Meanderings of a Mermaid

Here I am back in Marathon, dressed for winter and snow! But the memories of snow in the desert cling like a nylon dress on a dry day. This apparition was observed in the Mexico border town of Bisbee. Yes, those are ceramic and stone tiles glued to the sides! The lovely mountains just east of Tucson displayed a new colour this day. And a drive up to Kitts Peak Observatory found us back into the snow zone. Brrr. Not a day to be out there in shorts and flip flops. But there's no telling Some People. Indignant autos. Holy. This was the first hint that something was amiss. Snow covering the palms and the cacti. I came all the way to southern Arizona for this???? Actually, it was novel and interesting to watch the locals rushing around all bundled up. The one day a year that snow falls in Tucson and I happened to be there. Neat-o.

Self portraits in the desert. I'm breaking in the new boots. Rattle snakes will be laughing too hard to come over and bite me now. But c'mon, look at the colour...how could I resist? In the top photo those tree-like cacti are jumping chullo. Yeah. You don't mess with them. Once they latch on, good luck ripping the spikes out of your skin.

More shots from the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. Honestly, I ran by this one and failed to inquire as to the mineral. Lovely though. My guess is pyromorphite. And this is a typical scene of some of the tent trade shows. Mixed in with the small tents are some giant ones. And usually there is a community hall or sportsplex invilved as well. In other cases the venues are based at prominent hotels, and many of the guest rooms open up thier doors, beco,ming exhibit and trade show venues. Ballrooms, conference rooms, foyers,... are all full of displays. My friends know I am a knit addict and collect yarn as I travel. In Arizona I picked up this new yarn: Araucania's sugar cane (100%) yarn "Ruca" , otherwise known as taly. I don't know if I could tell it apart from bamboo yarn. Simply lovely and I can't wait to get this onto the needles. I would say the colours are a little livelier than what is presented in the photo. Now this dreamy yarn is by Cascade Yarns, called...

Saguaro cactus just west of Tucson. In places the cactus is quite dense and resembles a strange forest. Some of these cacti can live for a couple of hundred years, and I'm told they are protected. Typical scene inside one mineral and bead venue. What you don't see is the line up at the till we witnessed that stretched for a good 20 to thirty metres! If you were looking to buy inexpensive stone or mineral beads, this was the place. A stunning table for your dining room or board room of the most gorgeous petrified wood. At a mere 50,000 US it could be yours. Sadly, a little too large for the motor home, so we had to leave it behind. The rose quartz spheres caught my eye. Simple and beautiful. The largest one there is significantly larger than a bowling ball. And you can see my great cowboy hat reflected in them... Bisbee residences climbing the cliffs. This is a town I will have to return to one day - to get better acquainted with the town and people. Lots of artists make th...

Back from a few fun-filled days in Arizona. Meandering through the gigantic gem, fossil and mineral shows alternated with road trips out to historic mining towns like Bisbee, shown above. This amazing place is built in a cleft in the mountains, with hardly a flat spot to be found. Homes perch precariously above one another, clutching somehow onto the coppery cliffs. One map I found revealed that at least 19 mines operated in the area (from about the 1880s). Copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc were the targets. One mine, which shut down in 1975, produced 3 million ounces of gold and over 8 billion pounds of copper. A serene scene from behind an Indian Reservation gas stop west of Tucson. One excursion took us to the top of a mountain range to check out Kitts Peak Observatory. It boasts the largest collection of telescopes in the world. Sadly, this little amount of snow somehow hindered the staff and normal operations there, and we found the visitor centre closed. But we were allowed ...