Strange breed

RVers actually find joy in driving 200 miles just to pull a lawn chair out into the dirt and sit there.

Leavings

This season infuses me with so much scattered energy I can't make it across the room without coming up with 12 projects, like: write a book, build a sculpture, find a recipe for new potatoes, reseed the front lawn, join an improv group.
I end each day exhausted and wonder what exactly I've done.
Coming up with great ideas takes a toll.

Limbo

Irene and I quit smoking 20 years ago this weekend. We picked a date well beforehand and prepared ourselves by smoking our brains out in the weeks leading up to that date. The day before the big day we flew back from Hawaii in the smoking section, (remember this was 20 years ago.) The smoke was so thick even we couldn't breathe.
Trying to avoid the noxious cloud, the "stewardesses" carried trays of food and drink in like the limbo dancers we'd just seen in Kauai. We made fun of them. We thought, "oh get a life."
Turns out, that's what they were trying to do.

No waiting..

..at the Snow Cap Drive-In.

Peach Springs, Arizona

Indian Summer

The air is perfectly quiescent and all is stillness, as if Nature, after her exertions during the Summer, were now at rest. - John Bradbury 1817

"Heaven"

Found art sculpture by Utah artist "Quinn". (click for more detail)

Leaving the Mojave

Leaving the desert before dawn.

Perspective

One thing about spending a few weeks in a 19' "rig"...
...coming home, our 900 sq. ft. house seems palatial.

Witness Protection

This is Stan and Janet. They are in the Witness Protection Program. So I can't tell you we had dinner with them in Casa Grande, Arizona this week.

(We met Stan and Janet more than a year ago in Morro Bay while we were camping in our RV. We met up with them again this week on our trip to Arizona. That's the best part of traveling around in an RV, the people you meet.)

It was great to see you guys again! Even if you're still on the lam maybe we'll see you again next year!

Only guests

Yesterday afternoon we decided to get a room near Tubac. We were dusty, and tired and needed more space than our 19' RV. This place has many rooms, wings, second floors. It turns out Irene and Annie B and I are the only guests. Literally. Even the staff went home. It's a little like being in a haunted house way out in the chaparal with nothing around but the coyotes eyeing our 15 pound dog.

Lost Ones

A place for everyone.

Greetings from Tubac

Really, how much more do you need?

From Nogales to the Carcel

So we're driving along near Nogales, me wanting to write a country song about it but without a guitar and without a real voice so I just hum to my dog who is sitting on my lap when we come suddenly to a border check point. Soldiers and German Shepards, nosing the front bumpers of big rigs and cars. We suddenly remember last year a neighbor gave us a little pot to take with us to Burning Man. We stored it in the aluminum roller up in our rig cupboard and forgot about it. We sat in the check point line, watching the dogs and the soldiers wondering if the dogs would know. They did nose around but let us pass through. We breathed a senior sigh or relief.
We left Annie Bones in day care, retraced our steps to explore Tubac back the way we'd come, past the check point when we remembered, again, the illicit drugs languishing in the Reynolds Wrap in our rig. We pulled over in the desert, ready to bury the baggie when we saw the cute little glass pipe our neighbors had included with the gift. It glinted, unused in the southern Arizona sun. We couldn't just leave this in a dusty hole. We drove back to a room we'd gotten for the night and hid the package in Annie's satchel. Now, in the early morning it's lying on the desk. We're beginning to feel just a little what the fleeing felon feels, out in the desert one step ahead of the law.

Tom Hanson 1949-2008

Our good friend, Tom died suddenly on Monday. His wife called us on our cell while we were nestled in a pine forest in Eastern Arizona.
Tom was an artist and one of the most decent people we've known. Truly one of the good men. We saw him every day. Sometimes I'd say, "Hey, Tom, what are you going to do when you retire?" He'd say, "Get back to my art."
We decided this morning to continue our trip. Tom would have insisted. "Go, see art, live life," he would have said. We're cutting things short to be home with Cynthia and be at his services.
I saw Tom just before we left home. He gave Annie a treat and said, "You have fun, Annie. We'll miss you!" To me he said, "Drive carefully. Be safe."
You too, Tom, you too.

Grand Canyon

(words don't do it justice)

From the road

Our desert family greeting us in Phelan, Mojave Desert. Friendly, huh?
So much of our time is spent saying, "Go potty, Annie!" (we've walked miles into the desert)
This place has been closed for "a while". Wonder if they used to serve vegie burgers?
Quality sidekick...

This blog post is dedicated to all those who post from the road. It's taken me 8 days to figure it out. I actually still don't get it but Irene is hovering by my elbow so...Hopefully our internet connection will stay with us as we wander. Will post more soon. (p.s. in Sedona now, hunkered down with the rain on the roof...)

Restless legs

In part to honor my 66th birthday we are headed down Route 66 in our RV like proper retirees. We'll be gone a month and will blog along the way.

This will be a test to see how long 2 women and one dog can live happily in a 19 foot tin box in 106 degree temps.

Outwitting them...

Our solution to the banking crisis.

Green legs

We woke up this morning and found green legs have sprouted in our garden.

On the move

Annie Bones' personal Sequeway

Fall Preview

Fall is always a sign of new beginnings for me. Maybe I'll buy some pumps and move to the city. Or maybe I'll just sit here and write about the possibility.

Picking daisies

My good friend, Sandra Martz, past publisher of Papier Mache Press has started a blog. AND today is her birthday! Happy Birthday, Smartz!
Check out "That's my story and I'm sticking to it." www.skmartz.blogspot.com You're in for a treat.

Abandoned

I think I've found the place people leave old blogs. I think mine is here. Tests so far inconclusive.

Last day of summer

Somehow I feel I've missed this whole season. I'm looking forward to next year.

A spot of color

Everyone needs an Irene in their life.

I don't get it

Overheard at the grocery store:
"That Sarah Palin! She's got such an intellectual smile!"

It's over

...and the cows have finally come home.

Something to celebrate

Today is the 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon's appearance on Laugh-In and I feel like celebrating! (source: www.Aerophant.com)

Ist day of school

My sister, Beki and I both had September birthdays. Her birthday inevitably fell on the first day of school. (We always felt she was cheated.) Here we are, ready to start the year, (Maria, from Mexico on the right, lived with us) . Happy Birthday little sister, I'm thinking of you.

The story of my life...

I've GOT to write a short story.

Sorry for the blog delays...

..but I've just been hanging out.

My mother's wisdom

"There's nothing colder than a cold egg..."

Welcome to the Santa Cruz County Fair

Now, have fun.

Dear loved ones...

I promise I won't be quite so grouchy tomorrow.

Fashion maven

I look around today and discover every piece of clothing I own is green. And I'm wondering: What's up with that?

Crone

Our dear friend during her croning ceremony. Happy Birthday, Sally. Your spirit lives on in us but we will never be done missing you.

Neighbor in the neighborhood

Yesterday we all got a recorded message from the Sheriff's Department warning of several sightings of a mountain lion in our immediate neighborhood. Early this morning for my walk with Annie Bones I armed myself with a shrill alarm, pepper spray and considered taking the hunting knife with me.

"What are you going to do, gut the animal?" Irene asked

"No, but you just have to be prepared for anything."

"Just rise up, look big. Or is that for a grizzly?" Irene wondered helpfully.

Seriously, we all just hope the lion makes its way back to the hills before the sheriff's department finds it.

Debut

My granddaughter, Sierra has just had her first poem published. Congratulations, CC!

Orange Pornage
Orange Pornage
cornage morange.
Rosy
posy
nosy cosy.

Evidence

Irene brought this bent, skull-bedecked cane home from a walk the other day.

Me: What's this?

Irene: I found it in the field at the end of the street.

Me: What are you going to do with it?

Irene: I don't know but after I picked it up I feared maybe it had been used in some kind of crime and now my prints are all over it. I had to bring it home. I didn't want to be implicated.

Geezers

Me: The windshield wiper light keeps going on in the dashboard of the truck.
Irene: Pop the hood. Check it out.
Me: Where's the latch?
Irene: It's under there somewhere.
Me: Remember the days we used to change our own oil?
Irene: I used to repair my own flat tires.
Me: I used to pull over in my VW Bug, lie down on the desert road and replace the clutch cable. I always got to work with grease on my hands.
Irene: I used to push my car all the way to work when the differential went out.
Me: What is a differential anyway?
Irene: I don't know. But I think it's somewhere near the calipers.