24 Jul 2019
The Trio Greg Fishman Trio, Fountain Hills, Arizona March 2019, Live
Greg has been playing since he was a kid, a professional since his teens. He has toured the world, made recordings, teaches , creates instructional aids for aspiring musicians, promotes his music, travels extensively and is among the best at what he does. His wife, Judy, is on piano and plays professionally in […]
21 May 2019
Kid Sculpture Shopping area in the Fountain Hills Park
Art, in many localities, is given a budget by city hall. Artists are then commissioned to produce public art for public consumption. Public art springs up in parks, in downtown open spaces near city halls, by busy streets and intersections. The art is most often not controversial, but can sometimes raise eyebrows. This […]
21 May 2019
Just Statues Lincoln and Reagan
At the entry to the Fountain Hills Park are a number of statues, some seated on benches, some standing, all with commemorative plaques and praising comments. The figures cast shadows, some longer than others. Most of the statues are of men and most have been Presidents of the United States. Presidents, as we […]
20 May 2019
Lone some George – Galapagos Tortoise Sculpture donated to Fountain Hills Park
Lonesome George is a famous tortoise from the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, many hundreds of miles off the Ecuador coast. He was the last of his species and died in 2012 at the ripe old age of 100, one of many species of living things to become extinct throughout the history of […]
20 May 2019
House for Sale Fountain Hill Park Area - Fountain Hills, Arizona
Real estate has always been investment worthy. People want to own a home and homes are assets that, in America, have historically appreciated in value. In retirement communities like this, there are always For Sale signs in yards though. People die, move back home to be with the kids, decide they don’t need […]
20 May 2019
Perfect for the Kid in All of Us Fountain Hills Park, Fountain Hills, Arizona
This place is made for kids. There are no sharp edges, nothing to scrape or cut, no nails, splinters, burrs or broken glass. The brightly colored posts can be walked around but are not easily climbed, colors are primary, and water falls from the triangular sails like a cool rain. The shapes here […]
20 May 2019
Music in the Park playing the vibes
The need to make music is a human one. By the Fountain Hills Park lake is an outside music area. In a tight circle are eight different music makers, You can hammer tubes, strike bells, bang on cans, waggle ropes that move noisemakers, make sounds to call the cows home. All the instruments […]
20 May 2019
Nesting Bird Arizona Home for Sale
In the front courtyard of a vacant home for sale in Fountain Hills, Arizona, a bird has made her nest in a God’s flowing locks.. She, quietly, doesn’t move as I peek through the house windows into sad, empty rooms where someone used to live. By the time this house is sold, her […]
20 May 2019
Frisbee Golf Fountain Hills Park, Fountain Hills, Arizona
Golf, as invented in the Scottish countryside, started with sticks and a ball. Those old guys hit the little hand made wood ball for a distant hole dug in the ground, added traps and water later to make the game harder. They created a rule book and came up with tournaments and prizes […]
19 May 2019
” The Fountain “ Fountain Hills, Arizona
This morning, the Fountain goes off at nine sharp, the same time as all the local businesses open. Ducks cruise past it like little feathered boats as a steady geyser of water is propelled several hundred feet into the air. I film the eruption from several directions and barely get it all into […]
19 May 2019
Morning Stroll Lake in the center of Fountain Hills, Arizona
The landscape in this part of Arizona has few trees and even less water. It has jagged rocky hills that rise from the desert floor like turtle heads coming up out of their shell. The tallest vegetation, for miles, is the saquaro cactus that we first began seeing as our Arizona state highway […]
19 May 2019
Portillo’s In Fountain Hills, Arizona
At closing, Portillo’s, in Fountain Hills, is almost empty. The eatery specializes in Chicago food, hot dogs, polish sausage and Italian Beef. The restaurant is gleaming and has checkered tablecloths, old style movie posters and employees dressed in sporty uniforms. It is a place that Vinnie and the boys would come to eat […]
18 May 2019
Greg’s Trio Pizza IS EXTRA
Escaping Chicago in the winter months, Greg and Judy stay in Fountain Hills, Arizona and perform every Saturday night at a close to their house Fountain Hills eatery. They are joined tonight by a friend from Seattle, Tom Wakeling, who plays bass with Lee Konitz and likes to jam with Greg and Judy […]
18 May 2019
Roots Building a storage shed
The things of man start with an idea. Either you are hungry, uncomfortable, scared, envious, or in love. Sometimes you are just bored and want to change because you can. Chip and Lori want to live simple and live free as far from civilization as they can get. ” It’s an experiment, ” […]
18 May 2019
Nowhere, Arizona Not at the end of the dirt road, but almost
Nowhere is a place too. Nowhere is often a remote, uninteresting, nondescript place, a place having no prospect of progress or success, obscure, miles from anything or anyone. Nowhere is often a place no one else wants to be, a place that offers no comfort, no wealth, no value. Nowhere, however, can also […]
18 May 2019
Arizona Cows On a dirt road to nowhere
Where country begins is ” when you start to see cows. ” We are not in prime cow country in this high desert Arizona.There is much better grazing in Texas, and, even better, in Uruguay.The grass on this little piece of our planet is sparse and competes with prickly cactus, junipers, washes, arroyos, […]
18 May 2019
Grand Canyon State Building a shed
Henry David Thoreau got tired of his rat race in the 1800’s and retreated to Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts to live a simpler life. As a transcendentalist, he believed getting close to nature would get him closer to truth, wisdom, God, and peace. He built himself a little cabin on Walden pond, […]
26 Jun 2018
Standing On The Corner Winslow, Arizona
An Eagles hit in the early 70’s was titled ” Take it Easy. ” “Standing on a Corner in Winslow, Arizona” was a lyric that became a real park at the Corner of Kinsley and East 2nd Street in the real town of Winslow. Winslow isn’t big, just a small town on old […]
25 Jun 2018
Firestorm Crossing Arizona 2018
When you see clouds turn this color, the sun obscured, visibility shrunk, the odds of it being the ” End of the World ” increase. I expect to witness armed Angels riding down out of the smoke on horses breathing fire, drawn swords ready to take off unrighteous heads and cut out un-repenting […]
19 Feb 2017
Blue Suede Shoes Impersonating Elvis
Imitation is, a famous wit once explained, the greatest form of flattery. Elvis Presley was a star and shone bright in Tinseltown for decades. In his Elvis impersonator show, Danny Vernon croons, tells jokes, moves his hips, loves on the audience. Some of these fans saw Elvis himself in Las Vegas, watched his […]
18 Feb 2017
Elton on a palm tree simple music
Elton might not approve, but a cheap radio, playing one of his yesteryear hits, provides music at the Rincon RV Resort Farmer’s Market. Having the same feeling as watching a John Wayne movie on a TNT movie night, I listen to Elton belt out his early ancient hit to whomever is listening. Once […]
18 Feb 2017
Shuffleboard Masters On the front court
Shuffleboard is more cut throat than it appears. Before these players take a shot, they consult, put chalk on their hands,look at the weather, visualize their stride. You are the one responsible for propelling your disc down a slick, treacherous court. You live or die by your own hand. In this game, strength […]
18 Feb 2017
Frosty’s Diner On the Rincon Railroad
The Rincon Railroad is for kids at heart. Around the corner from the front office, the railroad town of Rincon has been created. On certain days of the week, on a strict schedule, railroad caps are donned, engine whistles toot, and trains roll around five different sets of tracks. Frosty’s Diner is a […]
18 Feb 2017
Border Check Between Nogales and Tucson
We have borders. Our skin is our closest border, a barrier that keeps bacteria and viruses out, gives us our particular shape and size, allows us to be flexible and move with agility. Our minds have borders that allow us to go as far as we think we can. Countries also have borders […]
17 Feb 2017
Tubac Art Festival February 10, 2017
Art flourishes in the desert. At the Tubac Art Festival, streets are closed to traffic, excepting horse drawn wagons, and tents are being set up while parking attendants put on their lime colored jackets and sunscreen. Two of the parking lots are already full of cars by ten thirty, and, in the third […]
16 Feb 2017
Holy Water San Xavier Mission - Tucson
After Spanish explorers conquered Central and South America, they scoured the present states of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Utah and Nevada searching for lost cities of gold. Motivated by faith, Spanish priests established missions for the conversion of natives to Catholicism. These missions, outposts of European civilization, still operate, draw modern men […]
14 Feb 2017
Search and Rescue Sikorski Utility Helicopter
Outside Hanger One at the Pima Aircraft Museum, in a dirt field, helicopters, prehistoric looking birds with rotating wings, are on display. This Sikorski Utility helicopter was used at U.S. Coast Guard search and rescue stations in the seventies. On night duty in U.S. Coast Guard Air Station radio rooms, part of my […]
13 Feb 2017
Bomb’s Away Pima Air Museum, Tucson, Arizona
The Pima Air Museum is an equal opportunity museum. It has fighter planes, bombers, helicopters, experimental dreams, cargo planes, There are hangers filled with donated airplanes of every vintage, staffed with volunteers, and a large open field where aircraft have been retired from service. There are early primitive planes, and then more modern […]
11 Feb 2017
Chili Fundraiser 450 happy diners
We spend lots of time waiting in our lives. We wait to be born and wait to be buried, wait to graduate, wait to raise kids, pay off a mortgage, retire, serve and be served,break par, get money back on our taxes. If we are lucky the line keeps moving and we have […]
10 Feb 2017
jackalope Picacho Peak Plaza
Interstate 10 runs through Tucson and angles northwest to Phoenix. Once you leave Tucson, the first spot of interest, higher than rabbit’s ears, is Picacho Peak. This peak is actually a group of peaks ringed by saquaros. For miles surrounding this congregation of peaks,there is nothing but dead flat dirt, mesquite, cactus. At […]
07 Feb 2017
Drones In your neighborhood
Drones, as defined in middle school, were worker bees who served the Queen, built and maintained the hive, and lived a dronish life. In high school, drone became a word describing people working in cubicles who did jobs the CEO hadn’t figured out how to eliminate. Now, much older, drones are flying in […]
05 Feb 2017
Street scenes Rincon RV Resort early morning
It is nine in the morning and I see some walkers, a few bicycles, a golf cart, an older lady buttoned up in her custom get about on the Rincon RV Park streets. The speed limit is 10 miles per hour and a familiar saying is posted everywhere – ” Remember, only you […]
04 Feb 2017
Chichita R.I.P.
Chichita, known by friends and park residents, as ” Bananas, ” met her Maker on February 29th, 2016. Not over ten pounds, soaking wet, she was a loyal dog, a steadfast alarm system, a roaming nuisance in the Rincon Resort RV Park. She was a mother to some twenty five puppies and, […]
04 Feb 2017
Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum Side Trip
The best way to understand the Sonoran desert is to drive to the end of a dirt road, take no water or matches, leave your phone in the car, don’t tell anyone where you are, wear light clothes and no hat, and hike till you get lost. The second best way to understand […]
03 Feb 2017
Arizona Propane filling the tank
Desert nights get cooler than desert days. In the winter, day temperatures can rise to the eighties, but, at night, they can drop to the forties. Park models have propane or electric heat and RV’s are not immune from Mother Nature’s mood swings. When the sun drops you need a jacket, a flashlight, […]
02 Feb 2017
Farmers Market by the Rincon RV Resort front office
Farmers Markets are popular. This market, on a Wednesday, opens at nine and features a smattering of produce, vendors selling chili rellenos and rice bowls, massage therapy in a chair, potions and ointments made from cactus and other desert plants, jewelry and yard ornaments,information on real estate and medical insurance. This morning, happening […]
01 Feb 2017
Cactus Saguaro paradise
Cactus and the desert work together in Arizona like salt and pepper. Inside the row after row of RV’s, park model homes, clubhouses and accessory buildings, swimming pool and hot tub, pickle ball and tennis courts, are varieties of cactus. There are upwards of 2000 varieties of the prickly plant spread over the […]
01 Feb 2017
Train Station Rincon West Railroad
Most people love trains. Just to the southeast of the main office at Rincon West RV Resort,in Tucson, runs the Rincon Railroad. Sitting on a little hill, train conductors sit in lawn chairs with wireless controllers and run their trains through their make believe town. A train schedule is posted at the station, […]
31 Jan 2017
Tournament Time Rincon RV - Resort, Tucson
By eight in the morning, on a Saturday, a tournament is humming along. The game is simple enough. Each player has three discs and a stick. Each turn, a player pushes one of his disks down a slick court with his stick and tries to make his disc stop in one of the […]
18 May 2015
Northern Arizona University Graduation – 2015 Ready for real life
The N.A.U. auditorium is filled with parents, friends, graduates, speakers, security, and interested observers. The event is graduation for the 2015 class of NAU Lumberjacks who have spent their last several years sharpening axes, learning to identify trees, and borrowing money to pay for the experience of reading, writing, attending lectures, doing group […]
17 May 2015
Road Kill I 40 West to Flagstaff
This is what this road trip looks like from behind the wheel. Ahead, there is a long rolling strip of Interstate split into two lanes with shoulders and entrances and exits. There are road signs, overpasses, and vehicles. Always there is sky and empty land stretching away from the road as you eat […]
25 Jan 2015
Pickleball Classic Back at Happy Trails Resort
A cool morning in Surprise, Arizona, you can hear paddles striking balls several streets away from the Happy Trails pickle ball courts. “There are 15,000 pickle ball players in this area,” a woman educates me as she sells new pickle ball paddles and takes names for her E-mail list at her vendor stand […]
15 Jan 2015
Surprise Arizona at Sunset Dusk
At dusk, clouds congregate on the horizon and cars exit Highway 303 at Bell Rd. to go to Surprise, Arizona. It is quitting time for those who still have a job to go too. In Surprise, brother Alan and I are staying at the Happy Trails Resort but it could just as well […]
15 Jan 2015
Roy Rogers- Dale Evans/Chuckwagon Restaurant Cowboy culture
Surprise, Arizona didn’t start where it is today. Back in the day there wasn’t much here but tumbleweeds, cactus, rugged mountains, ranches, farms, a few dirt roads and lots of dreams. The Happy Trails Resort was once nothing but a set of plans for RV lots, park models, a clubhouse and pool, and a […]
14 Jan 2015
Oranges, Saquaro and Ducks Resort accoutrements
There is, at some point, a line whereby good taste moves into bad. There are value meters operating in everyone’s head at any given time with rating needles moving from one to ten, good to bad, up or down simultaneously within many categories. The Happy Trails Resort is above 5 but less than […]
14 Jan 2015
Steins, Arizona Murder Pulling off the freeway
I-10 takes you to Los Angeles if you stay on it all the way. Out of Wilcox, Arizona the Interstate takes you along a steadily winding uphill road that goes from long flat expanses to foothills and into rugged mountains. Several miles before you get to Texas Canyon, a collection of rock formations […]
14 Jan 2015
White Tank Mountain Reserve, Arizona protected nature
Outside the Happy Trails Resort, to the southwest, is a nature preserve named the White Tank Mountains. Whereas Surprise is a continuation of development, an encroachment upon the desert, the White Tank Mountains are resolutely clinging to nature. Within fifteen miles of Surprise, this preserve takes you into wilderness with some modern conveniences. There […]
14 Jan 2015
Golf Ball Man/Happy Trails Resort Ushering in a New Year (2015) at an Arizona RV Resort
Golf and sunshine walk hand in hand in Arizona in 2015 like a retired couple on a perpetual honeymoon. The Happy Trails RV Resort surrounds a golf course and its golf holes wind through the development like a snake doing a break dance. The greens are good but fairways need attention with new owners […]
Scott’s Arizona Timeline
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