Local Gilbert

 

Various shots of places I’ve been to in Gilbert, Arizona. There is San Tan Mall, Joe’s Farm Grill, Joe’s Real BBQ, Starbucks, and my local park.

Scottsdale Art Show

Sculptures were outside. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, but snuck this shot.

This is just a shot of the mountain I saw in Scottsdale while at the art show.

We went to Scottsdale to an art show where 100 artists showed their work and worked in front of us. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, but I brought home a lot of pamphlets on the works there. Also, I purchased a beautifully handmade leather journal. I did take a few shots outside of the mountains and the sculptures outside.

Dead Animals

This antelope-caribou-deer-dead headed corpse found on the back wall of The Coffee Shop. I don’t know why this is so odd to me.

Catching Up The Posts.

Riparian Preserve

Superstition Mountains in the background. Riparian Preserve in the foreground, where we went walking with the dogs.

Dogue De Bordeaux in back of truck. First of all I don’t believe in putting dogs in the back of open vehicles. Crazy stupid. Second of all, it was hot enough that this dog was panting extensively. It’s a bully type breed and they have a tough time in hot weather, where other breeds wouldn’t even be panting. I loved the dog. She was beautiful. The owner said she was used to riding in the back of his work truck and she was used to the heat. I think he’s an idiot.

Rainbow on Ray Road right near the Cosmo Dog Park. Coming home from Diane’s house. See the rain drops on the windshield? That was the extent of it. Mostly high wind, and these beautiful clouds.

Cool clouds just before a storm. Mostly wind and pretty clouds, with few drops of rain.

The birds make all kinds of cackling singing noises which is funny. Here at Bergie’s Coffee Shop in Downtown Gilbert, the birds were everywhere and we felt surrounded.

Diane at San Tan Brewery.

Diane, Alex and Kirsten. They came to visit for ten days. We were at San Tan Brewery. I also had my friend Pam (A new friend I met at the lesbian meet-ups at the community center) meet us there. They all liked her. She is such a nice person.

We were at Costco on a day before Halloween. Arizonians are really into dressing up for Halloween. This guy dressed as a Minion.

Took Ozzy to The Coffee Shop, ran in to get a coffee. Tied him to the chair. He laid down, like a good boy and started sunbathing. Such a wonderful dog!

Old-school Kawasaki Motorcycle seen at The Coffee Shop.

Punch Bug-white, seen at The Coffee Shop.

While picking up my lunch at The Coffee Shop, which is right next to Joe’s Farm Grill, and almost 3/4 of a mile from me, I see various cool vehicles. This is one of them.

GI Joe will protect you while you take a shit at Joe’s Farm Grill!

Joe Johnston, the owner of Joe’s Farm Grill has a wonderful sense of humor (and design). He has Barbie, GI Joe and Ken dolls in the bathrooms. So funny.

Diane and Cuz Caryn. We had fun going to Liberty Market for breakfast, Joe’s Farm Grill for lunch and various other activities.

Cousin Caryn visits us. She has decided pretty much to move here. She hates Connecticut and the winter. She can transfer if she wants. The only thing keeping her in Connecticut is her nephew, and she has a condo she’d need to sell or rent. I warned her about the summer being so hot, and she said she’d be working all day in air conditioning; not a problem. (Hahahahahaha!)

There are some very cool vehicles that are allowed to use the roadways here. I see people riding horseback on the canal trails too. Lots of bikers, scooter riders and bicyclists. So many people out and about, especially in winter. Not so much in summer but the die-hard Arizonians do come out in the morning and night for their dog walking, (like me), and exercising, (not me. LOL!)

I totally lucked out with this picture of a little girl pulling her dog toy at Costco. I think it’s one of my favorite shots using the iPhone and Instagram.

Downtown Gilbert reminds me of the old west, and it is. Down this main drag in those buildings is The Art Intersection where I hired one of the woman for a one-to-one darkroom session in black and white 120 and 35mm films. The 35mm was very easy as I remembered it. The 120 film was a royal pain in the ass to mount on the reel, and I ended up letting the instructor do it. Even with her doing this for a while, she had difficulty too. LOL! We had fun otherwise.

Downtown Gilbert at Joe’s BBQ place. We had a birthday party for Jacob (Dominic’s nineteen year old grandson) there. Their BBQ and sides are fattening as hell, but it’s all locally made, homemade and totally delicious. I had the chicken, of course, as I don’t eat beef or pork.

Vacant lot below where Mint Homes was supposed to continue the home building, but instead, they sold the land and now some new builder will be building rentals. We are not happy about this.

So that’s it for now. Most of these were taken with my iPhone as it’s easy to post from the phone. I actually uploaded all the pictures, then wrote the text from computer. WordPress is pretty cool.

Elvis is alive!

Elvis is alive in Arizona. Diane & Dominic saw an Elvis impersonator at Kokapellis Wine bar tonight. This guy actually won for best Elvis impersonator in Vegas back in 2008 according to Diane. (And they say Arizona has no culture!

Scottsdale

Diane and I went to Scottsdale for the day. We had lunch and shopped around. It’s kind of a touristy place. Many jewelry shops and galleries. All high priced. I’m sure the Snowbirds love it here. I was a bit disappointed. I wanted to find my “Northampton” replacement, but this is not it. Still, I will go back to check it out again. It’s hard to get a feel for the place as it’s a bit disjointed. You have to take a shuttle to the different sections. We just walked around. I ate a yummy homemade veggie burger at this restaurant. (Forgot the name). Though I think it did give me a bit of a migraine later. Something in the burger perhaps? Anyway, here are a few pictures from that day.

Sculptures in Scottsdale

This guy was alive. We thought he was a bronze Sculpture!

This guy was alive. We thought he was a bronze Sculpture!

Diane talking to cowboy sculpture.

After I took this picture I got reprimanded by an employee in the store. She said I'm not allowed to take pictures, and that "it's okay. I won't ask you delete the ones you already took". As if I would!

The store that doesn't allow pictures. Shame on you!

Sue Visits

Riparian Preserve

Diane & Ozzy walking the trail

Ozzy and Cactus

Diane & Ozzy

Old West Sepia Toned Cactus

Hipstamatic Cactus

Sue had fun and enjoyed her visit. I didn’t get too many pictures. Sue loves Arizona and wants to move here. I think she should come back in the summer and see if that is still the case. She may just change her mind. LOL! Sue lives in Boston, which is expensive, but she’s close to public transportation and has tons of culture. Here in Gilbert, Arizona, you have to drive everywhere for that sort of thing. Phoenix and Scottsdale are the closest, around 30 plus minutes away. I haven’t really checked out either yet. We are so busy just trying to make ends meet and I’m buying a home so my money is gone, (what little I had of it.) Diane & I will be packing her apartment to move at the end of this month. She is moving to Chandler with Dominic. It’s 6 miles away, which isn’t too bad. Ozzy won’t be happy with that though. It’s the first time he’s been away from the family. He already runs to their apartment from mine, and that’s only a few feet away!

Sue & Diane helped me pick out the exterior color scheme for a house I’m having built by Encore on Higley Park. I decided it was time to invest in a home. Hopefully I will lock in around February at a low rate. Cross your fingers!

Tree in my future front yard

Sue visited for 4 days this week. We went shopping at World Market and took a tour at the Olive Mill in Queen Creek. We had lunch at the Olive Mill which was delicious. They have a cute gift shop with their Olive Oils and stuff made from olive oil. I picked up a few lip balms and their Tuscany Estate Olive Oil. Last time I bought the olive oil with chocolate. Yum! You can put that on your oatmeal or use it for cooking. The tour was interesting and I bought some of their fresh olives to eat. They are a bright green and taste like those nasty black olives, which I found out are soaked in Lye!

Olive Mill Gifts

Olive Mill Cafe

Diane at Olive Mill showing off her Olive shirt

 

Olive Trees

Me & Sue

Fresh Olives

I finally received the book “Sorry I Pooped In Your Shoe” by Jeremy Greenberg. He sent me a signed copy. Ozzy looks awesome in it.

Ozzy Inside!

Ozzy is featured twice!

Ozzy