First things first, a belated happy new year to you all. I hope that the new year has got off to a good start for everyone. Forget new year, who can believe we're three weeks into a new decade??? The roaring twenties mark two are here and it'll be interesting to see what this new decade brings...
I can't believe Christmas is over! Where did it go? Last Christmas was especially blink and you'll miss it for me as we went away just before Christmas which meant I missed out on all the usual jigging away to Christmas tunes; baking festive goodies; watching the new selection of Hallmark and Lifetime seasonal movies; visiting Christmas markets... But last year was different because the husband and I were in... Arizona! I won't lie - I was not amused when Mr. D told me that he had accepted a work project in Arizona that would see us arrive home just before Christmas, as I really like pottering around the house being all Christmassy during the festive period. But then I thought "How often do I get to do something different during the month of December?"
Answer: Never! So I stopped behaving like a diva and there we were! And I'm so glad we went. It was my first time in Arizona; my first time in the south-western part of America, and I can now say I've added the twenty-first state to my list of states visited. Go me! This trip has been very nostalgic for Mr. D as it brought back memories of summers he spent visiting his grandparents in Arizona, and we've spent a good few days visiting old haunts and taking a trip down memory lane. And I cannot believe I've waited my entire life to visit the Grand Canyon. I'm so glad I went. The scenery was truly breathtaking, and as with most things on this trip, phone kept coming out every five seconds and I just kept snapping away- we just didn't want to miss anything!
And we have to give a special shout-out to The Rim Country Museum - a place that is closely associated with Mr. D's late grandfather, a local artist, who lent his creative talents to various endeavours at the museum thus leaving a lasting and beautiful legacy. The ladies who work at the Rim Country Museum were lovely and gave us a tour of the museum. Unfortunately photos are not permitted at the museum so I can't show you the delightful exhibits, especially the gorgeous pioneer kitchen, so if ever you're in Payson, Arizona, and you have an interest in local history, then I suggest you pay a visit to the Rim Country Museum. You won't be disappointed.
But there was indeed an element of nostalgia for me too even though it was my first time in Arizona. Growing up in East London with my mum's siblings, my aunts and uncles were nuts about America. But whereas my vision of America was all Disneyland and the Hollywood Hills, for my aunts and uncles it was all about cowboy boots and Stetsons; cattle ranches and rodeos; country music bars and line dancing, vast areas of grassland and mountains. Everywhere I went in Arizona, I saw my family's vision of what they believed America to be about. I knew they would have loved it and I've told them they have to get out there and see it for themselves.
'Til next time, Arizona...
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you... cherry cake!
No, not an exotic entertainer but well, a cake with cherries in it!
This is a very late post as it should have been posted before Christmas and would have been had Arizona and a horrid cold not got in the way! Admittedly it's a bit of an odd choice for me because (drum roll please)... I'm not the world's biggest cherry cake fan! Don't get me wrong, I love cake (who doesn't!) and I love cherries, but I'm not a fan of the traditional cherry cake because I really don't like the glacè cherries in it. I've tried very hard to like them but at this stage of my life, I've now finally made peace with the fact that I will never be a glacè cherry fan - and that's OK.
So why a cherry cake post in that case? Well aside from the fact that I know that cherry cake is very popular with lots of other people, it does bring back memories for me of childhood Christmases back in the 1980s. When my sister and I were younger - before we were joined by our two other siblings - Mum used to make an array of baked goodies every Christmas. In fact she used to bake so much, there must have been more than enough for the entire neighbourhood! Of course one of these bakes included cherry cake which was one of Mum's favourites.
Even though I've disliked glacè cherries since I was a very young child, I did like Mum's cakes, so I would always have a slice - and just picked out the cherries. But what was most memorable about these cakes was that, we always had a slice of cherry cake after we got home from midnight mass. So cherry cake - offending glacè cherries or not - is a very memorable part of my childhood and evokes memories of Christmases gone by, our midnight mass tradition, and Mum's large-scale baking!
Word Cloud by Angel Noire
Photos by Angel Noire unless stated otherwise
That's a glorious Christmas spread there.
Arizona looks breathtaking...
We did, thank you. A completely different change of scene for me and I enjoyed it.
Arizona holds a lot of special memories for me. I hope you enjoyed your time out there as I did.