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!