Coffee heat rising

Gorgeous Day!

The Corgi and the Human dawdled a bit this morning. It’s already 9:20, and we only just walked in the door from the a.m. perambulation.

But what a GORGEOUS morning! Clear and cool, free of visible smog, most of the bird-brained dog-lovers already back in their homes.

The dog-lovers. /eyeroll/  They all assume your dog LOVES their dog, and they wanna drag their fur-baby over to yours to socialize.

Why are people so stupid, anyway?

We walked by the late Jerry Jacka’s house, up on the north end of the ‘Hood. Jerry was, among other things, a professional photographer of significant stature. I met him while I was working for Arizona Highways, which filled its pages with his spectacular scenic photos. What a lovely man he was: the definition of talent and grace.

Jerry and his wife, Lois, owned a berzillion acres of ranch land halfway between here and Prescott, acre after rolling acre stretching west from the I-17. What a place!

They also had a pretty house in our neighborhood, just south of Dunlap: now a noisy main drag, but then a quiet two-lane country road passing through acre after acre of citrus orchards. The house is still there. But they, alas, are long gone.

So is the quiet rural character of their neighborhood. Now it’s on the northern border of North Central, beneath the flight path of helicopters ferrying patients to a huge hospital a couple miles away. Noisy! Hectic! Crowded! Crime-ridden…

LOL! You can bet that if I owned a few hundred acres out in the boondocks, you’d never see me in this place! 😀

My, how I do miss the Arizona Highways crew! It was so much fun to work there: so much talent came in through the doors. Not just the photographers and the artists and the writers: the editorial staff was outstanding, too.

Ohhh well. They’re gone, most of them. I’m probably one of the few members of that staff who are still living.

Life is short, my friends. Enjoy it while you can!

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