Everyone needs a week away. . .

I'm back from a week in Sedona, Arizona's gorgeous red rock country. What I wasn't expecting was the unusually cold weather, but that's another story. Miami had floods earlier this months, Oklahoma just had an earthquake. . .Mother Nature is really on a tear these days.

Visiting my old friends, Alice and David Goodhart, is always an eating experience, amd man, did we eat. Starting with dinner the night after I arrived at their friend Beverly's home where the fabulous chef, who is actually an obstetrician in real life, delivered (pardon the pun!) an incredible meal that concluded with a birthday cake for both me and the chef's wife, also named Joan. (Take a look at the accompanying photo for an idea of what the dinner table looked like before we sat down and devoured everything in sight. That's Chef Nathan in the background.)

From there, it was all uphill, foodwise. If we weren't eating at some wonderful Italian/Thai/Continental restaurant, I was stuffing myself in Alice's kitchen, a pretty fine dining spot on its own, presided over by their delicious dog Shaina. In between meal times, we visited a whole slew of Sedona's marvelous art galleries, attended a wine tasting session, talked it up at her book club, and with David at the wheel, tooled into the mountains until the snow plows let us know it was time to turn around and go back to safer ground. Haven't seen that much snow since my last ski trip. For you Floridians, the second photo is to show you what you are missing,or what you can live without, as the case may be.

Sedona is getting ready for its Annual Film Festival. Last year Alice volunteered me to serve breakfast at the Arts Festival. This year she had me taking tickets in the lobby of the local movie theatre where they previewed a wonderful Dutch film called "Bride Flight". God only knows what she will have me doing next year. Mine is not to question why. . I just go along, and it always turns out to be fun.

It was a great week but it's good to be home. Wasabi and Ginger have been pasted to my side since I arrived, and the significant other looks pretty happy as well. It's Ramble time at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, and I have to be there at 8:30 tomorrow morning to work in the Kids Area.

Have a feeling my next blog may be waiting for me there.
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