Back from the East

It’s 12:39 p.m. and I’m in my Flagstaff, AZ. It’s at the corner table in bar of Monsoon’s on the Rim, where I enjoy sipping a bourbon-and-soda, reading/writing and catching CNN out of the corner of my eye. I’ve come here often since Oct. 2010 and the place feels like home.

I’m just getting back to my routine of things after getting back to Flag after a two-week trip visiting friends and family on the East Coast. Sister Nancy and I started the journey in Phoenix, flying via Southwest to Raleigh-Durham.  After that it was lots of driving to Charleston (SC), Edenton (NC), Yorktown (VA), Columbia (MD), Alexandria (VA), Strasborg (PA), Princeton (WV), then back to Raleigh-Durham for the flight home.

I’ll have more on all of this as I write in the next few days. For now, two bests.

Best food: Nancy and I had fabulous munching all long, but we were astounded by the vegetable plate we shared at the Boulevard Diner in Mount Pleasant, SC.  It’s probably because we’d been away from Southern food for a while, but the greens, summer squash, mashed potatoes and speckled butter beans were like ambrosia!

Best experience: Sitting on a front porch in a hollow below Athens, WV, listening to my granddaughter Cat play a Celtic tune on the violin. I darn-near feel apart because it was so beautiful. My cousin, Marie, did and had to rush inside for a tissue. Thank you cousin Joe Earl for such a special moment. Thank you, Cat, for being who you are.