Magic, a 100 word story

Magic

It all started with a butterfly.  Melinda followed it into the forest and was grabbed by the dwarf who had conjured the butterfly's path.  Melinda awoke in the cave and was covered by leaves and flowers.  On the walls she saw drawings of her in her father's farmfield.  She had always felt she didn't belong on the farm with her older brothers. Now she sensed she was among her own kind.  At two feet tall at the age of twenty, something had been amiss.  But now, as she sat up and looked at the faces smiling at her, she understood.  This was home.

Tiny Poems from Mt. Lemmon

On the porch at Mt. Lemmon,
I read poems and rock
back and forth
like the flowers
bending in the breeze.

Father, you are lifted
into the arms of
a lady in blue
who covers you
with clouds.

Three Keys to Greater Happiness

Three Keys to Greater Happiness 



Learning something new at any age is important and, thanks to my friend/colleague, Leslie Johnston, principal consultant/owner of What We Think wwtdesign.com, I learned how to set up a website for Do Happy Today at a cost of less than $75.00 (actually it was a little over $50.00).  So check out dohappytoday.com and enjoy.... 

Heirloom Farmers Market

The skies were building up to (maybe) another monsoon later today, but the morning offered freshened air from last night's storm, a few puddles and very enthusiastic vendors and patrons at the Heirloom Farmers Market opening at Rillito Downs.  Yum, yum, on veggies, pastries and Tamales from Tucson Tamale.

 

 

 

Musicians by the racetrack bleachers

 

and

 

Food truck patrons enjoying waffles and syrups.

 

 

 

Families strolling the grounds, and

 

Mark with our friend, Loren at the Heirloom entrance.

 

 

We'll be back soon!

 

New Watercolor Painting

I bought this painting last Sunday at the Southern Az. Watercolor Guild's Gallery
Thank you to the Guild and the artist,
Diana H. Davis, for being a brightspot in my day. It now hangs in our doorway for all to enjoy.

Local Eating during Independent's Week

This week LocalFirstAZ is celebrating independents (get it: for Independence Day) and one of our favorite ways to comply is by eating local.  We actually eat local most of the time when we go out, but this week, we are focusing on dining at local restaurants and/or food trucks..

Friday, we had dinner at La Hacienda www.LaHaciendaTucson.com

Saturday, for lunch with my 95 year old dad, we were at Lucky Wishbone for chicken and shrimp www.luckywishbone.com .

To lighten our load, at an early Saturday dinner, we stopped by the reopened Rincon Market and enjoyed their salad bar.  NOTE:  Their grand opening is all day 6/30 www.rinconmarket.com . 

 

 

Sunday, we are eating in, and Monday we will be doing a picnic on Mt. Lemmon and stopping my the cookie place in Winterhaven.  Who knows what Tuesday will bring, but Wednesday we will be at the localfirst mixer at Alfonso Oil Company on N. Oracle, chomping on bread, cheese and olive oil.  My guess is that local wine will also be available www.localfirstaz.com .  Through localfirst you can also get a $5.00 off summer discount card at many local businesses, including restaurants.

Tucson has no shortage of great local places to eat, including the Food Truck Round-Up and the Food Truck Rally. 

 So, please consider, eating local, especially during the summer!  And check out the upcoming event at http://facebook.com/dohappytoday

Tucson Local Food Fair and Farmer's Market at Rillito Park: Another BrightSpot

With this warm Spring, we lucked out and experienced a "below normal temps" Sunday.  Perfect for an outing to the first ever Local Food Fair, and, for us, a visit to the Farmer's Market regularly held at Rillito Downs Park. One of the sponsors for the Food Fair was LocalFirst/Tucson.  The breeze turned into a wind when we were leaving, but it didn't blow away the smiles or appetites.  We enjoyed a lamb pita with dilly-green beans and chocolate baklava, prepared by the Sunnyside High School/JTED Culinary Program (sorry no photo--we ate it fast, before Mark could take a picture.)

We also sampled a chicken and rice entre from Snow Peas, a "Modern Asian Kitchen" that is new to us.  We will try it out for a full meal when we are on Tucson's east side.  Check out their menu at www.facebook.com/SnowPeasAZ .

For "dessert" we each had the new pastry hit (modelled after the NY dossant), a part donut, part croissant (topped with maple bacon icing) from Prep and Pastry.  That's where I had my birthday tea and am still waiting for the owner to send me the detailed menu from it so I can post the menu with more of my birthday pictures.  Their pastry is in a photo below.  Check out their menu at www.prepandpastry.com .

The other photos are of the wonderful vegetables at the Farmer's Market.  We spent money and time and both booths featured below and got an earful of hydroponic gardening info from the enthusiastic student/gardeners from the UA. The garden is at the UA Campus Farm.

 Enjoy!!