Author: Sedona Best

… on my walk this evening I met a flirtatious young lady and I think she kinda gave me that look … or maybe it was a look that said “you are out of your league” … probably the latter. I would have given her a flower, but I didn’t see this flower until after our encounter. It was a beautiful little bloom all by itself along the side of the road. It was a terrific weekend with attendance at the Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival, the presentation went well even though we had some technical issues. Visits with…

The Sedona Parks and Recreation Department welcomes applications for the annual inscriptions at the Sedona Military Service Park to highlight veterans who have honorably served their country.Veterans and families of veterans residing in Sedona who wish to have names of loved ones who have served, inscribed on the granite walls must apply by May 9, 2022. Inscriptions will be engraved onto the granite walls of the park for the annual Memorial Day Ceremony on May 30, 2022.Applications can be downloaded online at: http://www.sedonaaz.gov/home/showdocument?id=18560, and submitted to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department office at 221 Brewer Road or emailed to…

Is safe yield attainable?Achieving the long-term balance between groundwater withdrawal and replenishment, or safe yield, by 2025 has been a central talking point in Quad City water management since 1980 when the Arizona Groundwater Management Act first established that goal for the Prescott Management Area (PrAMA). But with no regulatory penalties for not meeting safe yield, action to do so has been minimal, and aquifer overdraft has increased. Dr. Peter Kroopnick, retired hydrologist and head of the Science Committee for the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG), will talk about the water outlook for the Quad Cities in the decades to…

By Rose Boerner, NAMI Yavapai Our next Mental Health Monday program will take place via Zoom on April 25th, 10:00 to 11:30 AM, and will focus on what to do after a mental health crisis. Join us for this informational meeting during which our speaker Dawn McReynolds will discuss what happens after the emergency of a mental health crisis is over, how will you know if another crisis is headed your way, and what steps you can take to prevent a situation from escalating into a crisis. Dawn McReynolds is originally from Detroit, Michigan, where she transitioned from working for…

Guest artist Cicely Parnas will perform Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Verde Valley Sinfonietta, under the direction of Music Director Kevin Kozacek, on Sunday, May 8, at 2:30 PM, in the Sedona Performing Arts Center. The program includes Mozart’s Overture to the Magic Flute, K. 620, Gioachino Rossini’s William Tell Overture – Finale, Johann Wilhelm Hertel’s Concerto in Eb Major for Oboe and Trumpet, and Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 45 in F# Minor “Farewell.” Praised for her “velvety sound, articulate passagework, and keen imagination” (The New York Times), American cellist Cicely Parnas leads a dynamic career as an…

The Sedona International Film Festival — in partnership with Plan B to Save Wolves and Wolf Dogs — will host a night of films about wolves on Thursday, May 5, 2022. The films are by director Jean-Michel Bertrand and the event will screen two of his breath-taking documentaries, “Valley of the Wolves” and “Wolf Walk,” about his observation of wolves in France. “Valley of the Wolves” will show at 4 p.m., and “Wolf Walk” will screen at 7 p.m. at the festival’s Mary D. Fisher Theatre. VALLEY OF THE WOLVESIn “Valley of the Wolves”, Jean-Michel Bertrand observes wolves in the…

By Rabbi Alicia MagalShalom and greetings from the Rabbi, Board of Directors, and congregation of the Jewish Community of Sedona and the Verde Valley.All the services, classes, and programs are listed on the synagogue website.Come join us either in person or online. See jcsvv.org for instructions to register for in-person services. On Friday, April 29, a Friday evening service, led by Rabbi Alicia Magal, begins at 5:30 pm both in person and on Zoom, and livestreamed for members and their invitees. Congregants participate by lighting candles, doing a reading, or having an Aliyah for the Torah service. Holocaust Remembrance Day,…

How much anger is stuffed inside? Every time someone hurt me and I didn’t know how to respond … when I didn’t say something and held my tongue while my insides were slashed open … when I let the hurt pass, forcing a laugh at a friend’s joke — a friend’s not a stranger’s or an enemy’s. It wasn’t funny, it hurt, oh how it stung, but I didn’t have the courage to step forward, to step out and honor myself … all those times when my precious open heart was wounded and snapped closed, building another layer onto my…

From Bach to the Beatles and barn-burners to ballads, audiences delight when world-renowned fingerstyle guitarist Richard Smith returns with his solo concert to Sedona by popular demand. There will be one show on Sunday, May 1 at 7 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre, presented by the Sedona International Film Festival. Having witnessed one of his live performances, fellow musicians and music lovers alike sing hymns of praise about Richard Smith. With fretboard fireworks and lyrical endeavors, he will melt your heartstrings, make your toes tap and your jaws hang open. Richard’s ever-growing repertoire comprises a wide variety of…