Dreams, Moments, Travels
Summer is coming to an end as far as the length of the day is concerned in Phoenix, Arizona. Here it is just moments after 6:00 p.m., and we have but minutes to go of having the sun smile upon us. Today, the high was 107 degrees (42 Celsius), and it looks as though we will stay in the 100s through early October. It is 8:30 p.m. as I post this; it is currently 98 degrees (37 Celsius).
Caroline and I tried for an early morning start for a visit to Tucson today and were finally underway shortly before 9:00. After nearly a half-hour, we began to leave civilization and enter the natural desert.
Along the way, we pass a few gas stations, an ostrich farm, a nut farm, Picacho Peak State Park which was the site of the furthest west Civil War battle, and quite a few cacti. On the outskirts of Tucson, we pass some lush desert landscapes that are soon to disappear, making way for progress. A nearby sign announces the coming of a new grocery store – goodbye, cactus!
Our first stop of the day is in Oro Valley, just outside of Tucson, to visit the Silvas. Arturo and his family have been friends now for many years. In the photo, Arturo is on the right, his son Arturito (Artoodeetoo) is behind him, and on the left is Arturo’s mother. We pass Guadalupe, Arturo’s wife, as we approach their house, stopping long enough to say hello as she is on her way to take daughters Melissa and Sophia to Sunday School and Church. Our visit was short as Arturito was on his way back to Flagstaff for University after having come down to see a concert featuring Molotov and El Gran Silencio, Arturo needed to join his family at Church, and Caroline and I had primarily come down to catch a couple of movies.
This is the lobby of the Loft Cinema in Tucson, Arizona. We have visited before to see ‘What is it?” by Crispin Glover, but today we were here for a double feature, including the Chinese film 2046 and the Korean film Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Both films were excellent, although Caroline and I both agreed that we enjoyed 2046 just a bit more. Be careful seeing Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, it is a demanding, violent, even a little slapsticky film that should not be seen by the timid.
This homeless family sits on Cave Creek Road in Phoenix, Arizona, waiting for someone to stop to help them find shelter for the evening. It is 104 degrees (40 Celsius) under this late summer sun as this woman’s sign went unanswered from 9:00 in the morning through late afternoon.
Along Cave Creek Road here in Phoenix, Arizona, many shops are poor and run-down. Empty lots like this one add to the decrepitude. The neighborhoods that are situated off this rare diagonal street in an otherwise rectangular grid layout are just as ramshackle. Strange enough, the other diagonal road slicing across Phoenix, Grand Avenue, is also scarred with blight.
In the front of our apartment complex, these flowers greet us coming and going. This year, I wish I were witnessing the change of seasons. After ten years of endless summer, where the year is differentiated by blue skies with blistering heat and blue skies with comfortable heat, I would enjoy seeing the leaves change color and a snowstorm blanket the land. Instead, I will watch the endless blooming flowers, so well kept, as they enjoy their short burst of beauty under the sun.
No, this is not an extra-long-grained hamburger; it is homemade spaghetti using fresh beet puree for the coloring of this mix of white flour, wheat flour, buckwheat, and a bit of mesquite flour. We hand crank this stuff on our new analog low/no-tech pasta roller and cutter that almost attaches to the counter in such a way that this thing is easy to use.