Lunch with the Queen

My friend Glenda and I drove out to Carefree Arizona last Sunday to look around the galleries and have lunch.  We dined at the English Rose Tea Room and had lunch while the Queen looked on.

It is a cute place that was decorated with more English knick-knacks than I've ever seen at a restaurant in England.  I did like the vintage post cards that were under the glass at our table.

The little tea sandwiches went very well with that mushroom and brie soup!

Successful Pizza and Much More

Back in 2008, I posted about Pizzeria Bianco and its owner/chef who had just been awarded "Best Pizza in the USA" by Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines and by the New York Times.  Well, the success of Chris Bianco's tiny restaurant back then has led to the opening of a second location at Town and Country Shopping Center (above) and two sandwich shops and most recently, a fine dining restaurant called Tratto which quickly became one of my favorites.

If you dine at the pizza place or the restaurant, you can count on a line of people waiting to get in.  However, at this location, you can watch the chefs through the window while you wait.

Or, you can just enjoy the atmosphere of this great, vintage shopping center with its brick walkways and trees with twinkling lights.

I went there for a late lunch this last weekend and snapped this photo of the inside of the pizzeria.  You can just barely see the fire roaring inside the wood-burning oven behind that counter.  This time I ordered the spaghetti with meat balls and ate every last bite.  Delicious!

P.S.  I'm happy to report that Town and Country Shopping center has still maintained that old world atmosphere and has grown like crazy around the perimeter.  Back in 2008 when I posted about the shopping center, there was talk of tearing it down to build a high-rise building.  Thankfully that was not done and center is busier than ever.

Inspired by Location

As I promised yesterday, here is the mural on the side of the little restaurant I posted about yesterday. This place is positioned very near Tovrea Castle (depicted in the center) and just east of downtown Phoenix (hence the view of high-rise buildings).  I'm not sure why the depiction of what I believe is the Japanese Friendship Garden.  That is a little further away but, there must be a connection.  The mural is signed by "Rudy" an artist that goes by RuArt.

Past and Present

The date on this photo is February 5, 2011.  I found it in my photo files and it reminded me that I wanted to find out more about this place before I posted the photo.  That never happened.

So I drove to its location in south Phoenix thinking I would check it out and learn about the place.  What I learned is that it is gone and a new restaurant is now occupying this small building.  When I was taking this photo, one of the new owners showed up and told me to come back when it's open because the food is great.  One of these days....

Tomorrow I'll show you a mural that is painted on the street side of this building.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm touring a garden....in the rain.

Rabbits....Real and Fake

I watched this rabbit for quite a long time.  It appeared to want to cross the path to the other side but the traffic at the garden was quite heavy and every time it ventured to the edge of the path, another group of people would come walking by and it would skitter back under the shrubs.  I was trying to encourage him.  When the coast was clear, I'd say "go, go now" but I don't think we spoke the same language.  I stayed long enough to see that it made it safely to the other side.

On my way out of the garden, I stopped at the gift shop and look what I found, a whole family of "stuffed" rabbits watching me instead of the other way around.

This guy escaped the family gathering and found a cozy chair to hide in.  

All That Glitters...

I didn't do a lot of "mall" shopping this holiday season so I hadn't seen the decorations at Scottsdale Fashion Square.  However, on New Year's Day, I was meeting a friend at the mall to see a movie and I decided to go early and walk from one end of the mall to the other and back before the meeting time.  That gave me an opportunity to see some things I hadn't seen before like these golden spangles hanging from the ceiling.

I also admired this vintage Cadillac that was piled high with gift boxes and sitting at the entrance to Neiman Marcus.  That car is in top-notch condition!

This tree was located at the far end of the mall just outside of the Cartier store.  Maybe that's why those silver "bracelets" are around the tree.

It turned out to be a colorful place for a walk.

Ringing in the New Year

I rang in the new year with my friends Julie and Dave and Glenda at the Phoenix Symphony Gala once again this year.  It was another fabulous event.

Julie took this shot of our table.  She used the wide angle lens on her iPhone and managed to capture the whole table just after the soup was served.

One of my favorite things was watching this group of young people dancing while the symphony orchestra was departing and the dance band was arriving.  What an energetic group!  They were amazing to watch and they certainly got everyone in the mood to dance. Once they were done performing, the dance floor was open to all and the band played on until 1:00 AM.

Theme Day: Photo of the Year

At the end of November, I scrolled through all my posts looking for my favorite photo from 2019 and this is the one that I think I liked the best.  I took this photo back in March when the African Daisies were in full bloom all around town.  I remember that I drove back to my old neighborhood where I knew there would be quite a lot of them.  While I was photographing one patch of blooms, this pretty butterfly flew in and landed on one of the flowers.  It was perfect timing.

As most of you know, the first of every month is a Theme Day for City Daily Photo bloggers and the first day of every year, the theme is always the photo we liked best for the past year.  If you would like to see favorite photos from other bloggers, click here.  I'm sure it will be a beautiful assortment from around the world.

Nutcrackers Everywhere

The city of Scottsdale has decorated 5th Avenue in Old Town with a series of life-sized Nutcrackers.

They have added a festive touch to the street that is full of all kinds of galleries, jewelry and souvenir  shops.

They are a handsome bunch, don't you think?

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve!  A new decade will soon arrive.

Dressed for the Holidays

The giant white rabbit that lives in Scottsdale has a holiday necklace on.  I bet it wasn't easy getting that wreath around his neck.  After all, he's 26 feet tall.

I first posted a photo of this big guy back in September of 2018 when I discovered him.

I've since learned that the artist for this piece is John Randall Nelson and the piece is called "One-Eyed Jack".
I hadn't noticed that he had only one eye until I learned his name.

Extended Holiday Dinner

I cooked dinner at my house for friends on Friday evening.  (I have to get out the Christmas china at least once a year. 😊)

I made three recipes I had never made before and they all turned out great.  But, the star of the dinner was the dessert, a French Apple Cake.  That cake was outstanding and pretty easy to make also.  Everyone loved it.

Here's a link to the recipe.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  If you liked "Star Wars" check it out.

Oh Christmas Tree

I took these last week but never got around to posting them.  This is Christmas tree at the Desert Botanical Garden.  I zoomed in on one of those big silver bulbs and snapped a self portrait....sort of.

The garden always has a green tree in this location.

And on the patio they put up a poinsettia tree.

Cooking Christmas Dinner

We cooked up a storm on Christmas Day at Julie and Dave's house.  That's Dave in the background in the chef's coat.  My friends David and Riley are preparing the Brussels Sprouts and AuGratin potatoes.

I made a Beef Wellington with a lot of help from friend Joe above.  Julie and Dave made a German wine soup and friend Theresa made and outstanding salad and delicious home-made dinner rolls.  And Julie and Theresa made wonderful dessert.

It was a lot of cooks in one kitchen but, thankfully Julie's kitchen is big enough to handle a group of cooks.

As you can tell from all the foods I've just listed above, we feasted quite well.  It's always fun to have a group cooking event at Julie and Dave's house.  We all work so well together.

Heard's 90th Anniversary

Today is the 90th Anniversary of the Heard Museum.  It was founded on December 26, 1929.  So 90 years ago Maie Bartlett Heard and curator Allie Walling BraMe' along with the help of a small group of friends, spent Christmas day preparing the museum for its opening the next day.

In celebration of this historic event, the museum sent an email to all of its members that included a short video poem recorded and edited by Stephen Yazzie, long time artist and friend of the museum.  It's only 1:47 minutes in length but it is truly beautiful.  I think you all would enjoy it. 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas One and All!

Merry Christmas Eve

For our Christmas Eve entertainment today, I have an assortment of Christmas wreaths.  The one above is extremely fancy with the Nutcracker in the center.  After I took this photo, I spotted three more just like it at the same house.

The one above was located in north Paradise Valley.  I'm assuming it lights up at night.  It has a rather commercial look to it.


The one to the left was on the door to Tarbell's Wine store just down the street from me.  I didn't notice the "take it home" sign until I downloaded the photo.

I love the one with the jingle bells on it.  It seems perfect for the season.  It was at my friend David's house.


And here is the one on my front door.  It's there to say Merry Christmas to all of you!

Giant Reindeer

I was on my way to Scottsdale when I spotted this huge reindeer peeking over a garden wall.  To give you and idea of how big he is, that wall you see in the lower left of the photo is at least 6 foot tall.  I've been back and forth on this road several times over the last week and I didn't see him before so he must have just went up.  He's a big guy to be trapped in someone's yard.

Another Bird Sighting

Yesterday's hummingbird wasn't the only colorful bird I spotted on my walk at the Desert Botanical Garden.  I saw this woodpecker jumping from branch to branch.

I wanted him to look down at me so I could get a shot with that bright red spot on his head but, he just wouldn't cooperate.

He seemed to have other "higher" things on his mind!

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns.  I have my annual Christmas time in London shots.

Lucky Capture

I took a walk at the desert Botanical Garden yesterday and while I was trying to capture some butterflies, I spotted movement out of the corner of my eye.  I swung around and focused in on a hummingbird circling some lions tail blooms.

I had to shoot through another plant so there are some hazy spots in each of the images but for the most part, I think I was pretty lucky getting some shots of this cute little guy.

He kept circling the the plant for quite a while before flitting off over my head in the opposite direction. 

Trees, Colorful Trees

The trees around here are starting to show their colors.  This one was my favorite because it's beautifully shaped, is glowing in the Arizona sunshine and I was able to photograph the whole thing so you could see the fallen leaves on the ground below.

These two are looking good in two different fall shades.

And, these two seem to be mimicking each other with their golden color.  Fall colors have finally arrived.

Night Time Decorations

I was driving home late one evening and taking my usual short cut when I passed several houses with their holiday decorations glowing in the dark.  All I had with me was my cell phone so I decided to see if I could get the shot.

They turned out better than I expected.  I haven't ventured by the house in my neighborhood that goes crazy with decorations yet.  Maybe I can get by there this weekend.