Trip to Scottsdale, Arizona

The Artist wins Third Place in Wood

The Artist won Third Place in Wood, ensuring him a spot next year at the Scottsdale Arts Festival! He was surprised; I was not.

It was very hot in Arizona. Mostly 90's. I got a little tanned, a little burned, a couple fever blisters and a rash, from either the heat or eating too many grapefruit. But it was GREAT!

Got to visit our friends and little Ralphie, a bichon. My friend broke her arm in the garden, so I planted for her and cooked a little, although she was surprisingly adept after 5 weeks in a cast.

Visited The Poison Pen, a mystery bookstore, so now we have several more books. Actually, we need a new bookcase.

Planted our small garden today: two tomato plants and parsley in the front yard. We have horrible gophers this year so we decided to redo the back yard with gopher wire and a higher border. (This year's major home improvement project. Will they ever stop?) However, we think we'll hire someone to do it. This will help stimulate the economy and eventually allow us to spend less money on food. I have to admit, I've been influenced by my friend's waist-high cinderblock-walled garden. However, the older I get, the less I expect to be able to bend over and haul dirt, and those gophers just take all the fun out of gardening. I always wanted an English garden, so, when all those factors are put together, it's a new wall for the garden. If this is successful, maybe we'll do the front the same way and make that a real English garden full of flowers.

Onward to Spring!