The Fountain

The Fountain
Originally uploaded by shermans.

Yahoo! We just purchased a futon for the guest room/office. All of you anxious for an uncomfortable bed in ungodly hot weather, c'mon down. We've been abusing Craigslist for months, first unloading as much as we could before we moved. Then unloading all those things that really didn't fit into the new place (one too many bookshelves, one too many patio tables, one too many microwaves). Now we are nearly finished with buying the stuff we need. Got the new stereo speakers. Got the new end table. Got the new dressers and containers for all the toiletries. Got the new piece of luggage ($10-the best value yet). We are ready to roll. About the only thing left is the grill, but in this heat, who's thinking of grilling?

Ciela had her first really bloody fall yesterday at the park. After scaling the elaborate playground, running all around the edges of the pond, dancing on top of the picnic tables, she fell face first crossing from the grass to the parking lot. Lots of blood at first, sending dad to the edge of panic before we realized that it was just a cut lip and the bleeding quickly stopped.

The day before was better with two train rides and two carousel rides at the railroad park. We are members now, so we get unlimited rides, which for Ciela means great things. For me, it's more chances to get queasy on the carousel. Shouldn't those things go slower? I mean, little kids are riding them.

The train park is pretty elaborate, with a scale diesel train that we ride. Most of the cars are the sort of flatbed types, but the last one is a box car where little kids can actually sit inside the car. My Jewish friends find the unintended re-creation a bit unsettling, but still let their son ride in the box car if he wants. What they really object to is the blond-haired kid announcing over the loudspeaker, "Leave your luggage behind. Your luggage will follow you." We all agree that this is in poor taste and have talked about starting a petition.

Last week we saw Constructing New Berlin, the exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum. While contemporary art often leaves me cold, this one was moving in a variety of ways. Partly, I really groved on the giant photos of Frank Thiel documenting the dramatic renewal/upheaval of Berlin in the post-Cold War era. But it was Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller's video installation, "The Berlin Files," that grabbed hold of me. Here is sort of a summary of the work, but the intriguing blur of reality, film noir, art and meta-narrative was nearly outdone by the powerful emotion of David Bowie's "Rock and Roll Suicide." The song floods the little theater in sound and feeling, seeping into the other abstract pieces. At times unsettling (we had a small struggle keeping Ciela from crying at times) with jarring, disorienting sounds of helicopters and trains, the piece kind of works like a post-modern noir. But instead of the modernist noir, the search for the truth in the detective story, this does away with narrative qua narrative. There isn't a story, only themes, only resonances and connotations. This is noir poetry on the screen. Any of you in Phoenix would do well to go see the exhibit.

This weekend we are heading up to Arcosanti, finally. We've been here nearly a year, and this will be our first visit up there. I have managed to get to Cosanti, but it's Arcosanti that really blows me away. When I visited it four years ago, I was enthralled with the innovation, the idealism and the beauty of Paolo Soleri's "urban laboratory." I still want to somehow become a factor in its creation. Ciela, however, has something to say about such things. So the best we can do is to attend the various cultural events they produce. This weekend is the three day poetry slam and concert. We're going up on Saturday evening after we do some peach picking in the morning.

And the picture of Ciela? It has nothing to do with anything. Just another in a series of random cute pictures.

chase

chase
Originally uploaded by shermans.

We had our first real guests at the home. Our friends from the old apartment complex came by for dinner and, as you can see, frolicking. The menu was salad with orange-raspberry vinagrette, risotto, caprese, bread and a chocolate dessert courtesy of the guests. Plus lots of Chianti. Ciela and Pumpkin spent a good deal of the time chasing each other around. They're like the sister each never had.

We've got a long list of people that we have to invite over to the house. While we were moving and our apartment was in shabby condition (pretty much all the time), so many people invited us to have dinner with them. If we could keep up our stamina, we could have people over every weekend for the next month and still owe some return engagements. I wonder if other people feel like dinner becomes and home-and-away series like soccer tournaments. I'm not complaining, by any means. I really do like having people over for dinner, but my Emily Post-ish superego always nags me about social debts. It doesn't seem fair to always play the visitor and never have people at home. And here's were the sporting analogy breaks down (as they always do (poor Randy Johnson)): the away game is so much more taxing than the away dinner. If the visiting team could get away with bringing flowers to the locker room and then just sitting around drinking the home team's Gatorade, nobody would demand a reciprocal visit.

We don't get you.

We don't get you.
Originally uploaded by shermans.

Brins Mesa Trail

Brins Mesa Trail
Originally uploaded by shermans.

We've also headed up to Sedona a couple of times this month. Judy had a Monday off, so we spent the day up there. Which meant my legs, weary from a 90 minute game where we were two men down, nearly gave up before we reached this overlook on the last hike of the day. We all look happy because there were other hikers there taking our picture, but all I could think about was turning around and heading home for a beer.

Yesterday, for Mother's Day, we went with some friends back to hike the West Fork. The physical toll was much lighter thanks to Ciela and their boy, neither of whom could really muster the momentum to head deep into the trail. We spent a lot of time crossing and re-crossing the stream and then putting our feet in the water, and then asking to be put into the backpack and then asking to be let out of the backpack.

As with most of our trips to Sedona, we finished with pizza and a beer at The Hideaway, with it's view of Snoopy Rock.

Ciela Finally Goes Camping

Ciela Finally Goes Camping
Originally uploaded by shermans.

We'd been wondering when we could safely take Ciela camping. She's been to a number of hotels and houses of relatives and friends, and even with indoor plumbing and real beds, the routine can get exhausting. We wondered how exponentially worse it might be trapped in a tiny nylon room.

Yet mere pondering never leads to results. No theory without praxis. We rounded up the sleeping bags, found the ground cover and tent, packed some snacks and drove deep, deep, deep...

In the rugged outdoors...

In the rugged outdoors
Originally uploaded by shermans.

Of Dowtown Scottsdale.

Still, as you can see, it was deep, deep, deep center field.

The city had a sleepover in the stadium, so we were trodding the hallowed ground whence Barry himself Bonds had walked. Just standing in the grass Ciela put on 3 pounds and her neck grew so big we had to cut her out of her shirt.

We had a good time. They served a mediocre meal from a BBQ chain, which made things very difficult on the vegetarians in the tent. We colored, we ran through obstacle courses, we did a sack race, we looked through telescopes (where I actually saw Jupiter, and Saturn and its rings--pretty flippin cool.)

They showed "A Bug's Life" on an inflateable screen, and then we all went to bed.

Except for our very rude neighbors in the tent next door who spent a good two hours after "Lights Out" talking and yelling at their kids to shut up and go to sleep. I rarely heard the kids, but their mother's voice could cut through steel. I longed for an angry Barry Bonds and a 34" Louisville Slugger. After the first half-hour, I noisely scrambled out of the tent and gave them the long glare. After an hour, I went over and told them to please keep it down. By midnight, I was yelling out of my tent to shut up and go to sleep. I wonder where these people thought they were. Why they felt that at an event that was clearly geared toward families with young kids, they could hang out talking until the wee hours of the morning. In the end, it was another instance in a long line of instances where I wonder how people can be so inconsiderate.

But then morning came, the sunrise was beautiful and breakfast included lots of coffee and orange juice and tasty muffins. We packed up, hailed one of those little groundskeeper carts and piled everything back in the car. We then went home and took a nap.

They had activities for the kids

They had activities for the kids
Originally uploaded by shermans.

Sunrise in Scottsdale

Sunrise in Scottsdale
Originally uploaded by shermans.

A new day at the ball park

A new day at the ball park
Originally uploaded by shermans.

That one's outta here!

That one's outta here!
Originally uploaded by shermans.

For my father and mother who check the blog every day and surely must be disappointed in how long it's been since I posted.

Ciela in the dugout at Scottsdale Stadium, home of the San Francisco Giants spring training.