SEPTEMBER TRAILS

Our next venture led us to Jerome, a quirky little town, rather precariously perched on the side of Cleopatra Hill which is part of the Black Hills of Arizona.  Who knew?  Jerome was originally a mining town with population estimates as high as 10,000 souls, but today it's home to a few hundred individualistic and hardy folk co-existing with an historic and haunted hotel, trendy restaurants, one of a kind shops, and panoramic views of the Verde Valley far below.  It's located about 100 miles north of Phoenix, which makes it perfect for a day trip or (even better) a more relaxed overnight stay.

Jerome earned National Historic Landmark status in the late 1960s and promptly began labeling their buildings as to provenance.  This led us into Nellie Bly, a wonderland of kaleidoscopes.  Large, small, elaborate, plain, expensive and...less expensive.  And, to make it better, the shopkeepers require us to touch, photograph, and play with every one of the little marvels.

BC loves kaleidoscopes and wanted to spend the afternoon.  The fun, of course, is finding the end of the rainbow where you least expect it.

I mentioned historical in relation to  the Nellie Bly.  Well, the Nellie Bly building (as you can read below) was originally a brothel--actually three brothels as Jerome kept burning down in the late 1890s.  I think of myself as upright, but I am a little fascinated by the historical Madams.  The stories they could tell and the secrets they kept...  They knew more about the inhabitants of Jerome than anyone...and made money in the process.  What a business plan!  Apparently, in some cases, big money, as the sign reveals that Jennie was the wealthiest woman in the Arizona Territory when she was...unfortunately, murdered.  Historical signs are so antiseptic.  Excuse me, we'd appreciate the details on that one.   

 

I read in Wikipedia that Jerome was named "the wickedest town in the west" by the New York Sun in 1903.  Doesn't that just sound like something the New York Sun would have done?  I take exception, however, being a native of Dodge City, Kansas--Queen of the Cowtowns.  I believe, at one point--the 1880s--after a particularly egregious trespass from the law, Dodge City was seared into the conscience of the nation as "The Sodom of the West."  Now that, my friends, is wicked.

Jerome is definitely an entertaining pause in your travels.  Everyone is friendly, welcoming, ready for a bit of conversation, happy if you buy, but gracious if you don't.  It's a nice time.

   

And, finally, an appropriate greeting from our travels:

Amen.

A PERFECT AFTERNOON

 

GREAT FRIENDS!
GREAT WINE!
GREAT GOUDA CHEESE!

 

After a leisurely breakfast, we drove to Cottonwood and turned left, anticipating our wine tasting at Alcantara Vineyards and Winery.  After one or two confusing instructions, our faithful GPS made sense again and, rather emphatically ordered another left turn.  "Now!  Now!"  Actually, the "Now! Now!" was me in the back seat.  I love wine tastings and will accept no excuse to miss one.

We were in the high desert of Arizona, and with our final turn lost sight of any civilization that might have been close by.  We spotted another sign, turned left again onto a yet more narrow road that dropped quickly and a bit steeply into a lush valley where Oak Creek and the Verde River meet.  This Tuscan beauty lies at the end of the road.  

I believe the Alcantara vineyards encompass about twelve acres of grapes and then import others from California to blend and round out their offerings.  The result is a nice variety of reds and whites, perfect for every taste.  Although the tasting room itself is quite large and "living room cushy chairs" comfy, we opted to sit outside and enjoy the slight breeze and panoramic view.

Tasting wine like this can last a couple of hours, with good friends free with their conversations and laughter, plus a beautiful selection of cheeses with all the extras.  Alcantara wines are fresh and young and just happen to fit perfectly in our little wine cooler, ready for the next special occasion.

Thanks, Alcantara.  We had a wonderful time! 

CALORIES & QUOTES

Dear Everyone--

I've been eating little Dove Bars for the past couple of weeks--the tiny ones, 50 calories each.  I carefully chose the "Sea Salt Caramel & Dark Chocolate" bag because dark chocolate is good for us.  It was a few years ago when I read that and I'm choosing to stay with it.  If you know that related research has changed, please don't say anything.   I don't want to know.  I allow myself one Dove Bar per day.  It's my attempt to instill a bit of discipline into my life.  Much to my surprise, Dove has chosen to wax philosophical on the inside of each wrapper, coming up with such gems as "Take this moment.  Enjoy it."  OK.  That's nice.  Actually, at this moment, I am enjoying this Sea Salt Caramel & Dark Chocolate Dove bar quite a bit, but I'm wishing it was a little bigger.  Maybe about the size of a Snickers. 

The wrapper yesterday afternoon stated that "Too much of a good thing is wonderful."  It's the kind of cutesy thing you see in gift shops, and it probably would make you smile if you enjoy cutesy things.  You might even buy it.  But, we need to think about this.  Is "too much of a good thing" wonderful?  Well, if it's money and you spend it wisely--you bet it's wonderful.  Too much wine, on the other hand, is not.  I only know that because of a horrible experience I had with a bottle of Grenache Rose when I was eighteen years old and visiting my sister in California.  On this particular evening, she was on a date with some guy who drove a Porsche and she left me high and dry with her two irresponsible roommates who let me drink waaaaaay too much of the soda-pop-wine they had in the fridge.  Actually, the only thing I remember relatively well from that evening was the supernatural way in which the bathroom spun around me as I was attacked again and again by killer bouts of nausea.  I think I actually turned inside out in that bathroom.

Early last week, I opened my little Dove Bar and read, "Remind yourself to relax."  Unfortunately, this pearl dropped into my lap about 15 minutes after our landscaper was here for a meeting.  We've been involved in a five month landscape redo which has grown bigger and bigger until, finally, it has surpassed the cost of the first two homes we owned.  Two months ago, we realized that four of our six specimen live Southern oak trees had, nearly overnight, taken the count--or some grim imitation of that.  Despite record water bills, their leaves are brown, brittle and sparse.  The words "shock" and "dormant" have been bandied about, but the words I really want to hear are "GUARANTEED" and "REPLACED FIRST THING IN THE MORNING."  I'm still waiting.  I'm not relaxed, nor do I want to be.  I want action, Dove Bar.  I'm really hungry for some action!

And, finally, the clincher.  "Don't do, be."  Whoa!  I think that's deep.  I checked it and that's exactly the way it's written.  I kind of get it, but then again there's another side, sort of like the chicken and the egg.  In the doing, aren't we demonstrating our being?  And we demonstrate our being with, by, and in our doing.  Right?  Right?  Let me know what you think.

 

GOOGLE AND ME

Dear Everyone--

BC had a meeting this afternoon so, in lieu of cleaning house, I decided to Google myself.  I'm sure people do this from time to time...at least I hope so, as I would hate to be seen as either narcissistic or slightly off balance.  In my case, Google-ing led to:

A:  The discovery that I'm not unique, in that I'm not the only Margie Staggs in the huge world of Google.

B:  Numerous others who have shared my name have already gone before.  In other words, they have died and are buried in Ohio, Tennessee, and other such states.  It is a little spooky when you first notice on Google that you may be dead.  Also, I learned that there is a web-site called "findagrave.com",   followed shortly by "billiongraves.com".  There may be more, but two were enough.

C:  For a moment I thought a Margie Staggs might have placed some recipes on Food.com, but the page turned out to be blank.  Apparently, Margie had aspirations of being a foodista, but lost her nerve at the last moment.  I had planned to borrow her recipes and claim them as my own if they were good, but it was not to be.

D:  Another Margie Staggs, I think from Georgia, has cleaned her closet and is selling select items on "poshmark.com".  They were?  Well, the headliner is a Coach Bag (black on black with the Big C's).  Apparently, she too read the Wall Street Journal article regarding their gauche-ness, and decided to sell while the selling was still good.  I, by contrast, am still carrying mine.

E:  Someone who also carries my name is on Linked In.  I would like to be on Linked In, but I'm having a terrible time finding a profession I could claim.  "Retired" just doesn't seem to cut it when it comes to Linked In.

F:  And, finally, there is a Margie Staggs who appears on "mugshots.com".  Unfortunately, she was arrested in Tennessee for DUI and an Open Container.  Considering the DUI plus Open Container, she looked pretty good in her mug shot.  Normally, those photos aren't flattering at all...but, perhaps it helps if you're DUI when they're taken. 

G:  Me, Me, Me.  Yes, I did indeed show up on Google, although it took a very long time to get there.  I'm pictured in one photo taken from our Photo Club blog.  Unfortunately, it looks a lot like me and I look a lot like a Photo Club Treasurer who is so anal retentive and serious about her duties, that our financial reports balance to the penny each month.  In other words,  oh just never mind.

See you soon--
Margie    

 

CELEBRATING UNIQUENESS

Dear Everyone--

I believe I read somewhere that we (all of us) should embrace those things that make us unique.  I hope I read that and didn't just make it up.  In any event, I decided yesterday afternoon to celebrate my uniqueness--that of being a Late Adopter, or someone who waits until the latest technology has run its course and then buys in.  In honor of being a Late Adopter, I bought my first iPhone ever and it, of course, is a 5 which, after September 10th, will draw pitying stares from some and hoots of derision from others, but I don't care.  I'm proud of being a Late Adopter...it's who I am, and this little iPhone, one of the few left in T-Mobile's back room, needed a friend.

It just struck me this minute, that I walked directly from T-Mobile to Dillards to purchase two pair of clip earrings.  Perhaps technology is not the only thing that marks me as a Late Adopter.

Since the purchase of my sweet iPhone 5 I have learned that we worry much too much about evil strangers grabbing our IDs or Passwords and running amok in our name.  Both Apple and Google are quite vigilant regarding their own territories.  I didn't know that until yesterday when, still at T-Mobile--I tried, unsuccessfully, to sign into iCloud in order to facilitate the transfer of information or whatever reason it was that required reaching into the cloud.  Having failed that test, I turned to Google which, much to my embarrassment, reacted in exactly the same way.  I was desperately typing/back-spacing, typing/backspacing as I tried to match these arthritic fingers with the iPhone's miniscule (but cute) virtual keyboard.  Even though I had spent a portion of the morning with both of them, neither Apple nor Google would admit to ever having heard of me.

Early this morning, in a state of some frustration, I fired up my computer to check e-mails as they sure weren't on that new iPhone.  Google was first:  "We prevented a sign-in attempt in case this was a Hijacker trying to access your account."  They went on to give me a web address in order to try to resolve the issue if it was me instead of a Hijacker.  "Was it you?" they coyly asked.  Yes, damn you, it was me!

Apple was next:  "Your Apple ID was used to sign into iCloud on iPhone 5..."  Well, thank heavens for that.  I was afraid I'd gone over the edge and forgotten the very best password I'd ever come up with.  Again, they instructed, if it wasn't me, simply change my password; if it was me, go to the included web address and work through the instructions.  Despite Apple's reputation of being so "intuitive" doesn't that seem counter-intuitive?  Why am I being punished with a page of instructions? 

Suddenly, Facebook appeared: "We temporarily locked your account until you could review this recent log-in from a mobile device you have never used before."  The Facebook Security Team quite politely included a web-site to visit in order to unlock Facebook again, apparently assuming I'm really a trustworthy person.  Actually, other than the photos of family, I'm singularly unimpressed with Facebook and just may keep it locked up forever.  But, thanks anyway.

Now, as to the clip earring situation.  I've never found a pair that didn't hurt after an hour or so, but pierced ears were such a catastrophe, that's just the way it has to be.

Have a great weekend!
Margie

OF PIN BALL, DUCKS, AND HUNGRY KOI

I have taken up a new project.  It's called Lumosity and you've probably seen or heard it advertised.  Lumosity presents a number of brain games--just for you--in its efforts to help you become smarter, brighter, and less likely to leave your leftovers box on the table when you exit the restaurant.  I signed up in April for the free version--slightly less detailed analysis and my "adaptive training algorithms" are probably less personalized--but I've been a daily participant ever since.  I can actually feel my brain growing with new and fresh neurons as synapses are grabbing hold of their proper synapses partners and reveling in their neuroplasticity.  Neuroplasticity!  It makes you feel GOOD when it's working!

Along with 35 or 25 or 40 million other members (depending on which part of the web-site you're reading) I am a small cog in the gigantic Human Cognition Project--or, I hope I am.  I'd like to believe that.  Actually, I'm rather counting on it. 

As I begin today's session, feeding slippery, constantly swimming Koi in their little pond, I'm sure each mouse click is being recorded somewhere for analysis.  Today I fed 32 Koi out of 35, which means I tried to feed three of them twice.  That is not a good thing and Lumosity deducts points for feeding a Koi twice.  They are demonstrating that I'm probably missing a neuron or two as I lose track of  three little fish or, as I prefer to believe, my peripheral vision simply stinks.

In my second game, I'm finding myself looking at a group of five ducks flying in tight formation, heading either North, South, East or West.  My job, should I choose to accept it, is to indicate which direction the center duck is flying by pushing the appropriate arrow key.   Be aware that the center duck, in contrast to my understanding of proper duck formation rules, may or may not be flying in a totally different direction from the other four ducks.  He has his own GPS system.  Also, be aware, speed counts.  The faster you push those arrow keys, the more points you will rack up--assuming, of course, your choices are correct.  I'm OK with the ducks.

Finally, this morning, my session ended with the damned Pin Ball Machine.  When I began working with Lumosity in April, I was quite taken with my Pin Ball skills.  I, quickly and accurately, determined which way the flapper thing would send the ball and I was point for point on target.  It was a great day!  I was a proud lady.  Then, as the weeks passed and the damned Pin Ball Board grew in physical size, increased the number of flapper things, and shortened dramatically the flash of time given to memorize the placement and direction of the flappers, it began to eat my lunch session after session.  It ate my lunch again this morning.  My Pin Ball BPI (Brain Performance Index) was five points lower than after my last Pin Ball episode.  I didn't produce the number of points to even qualify for one of my top five performances although  I received one extra point (something of a back-handed compliment) simply for having the tenacity to finish the game. 

When the session ended and I clicked to the final standings, much to my surprise, my overall BPI (did I mention, that means Brain Performance Index) had increased slightly over yesterday's number.  Lumosity does not do that to make you feel good.  I went two weeks with a  consistently decreasing BPI last month, but I kept on keeping on, and finally broke out of my slump.  I do love Lumosity and believe my brain is functioning better because of it!  Or, as BC is fond of saying, "I'll always think it should be."  Lumosity must offer a hundred different games, so each day is a surprise.  I have my favorites as well as those I hate.  However, I try equally hard on all of them and I would tell you what my BPI is, except it's higher than BC's and I don't want to make him feel badly, because he is a sweetie.  He's played a shorter length of time than I have but, frankly, God help him if he pulls ahead...

TRENDY, MOM, TRENDY

Since I posted my little piece on my treasured 1936 Royal Deluxe, typewriters have popped up everywhere.  For example, my very cool sister in Louisville reported that a friend of hers (an antiques guru) mentioned that typewriters are a very hot commodity right now. 

Within a few days of that comment, my cousin Barbara in Kansas City (Barbara grew up with the massive typewriter I so loved as a child) sent a clipping from The New York Times in which Tom Hanks wrote on his love affair with the hundreds of vintage typewriters he has collected over the years.  By the way, Tom uses his typewriters nearly every day.  He even types his thank-you notes.  I had thought typing thank-you notes was gauche, but if Tom does it, I'm on board.

Finally, the oft-quoted Wall Street Journal ran an article last week detailing how a few typewriter manufacturers still eke out a living producing typewriters for a scattering of governmental entities that require certain forms be handwritten or typed.  Apparently, they don't lend themselves well to computer programming or PDF or some such nonsense. Items mentioned were Search Warrants in various locales, Marriage Licenses in Jersey City, and Death Certificates in West Virginia.  It's a niche product. 

But, in an even niche-ier way, the Texas Prison System is using typewriters within its prisons that are transparent.  A manufacturer designed a transparent manual typewriter specifically for prisoners who might be writing The Great American Novel or, more likely, working on their law degrees.  Those $250.00 transparent typewriters pretty much negate the contraband issue.

I announced to my socially savvy children that considering the sudden popularity of typewriters after my post, I thought I might be trending.  It was extremely exciting to be trending at my age.  Sadly, they brought to my attention that even though I was a relatively trendy grandmother, it was the typewriters that were trending, not me.