I haven't posted here in a very long time, no excuses, no apologies, it is what it is. I'm back today but I can't say for how long or how many posts. I might drop off the blogosphere again, or not..... For some reason Livejournal's editor will not allow me to create a space between paragraphs so I must write in run-on form without breaks. I see LJ ( Read more... )

The heat has finally broken. We're seeing temps in the 70's & 80's, cooler nights, the AC is not running and it's a pleasure to be outdoors. This summer was a record breaker in Phoenix. We had more triple digit days than any previous year and many daily records were broken. It seemed the summer would never end ( Read more... )

After the great Haboob of 2011 the hot weather isn't news anymore. The dust is the news. It's everywhere.

The next day is cooled to 107. There was a 1mm layer of dust on every surface in the city and suburbs, a 50 X 150 mile swath in the desert. They say this was a once in 40 years event. There is still a brown fog over the basin. Air traffic was ( Read more... )

As I type we're getting hammered by our first monsoon of the season. The wind is rattling windows. I went outside for ten seconds and my eyes were filled with sand. Chairs are flying. It's futile to secure the yard. I just let it blow and pick up the mess afterwards.

The storms started this weekend but our corner of the valley was not hit until ( Read more... )

This is my favorite time of year in our corner of Arizona. The weather is about to get fabulous, except for this weekend. Every day is sunny until I have an outdoor date. Rain is in the forecast.

Today is the 20th annual Phoenix Blues Society Blues Blast Festival at the Mesa Amphitheatre. The BB festival marks the end of our harsh Sonoran winter. It ( Read more... )

I'm not exaggerating. One quarter inch of rain in Phoenix is worst than six inches of snow up north. Leather skinned desert people can't drive in the rain. I got around Providence in a foot of snow faster than a rainy day in Sonoran suburbia. And the grid pattern of our valley planners lends itself to many bad intersections. It's carnage out there ( Read more... )

If you've never had Grimaldi's pizza you're missing out on one of the great pies in America. The original pizzeria is on the Brooklyn side of the famous bridge. They've expanded west. The first time I had Grimaldi's coal oven pizza with it's thin crispy New York style crust it became my favorite. It passes every pizza test. They use the real deal ( Read more... )

There was a household mystery. Ten days ago we suspected Mikey ate $110. James left his wallet laying on the stairs. We came home to a pile of money, a chewed wallet and missing cash. Whether I believed Mike devoured a $50 bill and three $20s depended on my son's accounting. This is what James claimed he was missing. My son does not always think ( Read more... )