Fundraiser for Mingus Union High School's Drama Department Oct. 2-3 at 7pm

We are particularly happy to announce this show since we've been invited to play the congas and percussion as part of the jazz band!

Journey On will feature Abby Fritts, mezzo soprano, under the direction of Sandy Reid, vocal coach, arranger and accompanist and James Ball, instrumental director, arranger, vocalist, and production manager. The show will lead us on a journey through life and beyond through a variety of musical styles including, Classical, Jazz, Blues, Pop & Broadway Show tunes. Fritts will be joined by a small ensemble of vocalists from the area for several numbers. The show will also include jazz band accompaniments and features of local instrumental talent. The show is a benefit for the MUHS Theater Department.

Tickets - $10.00 adult, $6 student – All seats reserved. For reservations and information, please call 284-3598 or email at afritts@cableone.net.

The MENding Monologues on Oct. 3 at Sedona's Creative Life Center for One Night Only

Inspired by The Vagina Monologues, The MENding Monologues takes its audience on a rollercoaster ride of laughter and tears. Passionate, smart and inventive, the show uses sketch comedy, personal monologues, dance and poetry to open minds, end violence and mend hearts.

The MEDding Monologues, performed at the Creative Life Center, Sedona, October 3, 2009 at 7pm. Doors open at 6pm.


Tickets on sale now for $15 at Crystal Magic and The Golden Word Bookstore or at the door on the evening of the performance. Due to the adult nature of the themes treated, The MENding Monologues is not suitable for children under the age of 14.

A portion of the show's proceeds will benefit the Verde Valley Sanctuary.

The Gonzales Cantata Premiered in Philly on Sept. 4

Based on the hearings of disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, this brand new opera opens this week in Philadelphia, PA., as part of the Philly Fringe Festival.

The composer is 29-year-old Melissa Dunphy and she penned the piece as part of her doctoral thesis.

Click here to view the "I Don't Recall" aria. Who says Life doesn't imitate Art? Not any more!

For further details on this remarkable piece, click here.

Things To Like About Edinburgh

Did I say how much fun the town is? Probably! A gem of Old Europe, the streets are for walkers, young, vibrant, sometimes thronging sometimes quiet, always something unexpected around the corner, endless shops, small to tiny, all offering different wares, tons of crafts by Scottish artisans from delightful, inexpensive souvenirs to astonishingly fine original jewelry, clothing, accessories and gifts of all kinds.

And there's more than the explosion of Starbucks to make an American feel at home: it has become quite the fashion for service and sales people to ask customers to have a nice day. What once seemed incongruous ('Yes, but they can't really mean it!'), is now quite commonplace. Nice!

And kudos also to England and Scotland (doubtless the rest of the country as well) for providing such ready access to fresh, healthy food. Nearly every grocery and drug-type store I visited had refrigerated displays of freshly prepared, individual portions of fruit, vegetables, small sandwiches, etc. Restaurants serve soft drinks in 6oz. bottles. You have the fun of drinking them, but don't take too much! In the several Boots and M&Ss I visited, the offerings of were much smaller. Worked for me!

Oh and if you eat out at a nice place, to wit, one providing cloth not paper napkins, be sure to let your waiter shake it out and place it on your lap for you. This is always done with a smile and appears to be a perk of the job.

Edinburgh Or Bust!

14 August

Well, a long but pleasant road trip straight up through England and a fair portion of Scotland saw us safely to a Edinburgh last night. A soggy drizzle penetrated every layer and I really felt back in Europe again. But the City is lovely, the streetlights in the puddles give it a shimmer drier climes can only dream of and having done justice to a long-missed cotolete milanese from the local Italian, we repaired

to the snug flat where the gracious Diana and Philip Deeks continue as gracious hosts to your humble chronicler. As a palliative against snake bites, we downed a couple of gin and tonics and, as no snakes have been reported in these parts for about seven hundred years, you will be reassured to know that we felt pretty safe. Certainly we slumbered all the more soundly for such precautions, so the fire alarm that went off in the wee hours when the upstairs neighbor decided to try his hand at a piece of toast left us hardly shaken at all. And kudos to the local Fire Department that showed up within minutes just to make double sure that everything was truly fine.

London and Winchester

9-11 August 2009

Lovely London Town again. Yesterday, a good walk from Picadilly to Knightsbridge to vie for attention with the Saudi princesses at Harrods--yes, I did quite well, thank you. Then a tasty lunch of spicy lamb sausage at the Lebanese cafe where they clearly thought I was not plump enough: kept adding tiny tasty dishes to my table, with many desserts of phyllo dough, pistachios and honey dripping everywhere

What's a girl to do? It was delicious! Today Leicester Square and Covent Garden where I searched out the long overdue statue to the Oscar Wilde (always a hero of mine). He is rendered rising out of his grave for a cigarette and conversation with whomever sits on the bench next to him. Am proud to have contributed 5 pounds to the sculpture way back when.

Then a stroll up Shaftesbury Avenue--never get tired of the Wild West End. And now tea time. Sweet!

Now, I am hardly to blame if the London House of Caviar happens to be located a mere two blocks from where I'm staying! Perfect though the Arizona desert is, one doesn't often encounter sturgeon--or even other people who like them. So I can be forgiven I hope for stepping in and leaving with a tiny but costly jar of the stuff after a near three-year fast.

I slipped back to my lodgings, and thought how lovely it would be to share the delicacy with friends. Then I remembered I would not see them for another two whole days! Rather than slip into a decline--which might have proved fatal--I called for some lemon and an English muffin and, after a moment of silent acknowledgment of my lack of a mother-of-pearl spoon, I opened the precious jar and scoffed it right down!

It was delicious.

12 - 13 August 2009

Have left the city lights of London well behind me and am now ensconced in Philip and Diana's cozy 16th century thatched cottage in Hampshire (where hurricanes hardly happen!). Just back from a lovely walk through Jane Austen country and pleasantly awaiting the evening's first gin tonic...!

Just coming to after a much needed nap to round off that lovely lunch in ancient Winchester square, just a stone's throw away from where Jane Austen spent her final years. Perfect weather and now we gear up for the drive to Edinburgh tomorrow at the crack of dawn.