HELLO PHOENIX (WELL, MESA, I GUESS)

I've landed in Phoenix this winter as opposed to Tucson. The last two years I spent a part of the winter in Tucson, which is a delightful, friendly, young, and quite funky city. I love it there.

This winter my friend, Jim, he of raw food excellent recipes asked if I wanted to stay at his house for awhile and help him with various tasks...I said "yes" pretty quickly cause I haven't explored the Phoenix (Mesa) area and thought I'd give it a shot.

The only time I was in Phoenix was with an old flame and it was a trip to hear a woman talk about food combining and how said affected her bowels...we all had to stand up and sing a "poop" song. It was ghastly. Not a good introduction to Phoenix, I'm finding.

Phoenix has a very healthy vegetarian society, a good collection of raw foods afficionados and too many good eat places for me to even mention at this time. I really want to try a bistro called Camus...it just sounds divine.

I will tell you about the statuary in downtown Mesa next time. It is a fascinating 8-10 block area with public sculpture all about...really cool!