The Grove is a free, monthly magazine produced by Estrella Publishing for the residents of Sterling Grove.
A magazine for Sterling Grove residents From Your Neighbors, For Your Neighbors ™ The Grove
August 2026
August 2026 1
Estrella Publishing - The Grove magazine
Published by Estrella Publishing LLC, PO Box 6962, Goodyear AZ 85338.
Catherine Uretsky, Publisher and Editor Talia Ebert, Assistant Editor Al Uretsky, Publisher and Sales Executive 623.398.5541 info@EstrellaPublishing.com
All contents © 2010-present Estrella Publishing LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in any form, in whole or part, without written permission from Estrella Publishing LLC is prohibited. Estrella Publishing accepts freelance contributions, there is no guarantee that materials will be used or returned. Estrella Publishing is not responsible for the content of contributing writers and advertisers and assumes no responsibility for errors appearing within. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the Publisher or Advertisers. Estrella Publishing reserves the right to restrict all advertisement to their proper classification and to edit or reject any copy at its sole discretion. Neither this publication nor Estrella Publishing is an agent of or in any way affiliated with the associated Developer nor Homeowners Association, or any of their respective affiliates. This publication has not been approved by, sponsored by, or endorsed by the associated Developer nor Homeowners Association in any way.
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August 2026
From Me To You... There is a strange amnesia that comes with rapid change, and most of us never notice it happening. Something once impossible arrives, stuns us for a glance up, which says less about SpaceX and more about my attention span, currently rivaling a golden retriever near a tennis court.
season, then folds into the background of ordinary life. We stop looking up. I include myself, since my capacity for wonder has the shelf life of a rotisserie chicken. Consider what it must have felt like in 1938 when Orson Welles aired his radio adaptation of War of the Worlds. People genuinely believed Martians had landed in New Jersey. Cars clogged the roads as families fled imaginary invaders. It sounds comical now, and I like to think I would have been smarter than that, though I am relatively sure I would have been the first to peel out of my driveway. The fear then was real because an alien arrival still lived entirely in fiction, so when it seemed to happen, panic filled the space where understanding should have been. Compare that to watching a SpaceX rocket climb into the sky, something that would have seemed like pure fantasy a couple decades ago. I remember standing in California watching one go up, feeling genuine amazement and a strange secondhand pride, as if I had personally contributed more than mild applause. Now those launches happen so often I barely
This isn’t a failure of imagination. It is simply how attention works. We are built to notice change, not sustain wonder at a fixed state, however extraordinary. The first time is astonishing. The hundredth time is Tuesday, and most of us can barely stay awake through Tuesdays as it is. What’s worth paying attention to is not that awe fades, because it always will, but what we do once astonishment wears off. Do we shrug and scroll on, or think about what we’ve built and where it’s taking us. The real question is whether any of us look up long enough to ask what we want the next headline to be, before it becomes another shrug and a glance back at our phones. Because at the rate we’re going, the aliens could actually land, and most of us would just check if there was a post about it on Facebook. Catherine Uretsky Editor, The Grove Magazine info@estrellapublishing.com 623.398.5541
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August 2026 3
Estrella Publishing - The Grove magazine
Beyond The Huddle
Football Is Back, and Arizona Has Two Teams Worth Getting Excited About August means training camps, preseason games, and the slow-building anticipation that only football season can create. Here’s what to watch with your Arizona teams. There’s a particular feeling that hits sometime in late July and carries right through August, the smell of cut grass, the sound of pads popping, and the creeping realization that football is genuinely almost here. For West Valley fans, that feeling is especially alive right now with both the Arizona Cardinals and the Arizona State Sun Devils generating real reasons to pay attention. The Cardinals reported to training camp at State Farm Stadium on July 22, and for once, the storyline heading
in has nothing to do with Kyler Murray. The new era under first-year head coach Mike LaFleur kicked off with seven open practices available to the public, free admission, free parking, and a Kids Interactive Zone that includes a quarterback toss and a 40-yard dash for younger fans. The annual Red & White practice wraps camp on August 9, and the team opens preseason play on August 6 with the Hall of Fame game in Canton. With the quarterback competition between Gardner Minshew and rookie Carson Beck now front and center, there’s genuine intrigue about what this offense looks like under a new system. Nobody’s predicting a playoff run. But there’s something refreshing about a fresh start with low expectations and a coaching staff that has a real vision. Meanwhile, up in Tempe, the Sun Devils are entering what could be a fascinating season under Kenny Dillingham. After an 8-5 campaign in 2025 that was hampered by injuries and a brutal turnover margin, ASU has reloaded aggressively through the transfer portal, headlined by wide receiver Omarion Miller from Colorado, who is already drawing first-round buzz for the 2027 draft. The quarterback competition between Kentucky transfer Cutter Boley and Michigan transfer Mike Keeney will likely define which direction this team goes. The schedule is genuinely tough, including a road trip to Texas A&M and a Big 12 opener against Kansas played in London. Sportsbooks have ASU at 6.5 wins, but Dillingham has a history of outperforming expectations. For families in the West Valley, the open practices are worth building a weekend around. Training camp is one of the few times all season you can get this close to the team without paying playoff prices, and the kid-friendly activities make it an easy sell for parents who want their children to actually experience football rather than just watch it on a screen. Pack the sunscreen, get there early for shade, and treat it as much as a community outing as a sports event. In short, football is back, it’s local, and both of your Arizona teams have something worth watching.
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Tongue Twisters
Just for Fun: Tongue Twisters For the most laughs, read these as fast as you can without first rehearsing them in your mind.
15. Ed had edited it. 16. Tom threw Tim three thumbtacks. 17. I slit the sheet, and on the slitted sheet I sit. 18. How can a clam cram in a clean cream can? 19. A synonym for cinnamon is a cinnamon synonym. 20. He threw three free throws.
1. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 2. Fresh fried fish. 3. Eleven benevolent elephants. 4. Swill wristwatch. 5. Six slippery snails slid slowly seaward. 6. Truly rural. 7. Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks. 8. Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said the butter’s bitter. 9. Rural juror. 10. Crisp crusts crackle crunchily. 11. If two witches were watching two watches, which witch would watch which watch? 12. The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick. 13. She sells seashells by the seashore. 14. If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
Submitted by Jim Surmanek
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Estrella Publishing - The Grove magazine
Wellness The Back-to-School Mindset Isn’t Just for Kids There’s something powerful about a fresh start baked into the calendar. You don’t have to be a student to take advantage of it. Walk into any Target or Walmart in August and you’ll feel it immediately, the back-to-school energy. New notebooks. Fresh supplies. The faint promise of a clean slate. Kids feel it instinctively. What’s interesting is that adults can access that same reset, and most of us never think to try. Psychologically, what makes the back-to-school season so potent is what researchers call a “temporal landmark”, a point in time that feels like a meaningful boundary between the past and the future. Studies published in the journal Psychological Science have shown that people are significantly more likely to
pursue goals and make positive changes right after a temporal landmark: a new year, a birthday, a Monday, or, yes the start of a school year. The calendar creates a mental permission structure. The old version of you was last season. This version gets to be different. You don’t need to be enrolled in anything to harness that. August is a genuinely good time to audit your habits, your routines, and your goals, not in a punishing way, but with the same curious, optimistic energy a kid brings to a new backpack. What’s working? What got lazy over the summer? What did you mean to start in January that you still haven’t? The back-to-school mindset also carries a social dimension worth borrowing. Kids returning to school are thinking about community, new classmates, new teachers, reconnecting with old friends. For adults, this is a nudge to ask the same questions. Are you plugged into your community here in the West Valley? Are you showing up for the people and things that matter? Routines are also easier to establish in August than in January, because the environment is already shifting. Kids are back on schedules, evenings get quieter earlier, and the oppressive heat of summer starts, slowly, to relent. Use the momentum the season is already generating. Maybe that’s the real gift of this season, not just for the kids lining up with new shoes and nervous excitement, but for the rest of us watching from the driveway. The reset doesn’t require a diploma or a homeroom assignment. It just requires noticing that the door is open, and walking through it while everyone else already is.
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Bright Days Ahead. Bright Days Ahead. Keep Them Crash Free. Keep Them Crash Free.
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AUGUST 21 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 13, 2026 When four fading Broadway stars hear about a small-town high school’s decision regarding the annual prom, they swoop in to save the day – while also hoping to revive their own careers. Their over-the- top activism clashes with small-town traditions, leading to chaos, comedy, and ultimately, change. The Prom is a joyous celebration of being true to yourself and dancing to your own beat!
Get tickets now at azbroadway.org 623.776.8400
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Cook With Zona
Ingredients • 6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each) • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon pepper • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder • 1 cup creamy Caesar salad dressing • 1/2 cup sour cream • 1 cup Caesar salad croutons, crushed • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese • 3 tablespoons butter, melted • Chopped fresh parsley Directions 1. Preheat oven to 350°. 2. Pat chicken dry then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 3. Place chicken in a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. 4. In a small bowl, combine salad dressing and sour cream; spread over chicken. 5. In a separate bowl, combine crushed croutons, Parmesan cheese and melted butter; sprinkle over chicken. 6. Bake, uncovered, until a thermometer reads 165°, 45-55 minutes. 7. Sprinkle with parsley. 8. Serve with salad for an easy healthy dinner, or pasta if you love carbs!
Caesar Chicken
Prep: 5 min. Bake: 45 min. Yield: 6 servings
This tasty baked Caesar chicken recipe translates all the flavors of Caesar salad into a delicious, easy-to- make chicken dinner.
Want to see previous recipes by Zona? Scan the QR code to see all past recipes on our website!
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Estrella Publishing - The Grove magazine
The Bug Guy Welcome to the
your shoe, your bathtub, or — in true Arizona fashion — casually vibing on your ceiling at 2 a.m. like it pays rent. And let’s not forget the crickets, who apparently believe the appropriate volume for a summer night is “small jet engine,” and the ever-popular packrats, who treat your garage like an estate sale and your car wiring like a chew toy. Pest control companies basically run on a seasonal adrenaline spike every June through September, dispatching technicians in full hazmat-adjacent gear to spray perimeters that will be re-invaded by Thursday. It’s less “pest control” and more “pest negotiation” — a temporary cease-fire in a war that never really ends, just relocates. So if you live here, accept your role: you are not the homeowner. You are the landlord. Your tenants are uninvited, six-legged (or fewer), and extremely committed to indoor living. Pay your pest control bill like rent — because really, that’s exactly what it is.
Thunderdome: Pest Control in the West Valley in August Let’s address the obvious: in the west valley, August isn’t a month, it’s a hostage situation. The sun doesn’t rise so much as it reports for duty, and by
9 a.m. the sidewalks are basically griddles auditioning for a breakfast diner. And while you’re inside hugging your AC vent like it’s a long-lost relative, something else has had the exact same idea — every bug, rodent, and scorpion in a five-mile radius has also decided that your house looks like a five-star resort. This is the dirty secret of desert pest control: it’s not that summer creates more bugs. It’s that summer turns your home into the only Holiday Inn Express in a 110-degree wasteland, and everything with legs (or no legs, looking at you, snakes) wants a room. Scorpions, for instance, become Olympic-level escape artists in August, slipping through gaps so small you didn’t know your house had gaps. You’ll find one in
Submitted by Larry Cash, of Estrella Mountain Pest Control.
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Estrella Publishing - The Grove magazine
Action! People Are Going to the Movies Less, But That Doesn’t Mean Cinema Is Dead The numbers are real and a little alarming. But the story of what’s actually happening to movie theaters is more complicated, and more interesting, than the headlines suggest. Let’s start with the facts, because they’re genuinely sobering. Domestic ticket sales in 2025 came in at roughly 769 million, down 37% from the 1.2 billion tickets sold in 2019. The box office generated about $8.8 billion last year, still more than 22% behind its pre-pandemic peak. Movie theater chains are closing mid-tier suburban multiplexes at a steady pace, and overall visits to theaters dropped another 10% year- over-year in 2025. If you want to make the case that cinema is in trouble, the data is right there. But the picture is more nuanced than a simple decline narrative. A Pew Research study from mid-2025 found that 53% of American adults had visited a movie theater in the prior twelve months. A separate Cinema United report put that figure at 77% of Americans between ages 12 and 74. People have not stopped going to the movies. What they’ve stopped doing is
going habitually, the casual Tuesday night trip, the rainy Saturday matinee, the “let’s just see whatever’s playing” mindset that defined theatrical attendance for decades. What’s replaced it is something closer to event behavior. Audiences turn out in massive numbers for the right film, the right franchise, the right cultural moment, the right reason to leave the couch, and then stay home for everything else. The theaters that are surviving and even thriving understand this. Alamo Drafthouse, dine-in experiences, recliner seating, premium IMAX formats, the industry is betting that fewer, better cinemas can sustain a real business even if habitual attendance never comes back. The studios are adapting too. Films shot specifically for IMAX, anniversary screenings, re-releases of beloved classics, all of these are attempts to give audiences a reason that streaming simply can’t replicate. You cannot watch Christopher Nolan in your living room the same way you can in a theater, and the industry knows it. Cinema isn’t dying. It’s shedding everything that was average about it and betting that what’s left is worth the drive.
YOU NEED A PARTNER YOU CAN TRUST. Not just a CPA. Not just a service provider. But a true partner. An expert to help you make key financial decisions, and a guide to help you navigate complex situations. Partner with a CPA who’s part of your community. Gary Frisch, CPA, MBA 12455 W. Bell Road, Surprise, AZ 85378 623.975.7586 | www.LandmarkCPAs.com
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Back to School
Getting Kids Ready for School in Arizona’s August Furnace Let’s be honest. Back to school in Arizona doesn’t mean crisp air and falling leaves. It means walking out at 7am and immediately regretting every life choice that led you to live somewhere the sidewalks can fry an egg. So while other states are pulling out sweaters, we’re pulling out sunscreen and hoping the bus stop doesn’t melt. Here’s how to get your kids ready without losing your mind, or your air conditioning bill, before the first bell rings. Start with the sleep schedule, and start now, not the night before. Kids who’ve been staying up until midnight all summer will not magically adjust just because you announced “school starts Monday.”
Ease bedtime back by fifteen minutes every few days so the transition feels gentle instead of like a hostage negotiation. Pack the backpack the night before, always. Mornings are chaotic enough without hunting for a missing shoe while the car is already running just to keep the AC going. Speaking of which, let the car cool down before loading kids into it. Nobody needs third degree burns from a seatbelt buckle before first period. Hydration matters more here than almost anywhere else. Send a real water bottle, not the flimsy one that’s been rolling around the pantry since spring. Arizona heat sneaks up fast, and a dehydrated kid is a cranky, unfocused kid. Talk to them about what recess actually looks like in August. Many schools shift outdoor time to early morning or move it indoors entirely once temperatures climb. Knowing this ahead of time saves you from a confused kid asking why they didn’t get to run around outside. Finally, do a trial run of the morning routine a few days before school starts. Practice waking up, getting dressed, and eating breakfast at the actual time you’ll need to. It sounds excessive, but a dry run beats a full meltdown on day one. You’ve survived an Arizona summer. A few sweaty mornings of back to school prep will be nothing.
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Estrella Publishing - The Grove magazine
Puzzles & Games Back to School and Back to a challenging Sudoku. Fill every row, column, and 3 × 3 block with the numbers 1 to 9 without repeating them.Overlap boxes belong to both connecting grids. Any number placed in an overlap cell must be valid in both grids simultaneously. Solutions are on our website www.EstrellaPublishing.com, or scan the QR code.
Difficulty: Easy
Monday, 20th July 2026
418 596 9 3 1 4 6 2 4 8 9 7 1
478 612 6 5 2 8 1 8 2 4 5 9 3
7 3
3 8
8 7 2 1 6 3 9 7 6 8 5 581 763
3 5 7 6 9 2 1 2 6 1 4 849 367
2 1 7
8
6
9 8 9
283 791 9 4 5 2 5 2 9 7 4 3 6
672 194 3 7 8 6 8 1 4 6 2 7 5
8 1
1 5
7 3 6 5 2 4 8 3 1 8 9 197 653
5 4 3 8 9 2 1 7 8 3 2 236 487
www.samurai-sudoku.com
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Estrella Publishing - The Grove magazine
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