Quick! What is this?

You’ll find the answer over on my Tumblr. Having posted the photograph in one place, however, it seems silly to put part of the same picture elsewhere. So I probably won’t do this a lot, but I needed some sort of art for the day, and this seemed a cheap and easy way to do it.

More easy content: I accidentally landed on someone’s mailing list as they wrote to their family back home about their trip to the American southwest. Seems someone has noticed the error, or the emails have stopped for some other reason, but let’s live vicariously, shall we?

Call her Barbara, though that’s not her name.

Day One:

I’ve arrived in Phoenix. There is no phone here, but in an emergency my cell phone might work (yet to be determined, but I’ll confirm later).

Hope you are well. We have wi-fi here and I’d love to hear from you by email.

Have a good week.
Love,

Barbara

Day Two:

Hi,

Great to hear from you. We had a jam-packed day today. We went shopping, out for lunch, to the Phoenix Art Museum, and to the Heard Museum. The restaurant had typical south western fare. The native artifacts were really interesting. I have some pictures but don’t know how to get them on the IPad.

Tomorrow we’re going to golf in the morning, check out some food trucks in Phoenix, and go to the Botanical Gardens in the afternoon. This holiday is fun but exhausting!

Miss you all.

Love,

Barbara

Sounds like a great trip so far. At the art museum Barbara might have seen exhibitions by Matthew Moore, W. Eugene Smith, Gustave Baumann and others. The Heard Museum is hosting great exhibitions on the art of ceremony and the history of bolo ties, among other things. You laugh, but I bet that one cinches on tight and doesn’t let go. (Actually that sounds like a great museum. When in Phoenix … )

If they made it out to the botanical garden they no doubt enjoyed the spring butterfly exhibit.

On Day Three of her adventure she sent me a picture — out of respect for her privacy I shall not post it. Imagine a nice lady standing by several cacti all much taller than her.

“Too big to trip over! I sure wouldn’t want to fall on one though!” she wrote.

Which is where I am a bit sad. She’s trying to write her grandson. I hope he gets to see this picture eventually.

On Day Five I received another email:

Good morning,

It was over 100 degrees here yesterday. It doesn’t feel too bad as long as we’re not walking around in the sun in the afternoon for too long.

The Swap Mart was OK. It was like a huge flea market, but with only new things for sale. The olive grove was interesting. There are only two places in North America where they grow olives, here and in California. The climate here is perfect for olives. They don’t get any of the pests or mold that they do in Europe, so can grow here with no pesticides or herbicides. They would be certified organic if the corn field that is within 15 miles of their grove was also organic. They also don’t have to worry about birds eating them off the tree as olives are very bitter until they have been soaked for quite a while. We had lunch outside under an umbrella. The food was excellent and the tour afterwards was very informative. I learned that olive oil should say ‘extra virgin’, ‘fresh pressed’ or ‘cold pressed’ and that we should not eat ‘black olives’.

We went shopping again after that and to a great food market where we got wood-oven pizza, salad, and other treats. We’re eating like queens. I’ll have to take up running when I get back.

We’re off to Sedona this morning, and will be there overnight.

Hope you are all well and happy.

Love,

Barbara

Someone wrote to the group asking why you aren’t supposed to eat the black olives. A fair question as I’m sure we’re all a bit more olive smart after that email, but it doesn’t elaborate on that point. Maybe she was talking about canned black olives, which sometimes use ferrous sulfate as a coloring additive. After that I’m out of guesses and I won’t look it up — because if you’ve ever done that before you understand the wisdom of not asking the Internet a question about health and safety.

And that’s where the email thread ends. Sounded like a nice front half of a fine vacation though. Hope she made it home safely with lots of pictures and adventures to share. Check out, by the way, the banner art on the Sedona link. That must be a beautiful place.

Had the new editor meeting tonight. We bring in the outgoing and now grizzled veteran and the shiny-eyed new person and talk about the job. This is what I do and don’t do. These are the positions you should be hiring for. This is what you can expect.

These are the obstacles. This is the workflow. These are the late nights. These are the things you must do. These are the few things you can’t do. Here is the production bible and notes from former staffers.

Now go out there and, as some wordsmiths awkwardly say, “commit journalism.”

The new editor works hard. She’ll grow into the position nicely.