House on a Hill

This house is in a north Phoenix neighborhood and sits on a small hill overlooking the rest of the houses. 

Reward

Yesterday I made another trip to the Desert Botanical Garden.  It won’t be long before it will be too hot to be out-doors so I want to get as much spring time visits in as I can.  Every time I go I’m always rewarded with some wonderful sight.  This was my reward yesterday!

Unique Dining Experience

Last night I indulged in another unique dining experience.  I went to a brand new place called Cycles which is a restaurant that has guest chefs every weekend.  It’s kind of like a pop-up restaurant with a new chef every weekend and a new, special menu.  Last night the chef was Gabriele (Gabe) Bertaccini a handsome young chef who prepared an exquisite meal from start to finish.  (You can read all about him at this web site.)  We had a choice of two menus so my friend David and I decided to each take one so we could taste them all.  I have never been a fan of the “Americanized” Italian food cuisine so I was surprised when absolutely every course was over-the-top delicious.  This was the REAL thing!

I was too busy cleaning every plate to catch a photo of any of the entrees, but I did manage this shot of our two desserts.  These delicacies were Mascarpone Cheesecake with caramelized orange, amoretti cookies, orange blossom honey, cherries and berries compote and Torta Rustica di Mele, warm rustic Italian apple cake served with a scoop of handmade dates and cinnamon gelato.  Wow, were they ever good!

Encanto Palmcroft

Time for another house in one of our historic neighborhoods. This is from the Encanto-Palmcroft neighborhood. I love the striped awnings on this one.


To my readers: Google/Blogger has still not fixed the problem posting comments. I’ve noticed that I only have problems with comment pages that include the original post. Those with pop-up comment boxes or the comment page with nothing but the comments work okay. With the others, it is not recognizing that I am signed in. Yesterday I noticed that my “Followers” gadget is no longer working and I see that it isn’t working for many of you. I’ve never known blogger to take so long to find a solution. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

Sanctuary

Back in March, I posted a photo of the steeple of the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Phoenix.  You can see it here.  I took this photo of the entrance to the church the same day.

5090

This dramatic looking entrance belongs to an office building with no name.  So I just call it the 5090 building because that is its street number.  I checked the tenant list and it houses mostly medical offices and investment companies.  It certainly is a nice looking office building.

A Musical World

One more shot from the Musical Instrument Museum.  This marble floor sits at the foot of a spiral staircase leading to the second floor of the museum.  I love inlaid map of the world in different shades of marble.

Blogger Problem:  It appears that there is another problem with blogger.  I am unable to post comments on many of my reader's sites.  I checked Blogger Support and it's a known problem they are working on.  Sorry for the lack of comments.

Lemon Beebalm

I love this flower called Lemon Beebalm. It’s such a cheerful flower.  I also love the way the background in this photo appears to be in motion.  I have no idea how I did that.

Dome

That one tiny little cloud in the sky looks like a little puff of smoke coming from the top of this decorative dome.

Desert Growth

I love the golden glow of this little desert scene.  Here we see golden barrel cactus with yellow California poppies in front.  The large group of yellow flowers is called many-bristled cinchweed and in back there is some purple lantana.

Nesting

A morning dove sitting on her nest situated in a cactus.

Can you find her in this photo from further away?

Marching Band

In one section of the Musical Instrument Museum is a display of instruments used in marching bands.  To help set the tone for the display, they had two band uniforms on display.  When I saw this one, I knew I had two take this photo especially for Jack (Hartford Daily Photo).  Have a great weekend everyone.

Prodigy

Another activity from my weekend with my friend was a trip to the Musical Instrument Museum.  As we stepped off of the escalator on the second floor, we could hear a wonderful piano concerto wafting up to our level.  We peeked over the railing and saw this very young musician skillfully playing what sounded to me like a complex piece.

In this close up you can see the blur of her hands as they raced across the keyboard.  What talent in one so young.  And, she wasn’t being paid to entertain.  She was just another guest of the museum who sat down at the piano in the lobby that is there for anyone to play. 

Posh

I enjoyed the company of a good friend over the weekend and we crammed a lot of activities into two short days.  On Saturday night we went to dinner with Julie (Scottsdale Daily Photo) and Dave (Tamarindo Daily Photo) at a restaurant called Posh.  It was a unique experience where you don’t order a meal, instead you are given a list of proteins and vegetables that the kitchen has on hand, you cross off anything you don’t feel like or can’t eat, order a certain number of courses and then they whip up something especially for you.  Each course is a surprise and at our table everyone had something a little different with each course.  What a great concept.  I loved it!

The photo to the left was taken at the entrance with the restaurant name displayed on a beaded curtain. 

Dave took this photo looking down the line of wine glasses lined up at the counter top dining area. 

Saloon

This is a peek inside the bar at the Stockyards Restaurant.  Much of what you see is original including the floor, the chandelier, and the hand carved bar.  The word "saloon" seems to fit this room perfectly.

Even the bar stools are the original ones used in 1947 when the restaurant opened.

Spurs

This giant silver spur frames one of the entrances to the Stockyards Restaurant, a Phoenix landmark since 1947.


Last summer, I told you the story of Tovrea Castle and the the Tovrea Cattle Company located nearby. You can see that post here. The Stockyards restaurant was part of that legacy. The cattle company was formed in 1919 and the restaurant was added in 1947. I can’t for the life of me find any reference to that date over the door, “Since 1889”.

Tomorrow I’ll show you a scene from the inside.

Sassy

This sassy little planter is sitting at the front of a house in a historic neighborhood.

Filming

I saw this beautiful lady filming a nature scene at the Desert Botanical Garden a few weeks ago.  She was on different path than I was so I used the telephoto lens to get a close up.  Doesn’t she look serene as she goes about her work?

Artifact

This vase has been sitting out in the Arizona sun and heat so long that it has lost its glaze making it look like an ancient artifact. 

Union Station

Located in downtown Phoenix, the Mission Revival style Union Station was once the transportation hub for Phoenix travelers. Built in 1923, it served the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroads. At the end of World War Two, the station serviced as many as 18 trains a day. It was closed in 1996 and no passenger trains run through Phoenix any longer.

I think it’s fitting that I accidentally captured a jet taking off from Sky Harbor International Airport since that mode of transportation has pretty ended train travel in the American southwest.

Swing

I spotted this tire swing in the front yard of a home over the weekend and it got me thinking that I hadn’t seen a swing like this in a very long time.  As a kid, I never experienced one of these even though I had seen plenty of them.  My parents bought us girls a proper swing set so we never played around with one like this. 

Bas-Relief Sculpture

This building was built in 1965 as a branch of the long time defunct Western Savings and Loan.  It now houses a branch of the Bank of America.  The panels on either side reflect the optimism of a booming economy through agriculture and industry.  The architect was Ralph Wyatt and sculptor was Frank Martin an associate of Wyatt’s. 

Up until just weeks ago, this building was a stark white.  I took many photos of it before but, all that white and the brilliant Arizona sun made it difficult to get a photo that depicts those sculptures.  I’m not sure I like the new color but, it was easier to photograph this way.

Dessert

Dessert at the Night for Life Gala Saturday night.  It was as delicious as it looks! 

Malachite

My favorite butterfly is the Malachite Butterfly and I was a little disappointed when I didn’t see any in this year’s spring showing of butterflies at the Desert Botanical Garden.  I visited several times and on my last visit, I finally saw one and only one.  They arrange sliced oranges on various feeder plates inside the pavilion to give the butterflies something to taste other than the large variety of flowers.  The one lone malachite butterfly that I saw was sitting on an orange slice on a rather colorful glass dish.  I think the combination of colors makes an interesting photo.

Pale Yellow

Just a photo of some pale yellow cactus blooms.

Patterns

Lots of lines, angles, and patterns contained in the front of this building.

Neighbor

One of the tenants living in the block wall around my back yard.  I believe he is smiling for the camera!

Street Art

This street art mural is located across the street from Bragg’s Pie Factory featured yesterday.  It graces the back of an industrial building facing the parking lot.  I think those might be huge letters hovering over the buildings but, I can’t make it out.  It looks like a bad storm is headed into town to me.

The smaller photo is another area of the building where a lot of wiring and meters are attached to the wall.  I kind of like that effect of smoke coming out of smoke-stacks.

Bragg’s Pie Factory

Phoenix has its own flat-iron style building!  Braggs Pie Factory, was just that…a pie factory until 1962.  The building has seen many tenants come and go but, it was recently refurbished is now used as a special art space.  It was built to accommodate Bragg’s bakery in 1946 in a design called the “International Style.”

Beach House

Since I took you to California yesterday for theme day, I thought one more day on the coast would not hurt.  (After all, we Phoenicians like to escape the searing summer heat on the California coast at least once a year.)  Here is one of the many beach cottages that have been preserved by the Crystal Cove Alliance.  This is probably the most famous of the cottages because it was used in the 1988 Bette Midler film “Beaches.”

Theme Day: Mailbox

I have to admit, I cheated a bit on this photo.  It wasn’t taken in Phoenix.  This is one of my favorite photos taken in California near Newport Coast at community called Crystal Cove.  Crystal Cove has been placed on the National Heritage Register of Historic Places thus preserving a group of rustic beach cottages that once housed silent film stars, writers, and artists.  It is a magical place!  Click here to learn more about it. 
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