The evolution of espresso, Doctor Who style!

So I was hanging a really, really cool poster in my living room this weekend...

Java Dreams by Chris Cosani

Really neat, huh?  James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Elvis and Marilyn all in the same image and it's one of the better fantasy images I've seen of dead icons.  And since I work as a barrista, I was naturally checking out the vintage espresso machine behind James Dean in the pic.  And then it struck me...

Maybe the creators or Doctor Who were drinking too much espresso when they came up with the design for the Daleks?  We just need to add a coffee grinder and a steaming wand!  Come to think of it, has anyone created a Dalek espresso machine for Whovians?  That would be so incredibly cool!!!

Classic Cars! Barrio Hollywood neighborhood street fair

I attended the Barrio Hollywood neighborhood street fair this weekend.  It's not too far from where I live and every year the community gets together and raises money for different projects such as schools in the area and different non-profits that go to help community members.  They have a big outdoor stage that hosts mariachi bands and ballet folklorico groups; dozens of food stalls selling roasted corn, tacos, burritos, fruit cups with chamoy salsa (!), raspados and other delicious treats; carnival rides; and a car show with both vintage and low-riders!  Most of the pictures I hastily took on my cell didn't take, but I had to share these two of my favorite vehicles in the show.

That's Pat's Drive In in the background; if you haven't indulged in their chili dogs and french fries, you haven't lived in Tucson yet.  Make sure you request the spicy chili but be warned that it is an accurate description of what you get!  You can find reviews and a map to get there on Yelp.

For more information on the Barrio Hollywood street fair you can read this article on Zocalo and the neighborhood can be found on Facebook.

Southwest Gothic - Sacred Machine and the art of Daniel Martin Diaz

Yes, yes, yes I know it's been too long since I wrote on this d@mn blog.

Oh well.

Life gets in the way.

Anywho, I was in Downtown, Tucson last night for the 2nd Saturdays street fair, firstly to see how bad the construction for the street car was going to affect a young event with a lot of potential.  Unfortunately, I don't see how 2nd Saturdays is going to survive very well if we have 4-9 months of construction ahead.  The stalls and stages seemed more scattered and isolated, the only vendors were selling cheap rosaries and miniature guitars from Mexico, there were only a couple food stalls and the sidewalks, which are already crowded, were worse for being half blocked off by wire fences.  It felt subdued.

Interior of Sacred Machine Museum and Curiosity Shop.  Image courtesy of SacredMachine.com

I went down there primarily to hear a musician-acquaintance who was playing the piano in one of the art galleries on Congress.  The Sacred Machine Museum and Curiosity Shop is a small gallery featuring primarily the art of Daniel Martin Diaz but also other artists with a similar southwest/dia de los muertos/Gothic feel.  It is one of the few galleries I've been in that I can point to and honestly say "only in Tucson".  And it is gorgeous!  If you haven't been I highly recommend it and to get your visual palette teased and primed, here are a few examples of the delights that await you:

Ghost in the Shell by Brian Despain.  Oil on wood panel.  Image courtesy of SacredMachine.com.

Santa Muerte by Scott Holloway.  Oil, leaf and ink on panel.  Image courtesy of SacredMachine.com.

Santa Muerte by Daniel Martin Diaz.  Carbon powder print on antique paper.  Image courtesy of SacredMachine.com.

Sacratus by Daniel Martin Diaz.  Screen print.  Image courtesy of Serieproject.org.

Memento Mori by Daniel Martin Diaz.  Oil on wood panel (?).  Image courtesy of Art is Everywhere.

Chris, my musician-friend, was absolutely fabulous.  I managed to claim a little corner of the gallery to just stand and listen to his playing.  He had a lush, dark playing style which suited the atmosphere and art to perfection!  At times he just let the baby grand piano's natural resonance just fill the gallery with a rolling, menacing cloud of sound, at others he suggested early nickelodeon-style movies, giving it a very steampunk/Bram Stoker's "Dracula" feel.  Delicious!  I'm going to hit him up for his professional contact info so I can post links to his work on this blog.  Stay tuned!

Recent pics!

It has occurred to me that it has been an awfully long time since the last time I blogged, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and clear out the images on my cell phone.  So here goes!

My retro-rific lunch at Johnny Rocket's (University and Euclid) this weekend.  Classic cheesburger, fries and a vanilla malt, all served in nostalgic surroundings with Elvis playing over the speakers.  Ordinarily I like local diners best, but this was closest and I was hungry.  Yum!

My weekend breakfast: a pear-apple, brie and honey crepe at Cafe Marcel on 4th Ave.  I don't know how I held off eating until I snapped this perfect pic because it was utterly scrumptious!  I am having a hot lavender mint tea with my crepe.  Beautiful cafe with a lovely outdoor seating area and the menu is just incredible!  You can also find them on Facebook here.

Meet my new ride!  It's a 1957 Challenger 500, a beach cruiser lovingly restored to life by the great folks at Bicas!  Along with recycling great bikes and giving them a second life, the folks at Bicas will offer their tools and expertise for $4/hour and offer classes to teach you how to take apart and maintain your bike.  I spotted this beauty among the bikes for sale and fell in love.  She is so much fun to ride and I now have my basket on the front so she is my primary commuting bike now!

Recent pic.  With the recent hair cuts, I'm pretty much back to my natural hair color.  I really did love going red but I love being a blonde again.  Less hassle and it lends itself to the classic bombshell look!

Hiking pictures

Some more hiking pictures I had on my phone's memory chip.  Some are taken on Josephine's saddle in the Santa Rita mountains south of Tucson, the others come from the Douglas Springs Trail on the east end of town near Saguaro National Park East.

Sprung Spring

Will at the waterfall, Douglas Springs Trail.

My feet in icy cold water.  Felt really good!

Yours truly, intrepid hiker! <3

Ukulele debut!

"Why Don't You Do Right" by Peggy Lee, performed on the ukulele by yours truly!

How much fun can one girl have? Seriously!

Hawaiian print time!

A series of shots from Monday.  I love this Hawaiian print shirt!  I love Hawaiian print in general but for some reason only the boys get the really cool patterns and the girl shirts I've seen are always insipid or ugly.  This one is the exception!  Martini glasses, cherries and tropical blossoms on a pretty pink background.  I love wearing my cherry earrings with this top.  I snagged the earrings from Hydra, a shop for leather, gothic and alternative wear in downtown Tucson; it's a fun store and definitely worth a visit!

I'm still mastering the self-portrait that shows my whole outfit!  As soon as I get that down you'll get the whole enchilada! :)

Playin' with the hairdo!

Gratuitous hair shots!

Beautiful Laguna vintage necklace; a Christmas present from Midji! <3

Red rose hair clip, "bulls eye" button earrings, pearl necklace, western top!

The Marilyn Monroe haircut

I went in to get my hair cut about a week ago.  I went to see Julieta at the El Rio Barber Shop (you can find directions here.)  Here is the picture I showed her:

Image originally seen at GreatHairStyleTips.com

I really like how it came out!  I was a little worried that it would be too short but now I'm thinking that the next time I go in I'm going to ask for another inch or so off.  It's a snap to style too!  I spend no more than maybe five to ten minutes with a big barreled curling iron and a quick spritz of hairspray and I'm good to go!  I'm tempted to lighten my hair just a tad since my roots are coming out lighter than the rest of my hair, but I'm really satisfied with this style!

I can't talk my hairdresser up enough!  Julieta did an amazing job and was such a pleasant stylist to work with!  Don't let the shops title of barber shop confuse you: they typically have at least two women stylists on staff who are more than happy to work on the ladies!  The prices are really reasonable, actually cheap when you consider the high quality of the work these ladies do.  And there are at least three barbers on staff at all times for the gents.  Will has gone in for a cut many times and swears by them.  So if you are in the west end of Tucson, stop in and get a cut!  You'll be glad you did!

Back to the vintage stuff!

Ok, ok, I realize that I've gone perhaps a little overboard with the outdoors blogs when, after all, the title of my little slice of the blogosphere is "Retro-fy me."  But I've been having so much fun hitting the hiking trails over the past few weeks and have snapped such fun pictures that I couldn't help myself!

Having said that, I want to get back to some vintage-themed blog posts.  I've been watching a bunch of old films these last few weeks and snagged some great albums to review.  I have had to reorganize my vintage jewelry now that my hair is finally back to it's original ash blonde (consequently all the orange stuff I used to wear now clashes horribly but pink, pearls and rhinestones are my new best friends!) not to mention purchasing new clothes for work now that the Old Pueblo is starting to warm up a little.

 But perhaps the biggest and most exciting news of all is that I've bought a ukulele!

Image seen at seagoat musings on blogspot.

Image seen at seagoat musings on blogspot.

Image seen at geschicte der ukulele

The tiny instrument came with a piece of paper with maybe a dozen chords on it so I busted out my music notes and constructed my own chord chart for it.  It sounds really good, especially with some old standards, like some of the songs of Peggy Lee.  Stay posted for an online performance!

Hiking the Grand Canyon

Here follows a journal of sorts of our adventure hiking the Grand Canyon.

January 14, 2012 - I know we are planning on hiking this weekend because, after all, with three full days off why not?  I was a little surprised when Will suggested that morning to head for the Grand Canyon though.  It seemed a bit spur of the moment.  But I was game so we did our best to pack everything we could think of into the Jeep, then took off.  We set up camp at Mather's campground that evening, had some fabulous vegetarian chili at the Maswik Lodge, made some rough plans on what trails to take and how much we wanted to tackle, then settled in for a good night's sleep.

January 15, 2012 - We decide in a fit of optimism to hike all the way to the river and back in one day.  After all, it's only January so it isn't going to be hot, we are in somewhat good shape and, honestly, there isn't any way we could rustle up a camp site at Phantom Ranch at the last minute.  We are vaguely aware that it means hiking the last few hours in the dark, especially as our start time keeps getting pushed up due to frustrations at keeping our camp site another night (I absolutely hate setting a tent up in the dark when it's cold!).  But we have several (not joking here!) flashlights squirreled among us, enough food bars and gu to outfit an army, lots of water, so we are feeling really good about ourselves around 10 am when we start off down the trail.

Bad news for me; there is still ice on the first few switchbacks of the South Kaibab trail.  My adrenaline is pounding through the roof as I try not to slip and either A) break something, or B) slide right off into the vast chasm that is the Grand Canyon.  A tiny part of my brain starts worrying that there is a 40% chance of snow this evening and we still have to climb back out and I'm willing to bet there is ice on the Bright Angel Trail too.

The view, though, is absolutely breathtaking.

Mule train heading up from Phantom Ranch.

This goat was literally 15 feet above where I stood on the trail.  He's staring at all the noise I'm making.

Around 1 pm we make it to Phantom Ranch and I get to dip my tired feet into the Colorado River.  It's absolutely freezing but it feels delicious.  Afterward we grab a couple lemonades at the canteen at the Ranch before we load up our packs and start back on the trail.  I'm starting to get worried about how long it will take to get to the top.  It has taken us three hours to hike the 7 mile S. Kaibab trail and the Bright Angel is even longer at 9 miles.  We joke about begging for a spot with the mules for the night and don't talk about how our calves are already killing us.

We decided to take the longer Bright Angel Trail because of logistics: the shuttle stops servicing the S. Kaibab a full three hours before the other end and we don't want to have to walk back to camp.  The views along the trail are absolutely beautiful, with many waterfalls and tiny oases and a herd of deer that stood just off the trail and watched us curiously as we walked by.

Last picture of the trip.  One of the many waterfalls.  A portrait of sheer exhaustion.

We are really starting to wear out.  Our stops become more frequent and my backpack straps and back are coated in sweat.  We lose our sunlight with about three miles left to go on the trail.  Busting out the flashlights we forge ahead, even as I have to stop and rest from time to time and waves of dizziness and nausea sweep over me.  Will rubs my back and makes me drink water until I'm feeling better.  My lower back is in agony.

Then the snow starts falling.  Yeah.  Let the horror of that sink in.

We hike the last 1 1/2 mile in a snow fall.  It covers up the ice that indeed covers the switchbacks just like on the S. Kaibab so we are literally inching along.  Somehow neither one of us falls and we make steady progress all...the...way...to...the...top.

It's 9:30 pm by the time we stagger into the Maswik Lodge, covered in snow (!) and looking like we're more dead than alive.  We find out the last shuttle ran thirty minutes ago.  After getting down some hot soup and tea, we trek the last mile or so to the campground, pull off our hiking boots and bury ourselves in our sleeping bags.  Will slips and falls in the snow, 20 feet away from our tent; luckily he isn't hurt.

January 16, 2012 - There is an inch and a half of snow covering the entire campground when I blearily crawl out of the tent.  It covers everything; the jeep, the tent, the road.  We can barely walk and already the incredible feat of endurance and monumental stupidity of what we have accomplished is occurring to us.  We have hiked the Grand Canyon, to the river and back in one day and we are damned lucky that nothing horrible happened to us.  Do I want to do it again?  Hell yes!  But in April, when there is no snow on the ground and with a heck of a lot more preparation.  But it was by far the most challenging, beautiful and rewarding hike of my life and I cannot wait to go back.

Empire Ranch Part III

These are the last of the photos, I promise!  In the master bedroom was a series of shelves behind glass holding some of the artifacts the women of the house would have likely used while they lived on Empire Ranch.  Of course I had to snap some pics!

Silk gloves, so thin you can see right through them!

Mesh bag.  Spotted a version like this at one of the antique stores recently.

Hair brushes.

I love these tortoiseshell combs!  And the delicate initials on the back of the mirror? Exquisite!

Empire Ranch Part II

Here are some more pictures from my visit to the historic Empire Ranch.

The Vails, first family to live at the Empire Ranch.

The Boices, the family that occupied Empire Ranch during the 1950s.

The Empire Ranch was the beautiful location chosen for a few westerns, including the Last Train from Gun Hill.

I simply loved this picture.  Sherry Boice raised her family in one of the small homes on the Ranch.

Empire Ranch

January 7 - Continued!

Will took me to an incredible historic ranch dating from the 1870s in the area of the Coronado National Forest in Sonoita.  The Empire Ranch was owned by at least three different families before it was finally sold to the Bureau of Land Management, who is in the process of stabilizing the ranch buildings and creating, essentially, a museum.  Here are some images of the ranch and the people who called it home.

Evolution of the ranch, from foundation to its current incarnation.

Animal pens and partial view of the cowboys' quarters.

Historic photo of the ranch.

Barn, windmill.

The ranch as it stands now is huge, including the original ranch-house which had been converted into quarters for the cowboys and cook with it's adjacent animal pens, an enormous kitchen, a wing just for the children with a large Arizona room for them to sleep in during warmer weather, and the Victorian section which held the living and sitting rooms along with the master bedroom and bath.  Framed by the Victorian and children's sections is a large garden (where the above historic photo was taken) with a brick fountain and the foundation for a swimming pool which has since been filled in.