North-Westward Bound

Roll on Columbia, Roll on

Homeward Bound

      After a delayed departure--- 8:30 AM  instead of 5:45 AM --- and 1 stop in Denver rather than stops in LA and Portland--- re-routing was a real plus, we flew into Seatac about 1:30 PM.  Views of the Columbia River, Mt. Baker, Elliot Bay, Seattle downtown, and the major sports arenas.  Hmmmm... we were flying in an Airbus, not a Boeing jet.   

Christmas Dinner

      Ann & Robert had the family over to their house in Sammamish.   Good to have everyone together from all parts of the U.S.... many are local but Beth (Hunter's gf) came out from New Jersey, Hunter & his cousin Daniel (Ann & Robert's son) flew in from L.A., and Eric and I came back from sunny Arizona.

Pete in spy glasses (You can see in back of you) & hot T-shirt

Mary Lee, Bob, Donna, & Pete

      The dinner was delicious:  baked ham, Ann's killer mash potatoes, Loren's orange salad, and then the yummy desserts... Pavlova (by Hilary & Pete), lemon chiffon pie (by Donna or  Robert?), and other irresistible sweets.

Acacia

      For my birthday, Eric treated me to dinner at Acacia.  I'd like to know how to prepare beets like this... just the right texture and thickness.  Hazel nut and baby greens go well with them, too.

Gingerbread Evening at WWL

Annie & Glenda in full-on creative mode.

My decorating partner, Adrienne.

      Our tennis captain, Annie, invited us to decorate gingerbread houses at Westward Look (our ladies' & mixed doubles' home base).  It had been nearly half a century since I'd last done this.  I forgot how much fun it can be!  My partner, Adrienne, did a swell job of squeezing out the icing in a scalloped fashion for the shingles on the roof.  I probably spent an equal amount of time taking photos (Annie called me "the paparazzi") as I did sticking candy on our little house.

New TUCSON Mural

I've been teaching an ESL computer class for the last few months at Pima Community College's Downtown Campus.  Generally, I drive through the intersection of Stone and Speedway fairly early in the morning.  Little by little, on the NE corner, this fantastical mural has been emerging before my eyes, and last week after class let out, I took some pictures of it to share with you.

The prettiest, least scary letter is C, don't you agree?  Well, maybe not for arachnophobes.

Montezuma Castle, Tuzigoot, & Jerome

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Tuzigoot

Last week we traveled north of Phoenix to visit the archeological sites of Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot, and historical Jerome.  Pictured above is the impressive cliff dwelling just outside of Camp Verde.  Enjoyed two interesting story telling park rangers who filled us in on the native culture, the flora and the fauna of the area. Next, we drove on to Tuzigoot, which housed a larger group of Indians in rock walled dwellings atop a high mound overlooking an expansive valley.

Our trails then led up a windy mountain road to the charming town of Jerome.  At one time, in the mining boom days, the population hit 15,000, but now is at a steady 400+ year-round residents.

Eric at the Douglas Mansion/ State Park & Mining Museum

Surgeons House B & B on Hill Street

Not so dormant B & B koi coming out to take in the sunrays

Ana on one of the balconies of Surgeons House with view to east

Indian Canyon, Palm Springs, California

Stopped off in Palm Springs for a beautiful hike in Indian Canyon on a recent trip to LA

1st Sunday Tanque Verde Antique Market

Since I first moved to Tucson, I've been going to the monthly Antique Market off of Tanque Verde Road, east of Agua Caliente Park.  It's gotten to be that I recognize and am recognized by various vendors.
There's a gal who always sets up to the left of the interior space (It's at an elementary school), and whose wares are often of the retro kind.  And then to the right of the door is a nice family that lived in Turkey for a few years and usually has a nice array of Turkish rugs, purses, and decorations.  Out on the playfield are the vendors who display huge bull skulls, saddles, Indian rugs and the like.  Some of my purchases have been:  a cool pair of retro Acme cowboy boots (with pretty embossed flowers), a Zapotec rug, several Pyrex bowls, and an iron cornbread muffin pan (to form the bread as corncobs).

On December 1, the vendors were out in droves, as were the lookie-lous.  Prices were a bit inflated for the occasion, too!

San Francisco

We celebrated an early Thanksgiving in the Bay Area. This is something of a normal occurrence in my family, marking holidays earlier or later than most.  

But first, Eric and spent a few days of exploring San Francisco--- first on the colorful and comfortable "Public"  Harbor Court loaner bikes from our hotel, Harbor Court.
Our route took us along the Embarcadero and the Marina Green to the majestic Golden Gate Bridge, where we turned around at Hopper's Hands (Google this for the story:).

Along the Embarcadero, near the Exploratorium at the Ferry Building, there was a playful installation of round-the-rosey monkeys.  Passersby could put the monkeys in motion by creating a common rhythm on the steel drums surrounding the huge metal tree.

Biosphere 2

Biosphere 2

For those of you planning a visit to the SW, a trip out to Biosphere 2* is highly recommended.  You'll learn about its origins, which are a bit idealistic and at times downright soap-operish, to its new "purpose" as a location for the University of Arizona to run all sorts of experiments related to climate change and various earthly environments, all closely monitored from the main campus in Tucson.

I might not have followed all the science very closely, but I was duly impressed by the giant lung--- forcing my claustrophobia to take a backseat as we were ushered deep into the inner workings of the biosphere.

*Earth is Biosphere 1.

Redington Pass

Canyons in Redington Pass, east of Tucson Valley

View of Tucson, facing west towards the Tucson Mountains.

Last weekend, we decided to venture east on Redington Road,--not too far from our casita --- where the pavement ends and off-road bikers and such kick up some dust.  It was a gorgeous clear day, as you can see by the photos.  The scenery changed from saguaros to juniper trees, and the temperature dropped from 70 to a cool 64 degrees!  Didn't make it to the end of the road--- to the ghost town of Redington (formally known as Tres Alamos, if I remember correctly). 

MeetPlayLoveTennis

It's been lots of fun running from tennis match to tennis tournament to tennis clinics.  In the beginning of November, I played in a ladies only, 45+, tennis tournie that lasted 3 days.  This event attracts women from across the country.  We met New Yorkers in our first round, and a team from Napa Valley (all dressed in grape purple) in one of our last rounds.

Gorgeous setting at El Conquistador with the Catalina Mountains to the north.  Above, I am pictured with our charming team captain, Annie Stussie.

J'Adore le Cinema

Speaking of The French Connection, I have to include a post about my favorite movie theater in town, The Loft.  I became a member on my reconnaissance trip to Tucson back in spring.  They mainly show indie and foreign flics, and  it's great that the movie line-up changes frequently.

Last week I saw Haute Cuisine, based on the true story of François Mitterand's female personal chef---sacre bleu!  A fairly entertaining docudrama for foodies and francophiles.  Oh, and Eric and I really enjoyed the charming documentary about the Beatles's longtime secretary,  Good Ol' Freda (both seen on the marquee below).

Some of the movies playing at The Loft in early November '13.

Tohono Chul Park

As a newcomer to Tucson, I decided to sign up for several MeetUp groups, one of which is The French Connection.  For our first encounter, Ben, the leader, arranged for us to have a pleasant lunch at the Tea Room in Tohono Chul Park. 

But beforehand, I did a quick visit of the park grounds.  It is full of native plants and interesting sculptures...and from far away, I mistook this one for local wildlife.

We Love Our Tennis

Eric and I are getting a lot of court time all around town.  We're playing on a USTA mixed doubles team out of Westward Look Resort, belong to the casual Tucson Racquet and Fitness Club, and have recently started attending drop-in sessions at Reffkin Tennis Center.

Since we're on the same mixed dubs team, we're trying to get in more practice by signing up for local tournaments. On Friday night, RTC put on a fun Halloween mixed doubles event, highly recommending participants wear costumes.   There were pumpkins, Disney characters---Tinkerbell & Aladdin, nerds, Super Heros, and Legos parts.  Trophies and raffle prizes were handed out for best costumes and winners of the 3 8-game pro-sets.

Here's a photo of Uncle Spam and Silver & Goldie (no -locks) taken before the match began:

Some costumed players from last year's event

Facing South

Sitting in the breakfast nook, this is the view we have facing south.  That's a mesquite tree, frequent landing pad for our various feathered friends.... gold finches, house wrens, red cardinals and the like.  This morning we saw some pretty "sulfur" butterflies--- a pretty lemon yellow color, really ---flitting among the flowers in the foreground, and then our resident roadrunner paid a quick visit to the long brick porch.  Too bad there's never enough time to catch him in a photo!

In the background are the Rincon Mountains, which are in the northeast corner of Tuscon Valley.  ("Rincon" means corner in Spanish.)  Oh, and you might be able to spy the sea of saugaros beyond the adobe arched entry also!

Exploring Sabino Canyon

It's a very accessable park that borders on both residential and wilderness areas, and is right within Tucson city limits.

Eric and I packed our day pack with plenty of water, some apples that had traveled with us from Seattle, a couple Powerbars, and two bags of Kirkland mixed nuts.  Also grabbed our freebie map of the park and the important binoculars---in hopes of spying a mountain lion someday.

The temps were in the high 80's, so after we'd wandered among the saguaros, ocatillos, barrel head cacti, and chollas for a while, and hiked up and over a rocky ridge, we took a break in a shady part of the wash at the end of the Rattlesnake Trail. Thinking we might find some petroglyphes on the rock face above us, we scanned it up and down, but only saw several broad natural rusty red stripes running horizontally and an interesting little cave about 30 feet above our heads.

Next, we crossed the paved road that leads to the northern most part of the park, and looked down on a green area, an oasis, with a creek running through it.  I led the way and scrambled down a faint trail, and gingerly jumped off a 3' ledge to join a path winding its way along side the gentle stream. It would eventually take us to Sabino Dam, which at different times is barely existent or overflowing, depending on the monsoons and rare rainy periods.

                  Delicate Plants & Flowers of Sabino Dam

A roadrunner scooting beneath shade trees who was hunting for lizards caught our eye as we started making our way back to the deserty part of the park.   There were also several bright blue hummingbirds buzzing overhead, buzzing and warning us to stay away from their extra large nectar bottles.

In a Cavern, in a Cavern

Around noon on Saturday, we decided to head for Benson, where the spectacular Kartchner Caverns are located.  The Big Room is only open about six months a year, so we timed it well, arriving just five days after most of the wee bats had left their summer digs for warmer climes.  During their sojourn in the caverns, they had had their baby "pinkies", weened them, and had their fill of local insects.

Our Arizona State Park Ranger guide, filled us with details about the discovery of the caverns--- originally guessed to be located under a sink hole by Randy Tufts--- to all the geological history and make-up of the multi-colored stalagmites and stalagtites.

The many formations the guide introduced us to included columns, delicate hanging "soda straws", and "fried egg" formations (actually "forming" before our eyes as drops of water fell from above).  We also learned about cavern drapery and "bacon" formations; several were lit up so nicely they could have been mistaken for a Dale Chuhuly installation.

Other formations looked straight out of a fantasy flic, like distant whitewashed fairyland hilltop villages.  One several ton chunk that had fallen from the ceiling looked like a sideways Escher etching of stairs going up and going down at the same time.

Our Gambel's Quail

Eric and I got married two weeks ago in Seattle, and my childhood friend, Katia, came from France to attend the wedding.  She is a very creative person who enjoys taking classes in painting on porcelain near Paris.  When she found out we had gotten engaged in summer, she decided she wanted to give Eric and me a special painting on porcelain piece.

She and her painting teacher, Dominique, then did an Internet search for plants and animals of the Southwest.  First, they thought Dominique could paint some saguaro cacti, but then they found a photo of the lovely Gambel's Quail, and their decision was made.  She painted the plate with great precision and in a nice pose, explaining on the back of the plate which colors she had used and when & where she had painted it.

The first morning that we were back in Tucson at our home in the desert, we saw a beautiful Gambel's Quail just like the one on our friend's pretty plate! 

A Forest of Cacti

In the Northwest, I saw many kinds of trees out my living room window.  There were pine trees, cherry trees, and magnolias.  However, here in the Southwest I see a forest of saguaro cacti.

Living With the Wildlife

From our first days here in our Southwest casita, we have enjoyed many kinds of wildlife.  Just this evening, a scorpion came running across the kitchen floor as we were sitting down to eat dinner.  That was an indoor sighting.  Outdoors, we have seen all sorts of animals, birds, and reptiles.   For example, while I was sitting in my office a few weeks ago, a coati went walking by the window towards the neighbor's house.  He looked a lot like the one in the image above.

Another day, we saw a whole family a javelinas chewing on the pretty orange flowers growing along the driveway.  And yet another family, a group of five smallish mule deer were grazing in our front yard last week.

All this wildlife activity is a fascinating attraction to Eric, me, and our curious cat Tagine.  She likes to watch the lizards and spiders scampering by our south-facing sliding glass door, and she often asks us to let her go outside, but the answer is always "No".  She's probably happy enough watching all the outdoor visitors at a safe distance!