Arizona slide show

A big technical milestone today when I joined the YouTube "community" and uploaded the Aperture photo slideshow of our Arizona vacation.  I know...teenagers do it all the time, but still!  The amazing thing is I figured it out this morning without the help of my overworked technical support person.  Maybe Macs really are easier to use than PC's :-)

The slideshow lasts about 3 minutes.  Viewing at full screen the resolution isn't terrific, but hey, it's YouTube!  Let me know if it doesn't work.

Happy anniversary to us

I was busy in the kitchen this morning messing with fickle Mr. BeeBo, the mechanical god of gnocchi. Today is our 21st anniversary, and that means a plate of gnocchi with Italian sausage red sauce for dinner. If anyone ever asked John what he wanted for a last meal (heaven forbid) it would be homemade gnocchi.

Me?  Well...probably not. I'd rather gobble down a poor elderly Maine lobster, drenched in butter. I will have spaghetti tonight, and save the sticky gnocchi for the one who really appreciates it.

Anyway, Janice, I'm still using the indestructible hand-cranked BeeBo machine you sent as a wedding gift.  Everyone knows how fussy I am in the kitchen, but BeeBo has not been cleaned in 21 years.  Every now and then I'll chip away at the dried dough with a toothpick for a few minutes, then I get bored and put it back in the old box.

It took about 10 years just to break it in and I think the patina of crud keeps the dough from sticking to its complicated gear innards.

Dessert is not cake. Instead, I made an almond-plum baked tart (Germans would call it fruit kuchen) with a jar of the plums I canned last summer.

 I have to admit, it looks pretty impressive for a non-baker like me.

 Flash back, 21 years to a different day of sweets.

Bach on the Uke

I'm trying to teach myself the Prelude BWV 846 from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier book.  That sounds really impressive, except that Bach wrote it in 1722 as practice music for his pre-school children. But as John points out, even the Bach kids didn't know how to play it on the ukulele.  Of course they easily could have, but the ukulele wasn't invented until the 19th century.  That's the advantage of having a musical genius for a dad.  The rest of us have to slog along, learning note by painful note. 

Many of Bach's compositions don't have a time signature or a hint (andante, presto etc.) as to how fast they should be played.  For that matter, sometimes Bach doesn't even specify what instrument it was written for. Either he didn't care, or you can just assume the keyboard.  But any good musician can pick out the notes on their instrument, from bassoon to guitar.

There's lots of repetition in Bach with the same notes played over and over in different patterns. This should make it easier but it doesn't, because of subtle and complicated changes in the sequence. Being a mathematician would help with learning Bach.  Personally, I think Bach sounds especially beautiful on acoustic stringed instruments.

I have a CD of Chris Thile showing off with the Bach sonatas and partitas on his mandolin.  Then there's the incomparable (late) John King, the star of classical ukulele.  His book, The Classical Ukulele, came with a CD of him playing all the music, which is both inspiring and horribly discouraging to the beginner.  I couldn't find a video of John King playing the Prelude 846, but here's someone else on YouTube doing a pretty nice job of it.

 

Bubbles and snow

Maya and her favorite Baby.

Nova is starting to feel better.

Fun in the snow...

A brand new wagon for Valentine's Day.  Thanks, Amanda for the pictures.

Low tech pleasures

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.

T.S. Elliot
The Four Quartets

I suppose paper magazine subscriptions are becoming an old-fashioned indulgence. We can get almost anything on our "device" now, but it isn't quite the same.  And I probably wouldn't remember to read the New Yorker and National Geographic if they weren't laying around on the coffee table making me feel guilty.

Professional home organizers find it humorous that many people "collect" National Geographic magazines, for no good reason. Why is that?  I'm not a paper hoarder, but we have a shelf on full display in the basement.  Funny.

The cover story in the March National Geographic is "The Truth About Black Holes." Wonderful photographs and five pages of National Geographic writing at its very best.  Did you know, black holes are utterly common in the universe? There are trillions of them at the center of galaxies, including our own Milky Way.

As a neutron star becomes a black hole, a sugar cube size fragment would weigh a billion tons on Earth. Atoms are shattered into minute particles scientists don't even have names for. And so on, tinier and denser, until?  Black holes, with their incredible gravitational pull, are basically time machines. 

Sleep

The Sandman

Ole Lukoje

Nova has tonsillitis. Amanda (soon to be an RN) says that eating and sleeping has been "challenging" this week.  No wonder!  They took her to a specialist in Wenatchee who didn't seem especially worried. I guess lots of kids have big tonsils because they aren't taken out anymore, except in very extreme cases. I'm sure that's a good thing-- every bit Nature put in there was done for a good reason, and we shouldn't be hasty about parting with it. Still...when our little ones are sick, we just wish for a quick fix.

It's also the time of year when stuff gets passed from kid to kid and then back again.  My niece April once said she didn't realize these things that kids get over quickly can lay the poor parents really low. So it goes. But Nova sounded pretty sassy on the phone this morning, so hopefully the worst is over.

Speaking of The Sandman, I can't remember the last time I didn't leave the house all day (35 degrees and raining) and then had one of those delicious two hour I-don't-want-to-wake-up-from-this naps. I'm ready for some House of Cards binge watching tonight. 

The seasons change and so do I...

Over 10 feet of snow fell in the Cascades this week, a massive amount, making the mountain passes pretty much impassable.  It isn't over yet, in fact we may get some lowland snow this weekend.

Still there's the feeling that Spring is winning out.  The days are longer, the sun more intense when it comes out, the birds are active, bulbs are coming up and our unusual black pussy willow is "blooming" or whatever you call the sweet fuzzy things.   The roses are leafing out too, and I'm hoping to prune this afternoon if it stays dry for a few hours.  I know this sounds incredible if you're in Ohio.

The big pots of jasmine froze this winter, and I threw them in the compost bin. I felt sorry after all these years, but they were root bound and I wasn't going to wrestle them into even bigger pots. I have a pot problem (not that kind) but one where containers keep multiplying.  I'm weak-willed when the nursery plants come out.  Enough is enough!

Around Valentine's Day, Lowe's has blooming jasmines for sale and I bought a beauty yesterday for $9.  We can enjoy the fragrance now and then it can live outside for the summer.  They usually bloom again in August.  I'm going for quality over quantity this year-- at least that's the February vow.

While I was waiting for my hand surgeon yesterday I took a picture of his amusing pain chart.  Well, it wouldn't be so amusing if you're up in the 9-10 range.  Happily, I'm down to 2.5 and he said my progress is exactly right for 5 weeks. The things that were worrying me (like new crunchiness in the joint) are "completely normal" for trigger finger surgery recovery.

Of course it would have been nice to know that ahead of time, but I suppose everyone is different and he doesn't want you anticipate things that might not happen.  Apparently it takes about 3 months until you can walk around and forget that you ever had hand surgery.  Which puts me right on target for summer gardening.

Just in case

In case you have trouble visualizing the end result...and doesn't that look like fun? The city council is already discussing the toll.

Stuck

What a mess

I haven't mentioned Big Bertha lately because there's no news.  First she was only stuck, now she is truly broken.  The biggest drill in the world has been idle under Pioneer Square since early December. There's even a Twitter feed called "Stuck Bertha" with quips from the drill's point of view:  "I guess I'm losing my bearings...literally."  It would be funny if it wasn't for the massive cost overruns (no one know how much yet.)

We don't make decisions quickly in Seattle, and it took twelve years to finally settle on a tunnel to replace the viaduct. Now people are already talking about giving up, burying the drill alive and building a new viaduct instead. But there's no backup plan, and it would probably take Seattle another dozen years to come up with one.

Here's an interesting fact mentioned in a Seattle Times article: There's already a mile-long, 30 foot diameter tunnel under downtown Seattle. The Burlington Northern train tunnel was dug 110 years ago by 350 guys with shovels.

A picture and a poem

Adam and Eve, by Lucas Cranach The Elder, 1526

She seems a mere girl really,

small-breasted and slim,

her body luminescent 

next to Adam, who scratches

his head in mild perplexity.

So many baubles hang

from the tree

it didn't hurt to pick one.

The snake is a quicksilver curve

on a branch she is almost

young enough to swing from.

The garden bores her anyway; 

no weedy chaos among

the flowers and vegetables;

the animals so tame

you can hardly tell the lamb

from the lion, the doe from the stag

whose antlers outline Adam's modesty.

She's like that teen-age girl

who wandered from the mall last week

not to be seen again, the world before her

glittering and perilous.

Poem by Linda Pastan

The New Yorker, January 27, 2014

Amaryllis

From December to March, 
there are for many of
us three gardens:
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind's eye.

 -  Katherine S. White

This was the lovely sight waiting in the kitchen when we got home from vacation on Saturday.  The amaryllis bulb that Tom gave me for Christmas is in spectacular bloom.  Almost too lovely to be a real flower, yet it is. A winter reminder of nature's strength and perfection. Thank you, Tom!

Stormy skies

 San Xavier del Blanc Mission

Tucson

It was a brilliant and very warm ninety degrees when we left Arizona on Saturday.  Driving to the airport from Tubac, we stopped for a few minutes at the Tucson mission, blinding white against the blue sky.  But the weather soon darkened as the plane flew north, and you could barely make out the Grand Canyon below through the gloomy clouds. 

Seattle is making up for a dry winter with a stack of powerful February storms. They say it will be pouring almost non-stop for the next week.  On top of that, an "epic" amount of snow will fall in the mountains.  Something like 7 feet!  Finally good news for our summer water supply. Bad news for anyone who needs to travel.

A major windstorm welcomed us home last night. The pilot mentioned "a bumpy ride ahead," an aviation euphemism for "get ready to be tossed around like a sardine in a can." It was one of those long landing approaches with kids screaming in delight and/or terror and folks on the packed plane applauding in relief when we finally touched down on the runway. A nice gesture, if the pilots can hear it.

Smooth or rough, I always try to look them in the eye and say thanks when I deplane, but they were long gone by the time we struggled up to the cockpit.   Maybe the pilots were as glad as the passengers to get off.

So back to Seattle reality and all that. We cranked the heat up, but goodness the bed still felt clammy last night.   Today is unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping and getting ready for the humdrum week ahead. Like the millions of Snow Birds, we had a wonderful winter break in beautiful Arizona.  (Of course, they're still down there lazing around in their RV's.) But a rainy Sunday night under the afghans catching up on Downton Abbey sounds pretty good too.

A special last day

Something delicious for lunch...avocado salad and turkey tortilla soup (even better than mine!)

 

In Tumacacori, Arizona, Wisdom's has been the place to eat for the last 70 years. Friendly service and the home of the famous fried fruit burro.

You can't miss Wisdom's white chicken on the side of the highway. We've been eating outside every chance we can because it's unseasonably warm this week, and will get up to 90 again today.  So relaxing...

The desert sun rises and sets each day in golden light. Not a cloud in the sky. And speaking of a very special golden something, John made himself popular at a fancy Tubac jewelery store yesterday.  He surprised me with a gold pearl pendant for Valentine's Day.  Truly, the most beautiful creation of nature!  It will always remind me of our loving marriage, and the bright week we spent together in the sun.

The Prize

The Elegant Trogon

Madera Canyon is up in the Santa Rita Mountains, about an hours drive from Tubac.  This place is world famous for the diversity of wildlife, and one of the top birding hotspots in the Northern Hemisphere.

Serious birders travel from all over the world and no wonder, because the variety of birds is astonishing. Madera Canyon and its creek traverse through four life zones between the hot, dry desert floor and the high mountains. Southern Arizona is also an important migration stop for many birds. 

There are over 250 bird species in the canyon, including 35 warblers (try sorting them out!) and 15 different hummingbirds.  But the star of the show has to be the Elegant Trogon, the one bird every birder wants to add to their life-list and then casually name drop like a movie star:  "Oh, yea-- we saw several last year in Madera Canyon."

We've been to Madera Canyon twice and I haven't bagged this fellow yet. I guess you have to make more effort than eating potato chips and then taking a lazy seat at the gift shop "feeding station" waiting for a Trogon to just fly by.

Yet another sunny picnic

But we did see Acorn Woodpeckers (brilliant red head caps) the Bridled Titmouse and the unusual Grey-Headed Dark Junco.  Along with too many yellow Finch varieties to count. They were all gobbling up free food at the feeder like common house sparrows in Seattle.  I'll have to check my old list when we get home to see if any of these are lifers.

This is the incredible view as you drive back down to Green Valley from Madera Canyon-- you can see almost to Phoenix.

Nice empty nature trails are everywhere.  High altitude though -- so remember to breathe with all that birding excitement.

This is our last full day in Arizona, and we'll enjoy every last minute of blue sky and warm sun.  In fact, Tucson will be close to 90 tomorrow afternoon when we head back to drenching wet chilly Seattle.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pictures worth a thousand words

Tumacacori Historical Park

 

  Tumacacori Mission interior

Mission storeroom 

 

 Mission cemetary

 

John makes a new friend

 

 Native dwelling

Patagonia Lake

 

Possible sighting of California Clapper Rail, on the list of the 10 rarest birds in America.  Whoa!

 

Tubac shopping temptations

  And more...

Tubac Country Inn

Artist's rendition of Tuba Country Inn

Arizona highways

  Casa Grande National Monument

We drove the "back roads" from Scottsdale down to Tubac yesterday.  I can remember when towns like Chandler were just dusty crossroads with a few gas stations and motels-- now these places are sprawling cities with uniform housing developments and strip malls planted on the desert.  Where are all the people coming from? Still, there are long stretches of classic Arizona highway, with cactus, rock and views as beautiful as any garden planted by man.

We stopped at the Casa Grade Ruins in Coolidge and toured the mysterious Great House.  (John was pleased with himself because he bought an "America the Beautiful Senior Pass" for me at the desk, and now he can visit all National Parks and Monuments free, as long as he is accompanied by this senior citizen.)

The adobe building was completed in 1350 and is an impressive four stories high and 60 feet long.  No one knows the exact purpose, but a circular hole on the top level aligns with the setting sun at the summer solstice.

The Great House was just one of many large, walled villages sited along elaborate irrigation canals. This Classic period of civilization lasted until the 1400's when the people mysteriously and suddenly declined.  By the time it was "discovered" by Europeans in 1694, it was just a ruin.  In 1892, it became the first National Monument and the steel and concrete canopy was built in 1932.

Speaking of great houses, we're staying the next few days in this lovely upstairs apartment.  It's giving me an idea of it might be like to spend the winter months in Arizona.  Nice!  No wonder they are turning the desert into a condo-land.

According to the brochure, Tubac is where "Art and History Meet."  Needless to say, this artist colony is all about shopping.  It fills with tourists during the day and empties out at night.  We are only 30 minutes from the Mexican border, but the temperature this morning was in the low 30's.  The altitude here is 3,000 feet.  But the sun is coming up in a cloudless sky and by late afternoon it will be close to 80.  We're off to find art and history today. And hopefully some new birds.

Taliesin West and Old Scottsdale

Taliesin West

"Then standing on the site, look about you so that you might see what has charm.  What is the reason you want to build there? Find out.  Then build your house so that you may still look from where you stood upon all that charmed you and lose nothing of what you saw before the house was built, but see more."

Frank Lloyd Wright

In 1937, Wright decided he wanted a permanent winter retreat from the harsh Wisconsin winters and purchased 620 acres of raw, rugged desert near the "town" of Scottsdale for $3.50 an acre. He was 70 years old at the time, and he loved challenges.

He set out to build what was one of his greatest masterpieces, Taliesin West.  It started out as a rough camp, a retreat, a architect's studio and raw materials workshop.  Just the challenge of living there under primitive conditions shows his stamina--  no water, plumbing, heat or light except kerosene and candles.  The first dwellings were made of stone, concrete and canvas.  And so the fascinating story goes from there.

It took a real effort to reach the remote Taliesin in the early days, and it still does.  I wonder if this might be deliberate on the part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.  A world famous monument to architecture, and they don't post "how to find us" directions on their website?

For the frustrated driver, few hints except for "Frank Lloyd Wright Avenue" and a tiny "Taliesin Avenue" sign that was easy to miss.  Sure, we had Siri,  but she was no use at all in that maze of gated communities.  We found out later that 95% of the visitors were from out of state, so most people in the neighborhood have never even been there. Small wonder.

And now I can finally say I've seen a Frank Lloyd Wright "house." Despite our blundering around, we managed to get there early and had a great (small)  tour with an excellent tour guide.  Interiors, exteriors, desert views. It was an outstanding experience. You can see Wright architecture all over the country, but not the narrow bed and the stone room where he actually laid his head in old age. 

There are scholarly volumes about Frank Lloyd Wright's genius, but if you enjoy fiction, check out "The Women" by T.C. Boyle for the juicy personal details.

And after that? A big Mexican lunch and an afternoon of more pedestrian attractions in "Old Town Scottsdale." I never imagined that Native Americans had time to make so much jewelery.