Three Weeks in December

Always I like to share with others the many ways that Tucson inspires me. It's nearly impossible as there are so many aspects to this diverse river valley-- that no longer has a flowing river (except after big storms and below the waste water treatment facility) but the riparian zone is still there as a reminder.  Washes come down out of the mountains with no water-- except after those storms.

Tucson is ringed by mountains. In the Catalinas, Mt. Lemmon is 9,157 feet with snow in winter and even skiing now and again. We had no time for it this time; but when you drive up there you travel through every climate zone from the desert to Canada with the appropriate trees. One time we drove down the backside (not the typical route down) and it was quite an experience on a winding, gravel road where we passed nobody on the whole drive down-- fortunately as it was narrow with steep sides.

Tucson is an incredibly creative area with tempting landscapes everywhere you look, the rich browns, olive greens, ochres, reds, purples, oranges, and golds. In the winter, the low lighting shadows everything richly, making it a photographer's dream. It has been interpreted by many artists through  brushes, canvas, cloth, paint, clay, and even etched into rock.

Arizona Historical Museum had a quilt show of totally gorgeous works depicting the desert and it's environs to tell Tucson's story.

It's also rich for an historian with the ancient peoples who left behind ruins and petroglyphs and then later comers with diverse Native American tribes, prospectors, miners, priests, ranchers and all those ready to make a profit without working for it. Indian wars, outlaws, corruption, heroics, even a big earthquake that redecorated one of Tucson's favorite little canyons.

With my visit to Old Tucson for photos of today's attempt to recreate the Old West for tourists and movie sets, then the Arizona Historical Museum full of old photos, stories, and information, I left the state happy with the photos and information I had gleaned for the book I am working on-- an 1886-87 historical romance sharing some characters with an earlier historical romance (not yet out).

I had a thought also on the drive back from Tucson that what I like better, as a description of what I write, would be to call them emotional adventures. On all levels they are about the adventure of life that centers around the emotional and sexual connection between two people. More on that at a future time.

For now, I created a video that attempts to capture a little of the Tucson mood and of what I experienced three weeks in December.

on the road

On the road and nothing ever goes as expected-- other than it's a miserable drive for the cats and hard on us too. There can however be unexpected pleasures along the way-- not for the cats, of course.

One was this first sunrise of 2013 at 6:46am on the freeway between Needles and Barstow, California. This really is one of those stretches of highway that seem to go on forever as nothing much is happening alongside the road. For about a half an hour there was. That sunrise seemed to stretch across the whole horizon, not quite to alpenglow level but close.

In Tucson, the day before we drove out, we made a stop at Bookmans a favorite of ours since it opened in 1976. I'm guessing we were among its first customers. At first it was a small store off Campbell. We returned on all our following trips, which often were only a year apart. It moved and then expanded into new locations but didn't lose its energy.

In Tucson, Bookmans is the to-go place for used books, DVDs, CDs, and this time what I wanted-- audio books. We had learned on previous trips that audio books help pass the miles-- other than in heavy traffic.

We chose three from successful authors-- a western, a romance, and a novel I find hard to categorize. When we went to pay, the cashier rang it up and then looked at us with surprise. He said our whole order was free due to one of the things Bookmans does-- random free purchases. This one paid off for us with over $40 worth. It was like winning the lottery-- well a small lottery and one you didn't know you had entered as we hadn't known it was one of the store policies.

Anyway when driving a lot of miles such books do help to pass the time, and I will write more about these three and my feelings about them in another blog when I'm not typing on a laptop in a motel room.

a new year

Generally I love this time of the year when I rethink the year that passed and what I realistically (and sometimes unrealistically) want in the one to come. It's generally been a quiet time for me with Christmas past and lambing yet ahead. This year it's been anything but quiet as we've been in Tucson to do the necessary repairs on the house, clean, spruce, replace, and then do whatever hiking we can mix in with getting photos for future projects.

For the photos, it has been one of the most productive times I could imagine. The lighting has been perfect on the days I needed it and more blah on the work days. I might put together a slide show of some of the best shots as it truly was a lush time with the perfect angle of the sun and some magnificent sunsets.

My time here though has not done much for any planning I might make for the new year other than we will be driving north then, hoping the traffic, ice and snow won't be a problem (weather forecasts seem to change hourly). My thinking on last year and what will be in 2013 definitely has been on hold until I get back to the ranch where I think things will slow down for me at least.

To do any serious thinking, about how I've been doing with my previous year's plans, takes quiet time. While in Tucson, I have had more of my thinking wrapped around characters and plots with me not in the picture. January I hope to do some of both.