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Showing posts from April, 2016

A Surprise at the Mall

I lost touch with a writer friend.  I missed her and her cheerful blog posts.  We met up in a most unusual way!  I’m still in awe of how it happened. I finished my shopping at the mall and took a short cut to get to the parking lot.  The path led me through the food court.  The smell of Chicken Fajitas stopped me in my tracks.  I planned lunch elsewhere, but now I followed my nose. I chewed my first bite of chicken taco salad when, out of nowhere, a loud redhead moved rapidly past the tables and into the booth with me.  “I know you !”  She shouted.  I pondered if I knew this crazy lady.  Did she mistake me for someone else?  She shouted louder and stuck her finger in my face:  “ You’re Mary; you have a blog called Pile of Smiles and you live in the Verde Valley .”   It took me a second to compose myself.  I stopped chewing my food.  I know I stared too long at her face and then she said:  “ I’m Jackie; I had a blog years ago – Fresh Anointing Oil.” Wow, now I recogn

At Sunset, Another Passover

I met Carol at our writers group.  The last hour after critique in our round table discussion, I learned Carol owned the late, famous Himalayan cat, Joshua!  Artists in Sedona remember Joshua because he often attended their presentations!  Joshua loved people.  A local newspaper article gave him credit for raising money for the humane society.    Carol spoke affectionately about Joshua.  He was more than a showman.  He was her beloved pet.  My favorite story involves the little boy visiting the art gallery where Carol displayed her art.  The boy’s sister held and cuddled the cat while the little boy told Carol that he longed to hold him but is allergic and watched enviously from a distance.  “Oh, honey, you can hold Joshua.  He’s hypoallergenic,” Carol corrected.  She went on to share how the little guy got permission from his dad and had the best time cuddling Joshua to his face.  When the family gathered to leave, the boy waved goodbye to Joshua.  Carol described the s

It's Not Always About the Tomatoes

I like to travel with buddies and rename them.  I vacationed in Costa Rica with Lupe who loves margaritas   and gets a little loopy.   I don’t drink but I’m a fun gal.  Just ask my co-worker, Frank.  I nicknamed him Jellyfish.  I packed my underwater camera.  Jellyfish can hold his breath really long.  He modeled for my underwater photo shoot in the colossal pool at the resort our company chose for us. I am fascinated with rain forests so my favorite thing to do in Costa Rica is to take walks in them.  I signed up for the tour of an organic cacao working farm.  Lupe chose it too.  A group of us piled into tractors to view crops of watermelon, mango, rice and cattle while we chewed on natural sugar cane, their largest product.  We observed monkeys, Toucans, and sloths. The best part of the tour for me taught about climate change and harvest time as we walked single file among papaya trees, cacao trees, as well as banana, pineapple, palm and macadamias.   After hours

Roadside Reflection

The mass exodus of vehicles over two miles long crawl out of Phoenix on the Arizona Interstate.  Vehicle after vehicle, bumpers almost touching, inch past the many Saguaro cactus plants that decorate the barren mountain ridge.  People look uncomfortable in the dry heat.  Warning signs caution drivers to shut off air conditioners before the steep mountain climb.   I sense panic.  Fear fills the air like a nasty fog. It is a scene from The Last Days. People scurry to get out of town; they seek relief.  Independent people concerned only for their lives.  Don’t interrupt their rhythm as they creep forward at a snail’s pace to find safety. But it is not The Last Days.   An accident three miles ahead causes the stall.  I'm the one that is scared.  I am vulnerable, not to mention hot.  Our car is parked off the side of the road, overheated, while we watch the long procession heading north without us.  All this traffic!  Where are all these folks coming from? Trump’