Left in Tucson

This is our second spring in Arkansas.  We have some really beautiful spring blooms popping up daily all around the Little Rock Metro area.  Driving the main thoroughfare from Sherwood to North Little Rock for the last week, here is the view that greets me each time.  During the gray days of winter, this house looks like the owners have neglected to prune and trim their bushes away from their house.  However, once winter begins to give way to spring, the Dogwoods transform into a white lace canopy over the these deep pink azaleas. We have also begun to discover all these tiny little wildflowers popping up along the perimeters of empty lots and woods. Yesterday, on my walk through our Sherwood neighborhood, I stopped by the new Amy Sanders Public Library which has been opened for a month.  It is full of windows on all sides with woodland views out the backside where you can also find an outside deck with tables and benches.   I am really look...

Get on board the blockchain train! I just read about this in a one of the local free magazines.  I am so very excited to learn  that AR is stepping up to be a leader in this space.  Consider how your company can benefit from blockchain technology from improving inventory efficiencies and and lowering your overall cost of operations.   Blockchain is much more than Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining.

http://www.arkansaswild.com/ Here is an Arkansas magazine that is available around town for free.  It provides a wonderful introduction to life in the "Natural State."

This is the launch of a new chapter for me.  I will be posting new stories to this site under the heading of #ARKLife which will chronicle happenings in and around Central Arkansas.   I have moved from the deserts of Tucson to the swamps of Arkansas.  After 9 years of living in a desert clime, moving east to the south central part of the country presents some new challenges and some amazing revelations.  From living with desert reptiles, coyotes, and mountain lions, to toads, turtles, and tiny green lizards.  From low to almost no humidity and everyday a good hair day to humidity all the time and the summer frizz meter registering off the charts.   BBQ pork, fried chicken, and fried catfish are the local specials EVERY day EVERY where.  If it ain't fried, it apparently ain't worth eatin'.   The Old Mill - North Little Rock

It was with truly a heavy heart that Jim and I said our tearful good-byes to Tucson on Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2016, as our U-Haul truck headed out of town and onto I-10 for the two-day drive through New Mexico and Texas to our new home base in Sherwood AR, part of the Little Rock AR metro area. While traveling by truck may have slowed the journey, it afforded us more time to savor the clear weather and light traffic through Dallas on Thanksgiving Day.  We arrived in North Little Rock late in the evening on Thanksgiving Day, having enjoyed a traditional turkey dinner at Cracker Barrel in Weatherford, TX.  So glad that Cracker Barrel was opened for us and the hundreds who also chose to join us at the Weatherford CB for Thanksgiving dinner. Nine years ago, when I arrived in Tucson with all my worldly belongings from central New Jersey to join Jim on a new life adventure, I was filled more with excitement than trepidation.  Sure, I had vacationed in AZ and visited J...

For the last 9 years I have experienced the most amazing, wonderful, quirky,  and transformational lifetime adventure in Tucson, AZ.  I began this blog in early 2010 to record and share my experiences of living in Tucson.  As we prepare to move onto the next adventure of the Beverl(e)ys partnership,  here are a few of my last images of living the desert lifestyle in southern AZ. Fall Sunset from our backyard  Today, Fall early morning in Sabino Canyon Saguaro in the fall early morning light, Sabino Canyon  Catalina Mountains in Sabino Canyon, early fall morning Chinese (Tibetan?) Monks  enjoying a visit this morning in Sabino Canyon  Good-bye my lovely Catalinas

Here it is the middle of October, 2016 and Figaro is still providing me and all my Tucson fig loving friends with a continuous supply of sweet, succulent, organic, healthy FIGS!  Thank you, Figaro for thy wondrous bounty!

As of August 1, the Summer 2016 Fig Crop is in jeopardy.  Up until last week, I had been seeing these huge beetles flying around our Tucson backyard.  However, for some reason I was not recognizing as beetles but as our amusing carpenter beetles just looking for a home for their next brood.  I must have been in denial or something.  Several days ago, as I was checking for newly ripened figs, I discovered that Figaro was being infested by the notorious and feared Tucson and Sonoran Desert gardener's nemesis, the FIG BEETLE   .  These guys are huge compared to my old New Jersey Japanese beetles. These guys fly very slowly and bump into all sorts of things and structures.  While they may be very bad fliers, they are extremely efficient at gobbling up figs and leaving nothing but a limp, brown fig skin hanging from its stem.  They will crowd onto one fig to the point where you can not longer see the fig, just a mass of these green-black iridescent b...

A couple of months ago I noticed a volunteer plant growing in my backyard garden here in Tucson.  I took a few photos of it clearly showing the leaves and the flower; shared it with my Master Gardener friends and a local landscaper but no one seemed to recognize it.  Finally, Jim, in his persistence found it online.  It turns out some bird or a gust of wind brought an Arizona native wildflower, an  Indian Mallow Plant  to our garden.  I must remember to save the seeds from this one.

The Best Fig Recipes from Bayou Woman Here we are heading into prime fig season  in Tucson AZ.  A great time to re-introduce you to some of the best Fig recipes I have found.  Enjoy!

Shall We Dance, Tucson's best dance studio.  Following are video clips of this season's Cactus Classic performances.

Wow! New York! Skyscrapers and everthin'! What is your vision of New York City?  From the deepest depths to the highest of heights.

Phylicia The Elephant Day 1 Hello, my name is Phylicia. Today, is my 10th birthday and my Dad just gave me this diary as a present. He said that I should write something in it every day. Anything that I am thinking about or anything that I discover about the world around me. He also told me it would help me learn how to write better. Gee, thanks Dad! Why does he always have to turn everything into a school lesson? I will start by writing about who I am, how I came to be 10 years old, and living in this place. I was born 10 years ago to my Mom and Dad in a wildlife preserve in India in the state of Kerala, the most literate state in India, according to an International survey Dad just showed me. Dad also explained to me that he read in National Geographic magazine that our sanctuary is known as one of the "ten paradises of the world." We are Indian Elephants, belonging to the Asian Elephant family. We are not the same as African elephants. We are not as tall as African elepha...

A life - Reboot I found this in my inbox, recently.  Sent from my dearest.  I am not sure if I am ready for this, but I feel like I am getting closer as the distance in time from my last traditional, professional job grows longer each day. How much of this story resonates with you?  Please share here.

Sending and Receiving Messages - The Universe Responds Last week, on Good Friday, I was busy preparing some traditional Italian Easter foods  - to share with friends, but mostly just to amuse myself.  I had donned an appropriate apron from my collection, pulled out my Italian family handed-down recipes, all my baking supplies and tools were arrayed around the kitchen.  My fave Motown tunes were playing, and I was in the baking groove. Once my Ricotta Cheese Easter Pie was poured into my "Lasagna Pan" (Italians always refer to their go-to rectangular pan as the "Lasagna Pan."), I decided it looked so good that I would take a pic and share it with all my family and friends and tag it as my Happy Easter message.  I posted my photo to Facebook, Instagram and finally my email.  I popped my pie into the oven to bake for an one hour.  I was in a cheery mood. Within minutes, one of my cousins in Florida, with whom I Facebook often but rarely speak to over t...

Stumping for Trump - Tucson Rally 3/19/2016 It was a raucous event but not a rowdy crowd of Trump supporters.  Glad I got to be part of an historic election year in America.