Two weeks ago some, hmmmm, IDIOT, hacked my computer. Email contact list ripped off, sent email
emptied out, etc. After 18 hours over 4
sessions with 6 different techs in India, they decided that my operating system
is kaput. Frustrated from dealing with
this, I got up this morning and fled the house and Prescott opting to drive
over Mingus Mountain for a change of scenery. At the highest
point I got out and took a brisk, brrrrr walk gazing at the Mogollon Rim in the
distance, a notch of blue skies, red and sandstone cliffs peeking through the
pine forest. Ah things were beginning to look up.
After winding my way down to Jerome, I stopped to visit one
of my favorite structures--a building
with a floor to ceiling window about 20 ft wide overlooking the Verde
Valley. The shop is now a wine tasting
art gallery. I’m a cheap drunk and
drinking in the middle of the day while driving is never a good idea, but I
asked the sales woman if she had a sparkling wine, thinking of Christmas dinner
when my family is here from Japan. She
gave me a sip of an almond infused bubbly that was really quite lovely. So bottle in bag I walked back to the car and
continued down the mountain from Jerome into Cottonwood, stopping to stroll
through the three blocks of Old Town where I sampled some lime flavored olive
oil (buying it of course) and snagged myself a latte as part of the walk was in
the shade and it was chill or I was chilled.
From Cottonwood to Sedona I took my favorite detour, the Red
Rocks Loop Rd, and stopped where the view is absolutely breathtaking and walked
along the side of the road to build up an appetite for lunch at a great Chinese restaurant my husband and I discovered a few years back. The first decision
was To Have a Martini or Not Have a Martini. Strange but they specialize in exotic martinis.I rationalized my way to a Canton
Classic-Plymouth Gin and a Ginger something or other with a twist of lime. It was superb. Now remember that I had coated my stomach
with olive oil samples and sipped the martini as I ate my Kung Pao
chicken. So I actually left the
restaurant feeling fairly clear minded rather than my usual befogged gin soaked
self.
From Sedona I made my way back to I-17 going south to visit
Montezuma Castle National Monument. My
oldest son Matt had visited there several years ago and in the interim had lost
a favorite hat acquired from the gift shop.
So…hat in bag along with a plush toy cardinal that sings when his tummy
is pushed, I strolled the walkways along Beaver Creek, bordered by leafless
sycamores, gazing up at the 700 year old cliff dwellings. I imagined youngsters
scrambling up the ladders (now absent) leading to the heights, a couple making
love, a woman giving birth, a cook pot over a fire, a father teaching a child
to hunt, a mother weaving. I couldn’t
quite figure out where my counterpart would be.
Perhaps very few women made it to 68, but if they did, surely they
remained in the few dwellings at the foot of the cliffs until of course the
floods came.
Making my way full circle back home via Cherry Road and Hwy 69 I unloaded the car and
put things away. An Indian (India)
fellow on my answering machine begged me to call him back so that he could
respond to my dissatisfied evaluation of their attempts to cure my computer and make it wonderful again. I decided instead to eat my leftover Chinese
lunch while I watched an episode of Bones. So
not ready to sit at the bedside of my sick computer. May
it rest in peace for a bit…
