Oct 17 - 22

I'm updating my blog finally in the Jerona café in Cottonwood:

Oct 17-Saturday:

AM; laundry, grocery shopping(cool health food store) & cactus buying; Francis showed me how to cut & plant local cactus; i bought 2 - a teddy bear cactus & a purple coloured one...and a branching out indigo plant for old cast iron stove

PM; lunch-- at Cafe Bella to hear drumming circle that Gwen, from my hiking group, plays in what a way to have lunch and then even dance with others under the shade of the cafe porch.

Eve; Contra dancing at the Old Cottonwood Town Hall-fun! Dancing with Karen and Larry and the locals was a blast..There was a very patient and clearspeaking woman 'Caller' who gave us 'newbies' a lesson for the first 1/2 hour while the band warmed up their instruments. Then the huge band from Flagstaff guided us through a series of dances that whirled us around the dance floor. We went through various dance steps and moves in sequences that were tied together and repeated...similar to square dancing ..but not as rigorous. See the video I added & also see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_dance

Later as I got tired ..I got the giggles being whirled around, trying to remember all the steps.. and one thing led to another ..got my foot stepped on 'cause I lost track ~ sprained my right ankle and crawled to the bench. Crap! ICE and pillows magically appeared and thankfully one of the folks was a reiki practictioner who happened to have 2 lazer pens on him and applied that to my ankle in between icepack..

Oct 18th-Sunday; Pee-Wee, the cat upstairs greets me as I greet the mornings sunrise. I rested in bed & on patio most of the day, taking it easy, doing energy healing work on myself....enjoying the reading and sleeping. As I check out the sunset I almost step on a little snake who was heading towards a beetle on my log foot rest..he tried curling down to the grass below the deck and then fell half-way. I checked out the internet and I think it's a Sonoran Gopher Snake; sent an email to the author of the site to ask him to confirm.

BEST part of the day?...a bath in Karen's upstairs neighbor's clawfoot bathtub with candles on! She was away for the night and offered it to me

Oct 19th-Monday; Mile High Grill for breakfast to update blog and email with friends...no poker night tonight- thank god! I need to research on the web more about Poker so I can take that Mary down for the next game :-)!!

A spectacular gorgeous sunset over Jerome mountain...like fire in the sky.

I put my beautiful lamp together and have a great light for my desk now!

Oct 20- Tuesday;

AM: I love how the sun is now shining on my pillows in the early morning ( i took down the air-conditioner that was in the window between the laundry room and my bedroom) and take tons of photos as the sun changes its path ....the folds and creases of the sheets create beautiful lines of light and shadow.

~ Mojo To Go Café in Jerome: I take care of personal banking & business on the computer at this cool cafe with a spectacular outlook point ( library doesn't open till noon today) drinking first a capaccino ...then a mocha. Tourists walk by admiring my great office space!

Afternoon: I make an awesome Mexican chicken soup with the fresh organic chicken I bought last night, I was inspired after reading a cool Mexican cookbook found in this apartment that was written by Diana Kennedy, the wife of a New York Times correspondent in Mexico during the late 50's and 60's. After sauteing the cut-up chicken , I threw in corn, hominy, beans, pickled Jalapeno peppers, cabbage, celery, onions, red pepper, and chili powder~YUMMY!!

Eve;

~Gym; to work out those mocha calories. After taping up my feet and ankles..I had a GREAT workout till closing: cardio for 35 minutes on the bike and full weight program & my ankles were just fine!! The ice, Reiki and lazer treatment at the moment of injury really helped me bounce back!

~Home Depot; finally get the right sized staples for my staple gun and leather gloves for planting those cactii and finishing the rock garden. AND I find a cheap table lamp to give me better lighting!

Oct 21; Wednesday ~ work on canvases

~I finally walk down the lane to the old deteriorated school...the sun sets very quickly and I vow to take more photos with the rising sun!

6pm I drive down to the La Bella Café so I can join the Clarissa Pinkola Estés online seminar...except I had a hard time concentrating on taking in her story telling messages with the other goings on in the café. Fortunately I can download it after 72 hrs and listen to it at home.

Oct 22, Thursday;

AM;

• Up at the crack of dawn ...literally! The sun is just kissing the edge of the right hand side of the valley ...creating a soft gold line against the still dark mountainside. I walk quickly to the old school just as the sun comes up over lower east side and hits the beautiful crumbling walls and open window holes.
• I am so excited to see the old cars too now past the school with the grass growing between them. I find some cool old car hoods..one in Pthalo green! ( while writing this blog today-Oct26; after researching vintage car hood ornaments on Google Images I find out one is a 1954 Cadillac car hood!! SO COOL!)I'm very excited about the lines in the hoods as they lie beside one another in the corner of the mountain side. There's also an old Model T Ford card sunken down in the sand...I am enthralled. I don't know why; these deteriorating cars lying all alone on this most interesting of hillsides; parts removed; the unknown history of these vehicles...
• I suspect I will find probably find out more when I talk to Julia Lasonto, the elderly woman that lives above me. I found out from Lisa that this property belongs to this family.
• I also see all kinds of building materials underneath one end of the school that is covered partially by a tin roof. And....a rope noose around the wooden support beam...hmmm...mysterious.
• I cook an amazing breakfast when I come back and decide to play with the video camera - hah!

PM:

• I finish stretching the last 2 canvases! It's a challenge remembering how to finish the corners... I should have research that on the web! Once I prepare them with gesso ....loved dripping the gesso on in swirls...should have kept on with the swirls & drips! I catch myself being tnot to be fricken careful with these things now...
• Lisa comes by in the afternoon to help me move the cast iron stove onto the platform i created for it last weekend in the garden. WOW - that took some muscle power! and it looks looks great! I creating something new out of this cast-off piece at the side of the garage...bringing it out as part if the garden design.
• I take off for the gym and am one of the last ones there again...but it feels good to stick it out....I just didn't feel like going tonight! ..AND ~ I felt so good after :-)