“… blogging about life, travel, books, food and the outdoors”
Arizona botanical garden shows off wonders of desert plants
One sign of a special place is if you want to go back to it, especially if you want to go back unlimited times. While I haven’t been to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix often, each time I go I’m glad I did. A garden like this is always changing. Clearly, the...
Book Review: ‘Wallet Activism’ offers lessons for all consumers
What we do with our money has more consequences than we might realize. What we buy, how we invest and/or bank, and the organizations we support tell a story we might not know is being written. The book Wallet Activism: How to Use Every Dollar You Spend, Earn and Save...
Retailers buying loyalty through rewards programs
Customer loyalty can be a financial boon for businesses and a money saver for shoppers and clientele. Information technology services and consulting company Accenture says about 90% of companies have a loyalty program. Businesses large and small, chains and...
Arizona botanical garden shows off wonders of desert plants
One sign of a special place is if you want to go back to it, especially if you want to go back unlimited times. While I haven’t been to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix often, each time I go I’m glad I did. A garden like this is always changing. Clearly, the...
Appliance hiccup necessitates visit to the laundromat
A washing machine full of water when the spin cycle has finished is never a good thing. I kept trying things, but my feeble attempts only put more water into the contraption. The spin cycle clearly was not working. I reached out to people in Chico to see if anyone had...
Book Review: ‘After the Flood’ a novel that could be prophetic
With headlines continually saying the sea is rising and now a super El Nino is coming this winter, it made the premise of After the Flood: Courage is a Force of Nature (HarperCollins, 2019) even more plausible. Author Kassandra Montag takes readers on a journey of...
Thanksgiving Day walk helps those in need
I’ll be running for food on Thanksgiving. OK, I’ll be walking a 5K. I’m not sure how many of these walks I’ve done, but I have several shirts to commemorate the event. And the food isn’t for me. The food is for those who have a hard time paying the grocery bill....
Rocky, desert terrain a hiker’s paradise in Arizona
There was no waterfall. This had nothing to do with our excursion being in late October. It had everything to do with being on the wrong trail. A trail that has no waterfalls no matter the time of year. It didn't matter. Our unplanned route was stunningly beautiful. A...
Yahi trail highlights natural beauty of Upper Bidwell Park
It’s been an “official” hiking trail since 1967, but who knows how many years it was used by fishers plying the banks of Big Chico Creek as they cast their lines. The Yahi trail in Upper Bidwell Park never disappoints. Yahi is the name of an Indian tribe that once...
Craft beer transforming the bottle v. can debate
Those of a certain age remember when the only beer that came in a can was cheap and watery. A generation or two later and the opposite is true. Today, craft beer is almost exclusively in cans. This transition has been gradual over the last several years, with the...
Arizona olive oil mill a delicious, educational experience
Surrounded by olives as the harvest was just beginning, we were about to get a lesson in all things olive oil. Queen Creek Olive Mill near Phoenix is Arizona’s only working and operating olive mill. When Brenda and Perry Rea started the business in 2005 they did so...
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