Day 11 - Phoenix

We slept in late this morning and woke up to noise coming from the bathroom in the room next to us.  Apparently there was a big problem, one so severe that they had to move us to another room.  Once we got settled into our new room, while Randy went online and bought our tickets for an art show under the stars, I searched online for an Asian restaurant.  I was craving Chinese food.  Luckily for us, there was a large Chinese Cultural Center there in Phoenix just a few miles away.  Based on their website, it looked like a large mall and office complex and there were a couple of restaurants inside.  I felt certain that we could find a good, authentic meal there.

We arrived at the Center right at lunch time and went inside.  The place was very crowded which is usually a sign of good food.  When we ordered, I ordered rice and an entree.  The waiter asked "What soup" ? I replied that I didn't want soup and he said, "It come with meal". I said, "But I don't want any."  He said, "It come with meal. Won Ton or Spicy?"  Feeling that I wouldn't get ANY food if I didn't order the soup, I said, "Spicy".

We waited and remarked about some of the sites we had passed on our way to the restaurant.... a club that advertised "naked women", miles of palm trees, and then there was Bill Johnson's Big Apple Restaurant....

They advertised a 72 oz. FREE steak. The catch is that IF you can eat it all, it's free.  Now that's a lot of steak! His motto is "Let's Eat"... just that simple. What a tacky little place it was, but I'll bet the food was good!

Our food arrived and the waiter placed the soup in front of  me. Randy began eating his and I pushed mine aside. The waiter came back by and put it back in front of me. By now it was becoming funny, this little guy insisting that I eat the soup, so I pushed it away again. I told Randy that I was afraid they were going to come and force feed me the soup that I didn't want before they would allow me to eat my meal. We even joked that the cooks in the kitchen might be so well trained that if they don't serve the soup and have it consumed, it makes the workers grind to a halt, not knowing what the next step is.

The waiter got busy and didn't come back by again.... thank heavens.  

We left and drove into Scottsdale, a Phoenix suburb. They have an arts district and we walked around looking into the windows. They have a Thursday evening Artwalk that would be held that night, so most of the galleries were closed in preparation of their late night. The temperature was pretty warm, but as they say, it is a dry heat.  Dry or not, it is still hot. I had spied an ice cream shop when we parked and we went there for something to cool us down. The Sugar Bowl is an "old school" ice cream shop where you can get more flavors and combinations than you care to imagine. They will make any kind of milkshake you want and as many scoops of ice cream as you can stand. After our one scoop of ice cream, we headed back toward our hotel and strategized how long it would take us to get to the botanical gardens for the art show this evening.  

Our art show tickets were scheduled for 4pm so we had a nap and made sure our camera gizmos were charged up. The artist whose work we would see is Dale Chihuly. Please click on his name back there and you can see how his work is done because it is amazing stuff. We got to the Botanical Gardens and started walking around. The plants were amazing and the show was beautiful.  

8

We left the gardens in the moonlight and there was nearly a full moon but tonight it wasn't as splendid as all of the glass we had seen. We headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep because tomorrow we would be heading to Tombstone, AZ.

October 2013 part 2

It's hard to believe that you can live near a place most of your life, go there every day for 4 years, live within 5 blocks of it but still , you've never taken the tour.  This was true for me and my much beloved Old Salem.  I grew up in Winston-Salem and as a child my daddy would drive through Old Salem on our way to visit family when there weren't interstates and freeways.  What I remember most about Old Salem at that time was that instead of stop signs, there were these rubber signs fastened to the road that so that they would stand up about 12 to 18 inches.  They had the word "STOP" painted on them with white letters. The rubber would flex as the car drove over them.  There was also this really beautiful building there that said "Salem College" across the top and I just felt this real connection with it...but I digress.

Well, last Saturday was finally the day... I had no excuses. Being a double Scots Irish, I'm known as Kathy "Frugal" Blanchard, and even though as a Salem student, I could have taken the tour at half price, I was still too parsimonious (that sounds much better than "cheap" doesn't it) to go.  But last Saturday the Smithsonian was behind a program encouraging various museums across the United States to allow free admission for one person and their guest.  How on earth could I turn that down?

We ate an early lunch and picked up our tickets at the Welcome Center and made an appointment for a guided tour of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Art (MESDA).  We started our self guided tour with the Timothy Vogler Gunsmith Shop (1831) and were learned there that the average income for a Salem resident was equal to about $25 a month.   The next stop was the 1784 Salem Tavern (George Washington slept here), then went to the tavern barn.  Next was the Blum house and print shop.  This particular print shop printed the Blum's Almanac, the same one that Daddy always insisted that we use.  The front of the almanac is almost an exact replica of the one printed there from 1815 - 1854.  Within the print shop was a collection of embroidery from young ladies who attended Salem Academy during the early years.  The work was just lovely and so delicate!

Next on the list was the Single Brother's House (1769).  We learned that wthin the Moravian Church, everyone was divided up into "choirs" - not to be confused with singing choirs (although they did sing, in fact music was and is very important to them), but small living and study groups called choirs.  The choirs were set up according to age, gender and marital status. During the week they lived, worked and studied with their choir and on Sunday they all worshiped together. If you visit a Moravian cemetery you'll find it arranged in blocks/choirs.  Husbands and wives are not buried side by side but with their gender and marital status.  

The Single Sister's house sat across the square from the Single Brothers house.  It has been refurbished and is partially used by the college.  

Next stop was the Miksch Gardens and House (1771).  It was a 2 room house - one room was the kitchen and the other room was the everything else room.  The guide in there was sewing.  She said that they have various chores that they do each day and at different times of the day (cooking, washing, sewing, etc,) just like the folks living in the 1700s.  

Since we have shopped in Old Salem, there was no need to go to the stores and bakery so we went along to the Doctor's residence.  It contained the family living space as well as the apothecary.  We were lucky that the Home Moravian Church was still open with a man giving a talk about the church and how it had changed over the years.  The church is really beautiful with its curved pews and balcony.  

Our time was nearing for our MESDA tour.  It was hard to believe that we had already spent hours looking around.  On our way back to the museum we stopped in at the log church and St. Phillips Moravian Church, built by the Moravians for the African American congregation who until the mid 19th century had  worshipped alongside the Moravians.     

We finished up with our tour of MESDA.  This was only a partial tour, about 10 rooms but it was fabulous.  Frank L. Horton, who the museum is named in honor of, and his mother enjoyed collecting early Southern furniture and actually collected entire rooms from homes that were about to be demolished.  These rooms have been reassembled or recreated within the museum using the paints and original furnishings (when available).  It is a gorgeous treat and I do plan to bite the bullet one day soon and take the rest of the tour.

There is always something going on in Old Salem.  During the summer they have the Cobblestone Market, which is a farmer's market of certified organic goods, Ghost Tours, Christmas Events including the Candle Tea and Love Feast and they are known far and wide for their Easter Sunrise Service.  If you'd like to find out more about these wonderful sites and maybe arrange to take the tours yourself, you'll find the link below.  

http://www.oldsalem.org/

http://www.salem.edu/

http://www.mesda.org/

Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be Also.

     After a snafu with the moving truck, we finally got loaded and on the road by 11 am on Monday.  We arrived at the storage unit and it was about 92 degrees and so humid you almost needed windshield wipers.  We had been up since 5 am loading the truck (with help from John, Rick & Russ - thanks guys) and felt that doing that was a day's work.  The 5 hour trip is always exhausting and now we had the truck and car to unload.  We worked for a couple of hours and were about to pass out from heat exhaustion.  We left the rental truck at the storage facility and went home and had a frozen pizza and hit the sack.  The next morning was cool, drizzly and overcast (thanks be to God).  We finished unloading in relative comfort.  The rest of the week has been busy with setting up the internet, making trips back to the storage unit to organize things and pick up items we need and meeting with builders to work on the shelves.  We went to Ben's inaugural as a CPA (yay Ben!) and celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary (I love you Sweetie!).

     I've been laying out my memory garden in my mind and it isn't going to be an "all in one place" garden.  I found mulch on sale and picked up 10 bags in my little car Friday.  I planted a few things on Saturday morning and realized that 10 bags isn't going to be enough.  

     Jhett is enjoying her "worm".  She seems to feel very safe and secure inside.  

     We all seem to be adjusting nicely except that for now it just feels like we're on vacation and that it will come to an end.  For those of you already retired, does that feeling ever go away?

Love's Labor

During my life I have had several, very different jobs. I have worked at a shrub nursery.  I've done landscaping.  I've worked as an advertising director at a newspaper.  I've done bookkeeping.  I've worked in a sheriff's office.  I've been an office manager, an arts council director, a gallery director and curator, a gallery manager and a secretary.  I gained knowledge from each job.  


Of all of the jobs, I would have to say that the one that was most totally gratifying was doing landscaping. I was able to get my hands into the earth, marvel at God's magnificent creation, plant and design my own Garden of Eden, work from "can't see to can't see" and be so exhausted at the end of the day that I would literally fall asleep in the bathtub.  I am not afraid of nor unfamiliar with hard work.

There is something satisfying about doing work. Sure, there's the money, if it is a paying job, but there is something else.... something emotionally gratifying about completing a task. It is spiritual gratification to do work that you lose yourself in, doing it in the best way that you can, knowing that you are doing it because it is the right  thing to do, without pay, without fanfare, without any thought of being thanked or praised... simply because it is the right thing to do. It is how we show our love for others, to do without expecting anything in return.

That is what church work is about. Our church has several such people.  There are some who see that something needs to be done and without being asked, they just do it. They don't complain or call attention to themselves, they aren't looking for any recognition. What they are doing, they do because it is the right thing to do and it is something between them and God. They volunteer to do all sorts of things because there is always something that needs to be done around a church and community. If you were to ask any one of them, they would tell you that THEY get more of a blessing out of doing for others than the ones who receive it. I believe it is true because I have experienced it myself.

Philippians 2:3-8

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Work for money feeds the body, but work without pay feeds the soul.  Examine yourself.  What are you doing to feed your soul?