In the spring of 2009, I began volunteering at Tucson’s community radio station, KXCI. At first, I was part of the pledge drive phone crew, and I was pretty happy working behind the scenes. Late last fall, an invitation to join a KXCI deejay class landed in my e-mailbox. Tuition was at the can’t-resist price…
For the third year in a row, I was the official photographer for the Tucson Folk Festival. Held Downtown Tucson, the Folk Festival treats thousands people to a free weekend of acoustic music on five stages. One of this year’s performers was Michael McGarrah, a singer/songwriter with a wickedly funny sense of humor…
Welcome to my place, home of the slacker mesquite tree. This tree has the dubious distinction of being the last one on the block to bloom. But when it comes to dropping leaves all over the place, my mesquite is a champ. I truly adore having to sweep the porch, over and over again… Then…
This spring marks the debut of the Tucson Bicycle Swap Meet’s new location. Now covering four city blocks instead of three, the new venue features a trolley track-free shopping experience. Said trolley tracks are the reason for the swap meet’s move. The Modern Streetcar construction project on 4th Avenue is underway — and will be…
Well, here we are at the start of Bike to Work Week here in Tucson. And what’s a work-at-home bike-tographer to do? The answer is: Set the alarm for oh-dark-hundred, gather up the photo gear, then head over to the University of Arizona campus. Sounds a lot like the seven years that I spent employed…
During a recent visit to eastern Pennsylvania, I experienced something I hadn’t seen since the late 1980s. That would be spring coming to the Northeast. There were the signs of imminent spring like daffodils sprouting everywhere… The rhododendron bushes were budding… The moss was growing fresh and furry… The streams weren’t brimming over with snow…
Last month, I received word that my recently published bike-tography book had won an ADDY Award from the Tucson Advertising Federation. What kind of ADDY? A Gold, Silver, or Bronze? The notification e-mail didn’t say. But, since bike-tography is the act of combining bicycling with photography, I embarked on a bike-tographic expedition to the Fox…
Xeriscaping update: It only took 3 hours and 40 minutes to get the better part of that big pile of mulch into the front yard and spread around. Amidst all the mulching, I also had to remove a pile of cut up mesquite branches from the yard’s main water harvesting basin. Those branches were left…
In the life of a xeriscaper, there are fewer questions sweeter than “Would you like some free mulch?” Why the affection for ground up tree trunks, branches, and leaves? Because mulch holds moisture in the soil. It also builds the soil and controls weeds. In the arid Southwestern United States, we like such things. A…
While the Internet is full of advice on how to take better pictures, information on the business side of photography can be hard to come by. To fill this void, I created the Freelancer’s Guide to Starting a Successful Photography Business. It showcases more than 50 resources that will help freelancers learn professional business practices…
I’ll admit to feeling sad while at a bicycling event. Why? Because we may have seen the last UA Criterium on Saturday. The closed-course race around the University of Arizona never attracted huge numbers of spectators. But if you were into cycling, you just had to be there. No way could you miss it. Several…
So, there you are, trying to do the right thing. You go to all the trouble of controlling the weeds on your property, then there it is: Buffelgrass. According to the Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordination Center, “[R]apid spread of buffelgrass and conversion of fire-resistant desert to flammable grassland rivals urban growth and water as the…
Time for a look at Tucson concert venues, past and present. First, a look back at one of the hottest dance clubs of a couple of decades ago. I’m talking about the Green Dolphin, which was located a few blocks south of the University of Arizona. This was one of the clubs that students raved…
Always fun to go back and visit the last grade school I attended. If it’s not peering into classrooms and seeing wall charts teaching skills that adults take for granted – remember what life was like before you learned how to tell time – it’s taking a walk around the school grounds and realizing how…
A year ago yesterday, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others were shot at the “Congress on Your Corner” that she was hosting in Tucson. Six people died. The past few days have been filled with various tributes to the victims. And the big buzz around town was that Rep. Giffords would be attending the candlelight…
When I was growing up, Westtown was that hippie-freak Quaker school at the end of the street. The long hair and love beads crowd were quite the contrast to the buttoned down, straight-laced kids in my neighborhood. I can remember one of the moms making jokes about “Westtown’s finest” whenever she saw students heading away…
Nothing like a backed-up septic tank to enliven an eastern Pennsylvania family’s Christmas Eve. The family in question would be mine. And this story’s almost a carbon copy of the one I blogged two years ago. Once again, a call to Hickman Sanitation, and out comes owner Dave Hickman (below) with one of his employees….
A Christmas holiday visit to family in Pennsylvania reveals a timeless truth about the Keystone State’s winter weather: It varies. On one day, it’s cool enough for a jacket. Perfect weather for my mother to stroll around the neighborhood with Buddy the Labrador Retriever… Looks like Buddy’s found another interesting scent. This one merits very…
Being the owner of a middle-aged house that I’m slowly fixing up, I’ve had the need for more than a few tradesmen and women. Many of them have arrived in huge pickup trucks. Imagine my surprise when I heard about a local arborist who plies his trade by bicycle. Time to do something about that…
This past Saturday was one of those gray, windy days that offered more than a hint of rain. By Tucson standards, it has been a wet month — almost an inch of rain so far — so looking for more wasn’t out of the question. Fortunately, the rain held off until after the weekend. And…
Well, it’s mid-November in Tucson, and that means it’s time for another bike swap meet. Yesterday, thousands of bicycle enthusiasts converged on 4th Avenue for a day of buying, selling, and trading bikes and accessories… Does your bike need a crankset? Plenty to choose from at the swap… Or maybe your taste runs more toward…