbie's butt. She pulled the big piece to the left out when it happened. It was sticking in her about 1 ". Despite a trip to emergency, and later a follow up doctors appt, NO ONE caught the fact that an additional 6" piece was lodged in her! They gave her a percoset and told her to go home.She couldn't walk, sit or lay down for a week and a new doctor finally said something ELSE has to be wrong.
Sure enough - going on instinct- because wood does not show up on an xtray, she poked around until she could get ahold of what she thought was another small splinter. And she pulled. Needless to say, what came out was a jaw-dropping experience for everyone. This is one of those things that could have been VERY bad (gone through a nerve, or bone...) but was not. Bad enough. But not life changing. Thank Goodness. The entire week that Debbie was putting up with pain and this splinter still lodged in her body- she attended her sisters graduation and got photos edited and framed for her upcoming show on "tatoos." Amazing!

Tour de Tucson

   Road Trips are the best!Guy, Kara and I took our OWN tour de Tucson this last weekend, but the official reason for the road trip was the big Perimeter bike race in Tucson which draws 10,000 riders every year. Kara has been training every week with a group from Globe, and Guy and i went along to share in the thrill of the ride - vicariously.....from the side of the road while we waved! Kim hosted us in Tucson and we took Kara's truck - which came in handy...later...after Kim and Jill gave me a rug for Cedarhill and we bought a ping pong table. But I digress... back to the Tour de Tucson.

We took off on Friday morning after stopping for coffee at the all new STARBUCKS in Globe. Yes, we actually have one now which just opened in the Safeway store. I think they are still getting their act together.The staff had no problem with lattes and cappucinos. It was Kara's regular coffee in her newly purchased Starbucks mug-to-go which caused a stir. But all ended well and we were on our way.

The Tour started early the next morning when I delivered Kara to her friends hotel to start at 6am... Some 5 hours later Guy caught this pic of Kara and friend Kathleen passing Sunrise & Campbell Avenue. (I had just taken over 400 photos of bicyclists racing past my lens but dropped my camera just about the time Kara and Kathleen cruised by! Luckily Guy got the shot.  Kara and K. completed the entire loop in 7 hours and 16 minutes and looked no worse for the wear except alittle sunburn.When we picked up Kara, we also picked up a bottle of Asti Spumanti to celebrate....but Kim would have none of that.She said something about "a headache waiting to happen" and  broke out the GOOD champagne... Man, does that woman know her champagnes! It was her $70/bottle that we toasted with and I have to say it was Good!

...and none of had a headache. So it must be true.

The big hit at Kim and Jills besides the fabulous food, great digs and amazing views from the house....was the pool table. Kara and Guy got much better over the weekend, progressing to an "A"league while I am still in the B-league. But it IS fun. And there was one on sale at Sports Authority so Kara and I split it and we now have a game room at CedarHill on the downstairs back porch. Just in time for Thanksgiving!.

A few more parting shots of our weekend...

  

A Basque Evening

Last night I went up the hill to Mark and Cassandra's for dinner. They were hosting their friend Kepa who is a tour guide from Spain and a master chef of sorts. And Cassandra was back from teaching a painting workshop in the Blue Ridge Mountains, so it made a good excuse to offer up a dinner of tapas and invite a few people over. Mark is, without a doubt, the best cook I've ever known. He enjoys spending three hours on preparing meals and they are always exceptional. So I was counting the days and the hours until the appointed time to make it up the hill to their house for - what I knew would be great food...and conversation.

The evening ended with the Piano and Cassandra playing show tunes which - at least Molly and Kip- could sing. But then,there is something about singing around a piano that makes even the note-challenged singers want to jump in. Singing is good for the soul. Even if you can't carry a tune! Who can walk away with a blah attitude about life after a rousing rendition of The King and I... "SHALL we dance! Shall we dance! Shall we Dance?"

I'm convinced that IF we had more singing and dancing in this world......we'd have peace.

Waitin for The Day

For those of you wondering what Guy is up to these days, he is keeping busy and looking forward to starting his job as Detention Officer at the Jail on Monday.

But in the meantime, Donna has him on a rock project at her house, placing a band of rocks along the side. It helps to utilize the many rocks that were present in the dirt they had to dig out behind the garage to enlarge that building, and it looks nice and helps with drainage. Guy and Ryan worked on the project one day - and yes! it was HOT!

His new job will be 40 hours a week, and as he says....it will seem like a part time job after working here for 70 hours a week.

I'm hoping to enlist his help on weekends with bed & breakfast, if I get busy, which it seems with alitle extra effort in getting the word out.... CedarHill COULD be quite busy with guests this Fall.

 

It's all in the details..

tim harmon and sarah berstein have alot in common although they are worlds apart. Tim is a classic lanky, soft spoken cowboy, who found work as a first class remodeler for houses and passion as a bronze artisan. Sarah is an elegant,grounded live-wire who expresses life through all mediums. She just re-opened her store Simply Sarahs with silk-wool jackets from India which take 5 months to make, and natural fiber clothing from Thailand. And Tim is getting ready to move into the big leagues of cowboy artisans and sell his pieces at several prestigious shows coming up.

What they both have in common is an attention to detail.. It is what makes Tim's pieces worth thousands. To anyone who has ever roped a cow, or spent enough time n a saddle to make the leather turn a shiny patina...the details of a cowboy's life show up in Tims work. Just like they do with Sarah's new store...This week was Sarahs opening...and an opportunity to shoot Tims work (deb shot it) and together we are going to work on a brochure and marketing pieces for him.  It is a pleasure hanging out with individuals ...who are one of a kind....and I'm glad my life has settled into the groove that it has. It makes days like this possible....   

Sandpaintings

Yesterday was Apache Jii day and Donna and Ev contributed to the local economy and their personal art collection puchasing these sandpaintings from an artist who works out of Northern Arizona. Seeing the intricate work and use of color in these sand paintings compared to the average work you see in so many tourist shops is a night and day difference.

I think it involves a finer grade of sand, a richer pallet of colors, and an exponetial amount of detail which is not present in lesser sand paintings. Hmmm... I feel a story brewing for GMT....

The first ride...

This is what a horse looks like if you are two and standing on the ground. I took Eowyn and mom (Laura) out to Gene's yesterday morning for her first ride. And Ev came along for the occassion. It is wonderful being at Gene's where horses, and dogs and cats, and kids all find a "happy home".

Looking at this view, it seems to defy reason to be fearless in the face of four legs. Or to fall in love with horses, when all you can see are their knees. Yet, there we were, leading Eowyn around the corral, and she was absorbed in the smell of horses, and the new-found power of making a big animal go where you want. (It helps alot that Mom was there every step of the way.) But there will come a time when Mom is not there, and Eowyn will pick up the reins by herself. Eowyn believes this will be any day now. We told her when she could reach the stirrups, she could have the reins. That means another 8"....but then look out!   I remember my own early days when Mr. Newman took us under his wing and provided horses, and encouragement and ....opportunity to experience the joy of horses. The little that I do to pass that along to others is part of the pay-back...or is it pay-it-forward to another generation?

And so, our little committee of women: her mother, Ev and I helped launch her first riding experience...Thanks to Gene and his collection of very good horses..of course!