An year is ending, a new, beginning

No photos to share since I am writing this on my new laptop and haven't added any photos since a) the Christmas holiday passed and b) I finally am recovering from the nasty virus going around town (and Kellond School, where I volunteer and suspect I picked up the bug).

I read on FB that the Secret Society of Happy People listed their 10 Happiest Happenings of 2013.  Just off the top of my head, here are mine--what are yours?

1.  Christmas Eve at Aron and Laura's with Izy and Lynette.
2.  September's Long Beach visit for my aunt's 100 birthday party.
3.  Same trip, with my cousin Craig and his wife Lynn, for an all day visit at the Getty Villa.
4.  Taking Izy to one of the last Sidewinders' Baseball game, taking Izy to "Frozen"; hey, just taking Izy anywhere.
5.  Father's Day with both dads, Aron and Laura at Hacienda Del Sol where Aron is banquet chef.
6.  Several day trips to Mt. Lemmon
7.  Bed time reading with Mark and Gray, who curls up on Mark's legs or mine, seemingly depending on Gray's mood.
8.  Afternoons alone or with Mark or a friend at my favorite Starbucks, River and Campbell.
9.  Happiness Community Conversations at Oro Valley and Main Libraries.
10.  Waking up each day, pain free, hopeful and ready to learn/do something--new or familiar; it really doesn't matter.

Hey, I still have to list:
11.  Book signings at Starbucks and Mostly Books.
12.  Handling my first and second self-published books.
13.  Visits to the Tucson Botanical Gardens
14.  Visits to the Phoenix Art Museum
15.  Surprise invite to see ATC's "Xanadu".
16.  2nd Saturdays, Downtown Tucson
17.  Summer Diamondbacks Game
18.  Downton Abbey, Elementary, Sleepy Hollow, Parks n' Rec, Raising Hope
19.  Rereading "Mary Poppins", "Alice in Wonderland", "Alice through the Looking Glass"
20.  Walking with Mark on Mountain Ave., along the Rillito, around Reid Park
21.  Working with 3rd grade readers at Kellond School

okay, that's it for now--but this fun to do.  Hope you try it, too.

Gingerbread Town

I am a bit under the weather with the respiratory virus going around town, but yesterday we did take a day trip to the southern tip of Phoenix, making a stop at Ikea and the cafe at the Wild Horse Casino.  We wandered around inside and discovered their very nice Gingerbread Town display.  Here are two photos and the wish to my followers for a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season.

Gray encourages us to slow down

Since I wrote a story Friday (based on a prompt from "Writer's Digest") that featured Gray having a conversation with me...I realized I didn't have a recent picture of him to share, thus I had to add an online sketch of a cat to my FB story post. 

So, since we decided to make Sunday (again) a slow day, Mark had time to try for several shots of Gray who is enjoying his first winter in and out of our porch, accessible through his own cat door.  Last year at this time, we still had our 13 year old dog, Lia, so Gray was limited to the front porch, or, when it got cold, the garage, warmed by a space heater and cat bed.

But now, life for Gray (and us) has turned into a much slower and happier pace.   Here he is, chowing down after a morning on the prowl in the neighborhood.

As for me, today, I spent almost two hours with my reflective reading and writing.  We took a vigorous 2 mile walk along the Rillito and then savored some time at our favorite Starbucks.  I skimmed the latest Poets and Writers magazine and Mark and I split a relatively healthy bistro snack, denying the temptation to have a pastry.  The sun is subdued behind late afternoon clouds and I am writing at my west-facing desk, anticipating a lovely sunset to draw this gentle day to a close.

I feel so grateful for our first night of Hanukkah with Lora and Izy, Thanksgiving dinner the next day at Lynette Chapa's, with Aron, Lora, Izy and Lora's brother's family and the "go with the flow" Saturday and Sunday that followed.  I didn't over eat, have exercised in moderate fashion and did fun things such as visit a new retail/buy local shop yesterday (NoneSuchHome on Broadway), "ran into" three past acquaintances I have not seen in years, and went to a matinee of "Despicable Me 2" where we laughed out loud at those charming, crazy yellow minions.

I hope readers of this blog also had a full-of-thanks holiday and are finding ways to "go slow" through this often stressful time of the year.

Early Christmas at the Tucson Mall

It wasn't in our plans to visit the Tucson Mall this weekend, but with the extended rains we were getting antsy to walk and so we went on Saturday.  I knew the decorations would be "up" and decided ahead of time to just go with the early "ho-ho-hos" even though, for me, the Season begins after Thanksgiving.  I have no plans to be anywhere near shopping next weekend, and then we have our anniversary (39 years) and Mark's dad's birthday (91 years) the next weekend....  So, just on the whim of the day, I did some holiday shopping as well and enjoyed myself.  As long as Mark can find a place to sit with his phone and do emails and texting, he doesn't complain but he is no shopper as our son is--and Aron and I had many good times at the Tucson Mall, lo, these three decades. 

Here are two photos by Mark that capture the Santa's Village scene from the second floor, and "just the tree" in at the west end of the first floor.  There were many shoppers, lots of families and kiddies (little girls with lavendar bows in their hair, boys riding on the "Safari animals" in front of JCP). 
It's not Times Square or even a town square, but in Tucson, it's good enough.

Tucson Village Farm

We are so lucky to be living close to 80 acres of UA farm land and also ten minutes from UA campus, close to downtown, with Mountain Ave. bicycle lanes, casual walking for groceries and several locally-owned restaurants.

Yesterday we took advantage of the "rurban" lifestyle we have and went to the Tucson Village Farm at 4210 N. Campbell Ave., www.TucsonVillageFarm.org .  They had a fantastic family turnout for 4H and Village Farms food tastings, music, stiltmen, and food vendors.  Take a slow look at the photos Mark took and maybe next time you are out and about you will check out the Farm.  They have a Garden Kitchen Class Schedule which offers free drop-in classes www.TheGardenKitchen.org .  We had samples of freshly picked lettuce, kale, strawberries and blueberries and I admit I swooned over their veggie burger made with sweet potatoes and oats (photo included below).  It's a fun place to just savor on a cool day and give thanks for all we have to put on our tables and to enjoy in our community.

 

Sunday outing at the Southern Arizona Water Color Guild Gallery

After spending the morning sitting on the front porch, waving to neighbors as they pass by, I took a short walk in the neighborhood, appreciating my surroundings.  In the mid-morning light the flowers were partially shaded, but their colors were brilliant reds, yellows, and purple.  I saw a few butterflies, two hummingbirds; and multiple grasshoppers popping across the sidewalk. Our cat, Gray, kept going back and forth from the cool house to the warming patio and eventually settled on a soft chair in the backyard.

When Mark got home from his morning meeting and visiting a friend, we drove to Ft. Lowell Park and walked around the small lake, viewing the egret fly, the ducks paddle, and the turtles poke their heads just above the water ripples.  Continuing our walk, we followed the path through the pecan groves which are beginning to shed their nuts and finished with a cooling stroll among the cottonwoods.  Since this weekend is also the Open Studio Tour for our local artists, before returning home I wanted to visit the gallery for the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild  http://southernazwatercolorguildcom  . 

Yesterday, we spent time on the westside (after I did my downtown library happiness community conversation), visited the Mission Gardens, and enjoyed an early dinner at the Tucson Food Truck Round-Up www.tucsonsbirthplace.org  www.tucsonfoodtruckroundup.com.  Then we went to 2nd Saturdays in downtown Tucson and thoroughly enjoyed the music by The LoBros www.theLoBros.com.  Thus, having gone to the westside and downtown yesterday, I knew I didn't have the legs to do those galleries, so a short visit to the WaterColor Guild's Gallery, matched with light lunch and shopping at Whole Foods pretty much took up the early to mid-afternoon. 



Back home, it's catch-up on the computer time and then watching PBS' Masterpiece Theatre where I am totally hooked into the latest classic, Paradise.  What fun to imagine how London might have been when shopping for the new middle class meant buying fabrics and lovebirds from Paris. 



Fantasies are fun and as I reflect on today's outing, I realize how happy I am today where fantasy and reality can intermingle and bring me joy.

A visit to the Agua Caliente Park is bittersweet

http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/agua-caliente-park-s-pond-a-dry-shadow-of-yesteryear/article_9b989460-c43f-519a-897f-59a93ecf4b49.html

One of the benefits of "partial retirement/self-employment" is the freedom to take off on a spur-of-the-moment minitrip on a Friday afternoon.  We went to Agua Caliente Park where Mark's mom enjoyed herself, particularly in the last months of her life, and I, too, recall taking my mom there before her decline.  It's been a couple of years since we last visited or maybe longer and we had both read the recent article about how the second pond is gone and even the remaining pond is drying up.  We saw mud flats where water used to be in the first pond and only a few ducks were in the water.

 

Still, beauty remains.  We took a leisure walk through the mesquite bosque, where late afternoon shadows tempered the warmth of the sun.

 

 

As we came through palm trees, this is the vista that welcomed us.

 

 

 

There's a touch of autumn in this scene--the way we Tucsonans like to experience happiness in October.