Tucson Visit

I stepped outside in the drizzle at David's property and a group of wild turkeys ran past.  Can you see them, above?  Below, David and I drove to Tucson together.  I had a lot of errands to do and people to meet so in the end my intent to photograph David meeting all my friends and seeing new places kind of fell through the cracks.  On our first morning we went for a hike in my old neighborhood with my friend Valery and her two dogs.  I originally met Valery while hiking the road and one cold morning encountered her walking her dogs while wearing what looked like a long mink coat.  I teased her - something about how you know you're in a good neighborhood when people walk their dogs wearing a mink coat, and she assured me it was fake fur and we ended up hiking together after that.  She had recently retired from Goldman Sachs in New York where she had been a Vice President.  Very smart.  I love meeting intelligent women.  Anyway, we all hiked along the arroyo where I'd cemented 13 of my concrete goddess faces the previous year and found 4 of them.  I was so sneaky with them I couldn't remember where I stuck them.

David and I drove out to TerraSante, a community about 20 miles out in the desert.  I've lived there a couple of times for months at a time, because Bruce, the owner, was willing to barter with me for my art or videos.  Across the street is where Victoria has her moringa ranch.  I made a series of videos for Victoria  (see link below).  I used to suffer from serious dehydration (enough to be hospitalized) and her filter has helped  me immensely.  Victoria and David in front of cactus with boobs.

David and I went to the Historical Museum in Tucson - very nice.  As we were leaving I saw this display.  In the 1930's a family accidentally found a large stash of lead artifacts, below, which have Latin words on them.   A big mystery!  Did the Romans come to Tucson?

We stayed in my beautiful room at Dan's, but I forgot to take any photos.  David helped me pack up the truck with the 7 tubs of stuff I'd left behind.  I was hoping to see my piggies, but they never showed up.  Dan told me I was welcome back any time.  I would love to go next week during the Gem Show but I already have so much stuff from last year's Gem Show, so.....  Got to meet up with my friend Mark and my other friend Mark, re-registered my truck, stocked up on vitamins from Trader Joes and stuff like that before we headed back home.  Below, the sky on the way back.  David was driving when I suddenly leaned over and asked him what my odometer said.  It was at 269,999.  Yahoo.  That truck is the best running truck/vehicle I've ever owned.  So, of course, I had to photograph the odometer as it turned over to 270,000 miles.  David said he's now a believer - he thought my timing was psychic.  It was. I didn't know what the miles were, I just had a sudden feeling to look at them.

The whole way back - Rainbows!  Very little rain - it was in the distance.

As soon as we hit Santa Cruz I drove immediately to the beach.  Chilly, but beautiful.  

It was cold out.  In Fran's back yard below.

Fran and Patti saying goodbye.  They are the best hostesses you've ever met, including gourmet meals.  They recently bought a house on Maui with another friend.  They showed us the photos, it's quite amazing.  Fran's husband, who passed away years ago, owned a large law firm in Cleveland.  Her two daughters are all grown up and doing very well in San Francisco and New York and now she's ready for new horizons.

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge - only a few hours from home.

Below, a little video I made for Ralph Starritt, an artist I'm working with.  I'm working on a huge dragon (30 feet long) and am presently cutting out many dragon scales, then we will weld/pop rivet everything together.  I'm also going to carve a dead redwood tree in front of  the Siskiyou Historical Museum.  It's a memorial to loggers and a grant from a logging company is paying for it and a large metal sculpture that Ralph is making.

 

Below is the body of the dragon - on wheels so it can be dragged around in parades, I think.  Or at least dragged to where it's going to live when finished.  It needs a lot of work but it seems to me a good way to learn how to cut and weld metal.

Below is one of five videos I made for Victoria - this water filter works amazing.  I take it everywhere I go.