Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Suffering in La-la Land

Day Three here in the scented embrace of the Westward Look Resort.

Sleeping in, lounging by the pool, strolling the arid beauty of the desert trails. Waking not to the shrieking of the alarm and the impact of relentless little bodies (much as we love the little bodies!) but to the sound of the coyotes from the foothills of the Santa Catalinas, or the fearless calling of the tiny Verdin stealing seed from the Sonoran desert outside our patio doors...Sweet.

And to make things even more pleasant, we've been visiting with friends who live here in the Tucson area, including the dynamite Atomic Mama and Atomic Dad and the paragon of boldly thermonuclear cuteness, manly little man Xuan, who took the time to show us the splendid scenery on Tucon's southwest side, let us share the little man's enthusiasm for birds, stones, sticks, puddles and life in general.

Sweet.

Today was the "Living History" tour of three mission sites south of Tubac: Tumacacori, Calabazas, and Guevavi. The next time some smartass lips off about "tax-fattened government employees" I'm gonna deck him - for the Park Rangers who led this trip, giving us a feel for the history and the people who came before us through this harsh and beautiful land with a passion and knowledge that spoke of their devotion to this place and the legacy of those people.So...so far, so good. I'm enjoying the lack of demands, the gorgeous sun, the return to a desert environment I love and seeing again the desert birds I have missed for a decade; the elegance of the phainopela, the crimson fire of the vermillion flycatcher.

Hope you have been having a pleasant and profitable week, in all senses of the word, and we'll be back in a bit with more from the land of Good Oak.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

Thank you for sharing some visions of your lovely decompression time. Enjoy.

atomic mama said...

Yay! So good to have you here, enjoying so. AZ! Good times.

walternatives said...

Sounds like a birder and parents paradise. Thanks for the update, now back out to the pool.

chris said...

sounds like a wonderful break

Red Sand said...

Somehow "suffering" doesn't seem to be the appropriate word... enjoy.