Cottonwood, Arizona is a small town with a big renovated main street. On a good traffic day, it’s about an hour north of us and a whole world apart. They have leveraged their growth on an agreeable climate, charm galore and wineries.
There are plenty of things to do in the area, but for a girls’ day out, we opted for lunch and wine tasting. DFs Denisse, Evon, Barb and I ate at the Colt Grill and we did NOT nibble on salads. Am I telling too much by saying we heartily ate BBQ! Calories be damned.
We then wine tasted at Burning Tree Cellars. The people there are so nice and we sat on comfy couches and relaxed. Since we took a mid-week day off, three out of four of us had to work the next day, so we made the most of the time there and headed back to Dodge.
We all agreed that the day off was much needed.
Homemade Potpourri
You know I hate to throw food away. Waste is one of my biggest pet peeves. This week I had both an apple and several clementine oranges that went off, so instead of just pitching them, I turned them into a wonderful-smelling potpourri on my stove top. Here’s my “recipe”:
- Cinnamon to cover the bottom of the pot
- Sprinkle of nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 5 clementine oranges
- 1 apple
- 1 spring of fresh rosemary
- 6 cups of water
Toast the cinnamon and nutmeg over medium high heat for about 2-3 minutes and then add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to the lowest setting and let steam through the day.
Of course, you can use whatever old fruit you have or your favorite spices. At the end of the day, I put the ingredients in the garbage disposal and then that smelled nice too.
What I’m Reading
On audio I listened to Bird’s Eye View by J.F. Freedman. I found the book and the author by following one of my favorite narrators, Tom Stechulte. This was a big win. The writing was solid, the characters were deep, marred but likeable, the setting in Chesapeake Bay took me right there. There were a few more twists than I generally like, but it wasn’t hard to follow and tied up nicely at the end. I will be reading this author again.
In print, I read The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor. Apparently this was a well-hyped book, but I had not heard of it. It started off taking me down a paranormal path which I was quite happy to walk. But then it just turned out to be another whodunnit. Dang! Oh, well, I’m glad I stuck with it because the twist at the end was worth it.
What I’m Eating
I celebrated October 1st by making a big crockpot of chili. Yes, it was still 100 degrees out, but dang, I can only wait so long to celebrate the season. I added one Hatch chili and I didn’t think it was spicy enough but the hub thought it was plenty spicy. Delish. And there was enough to put a batch in the freezer for eating when it actually does get cold out.
Fitness
The past couple weeks I have been able to add a little run back into my fitness routine. Which makes me all kinds of happy. I still need to work on the weightlifting which mysteriously keeps getting forgotten on almost a daily basis.
My run took me to my favorite spot on the club patio overlooking Gavilan Peak on a beautiful morning. Now here’s something CRAZY and right up my alley. While I was looking for a link to Gavilan Peak for your information, I found THIS story and you absolutely have to read it. Who knew? I cannot say I’m surprised because there are plenty of hidden and nefarious things that happen in this part of the desert. Hmmm, future blog post. You must beg me, though.
And having said all that, I had a wonderful week with friends and value everyone in my life so much. Bless you all and have a wonderful weekend.