On Leaving "Wrinkle City"

Too soon after Christmas it was time to leave our Tucson abode. When Lesley was here and she and her Mom went to the Stitch 'n' Chatter group, the topic of "local names" for the community came up. The first name mentioned referred to the style of construction of the homes – Tin Can City! The second name referred to the age of the residents – we were told that the average age was 72, so the community was called "Wrinkle City!" The third name also related to the age of the residents, but it was slightly more morbid – "God's Waiting Room!"

Christmas in Tucson

Christmas at the temporary Pfeifer home in Tucson was celebrated pretty much as usual – the little guy was excited about everything and the adults enjoyed little pleasures here and there. Here's Leo with the mandatory Xmas tree which he decorated; then here's Leo with one of his presents – goggles for snowboarding which he'll take up when he gets back to Seattle; and finally here's Grandma with one of her presents – a necklace of Heishi beads with Tiger eye chips featuring a horse fetish of what's called "white turquoise."

The Saguaro Cactus

The Saguaro cactus is truly the grand symbol of the Sonoran Desert, standing tall and majestic, living hundreds of years. The "standard model" of the Saguaro is the single stem with exactly two arms, yet few of them look like that – 99% either have fewer than two or more than two.

Yet in all of the Saguaros that I've seen, this one with nine arms stands out as a truly rare one – seldom is there a Saguaro with that many arms.

On the other hand, the truly rare Saguaro is the crested Saguaro, of which we saw two at the Museum.

A similar, but somewhat larger cactus, is the Cardon Cactus, found in Northern Mexico, both in Sonora and in Baja. It is said to be the largest cactus species in the world.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum -- Part 2

Here's two more shots of the Harris hawk and its trainer – it's truly remarkable what they can do.

In the auditorium, they had several animals who had been trained to run across the stage, then go to pick up their treats, eat them and then run off. Here's a ring-tail fox and a porcupine performing for the audience – no restraints other than their training.

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum -- Part 1

The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is devoted to the flora and fauna of the Atizona-Sonora Desert, and their standard program/exhibit is a static display of one or the other. But they are starting some new programs which involve training some of the "wild" creatures of the desert to do audience-attracting "stunts," such as hawks flying around the area and "buzzing" the audience, etc.

On this trip, we saw some of these new programs, as well as some of the old. This first picture is a golden oldie, a picture of one of the citizens of the Hummingbird Cage – a fenced "room" where you enter and the birds are flying free, usually so quickly that you cannot get a picture. But Clara was determined and here's what she got.

The second is of a screech owl, who has been trained to screech, then fly around, then return to his trainer.

Later, Clara and Leo went to a Raptor program in which a Harris hawk is on display, flying off and around and returning to his trainer. These latter two are new programs at the museum, and are highly entertaining to the visitors at the museum.

Lesley and Leo Join Us In Tucson

Lesley and Leo came to spend a week with us, arriving late afternoon on the 17th. For Lesley, this was a return to the area where she lived from age 8 to age 17; for Leo, it was a first look at the Sonoran Desert – he, of course, had seen the Mojave Desert around Las Vegas, but that is dramatically different from the Sonoran.

We did pretty much the predictable things with them – breakfast at Coyote Pause, dinner at Los Nopales and also at The House of Cheng (both right in the Tucson Estates community and very good), a day at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum (more on that later), half a day visit to Old Tucson (the John Wayne era movie set, now a tourist trap), a day trip to Tubac and Tumacacori with a stop in Green Valley, swimming in the community pool for Leo, observing the hummingbirds at our patio feeder, an afternoon at Stitch 'n' Chatter for Lesley and Clara, time spent examining the many and varied cacti in the adjoining desert areas or in the landscaping of homes in the community.

A good time was had by all – well, almost
all . . . Clara was hung up with a nasty cold part of the time . . .

Lighting the Luminarias in Tubac

Tubac, AZ is an artist colony 40 or so miles south of Tucson, and on Friday evening they had a shindig -- the traditional lighting of the luminarias. [For the uninitiated, a luminaria nowadays is a small lantern, usually created from a paper sack, some sand and a candle. In olden days, a luminaria was a bonfire used to light up the common area for a Christmas season
celebration, and a farolito was a small lantern -- but the terminology has been abused and misused for so many years that it has now become institutionalized.]

There were two things to see at Friday's celebration -- some of the art works of the residents of Tubac, and some of the decorative lighting of the area. The pictures below show some of each.
The one unusual find of the evening is the work done on the table and the bowls -- the natural cracks in the wood were lightly routed, then filled with a paste of ground turquoise and glue, then sanded off to a smooth surface and sealed.

Our Tucson Abode

We had made an agreement to rent this place sight unseen, simply relying on some info from Leah (our landlady) and our perception of her good heartedness. I knew we had found the right place when I saw the little sign on the front corner of the unit . . .

There are just shy of 1700 places such as ours in Tucson Estates filled with folks from all over the U.S. There are clubs of almost all types here -- Clara has already been to one session of "Stitch-and-Chatter" and will add to that next week by going to the Piece Makers Quilt club.

Note the Southwestern flora showing in the third picture -- the saguaro cactus to the right, the prickly pear cactus a little back from there, the palo verde tree on the back left.

Viewing Sandhill Cranes

On Friday (after Thanksgiving) we went over to Whitewater Draw to see the thousands of Sandhill Cranes that congregate there in the wintertime – a really spectacular show. As we stood there watching and listening, some idiot back behind us fired off a gunshot – what a scene, as the thousands took flight.

I'm having a little fun with this first picture – first there's the picture as it came from the camera, then I've cropped out a small section from the middle in order to get a better look at the cranes, then a still smaller section for an even better look.

Thanksgiving in Sierra Vista, AZ

We came to Sierra Vista, AZ at the invitation of our Las Vegas friends (Jerry and Linda) to spend Thanksgiving with them at Linda's Aunt Isabel's home (although the big T-day dinner was at another home.) And it was all very nice, although perhaps the best part was the show that late afternoon from the back patio. The really spectacular part of dinner was the artfully crafted pies – note the individual leaves on the crust on the rim; the show from the back patio was all natural. 'Nuff said . . . look at the pictures.

The New (Un-)bespectacled Me

After 67 years of reaching for my glasses first thing in the morning,
and wearing them non-stop all day long, I am struggling to adapt to
NOT wearing glasses, except to read.

When I recently went to my opthalmologist, I complained of having
increasing difficulty seeing clearly, especially at short to mid
range. His tech carefully checked for a possible new prescription
for glasses, and reported that the numbers that came up were EXACTLY
the same as my current prescription.

The opthalmologist opined that the only possible improvement MIGHT
come from getting so-called "RGP's," i.e., rigid gas permeable
contact lenses because my problem, so he said, was the surface
irregularities caused from my corneal transplant.

So I got them (well, only one -- for my good right eye) and a miracle
occurred! With that one lens in place, I now see better than I have
for fifteen years. But it's very difficult to walk out of the house,
get in the car and drive away -- without my glasses!

Leaving Seattle In The Rain

The official title of this chapter of the travels of Glenn and Clara is
"Leaving Seattle In The Rain, Passing Through Oregon (I think . . . )
In The Fog, Arriving In The Southwest In The Sunshine."
Beyond the title, we'll let the pictures speak for themselves! I am
including the last picture especially for the Seattleites who may by
now have forgotten what blue sky looks like . . .

We left on Sunday, the 22nd, and arrived at our Thanksgiving
rendezvous in Arizona yesterday late afternoon.

The Murals of Toppenish

Clara and I made our first visit to Toppenish, WA on Aug. 6, 1999 while on a trip from Las Vegas to Seattle (to visit Lesley and then one-year-old baby Leo) with major stops along the way in Montana to visit Clara's nephews and to spend time at Glacier Nat'l Park.

The small town of Toppenish, WA is well known to us for three reasons:
1) It is home to the Cultural Heritage Center of the Yakama Nation (yes, I've spelled it correctly according to the Native Americans), which includes among other things a nice RV park -- also a museum, restaurant, theater, and, a few blocks walk away, a casino.
2) It provides a nice home base for touring the Yakima Valley -- its wineries and fruit stands.
3) It has a marvelous group of murals, some 80 in all, created to depict the history and stories of the region between 1850 and 1950.

This first picture is Toppenish's first Mural-in-a-Day, painted on June 3, 1989, to launch the ambitious mural program. Designed by Phil Kooser of Yakima, the mural was painted under his direction by 15 noted western artists who collaborated on the 40-foot painting on the side of the Western Auto building at Washington Ave. and Toppenish Ave. It depicts the tremendous effort put forth by settlers in the area.

Each year, during the first week in June, another "Mural-in-a-Day" is added to the collection -- you're welcome to come and watch it being done. In addition, you can take a motorized, guided tour of the 80 murals all over town. Here are a few of them (the pictures don't really show the size of the murals -- they're painted on the sides of buildings, many feet high, even more feet long -- truly a sight to see.)

"Cushy" vs "Homey" or "What's an RV park supposed to be?"

Bend, Oregon had little to offer in the way of RV parks -- there was
"cushy" and "cushier." Noting that the off-season rate was only $34
a night, we settled for "cushy" at Crown Villa RV Park. Notice the
size of the paver covered pad, then look at the building housing the
registration desk . . .

At Peach Beach, just across the Columbia River in Washington, our
accomodations were a little more humble (in line with the $20 price)
but notice the setting. Which was the better value for the money?