Stopped by the Green Building Expo at the Scottsdale Civic Center this afternoon. The weather was fantastic. Perfect. And the exhibits were interesting. I forgot my camera so no play by play. The Expo ended today, Saturday.

Liz and I caught one of the films at the Scottsdale International Film Festival this evening. The best part was chatting with an ASU student from Djibouti in the seat next to me before the show. She was delightful. I’ve never met anyone from Djibouti before. I had no idea that French was an official [...]

“September and October are probably the best months to plant citrus and deciduous fruit trees…”

It’s not ranch-size anymore with only 5.7 acre and it’s not in McCormick Ranch, it’s a bit north. The main house of the Brusally Ranch and surrounding land received approval for 4 new homes plus the original ranch house. The Arizona Arabian horse industry started at Brusally Ranch in the 1960′s. Many Arabian horses can [...]

Alexandra did another great issue of McCormick Ranch Lifestyles this quarter! I’m rooting for her success. While you’re here, do a little exploring around the blog. Weekly Home Sales Scroll down and you’ll see that every week I publish recent home sales in McCormick Ranch. If you follow these home sales closely for a few [...]

On the Indian Bend Road side of the Albertson’s shopping center at Hayden Road and Indian Bend Road is a fantastic restaurant, Sakana Sushi & Grill. I’m new to sushi and I’m having a great time exploring it. So today when my brother suggested that we all go out to dinner, I was up for [...]

On Saturday, Liz and I tried Cove Trattoria, across from Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion inside the Scottsdale Seville on the northeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Indian Bend Road. They have a great big outside dining area which would be a great place to have lunch or diner. It was a little warm, so we ate [...]

This is totally wild! Liz, my wife, took Peppy, our pretty, Papillion puppy to Doggie Domain, a business which I gather is a “doggie day care.” The cute factor for these guys is off the chart. This all started because we need a kennel in two weeks when we go to Iowa for Liz’s niece’s [...]

I bought a video camera tonight at Best Buy in the Pavilions (JVC Hard Disc Drive for $450 on sale). My plan is to get my 17-year old son to shoot some video of McCormick Ranch parks, schools, etc. for this blog. Knocking around the internet, I searched for “McCormick Ranch” in Google’s Video search [...]

Scottsdale Pavillions is a huge shopping area on the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community bordering McCormick Ranch. (See map below.) It’s super convenient to have so many great stores nearby. I tend to hit the Best Buy, Home Depot, Taco Bell and Arby’s a lot. I’ve also worn a path to Mervin’s, Target, Sports [...]

The City of Scottsdale’s improvement project for Indian Bend Road between Hayden Road and Scottsdale Road will take about a year and will start in late summer. The road project, which would provide an all-weather crossing of Indian Bend Wash, will increase capacity from two to four lanes with a landscaped median, turn lanes, bike [...]

This is indeed good news for McCormick Ranch. In addition to the other new resort being build on the east side of Scottsdale Road, the Ritz-Carlton Project in Paradise Valley will continue to strengthen the resort lifestyle image of McCormick Ranch as well as provide new luxury shopping and gourmet restaurants. Plans are for the [...]

In the Raw juice bar gets plenty of traffic but parking can be a challenge in that McCormick Ranch shopping area. The original location of this slick bistro/market/coffeehouse/juice bar is attractively situated along the greenbelt area in Scottsdale’s McCormick Ranch, with a pretty view of a man-made lake. (A second site is in Gilbert). Inside, [...]

I posted some beautiful photographs of Spring in Phoenix in a post on the Master Gardener’s Garden Tour last weekend. See the sidebar in this article on garden tours for more information on upcoming Arizona garden tours. DON’T MISS OUT!

When I picked up my son after school, I noticed a big track meet forming. One of my son’s best friends is the star pole vaulter. I always wanted to see him compete. The five high schools competing were Saguaro High School, Chaparral High School, Arcadia High School (all Scottsdale Unified School District schools), Tempe [...]

March is spring in Scottsdale and the aroma of citrus blossoms is the signature of spring in Arizona. The smell of orange and grapefruit blossoms is simply magical. It seems to gently drift in the air. Here you see some McCormick Ranch grapefruit and some small white grapefruit blossoms. A story. About 15 years ago [...]

When Liz and I went to the park (we’re 3 doors down from a great, semi-secret park) to take some photos of Peppy (see previous post) we ran into this dog birthday party. My park has a “Dog Group.” Everyone knows that they can bring their dogs out to a certain spot in the park [...]

Okay, I confess she is 4 years old and not really a puppy anymore… but alliteration shall not be denied!

After I wrote the post yesterday about Amanda Blumenherst and the McCormick Ranch Golf Club, I went to play handball at the YMCA on Shea. My handball buddy’s daughter was also at the “Y”, back home on spring break from Loyola University Chicago. I mentioned this phenom woman golfer I had just read about and [...]

You have to look beyond a resort haven’s big-money plays to find its golf heart. You need to see a course like McCormick Ranch. Right in the heart of Scottsdale’s resort corridor, McCormick Ranch is anything but your typical all-snob, no-squeals palace. There are kids all over the range, kids (gasp!) on the course. This [...]