The Adventures of Fric and Frac: Adventure 336: Bisbee, AZ/Post A

Frac at Kartchner

It's Sunday, so it must be time for a sermon. We attended Mass this morning at Our lady of Lourdes Catholic church in Benson, AZ. Father Mateus, a visiting Franciscan, opened his homily by admitting that he hated to cook, which was a problem now that he had moved to the Friary after thirty years as a parish priest in Tucson. Each friar at the friary has to cook one day a week. He dreads the thought. From that admission, he transitioned into a treatment of the Beatitudes, calling them an "eight ingredient recipe for holiness". Note his ingredients: "Admit your limitations. As people poor in spirit we must realize we can't do anything without God. Show more compassion. Mourn for others; generate love by risking vulnerability. Hunger for righteousness. Promote peace. Become a mediator. Quell anger and ill temper. Bring mercy and forgiveness to others; quit pointing the fingers of accusation. Walk more humbly (Become meek) before God. Be clean of heart. Avoid darkness. Seek purity. Be a soldier of righteous living. Bring faith to a world gone cold. For happiness is ours if we live in Christ." Nourished by Father's thoughts, we enjoyed our regular Sunday breakfast back at the trailer before we set out for Bisbee, a copper mining town with much the same history as Tombstone minus the historic gunfights. While Tombstone was built on a silver vein, Bisbee mined copper. Right next to our RV park is a giant hole the locals call the "Lavender Pit". The town and surrounding area now houses just under 6,000 residents. More than 14,000 lived here in its heyday. Today, there are several excellent eateries, a plethora of residual history, several art galleries, a few hotels, the normal array of trinket shops, and a topography that lends rumor to a rough past. We would recommend a visit (More to come, since we'll spend three nights here). We wandered around the town for a couple of hours after we set the trailer up. Our walk totaled three miles, and included quite a bit of up and down. We saw quite a few "senior' tourists like ourselves, more than a few desperate characters (Both male and female) wandering about, ardent and serious shopkeepers in every window, and one gaggle of young girls selling Girl Scout cookies. We bought two boxes because Emily, a very precocious four year old, asked us outright. It was a well spent $20. Ten dollars for two boxes, and ten dollars to support the military. After a shower and a short rest, we walked back downtown to the "Screaming Banshee Pizza Parlor", which was simply fabulous. Judy said it reminded her of her own homemade pizza, which I must tell you, is high praise indeed. Back at the trailer, we enjoyed samples of both kinds of cookie for desert. In all, it was another blessed day in which life is good. Now, if we can just follow that recipe.