Left in Tucson

Here are a few new pics, compliments of Jim, from a recent hike into Ventana Canyon.  The temperature could not have been more perfect, with a bit of cloud cover and a mild breeze to keep us cool. As a result, we finally succeeded in reaching a higher elevation, which offers an amazing vantage point to view T-Town.  For all our friends who live east of the Mississippi River, these photos are especially for you.

Day of the Dead

Ever since I first discovered Georgia O'Keeffe and her famous paintings of  steer skulls , I have always wanted a real steer skull of my very own.  I don't know why, but I just thought it would be a cool thing to hang somewhere in my house someday.   When I was in my late 20's and I finally did take my first trip to the southwest and to Arizona, I was determined not to return home to New Jersey without my steer head.  I had envisioned driving along an empty stretch of highway through the Sonoran desert and discovering one just lying there not far from the side of the road.  Well, of course, that never happened.   For years after that trip, my desire to own a steer skull and have it displayed on a wall in my house would crop up from time to time. It never occurred to me that you could actually buy such a thing almost anywhere in AZ.  And there was no Internet in those days where I could just go and find one on eBay.  It wasn't until Jim mo...

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We have the good fortune to live in a house in Tucson that came with two "legacy" olive trees in the front yard. I refer to them as "legacy" trees because these two are the last remaining curbside olive trees in our community.  When our development was built, olive trees were the builders' tree of choice for curbside, street trees in many neighborhoods.  Over time, however, Tucson and many homeowners learned the error of their ways.  People found that the spring flower bloom of these olive trees brought about pretty severe allergic reactions.  Also, if the trees are not pruned regularly, they become quite wild, with limbs growing into power lines, and dangerous when they begin to obstruct lines of sight on busy streets and at traffic intersections.  They also have a tendency to develop multiple trunks which makes them vulnerable to spliting in heavy wind storms. About 25 years ago, the city of Tucson banned the planting of olive tre...

Tucson has its own twist on the annual OktoberFest. 

Driving is a privilege not a right.  That's why you obtain a license.  On August 23, 2011, while driving back home from running a series of regular errands around T-Town, I got photo flashed at the infamous Speedway and Kolb intersection.  I was about the 4th or 5th car in the flow of the traffic proceeding through the yellow light, when I saw the flash.  I prayed that it hadn't been for me but for the person behind me.  About three weeks later, I learned that flash familiar to all Tucson drivers had been for me.  The proof positive arrived in the mail from the Tucson Police Department; a photo of me behind the wheel of my BMW 325 CI, with hand raised as I swore at myself for being so stupid, along with a ticket for $335.  Ouch! A week later, I received my "invitation" to attend the mandatory Traffic Survival School, an 8-hour class to re-teach me the rules of the road.  While others I know have attended this class and similar ones, once or ...