The Road to Diamond, Day 132: Red Rock Road

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 9, 2025 in collaborating, Community, Entertainment, Hiking and Nature, Historical, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 9, 2025, Williams, AZ- The perfect spot, where my friends have stayed for the past two nights, is going to be perfect for another couple this weekend. I have found another Friday night room for Bobot and Thelma, so all is still well.

We headed east and north, this afternoon, after a hearty lunch at Pangaea Bakery. The first stop would have been Jerome, but parking was not available, so Tuzigoot became our spot to try out my camera’s record feature-and my video skills. They need work, to say the least, but here are a couple of fairly post-worthy clips.

Friends enjoying their first visit to Tuzigoot.

This shows the living situation of First Nations people in the Verde River Valley of Arizona, in the Eleventh Century, AD. — The Sinagua people built these units, as part of a settled community.

After exploring Tuzigoot, we headed to the Chapel of the Holy Cross, high in Sedona’s red rocks, at the edge of Schnebly Hill. Here are my friends, at the Peace Marker and in front of the chapel.

Red Rock day trip — Bobot and Thelma at Peace Marker

Front of Chapel of the Holy Cross — Bobot and Thelma in front of Chapel

We made a brief visit to the Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park, near Sugarloaf Mountain, on Sedona’s north side. My videography was not suitable for sharing, but the friends seemed to enjoy it.

We capped our Sedona visit with a stop at Tlaquepaque, a crafts and restaurant market, modeled after the open air market of the same name, that graces Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The entry arch at Tlaquepaque — Bobot and Thelma in front of entry arch

As we walked in, a little girl had latched onto a sandal, and was doing her 16-month-old best to show Mom and Grandma that she had mastered the One Shoe Strut. Since it was a display item at a shoe vendor, Mom took it off and put it back on the rack. Oh, the indignity of it all!

We met up with an amalgam of other Filipinos, in front of a coffee and ice cream shop, where I got an Arnold Palmer and the friends, some Gator Aid. We next visited a couple of fountains, and stopped in front of Bell Rock, after which it was time to head out of Sedona, and up the mountain, by way of I-17.

Fountain shot — Bobot and Thelma at a fountain in Tlaquepaque

Bobot and Thelma at Courthouse Rock, with Bell Rock as backdrop

After a satisfying dinner at My Pita Wrap, in one of South Milton Road’s plethora of mini-malls, we headed here, to the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, and El Rancho Motel-our roost for these two nights. Tomorrow, another couple will be introduced to the South Rim!

The Road to Diamond, Day 130: To Las Vegas and Back

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 7, 2025 in collaborating, Entertainment, Historical, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

April 7, 2025- It is always humbling to stop at Delgadillo’s Snow Cap, in Seligman. No one is watching, when one tries the doors with knobs on each side. No spoilers, though; each person gets to learn which knob works, on one’s own. Any place where the servers emulate the grandfather on “Courage, The Cowardly Dog” and pretend to squirt mustard out of a ketchup bottle, can’t be half bad. The food is worth the stop, at any rate.

Snow Cap was a nice break for my visitors and me, on the way back from Las Vegas. They had flown there, from Manila, by way of Incheon, about a week ago. After a week of visiting the Las Vegas Strip and Mount Charleston, Bobot and Thelma are spending a week with me, touring a few places around Arizona. I made the drive up to the Sleepless City, from Kingman, early this morning and found them ready to roll.

We stopped, briefly, at Hoover Dam, for a look from the O’Callaghan-Tillman Bridge, which unites Arizona and Nevada, honouring two men who are held in high regard, by their fellow citizens. Mike O’Callaghan was a highly popular Governor of Nevada, in the 1970s. Pat Tillman was a talented football player with the Arizona Cardinals, who enlisted in the U. S. Army, following the attacks on the United States, of September 11, 2001. He gave his life, in the Afghanistan conflict, in 2004.

The Snow Cap stop came about an hour after we enjoyed a humongous and delicious lunch at Kingman’s Black Bear Diner. Let it be known that the Taco Salad at Black Bear will feed three people, with about 1/4 left to be boxed and eaten later. I don’t know about my friends, as they are staying at a Bed & Breakfast, across town, but I had no need of dinner tonight.

Here are some photos of the day’s festivities.

Bobot and Thelma flank their hosts, in Las Vegas.

Thelma not making a call, Snow Cap, Seligman

Ready for a ride in the White Jeep, Snow Cap, Seligman

This should be a fun week!

The Road to Diamond, Day 126: Reset

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 3, 2025 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 3, 2025- The bandage that was placed on my left facial cheek, to stay there for 48 hours, is still there. It will come off tomorrow and a short period of going about with a sutured face will continue until next Wednesday. Then the true healing, the reset of sorts, will begin.

On Monday, I will pick up my two guests from the Philippines, at their home-stay in Las Vegas, and bring them to Arizona for 6-7 days. We will enjoy a variety of experiences, many of them in natural beauty and several that will involve gatherings with friends of mine around the state. It will also be a reset of sorts.

This evening, I attended a crowded dinner meeting of Prescott Indivisible. I had more conversation with my table mates than I have had there in the past. There were also two calls for a show of hands, as to who will attend a protest march in a few days’ time. I will be working at Farmers Market, at the time of the march, so my hand did not go up. Though the door monitor glared and loudly cleared his throat, when I left early to attend another meeting, I owed neither him nor anyone else an explanation. The speaker at the gathering said it best: “None of us has a monopoly on the truth”. There is a nascent reset of attitude, among those on both sides, who have viewed others with disdain. The pain that the nation is beginning to experience will humble a good many people.

After attending an online discussion of Baha’i Teachings, I went to return to my other online sites. The browser was undergoing a reset, and so I had to re-enter a few accounts. Rebooting seems to be a part of life everywhere today.

The Road to Diamond, Day 110: Clarity

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on March 18, 2025 in collaborating, Community, Family, Inspiration, Personal goals, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

March 18, 2025- My time with the AARP accounting team brought the news that this is the Year of the Pittance. At least I owe nothing and am not depending on a hefty refund. The year really takes flight, once the tax returns are filed. There is a clarity, as to one’s financial situation, which in turn helps define the path ahead-in tandem with family milestones, friends’ plans to visit and the overall prognosis for community needs.

I met with our local Red Cross Director, yesterday, and agreed to hold down the fort during the next six months, at least, in terms of arranging coverage for any shelters we may need,during Spring and Summer. Even when I am on the road, in the first three weeks of May, I can monitor and contact our team members, who are exceptional in times of crisis.

A call came from Filipino friends, who will visit Arizona, from April 7-14. I will meet them in Las Vegas on the 7th, and will gladly show them our state’s highlights, visit other friends, and just be a good host. Anything that can cement a bridge across the Pacific is worth whatever is needed.

Meanwhile, here at Home Base, the rest of March is a quieter time, though Naw-Ruz, the Persian and Baha’i New Year, is two days away-and will be celebrated with feasting, music and dancing. Spring will arrive, the next day, and somewhere in the area there is a trail that will feel my footsteps in honour of Vernal Equinox.

So much is clear tonight, and despite the horrors that unfolded in the nation’s midsection, over the past few days, I sense a sowing of seeds is coming, in more ways than one. We the People will get past all the nonsense and obfuscation, because we can.

The Road to Diamond, Day 105: Plenty of Atmosphere, No River

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on March 13, 2025 in collaborating, Community, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

March 13, 2025- The warnings were all over the Web: “Atmospheric River threatens California on Wednesday night!” When I woke, this morning, I looked out the window and saw a modest series of puddles and light rain falling, but no surging water. Maybe the dry ground just soaked most of it in. It seems to have been another case of media sensationalism, at any rate.

Other than managing to lose two hair brushes, in the span of a week, I made it to San Diego and back to Prescott, with little fanfare. Three of the four scheduled online meetings went off nicely, though I will catch most of the last one via its recording. I take check-out time seriously, so that cut my viewing time. I had a nice visit with an old friend, yesterday, and caught up with other friends in Ocean Beach during the three days I was there.

Here in Arizona, I noticed the ground in the “Outback”, between Ehrenburg and Congress, was saturated in spots and there appeared to have been a few scattered incidents of flooding, but only in sparsely-inhabited areas. We got a bit of snow in the Bradshaw and Sierra Prieta Ranges, and may get more overnight and tomorrow. I guess it’s better late than never.

So now, I will focus on the Home Front, community safety and environmental matters, for the next six weeks at least. Progress has been made here, on several fronts, so it’s time to build on it.

The Road to Diamond, Day 104: Efficiency

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on March 12, 2025 in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

March 12, 2025, San Diego- The bow-tied server had my friend and I seated, took drink orders and was on the spot to take our meal orders, as soon as we put down the menus. The meal was delivered, fresh and hot, within fifteen minutes of our orders. On the flip side, he took our plates once they were empty and had check to table, and processed, within five minutes of taking my friend’s plate. Of course, once his work for us was done, we were free to sit in sobremesa for as long as we pleased. (This is the tradition of relaxing at table, after a meal has concluded.)

The lunch at Corky’s, in Ladera Ranch, northeast of San Clemente, was a prime example of intelligently executed efficiency-not plowing ahead, almost mindlessly, but carrying out one’s task with due consideration of everyone who is affected. Alberto, our server, deserves recognition for this. He probably would say it is the normal course of his work, but there we are.

I don’t always manage to get tasks done with the intelligently executed efficiency I would like. Sometimes, there are too many moving parts for the time frame that is established or I have too many items on my agenda. If others are involved, and their decision-making process is too fluid or changeable, I have to double back and find at least one or two work-arounds, just in case the process starts to look like Whack-a-Mole. If I have not given myself enough time, or rest, to be at my peak, it looks like I have my own game of Whack-a-Mole. Things are getting better, though, with allowing more time and focus.

I learn a lot from people like Alberto, and so paying attention to how others go about their jobs has reaped me a fair number of dividends. Things like overseeing a Red Cross shelter simulation, this coming Saturday or setting up a Baha’i election, to be held in mid-April, with notices sent out within the next week or so, are matters that require intelligent efficiency. For that matter, simpler and more quotidian tasks that affect other people deserve the same.

It’s fascinating what one can learn-when own leisure is the basis of someone else’s effort.

The Road to Diamond, Day 103: Crowded Houses

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on March 11, 2025 in collaborating, Community, Entertainment, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

March 11, 2025, San Diego- Samesun Hostel, Ocean Beach makes the most of its back deck, when it is sunny. Today was not a sunny day-and the forecast is for rain tomorrow through Friday, as well. That renders the back deck a place of comfort only for the few human seals who don’t mind sitting under an umbrella. The rest of us either stayed in our rooms or crammed into the kitchen and TV/Game Room. I did a little of both, hanging out with a few hostelers in the latter spot, and tending to business matters in my private room on the second floor.

I visited a couple of other spots in OB during the day. In between rain showers, I took a mid-morning snack at OB Beans, one of the better coffee shop/bakeries on Newport Avenue. It was a full house there. Lunch time found me at Hodad’s, which advertises its fare as “the world’s best burgers.” I have to say, the Blue Jay (1/2 pounder with bacon, fried onions and bleu cheese) was one of the best I’ve had, right up there with the beef at Chuckbox, in Tempe or one of the more heartfelt renditions at a Five Guys in the Dallas area. The standout at Hodad’s, however, is its ambiance. There was barely enough room for the servers to move between tables, but everyone was having a great time. As the name suggests, the place is surfing-themed, with boogie boards hung in strategic places around the shop. Long tables take up the mid-section and there is a “photo-op” cabana type table for two, towards the front. A few couples took advantage of that, for selfies, while I was seated nearby.

All this makes rainy days in Ocean Beach nearly as enjoyable as the sun-drenched versions. It’s all in how one views the camaraderie.

The Road to Diamond, Day 102: Ever Magical

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on March 10, 2025 in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

March 10, 2025, San Diego- The first sight, when I opened the door in Yuma this morning, was of six splendid palm trees, in front of a Denny’s Restaurant that is being remodeled. The sight of these iconic signs of the tropics, at that early dawn hour, lent a magical tone to the waking time.

It was like that, across I-8. Though the scenery was not spectacular-mostly sand, to varying depths and heights of dune, followed by irrigated fields in the Imperial Valley and barren foothills of the Laguna Mountains, there was a sense that only good things were afoot. People were waved through two Border Patrol checkpoints and traffic, even in the eastern suburbs of San Diego, was fairly negligible.

Here in Ocean Beach, the ambiance was for relaxation. I will have several business items, both digital and real time, to tend while here, yet there is no outrageous urgency. The tide came in, as the sun was setting, and there were dozens of people romping in the surf, along with a dozen or so on Boogie Boards. The wharf is closed, due to structural weakness, so the top of the stairs is taking on prime lookout duties. One could go over to the jetty at Dog Beach, but that is for maybe tomorrow or Wednesday afternoon.

Along Newport Avenue, there were huge bubbles from someone’s random machine and children squealing and shouting with delight. Che and Chloe are still serving up heavenly pizza, and light meals, to cook in Samesun Hostel’s kitchen, are available in Krisp- across the street. I simply get a real sense of how a community best works, walking around OB. Both residents and visitors seem to flow well together. It is, in a real sense, everyone’s little town, in the midst of sprawling San Diego.

That is what has drawn me here, for the past four years.

The Road to Diamond, Day 101: A Book In The Rocks

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on March 9, 2025 in Community, Family, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

March 9, 2025, Yuma- Many years ago, one of my students told me that it would be very worthwhile to visit Picture Rocks Petroglyph Site, on her father’s reservation: The Tohono O’odham Gila Bend Band, about 20 miles west of the transportation hub known as Gila Bend.

I spent an hour or so with my overnight hosts, talking of a variety of topics, then went to Penny’s grave site. There, I found that the water for flower vases has been turned off and the restrooms at the National Cemetery have been closed. Whether this is part of the DOGE downsizing, or merely a water conservation measure, is uncertain. I just used some water I had in the Sportage, and left the flowers in vase at my angel’s site.

I found that my excess energy needed to be brought under control-with several little hiccups occurring, while I was fueling the SUV. So, a few deep breaths later, I was good to go. Traveling along some back roads towards I-10, and over to Buckeye, then down AZ 85, I had ample opportunity to get a grip on any impatience that may have been under the surface, and managed quite well. I’m sure that those on the receiving end of my patience were quite grateful.

I stopped at Picture Rocks, some 33 years after my student told me about them. It is a hidden gem, and then some. The petroglyphs are of two styles: Archaic, meaning they are primitive and were done by people who lived there before the Huhugam (ancestors of the Tohono and Akimel O’odham) and Gila, the work of the Huhugam. I walked around in amazement at the wealth of drawings on the south side of the rock mound, from its base to its summit. For whatever reason, there are no inscriptions on the west or north sides of the mound. It is fortunate that the mound is cordoned off, and visitors look at the petroglyphs from a short distance. Thus, there are no “Becca loves Jamison, 2022” and such.

Here are six of the scenes that I found at Picture Rocks.

Man vs. Bighorn sheep, Picture Rocks, AZ

Busy day in the village, Picture Rocks, AZ

News from bottom to top, Picture Rocks, AZ

The scene is best viewed in person, but you get the “Picture”. (couldn’t resist).

The Road to Diamond, Day 100: Compassion in Action

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on March 9, 2025 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Family, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

March 8, 2025, Phoenix- The tall, silver-haired man stepped forward, as the wiry younger man with intense eyes walked up to a pair of young women who were working the management table at Farmers’ Market were doing their wrap-up work for the day. The ladies had noticed the bronzed military veteran walking about and talking to others, in a manner that seemed to make people uncomfortable. They were quite perturbed that he was still there, when there were only a few of us workers left.

The older man calmly helped one of the women, his daughter, in folding tablecloths, and when the ex-Marine asked if he might have one of the cloths to use as a blanket, replied that it was already needed for the table and, in any case, would not be very warm. For my part, I engaged the fellow veteran in conversation for a few minutes, letting him know where he could get a meal during the week, while I folded up a few tables. It was the father, keeping a careful, but calm eye out for his child’s safety, who showed the most compassion, getting the younger man a bag for the groceries he’d purchased or been comped and fetching a loaf of bread for him to take along. It was this which finally prompted the ex-Marine to leave.

We have many among us who are mentally ill, to some degree or another. I have had my own challenges, in that respect, and though I have come to function at a high level, cannot cast aspersions on those who are worse off. Of course, we need to hold other people to a modicum of civility, and not allow for abusive or overly intrusive behaviour. Women and children need to feel, and be, secure. Especially after the wanton murder of a young woman outside Mesa, a few weeks ago, my mind is all over keeping a safe environment. The man in question seemed to merely want company and to engage in conversation, even if it were in a looping manner. It was just not the right time and place for him to engage the women.

After he left, a group of us helped one of the vendors who was agitated for an entirely different reason, and took down his tents, while he tended to the matter at hand. It is always a matter of regarding people as family.

Once this was all in the rear view mirror, I got things together and hopped in the Sportage, heading down to a gathering at the home of an old friend. About thirty people gathered for dinner and a wide range of conversations about everything from spirituality to the modern circus. The ambiance, as always at this house, was one of universal compassion and love for mankind. After seeing people I had not seen for several years and meeting many new friends, I have retired to my room for the night, satisfied that it will remain compassion, rather than self-interest, that will carry the day.