Florence, Arizona

There's one in Colorado too. And it ALSO has a prison.

I'm STILL not sure how it happened. I looked at G-Maps and noted Oracle was 19 miles (ignored WHERE).

I can't tell time or distance, but after a while I began to wonder...maybe I'd missed it. But it has a library, I COULDN't have missed it. Then came the sign saying: Florence 7 miles. Oracle must be just around the corner.

Map? We don't need no stinkin' map! (We KNOW where we are -- HERE! Buster Keaton's boat -- Damifino -- is our destination.)

At the north end of downtown there's a big park, the City Hall and A GIGANTIC Community Center & Library. The library has a LARGE open area with wifi. They have books for sale at great prices with an astonishing selection of titles! On 3/8/19, I found four, all very different.

The Penal Market is the only grocery. Their small deli has excellent roast beef, sliced by a young woman who personally selected the best jar of capers (capers!) and guided my winnowing of the tortillas. At the register we somehow got on the subject of heritage. Asserting my Deutschness, the cashier said they're a christian family from northern Iraq. We congratulated each other on being in a place that appeared to appreciate diversity. (While I was in the store I saw a woman with Asian features who was speaking Spanish and several other people who appeared to be of Hispanic and African-American descent came and went.) It reminded me of Whitehorse, the capitol of the Yukon, where there are people from all over the world and EVERYONE (except me) spoke AT LEAST three languages and often more.

But what really shot my spliffoes (another cat word) forward was AN ART GALLERY! Casa de Baca Studios shows Michael Baca's and his girlfriend's Janell's, photography. 

As unassuming storefront near the center of town

A renowned portrait photographer, Michael has traveled extensively, including to Alaska, at the behest of his many clients. Specializing in high-school yearbook portraiture, he said people come from all over to have their portraits made in his studio or on locations nearby. He had recently returned from an assignment in Sedona.

Born & raised in nearby Coolidge, he told how Leon Silver, studying to be an attorney, came to Coolidge to teach high school art. A confident New Yorker, Silver wasn't well-received, but he and Michael somehow connected. He taught Michael photography and adding his own spin, it's given Micahel a livelihood. (Silver went on to pass The Bar and has his firm in Phoenix.)

Michael Baca & Janell Evelyn

His landscape photographs are striking and Janell's vignettes offer slices of local culture. 

An amazing little town. And I didn't even get to the gift shop across the street or any of the others down the block.