A VISIT TO KANAB

Longtime friends Sally and Jon, formerly of Tucson and Flagstaff,

 now live in Kanab, UT, just north of the AZ border.

 

 

Though we've enjoyed each other's company for many years, we've not been able to see much of each other lately.  Our respective schedules finally cleared up for a visit last week. 

Ron left for a dog walk before I asked for a picture, so you'll have to imagine me in the driver's seat....

 

 Books on Tape are my constant companions for solo drives.  Here's my choice for this trip:

 This book was recommended by a friend at work who knew of my past hobby of dog sledding.  It was a very enjoyable listen.

The drive from Flagstaff to Kanab includes some spectacular southwestern scenery.  All but about 50 miles is on the Navajo reservation.  

There are two routes to Kanab.  This one goes through Page, and suffered a major landslide over the winter.  CLOSED!

 

I arrived around noon Tuesday.

 

Jon & Sally's house is attractive and welcoming. The two mulberries in the front yard have grown exponentially since I've started visiting.

Sally and I started chatting right away, of course, as catching up with each other was one of our primary enjoyments.  After our initial rush, Sally invited me to stay in the charming and private apartment for guests they've added to the attic space of the house.  As we ate lunch, and Jon arrived home from shopping, and the three of us enjoyed visiting.  For various reasons Ron and I have never visited at the same time, and given his recent return from MN, he chose not to accompany me this time.  Jon indicated a definite interest in seeing him....

 Our families have a long history of activities together, including a 10- year span in Flagstaff during which Sally and I met weekly and played flute duets and flute/piano together. That's got to be some kind of record!  Both Sally and I miss playing together.  She's found music with the local orchestra in Kanab, and as noted here, I'm involved with violin playing.  We do try to include flute playing during most visits, and were glad to be able to do so shortly after lunch this day.  Sally and I played at the local senior living centers when she was in Flagstaff, and she's played several times at the Beehive living center in Kanab since moving there.  She arranged for us to play there together on Thursday, so we chose and practiced a 30-minute set to play based on familiar folk tunes.

Jon made a delicious burger & brats grill, and another longtime friend Jennifer, who also lives in Kanab, joined us for dinner.  Jennifer mentioned Ron's absence...

Wednesday morning I got up early and ran.  Kanab is set in red-rock country, so the visual pleasure is constant.  This is the view J & S had before their trees got so ginormous:

and this view was on the route I ran:

Later that morning I accompanied Sally to a really nice stretch class she goes to several times a week at the local fitness center.  The leader, Hoolie, teaches to her mostly-older audience, but you know you've stretched when you're done, and I found it a perfect compliment to my earlier run.

 We rehearsed our flute set again, then went to lunch with Jennifer and Sally's sister Trevie, who also lives in Kanab, at this great Mexican food eatery:

Trevie didn't say in so many words that she wished Ron was there, but she did give us an adorable salt & pepper shaker set painted with....clowns!

After lunch we made a favorite stop at the local thrift store. It's a dandy!  It's clean, well run and organized, with lots of selection.  They were doing a booming business this day, and have raised $1 million for the local hospital.

Here's the artistic long view:

More visiting, more flute playing, and then a dip in the backyard pool.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture when it was uncovered - it's crystal clear, of course, and they chose a saltwater system instead of chlorine.  It's much easier on the skin, and yep, tastes salty.

Jon provided dinner again, a huge salad loaded with tons of yummy ingredients. 

Thursday morning another run, & Chef Jon treated us to bacon, eggs, & hash browns for breakfast.  We did a final rehearsal for our gig at the Beehive at 12:15, during the residents' lunch.

What a delightful place this was.  It has a 12 resident maximum capacity, and is very homelike.  The residents were happy, well dressed and enjoying a delicious-smelling lunch.  Both they and the staff were appreciative of our music.  

Lunch this day was at Charlie's Oasis Sports Bar..more scrumptious food!

 

Another round in the pool in the afternoon, with the requisite visiting, and once again Jon provided dinner; this time wing, chicken tenders and a selection of salads from the local deli.  

I enjoyed my final run Friday morning, and Sally and I went to the stretch class again. Afterwards, we played more favorite flute tunes.  We had brunch at a notable historic local restaurant, Nedra's.  In the day, Kanab was a popular setting for western movies, and many famous actors have eaten at Nedra's.  

Shortly after lunch, I was on the road home...

Good friends, good music, good talk, superb hospitality, and you'd be correct in concluding I didn't go away hungry!

Okay, okay, already!  Ron's committed for the next visit!  The truth is everyone in this group was his friend before he and I even met, so they deserve his company too.

Labor Day, an annual celebration of workers and their achievements, originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities and breaks.

As manufacturing increasingly supplanted agriculture as the wellspring of American employment, labor unions, which had first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay. Many of these events turned violent during this period, including the infamous Haymarket Riot of 1886, in which several Chicago policemen and workers were killed. Others gave rise to longstanding traditions: On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history. The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it.

Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later, when a watershed moment in American labor history brought workers’ rights squarely into the public’s view. On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. On June 26, the American Railroad Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers. In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

Labor Day is still celebrated in cities and towns across the United States with parades, picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays and other public gatherings. For many Americans, particularly children and young adults, it represents the end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season.

 
Working conditions in our country aren't perfect, as indicated by fast-food worker strikes for higher wages and continued unemployment in many sectors.  I'm still grateful for the many opportunities that do exist, and the daily commitment of the many who work not only to support themselves and their families, but are part of the network that keeps our country's economy the strongest in the in the world. 

THANK YOU!