Scottsdale, Arizona - Chris Birkitt's Winter Wonderland

I wanted to get out to photograph some Phoenix area lights and a group was meeting at Chris Birkitt's so I decided to join them.  I wanted to get there before the crowds as these things are often too crowded for me to comfortably stand with a tripod.

It was about sunset, so this mild mannered neighborhood home looked festive with the lights starting to turn on.

But as the sun dropped, the real glow began.  This is a closer view of the front of the house, with detailed pictures.

 This is hard to see.  It is Rudolph in blue with his red nose.

I walked over to the entrance to go to the back yard.

 Cozy fire pit.

 I took one last photo as I left and the colors were so, well, Christmasy.

He does not charge for admission, but does as for a donation there or on his website.

He does a really nice job.  Here is his website: http://www.birkettentertainment.com/winterwonderland/

This house was next door.  I agree, if you can't beat them, join them!

More lights...I think that there is a website on "the best in Phoenix".  

Yes, there is!! Here is the list, and "Winter Wonderland" is in first place.  Congrats to Chris!!

Scottsdale, Arizona - Musical Instrument Museum (MIM)

This is one of my favorite places to visit and I have several posts. The photos won't spoil it because a big part of the experience is listening to all of the music.  We went for the Bastille Day events.  I took Beth to China to see the kinds of things that her mother saw on the last trip.

The exhibits show the country, so there is not too much to say about these.

Beth and I sat in on a "pleine aire" drawing class.  I didn't know what a "pleine aire" class was, but now I know.  It is sketching in the open air.  Wikipedia explains it to great lengths.  I am not a pleine aire pencil sketcher, but I do enjoy pleine aire photography as well as closed air photography!

 On to the displays.  We put our headset on and off we went.  I was soon texted by Karl and Michele. Set off to find them.  Then we all mingled and viewed.

 Nose flutes always intrigue me ever since my father and son came marching out of the back rooms playing harmonicas with their noses.

 The Beijing Opera gave a presentation at our tour dinner the last night in Beijing.

The man on the left has flags on his back.  Click the link below to see a better view of his costume.

(Click HERE and see the blog post where I am standing with the Beijing Opera artists.)

 The exhibit shown below illustrates "The Silk Road".  The eastern end of the road was in Xi'an.  Click here to see our visit to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, shown below.

I was distracted by the other exhibits, so left Beth to explore on her own.  Here are some other countries.

Beth stayed for more viewing because she was going to a party later with food. Michele, Karl and I went to enjoy a French inspired lunch in the restaurant, then all went our separate ways.

I love this museum and visit whenever I can.  Highly recommended.  www.mim.org

Scottsdale, Arizona - The Brush Bar

I went to "The Brush Bar" again on Friday for a painting adventure.  The photographs show from beginning to end.  Yes, we were painting "Starry Starry Night"!  Could you tell?  Enjoy our versions, then see the original at the end. Shout out and thanks to Tiffany and her family for including me in the "Girls Night Out".

Sauce in Scottsdale

Went to Sauce with Karl and Coco after French class. This is a Fox Concept Restaurant, a group specializing in "boutique" restaurants. This is at the Scottsdale Waterfront near Nordstrom's in Scottsdale. Kalen has eaten and recommended the Macaroni and Cheese. He has been here several times and brought his Grandmother Jane to enjoy the Mac and Cheese. I think that she was surprised at the taste. I will have to come back with him because we had pizza instead.

A large menu is posted on the wall as you enter the restaurant. Orders are placed at the two cash registers in front of the wine bar. The hostess explained a few things about their specials (of which NONE applied to what we wanted to order) and took our order. She was kind enough to split the tab into three sections so that we could pay individually. We ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio and they gave us three chilled glasses to take to the table.

Ahh, now for the food. We decided to order two 12" Gourmet Think Crust Pizzas. The Sausage and Carmelized Onions was wonderful for $9.50. The Chicken Caesar and Parmasan was also $9.50 and looked like a salad dumpted on the pizza crust, with wonderful shave slices of parmasan cheese. It was actually quite good. The wine was light and fresh and chilled. The main person (the guy who floated around the tables asking how we were doing) refilled the wine glasses and poured full glasses, which set off a conversation about how bad it was to do that since the wine stays chilled better if it is allowed to remain in the bottle. Lesson learned! We finished both pizzas, and I doubt that we would have been satisfied to split just one. The conversation was the best part of the meal, as we tried our best to discuss summer vacation plans in French and it sounded very fluent to me. I must admit that my French is better with a little wine.

Don McLean - American Pie

Front row!! Yep, one of the first ones in the gate to get seats at an outdoor concert. It was fun listening and it was fun singing along. Bye, Bye Miss American Pie. Drove the chevy to the levy but the levy was dry. You get it!

Amazing Race @ Saddle Ranch

The calm before the storm. Yes, this is a mechanical bull. It is located at Saddle Ranch on Scottsdale Road south of Camelback. Samantha is hosting her very own "Amazing Race" for the second year and I am the host at this point. One member of the team has to ride the bull before they can get the clue to the next stop. Did I ride the bull? Heck, no!! I did that in my early 20's and swore NEVER to ride again.

I had a root beer float instead. Ahhhh, summer.

Taneko Japanese Tavern

My mother Jane is visiting from Pittsburgh. She will be in Phoenix for about three weeks. Join us on our travels!

Taneko Japanese Tavern was suggested by Kalen. It is in Scottsdale and is owned by the people who own PF Changs and Pei Wei. We decided to give it a try as it is something different than anything on our list.

We started off with
Hot Rock* you sear it
Japanese Yellowtail $10 and
American Kobe Beef $14

This was quite interesting and it was a good thing that Kalen knew how to do this, as we would have been quite clueless. The rock was heated extremely hot, and you placed thin slices of the meet on it to cook. It was served with a variety of sauces and was very tasty.

Mom learned how to use chopsticks and we were both very proud of her! She has a very adventuresome side to her, and this was a good start to her trip. We talked that we were going to have to try a lot of new things during her visit, with a little of the old since we do love our Mexican food.

Here is the bathroom. No report is complete without a little peak at this. Quite fancy. A+ in my book.

http://www.tanekotavern.com/