Last night Kathy and I motored up the hill to Prescott Valley to attend the Prescott Area Art Trust and Bronzesmith Fine Art & Foundry reception celebrating the Arizona Centennial Monument, "Not-So-Gentle Tamer."
Here we are underneath the big clay mama (it's 10-foot-high) with Ed and Cathy Reilly of Bronzesmith, our neighbors Mike and Fran Douglas (who are long time friends with Ed and Cathy).
It was a beautiful evening and the reception was to honor the progress of the project. Bronzesmith and the Arts Trust have raised about half the money towards casting the 10-foot-tall monument which will stand at the center of the Prescott Valley Court House campus. Really exciting and it honors not only my grandmothers but all of our tough grandmothers. Small versions of the sculpture are still available from Bronzesmith for a very reasonable price.
Afterwards Mike Douglas and I agreed it was time to try a funky steakhouse we have been driving by for years (there's always a ton of cars in the parking lot). It has kind of a cheesy name, Leff-T's Steakhouse and Grill and it's on the end of a very bland strip mall in Dewey, a small town on the way to Prescott Valley. For years I have been driving by there and thinking, "I need to go in there and see what the hub-bub is about." Turns out Mike and Fran have been saying the same thing. So, instead of Thai, which was recommended to us by Ed, we went down the hill and had dinner at Leff-T's. It was quite good. I had the mesquite chicken, Kathy had the chipolte chicken while Fran had the turkey relleno sando (basically a monte christo with turkey) and Mike had the charred filet, which was amazing. We split a bottle of Kendell Jackson cabernet wine and we split the bill and got out of there for $30 (full disclosure, Mike paid for the wine). We will definitely be going back to Leff-T's. I love finding these little hole in the walls like this.
Had a design review this morning and Dan The Man Harshberger came out to help us shoe horn in the massive Best of the West issue we are working on. Going to be very tight, but it's going to be good. Lots of history. In my editorial I am writing about "Lessons Learned". Here's number 7: Dance with the one who brung you. We spent too many years chasing a lifestyle audience that didn't give a hoot about us. We finally went back to history and we haven't looked back.
Amen.
"Legends are born out of the need to decipher the undecipherable."
—Old Vaquero Saying
