Clouds on the Mountains

I was up at 5 this morning for my daily coffee and breakfast, read some news, and study French.  By 6:45, daylight was arriving and there were low clouds between us and the mountains.  Beautiful!

I met Ornella at 8 for our morning walk, and the clouds had swirled around the mountains.  A beautiful day!

Papa and I are preparing for a two month trip to Southeast Asia, Australia, and India.  Our bags are packed, and we are checking things off our long list of things to take with us and things to do around our house before we leave.  We are close to being ready!

Ballet, Murals, Sunset

The past week was filled with necessary appointments and fun things.  Papa had a couple of doctor appointments - with the ophthalmologist and dermatologist.  We had breakfast on Tuesday with our friends Meybelyn and Karla, “Boys and Girls Club kids.”  They are quite grown up, working and enjoying life.  Later that afternoon, I took our friend Jennie to a doctor’s appointment.  She was quite ill and wanted some support.  On Wednesday, Papa and I went to the UA to watch the final round of Grad Slam, with 8 finalists making the 3 minute graduate project presentations.  The winner’s project was a method to treat pancreatic cancer tumors.  The runners up projects were about the role of evolution in complex life, and microbial colonization on new Icelandic lava.  Each project was in different field of study and really interesting!

On Thursday we went for lunch at Wildflower restaurant and celebrated with cake for dessert.  We had lunch on Friday with our next door neighbors, Brenda and Newton, at Tavolino’s - an Italian restaurant near our house.  On Saturday, our neighbor Rachel rode with me to downtown Tucson, to a Southwest Arts Alliance annual event, where we visited with our Navajo friends, Janice and Joanne.  I nominated Joanne for a Southwest Arts Alliance award in 2019 that she won.  We have stayed in touch since.

On Sunday, Papa and I went downtown Tucson for brunch, then walked four blocks, past several large murals, to the Temple of Music and Art to watch a ballet.  A guitarist we have followed for several years wrote the ballet and played guitar.  It was well done and we enjoyed every moment!  We stopped to visit our friends Ornella and Donato on the way home, as they just returned from a trip to Hawaii.  We went to the home of neighbors Liz and Fred for dinner, along with several of their nearest neighbors.  It was a delicious dinner!  Our neighborhood has 120 homes, each on 1 acre+ lots.  We are quite spread out, with all natural yards that don’t require much maintenance, so it isn’t easy to get to know each other.  

Flowers and Wildlife in the Back Garden

Over the past two weeks, the large pincushion cactus in the back garden started blooming from east to west.  It is the first cactus to bloom every year, and its blooms are tiny but bright.

Papa and I walked to La Encantada today and had lunch at Firebirds.  We are amazed day after day, at how beautiful we find the desert in winter, with warm days and sunny skies.

After we returned home from lunch, I was sitting in the breakfast room with a cup of coffee when I saw something move.  A bobcat walked past the window and jumped up on our back garden wall, with a full grown rabbit in its mouth.  About half an hour later, the bobcat jumped back over the wall, walked past the window and slowly around the house the opposite direction, with a full tummy I assume.

Duo Assad

Last evening, we went to Duo Assad’s concert at Holsclaw Hall on the University of Arizona campus.  The auditorium holds just 200 people and it was sold out for the second night in a row.  “Called “the best two-guitar team in existence” by The Washington Post, the Assad brothers have electrified audiences around the world with their unparalleled technical brilliance and emotive performances. Honored with multiple Latin Grammy Awards, the Assads have performed or recorded with Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor, Dave Brubeck, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.”  “Nearly six decades after the Brazilian brothers, Sergio and Odair, started performing publicly and almost 40 years since they started coming to Tucson, the Assads are making their final North America tour.”  During the concert they called Tucson, “Mecca for guitarists,” because of the guitar program at UA.  We enjoyed every moment of their concert!

Weekend in Phoenix

Last week was busy with medical procedures for Papa, a lesion removed from the top of his head by our dermatologist on Wednesday, then bladder surgery at Mayo Hospital on Friday in Phoenix.  We drove to Phoenix on Thursday morning, and met our friend, Noah, Director of Global Studies at ASU.  We were treated to two virtual reality shows before lunch, one about the Hagia Sophia and the other about the Tomb of SETI 1.  Both were excellent, well done and in virtual reality format, we felt as if we were in the midst of each.  

Papa’s surgery at Mayo on Friday morning went well.  We stayed in a hotel next door to the hospital, just in case of any complications.  Fortunately, there were none!  On Saturday morning while Papa rested, I drove across town to watch Claire and Whitney finish the Mesa Marathon, both doing personal best times and under 3 hours 30 minutes.  They were very tired after the race!

I drove back to the hotel to pick up Papa, picked up lunch, and we had a picnic in Claire’s backyard, after she and Whitney lounged in the jacuzzi for a bit.  We talked for a couple of hours, always fun to catch up with each other, books recently read, etc.  We cherish the moments we spend with our family!

Living in the Foothills

We bought our home in the Foothills in 2008, when we were living on the ranch, to use as our “city house.”  After we left the ranch, we looked at different houses in various areas of Tucson, but we liked our location best and our home suits us.  Our neighborhood suits our neighbors too.  There is rarely a home for sale.  

Over the past week, there has been a different energy in the area, because an 84 year old woman has been missing from her home, just 1.5 miles from us.  We are concerned for her and the whole family.  The woman’s daughter is a host of NBC’s Today Show, and she made a short video of Tucson a few months ago.  The video was filmed in places we know well and enjoy.  We are grateful to call the Foothills of Tucson home.

https://www.today.com/video/savannah-guthrie-returns-to-her-hometown-of-tucson-arizona-251395141731

Lunch at Victoria Cocina Mexicana

We met our Boys and Girls Club kids that were available for lunch on Saturday, at one of our favorite restaurants, Victoria Cocina Mexicana.  Our friend David, was in Tucson for a few days, so it was a good reason to get together.  We realized that the four original people in our group at Boys and Girls Club, were with us, over 13 years after the first time we met.  Those four are enjoying life today - David is finishing medical school and will move in June to Northern California to his first real hospital job, Alan works as an academic advisor in the sociology and psychology department at the University of Arizona, Rudy is an architect working for an engineering company, and Natalia is the mother of an adorable 7 year old daughter.  We are proud of each of them, as well as their partners.  It was a special lunch for us!