The Cape Verde Chronicles Part 2

My journey continues in the beautiful country of Cape Verde. Here is another letter dated July 31st, 2000. "As I type to you now, a cockroach has left my keyboard....um....this is actually quite gross.....no I haven't changed.....things are quite nasty here at times.....but they are also just as fascinating.....sometimes I want to scream and other times I just smile.  The other day I was walking in Tira Chapeo(a place to throw the hat)....a very poor neighborhood in Praia.....it was like watching those shows with the skinny kids and seeing flies all over the place....and on their faces....people living in VERY poor conditions....I went through my first culture shock.  We walked these streets that were very narrow and dusty....I found the bone of a human mandible with teeth still intact on the ground.....there was a smell that overpowered me at times......and there are moments when I almost lose my lunch.  Streets are lined with trash and there are areas where humans just used the bathroom right on the sidewalk.....which includes number 2 if you know what I mean....and I walked with my sandals through it all.....To make it worse, I see pigs eating the diapers off the road. Here garbage is thrown everywhere! I suppose this is good for me to see, but it challenges me more than I want to admit to others.....because I need to be the strong one. Yet we pass a home where a dead man lies on his bed with his loved ones surrounding him before they put him into the simple wooden casket and carry his body to sea.  A man without legs scoots out from his home on only his arms.  It shocks me.  In Cape Verde, the disease is chopped off instead of treated.  The treatment is too expensive. Eventually we end up at a home where women gather.....and it reminds me of why I am here.  The stories.  The adventures.  The knowledge of existing in a world so foreign to me outside of my comfort zone.

Making cachupa

I love this place....weird as it sounds...there is something here that is very alluring.....and it happens with a simple random act of song.  Boy can they sing here!  We're sitting around the table.....the women started to clap....then pound on the table....then both.....there was laughing and happiness....and then they broke into an incredible dance of song with rhythm so unique to the area.  I witnessed an authentic West African dance! and one of the most amazing things I had ever seen......it was a great way to end that trip to the neighborhood.  Well the best was in the shower afterwards as I washed the dirt and smells off my body. 

Pedro Badeixo

My host father, from Senegal(and very French) pulls out this beautiful lobster for a snack.....and I look at it as it looks at me.....you all know how difficult this is for me.  I am not a fish person. I might be able to eat this lobster, but it's looking at me and I want to run into the other room.....I just don't want to be rude.  So I stay.  He breaks the lobster open and all this stuff gushes out....right there.....I want to throw up....but I stay and begin eating it with him.  I have traveled all over the hispanic world without incident, but nothing prepares me for this experience.   At first, it is actually good....the tail part and the claws....but then he doesn't stop.  He goes for the lobster brains and I start getting sick.....and I forced myself to eat this chilled delicacy and dip it in the sauce.  I gagged and almost lost it at the table so I politely excuse myself to the bathroom where I brush my teeth.

In my house, there is a mouse......he is my good luck charm and there is a huge millipede walking around at night by my bed and I scream as I almost step on it.......This is going to take some getting to used to....

Last night I had a magical moment.....it was in the city of Cidadi Velha(the Old City)....it was a small town along the ocean....old cobblestone streets.....and sugar cane.....coconut trees.....bananas.....and coffee!  A tiny area surround by a lush landscape!!!  I was in heaven.  And there is a wonderful breeze to move the air.....live music on the street.  Two canoes on the ocean with candles lighting the way with the sparkling night sky above us......it was indeed a moment and one that makes me smile. 

Well enough of this chatter.....I hope you are all well....all my love.  Kreesh"

Lol!!  What a wimp I was!!  That's why getting older is great!  It's hard to reprint some of this stuff, but it helps me understand why I have a higher tolerance for things.  This past summer in Panama, my friend went through these same feelings during our stay at the turtle conservation program. I now understand why I was patient about it all:)  When we leave our comfort zones, we are tested by facing those unknown challenges.  We can either learn from them or run back to our security. Either way, it's a learning experience.  More adventures to come.....

The Cape Verde Chronicles Part 1

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, a young man changed forever. He had a lot of growing up to do. There would be no going back after that change. And if it hadn't been for those experiences, he may not be where he is today or treasure the little things in life that we all take for granted. Here are the lost letters I found while digging through several boxes. My mother kept all of my emails and printed them off. This week I kick off a series called the Cape Verde Chronicles. Eleven years later, I share with you some of my younger thoughts about West Africa and the tiny island nation of Cape Verde.....

My host family in Praia

Letter written on July 24th, 2000
"Hi there!!!

Well the world amazes me sometimes.....I am here fine....and I will have a phone down the road.....I will let you know.....we have to rent the internet by the hour....it's like 2 dollars here to do it....and everyone and their mother wants to use it.

I love it here and it is very pretty in some areas....but it's definitely 3rd world....and very much polluted....it's weird....I'm not having culture shock because it reminds me of Mexico.....however the language is a struggle from time to time but my Spanish has been very very helpful....the little Portuguese I know has been made stronger by the people conversing with me....it's very very hot here and the islands are little more than bare rocks in the middle of nowhere....after 9 weeks here I will know which island I will be going to and hopefully speaking the languages almost fluently......

I have met wonderful people here and I have also met several crack pots....and I wondered how they got into the Peace Corps....they have been slowly phased out during our training due to stress.....and there is stress.....but I live for this stuff.....I am very happy and very content to be here......when we landed I became excited by this new chapter in my life. 

The school I would teach at

Well it's not exactly the Hilton here and the food is something to be desired....you know how much I hate fish.....well, I haven't eaten any of it so my dietary choices are very limited....n ka gosta peix!....yuck!  I have eaten ants in my rice.....I didn't think they saw those little guys there while they were boiling the rice.....um....it's just very different.....I don't really look forward to dinner time here, but I do love this stuff called cachupa.

We went to the beach yesterday and it was weird to see naked people swimming.....people would just jump off the cliff butt naked.....I wish I could be that free with my own body.

We have school almost everyday and everyday I am with 29 other people which is a little overwhelming at times......because I am used to the quiet and privacy of my own world.....but there are some very special people in this group that I can see turning into lifetime friends.....

There are 2 islands that everyone wants to live on....Sao Antao....the greenest and prettiest island of them all and Sao Vicente.....it has a very beautiful city known as Mindelo which holds the best carnaval and it is said to be the "least African" of all the islands with a lot of European and Portuguese traditions left behind....My wish is Sao Antao because the island has plants and I miss them here. I am going through a withdrawal of gardening.

Well I'll be back and emailing again at this internet cafe in Praia.....all my love to everyone.......Kreesh, my new adopted name on the islands. "

Looking back on all of this, I smile.   I did a lot of growing up in that space of time.  I didn't end up on the greenest of islands but instead....the driest!  More tales this week....

Time to Leave the Nest?

Hello there gardening friends and nature enthusiasts,

So lately I've been writing about the new wildlife in my yard and I thought I'd share with you a hummingbird nest I found on the property.  There have been lots of little nests over the years and this year we've had several families raise young hatchlings.  They are absolutely adorable.   You may have never seen a hummingbird nest or know what it looks like.  Well, from the El Presidio forest, here is what you'll find on the property:) 

I've placed feeders up around the property and switch out the feeders once a week. Here is a previous post on how to set something like this up in your own yard.

We are extremely lucky to have these beautiful little birds around....and even better.....feel like they can call the garden home to raise their new hatchlings in a safe environment.  Remember, it's all about choosing the best hummingbird plants and providing some food.....and you'll be on your way to making your own backyard a safe haven for hummers.

They're one of my favorite things to see fly around my windows.  Tucson is home to many varieties of birds with the hummingbird being numerous in populaton.

Hummers make a great addition to the garden.  More tomorrow.....

Rapture

Who says the desert doesn't have life?:)  There's life all around....you just have to keep your eyes open.  Lately I have been fascinated by hawks because they have come into my life.  I started feeding birds this summer.  By feeding birds, I attracted the hawks.  To date, we've had Cooper's Hawks and a Red Tailed Hawk visit our area.  Those links will take you to the El Presidio grounds and give you a closer look at these fascinating creatures.  Today I'm adding another hawk to know about here in the Tucson area.....the Harris Hawk.

These birds are amazing and they all have different characteristics.  I've been watching them closely as they have been watching me:)  Should I be scared?  No.  They are extremely intelligent creatures who work together as a team.  The Harris Hawk is not native to Tucson and orginally hails from South America.  But as ranchers spread out over the desert land, they brought their cattle and created water sources for this hawk.

These hawks have to be careful with our hot summer days.  The birds work as a unit flying around and catching food like jack rabbits(which can weigh up to 8 or 10 pounds!)  I snapped a shot of these birds working together in unison catching prey below.  They were extremely gymnastic during their flight. During summer days, they will hunt for prey during the earlier hours and disappear during the afternoon hell.

I'm very OCD so I asked the experts....what's the difference between these 3 hawks?  The Cooper's Hawk works as a team of 2 where the Red Tailed Hawk will swirl the highest of them all in a solitary fashion and then from out of nowhere come crashing down on its prey!  The Harris Hawk flies in a family unit.  In fact, the Red Tail Hawk will hang off to the side while the Harris Hawk flies around the sky....so you could say that there is a "pecking" order among hawks:)

I have been on the hunt for the Great Horned Owl here, but instead I have been finding nothing but hawks all around me....and to be honest, I'm totally okay with that:)  I've written in the past that I usually go with the intent to film or photograph one thing but end of getting shots of something else.  That's just how it happens.

So I headed to the Desert Museum to participate in their Rapture Free Flight show which is happening now until April 15th.  Plan your time accordingly as the shows only happen at 10 AM and 2 PM daily.  The Harris Hawks were incredible.  There was such a thrill in watching them fly all around us.  Apparently at the 10 AM show, the Great Horned Owl is featured, but that is just rumour:) So I missed the owl but learned something new.  Cool:)

The information for this show is found here.

I have been fascinated by these birds for quite awhile.  The hawk population has increased in the West due to the fact that there is a lot of food provided willingly or unwillingly by humans.  People bring their cats and little dogs which provide an excellent food source.  I've seen  two instances where hawks have made those kills.  One scared me to death.  I was cooking in the kitchen when out of nowhere a hawk crushed a pigeon in front of my window in the backyard.  The second one was sad...really sad.  Skip this part if you love your pets.  I was again by the kitchen window when a hawk came out of nowhere and grabbed the neighbor's kitten.  For that incident, I ran outside but it was too late. I wasn't angry at the hawk, but it just made me sad for the cat and angry at the neighbors for letting the kitten outside.  They were upset and the mother was crying.  People who move to the desert need to be aware that there are a lot of things out there that want to eat your precious pets.  Coyotes love yappy little dogs....and I love that they love yappy little dogs:) So be forewarned newbies.  It seems to happen to a lot of Southern and Eastern transplants from places like Virginia or North Carolina.  Coyotes, snakes, hawks, jumping cactus are just a few critters looking for Ms. Kitty or Spot the Wonderdog:)

Movies are terrible these days, but shows like these are extremely wonderful to attend....and educational.  So while the ticket for the Desert Museum may run you 14 bucks, it's money well spent.  I have a habit of talking to myself while operating my camera which comes from my father.  A fellow photgrapher was looking at me and smiling because he does the same thing. There's something about waiting patiently for an animal or bird and then....BANG! They do their show, the camera snaps....and it's really exciting all of it.  I was laughing at the hawk's shenanigans .  The birds, literally, fly right by your head....and they're big!!!

I suffer from pic overload at times, but I thought they were all pretty cool and couldn't decide which one to put on this post......so I put them all on:)

So I'll let you enjoy the show........if you're in the area, check it out.  You won't be disappointed.  And when I find owls, you can bet you'll see them here first:)  If you see hawks in your yard, don't be frightened, but do watch your pets if they go outside.  They are extremely intelligent creatures.  I've watched them corral birds into people's windows(including my own!) which knocks the bird out giving the hawk a free meal.  My cats watch the 50 some birds outside my window everyday, but when they freak out and run for their lives, I know there's a hawk nearby.....especially when I see a large shadow block the sun:)

More cool stuff tomorrow....

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas!

The battle for the Santa Rita mountains has only just begun(even though it has been going on for awhile!).  The Rosemont mining company has had their eyes now on this area for quite some time.  Many local residents oppose any type of mining in the area. Here is the story on this very hot debate...

Gayle Hartmann, president of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas.Pic taken by Tim Vanderpool.

Rosemont Mines, with great determination, wants an area of the Santa Rita mountains for mining.  They have been buttering up people around the communities of Tucson, Green Valley and other areas using commercial ads on TV and Radio, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  It wasn't so much the message as it was the shady meaning behind it.  They would have some people believing that they were already approved to mine in the area and that it was a done deal.

Tom Purdon, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas. Pic by Mamta Popat for Arizona Daily Star

But the locals in the proposed mining area aren't buying into any of it at all.   A petition has gone out to stop Rosemont from destroying the land around the mountain area.  I'm a bit bias because I've seen what the mining industry has done to our landscape.  If you look at Green Valley from Tucson, you'll notice that one of the mountains has a large white scar on its side.  You can't miss it and it bothers me everytime I drive around town. If you head towards Globe, mining stains the hillsides for miles and miles.  There is a reason why residents are furious about mining here.  Many have retired in this area because it's beautiful.  I signed the petition for them because I don't want to see anymore human markings on the desert landscape.

 Pic by David Sanders/Arizona Daily StarMike Varney, president and CEO of Tucson Metro Chamber

Supporters for the Save the Scenic Santa Ritas have been present at our major Tucson and local area events like the 4th Avenue St Fair or the Pecan Festival in Green Valley.  It was here that I had a long conversation with a lovely retired lady who is facing the destruction of her own backyard.  It is not difficult to understand why a mining company would want to use the area because it will be profitable in the short term.  But in the long run, the damage done will be insurmountable to the short term benefits.  Human greed and arrogance will be the destruction of us all.  If mining didn't have ecological consequences, then I'd be all for them moving forward, but this isn't any different than several leaders in Washington wanting to put a pipeline up to Alaska thru Canada for more drilling.  It's all the same thing. These fragile and necessary ecosystems must remain untouched or the natural balance of things will be thrown off. 

A panel is in order currently analyzing all the data. The following interviews were done by the Arizona Daily Star by Tony Davis.
Q&A With Tom Purdon of Save the Scenic Santa Ritas:
Q. How many panels will your group convene and who will be on them?
A. We have divided into 12 subcommittees, dealing with topics such as water, pollution, transportation, public health and safety. We have six to eight people on each subcommittee, and about half of them are trained scientists or professionals working in the fields their subcommittee is dealing with. For instance, I'm on the public-health committee, where we have a recently retired academic, a scientist, a geochemist, a retired State Department and EPA scientist and a couple of MDs practicing clinical medicine like myself.
Q. What will your subcommittees be looking for?
A. We will be looking for problems with the mine that are not adequately addressed in the draft. We don't think that some of the modeling Rosemont has done is adequate. We will put together all the reports into a response from our larger group and submit it to the Forest Service. (Coronado National Forest Supervisor) Jim Upchurch made the point about trying to be specific in how this mine is approached, and that's what we're trying to do.
Q. What do you hope this will accomplish?
A. At the end of the process, we're going to see whether or not the Forest Service and the people they report to think we have called attention to significant problems, and we will hope that they will go back to Rosemont and say these problems are significant and need fixing. We would hope that it would end up with the "no action" alternative being picked or that they'll have so many problems it won't fit into their business model to fix them. I can see Rosemont being irritated if they feel they are being asked for too much mitigation.
Q. Your group has already said it finds none of the mining alternatives for Rosemont acceptable and that no amount of mitigation could compensate for the damage you believe the mine will do. Will such an absolutist stance now hurt the credibility of what your panels end up saying?
A. That's a tough one to answer. I think we have sensed that there are so many things wrong with that mine in that place, that we believe our analysis and our answers to the draft will provide credible information, enough for the Forest Service to require extensive mitigation - that Rosemont may or may not agree to or may or may not be able to meet. This will be the first time that we put our scientific evidence forward.
Q&A With Mike Varney of the Tucson Metro Chamber:
Q. What will the chamber be doing in the next few months regarding Rosemont?
A. We're going to want to make sure this economic development opportunity unfolds according to the terms, conditions and regulations that cover it. When we see a company prepared to invest millions and millions, create 400 direct jobs and 1,600 indirectly and make a $9 billion local impact, we want to do everything we can to welcome them. But our perspective is that there are rules and regulations and Rosemont Copper has to play by them. If they do, we expect they'll go into business without needless delays and challenges or lawsuits.
Q. What do you think of these panels that Save the Scenic Santa Ritas is organizing?
A. They are well within their rights to go find that independent counsel. You can go to a trial and each side has its panel of experts. They find people who can sway the statistics one way or another. In the final analysis, it will be the U.S. Forest Service who can sway the stats one way or another and who will make the decision. We expect they'll make a decision objectively, embodying the regulations in their codes as objectively as they possibly can.
Q. Will you get your own experts?
A. No, we certainly don't have the budget to go out and hire water and air experts. That's the job of Rosemont, that's their responsibility and I think they have done a good job of meeting it so far. We will certainly attend one or more of the EIS (environmental impact statement) hearings.
Q. Is it a cop-out for your group not to take on the substance of these mining issues in detail as this project goes through the environmental reviews?
A. I don't see it that way at all. Rosemont is responsible for responding to and answering all regulatory requirements set forth by the Forest Service. That's a pass-fail exam. Either they will meet or exceed them or they will not. I don't think this will be open to a lot of selective evaluation. The Forest Service has regs that need to be met and Rosemont has to meet them. Our whole point is if they do, let's put that mine in action and put our neighbors back to work.

The scenic Santa Ritas taken after snowfall this year by a KOLD viewer

And finally......
Save the Scenic Santa Rita mission: to protect the scenic, aesthetic, recreational, environmental and wildlife values of the Santa Rita Mountains, Patagonia Mountains, Canelo Hills and San Rafael Valley through education and outreach, including protection of these areas from degradation due to mining activities.We were formed in 1996 to protect the scenic, aesthetic, recreational and wildlife values of the Santa Rita Mountains through education and outreach, including protection of the Santa Ritas from degradation due to mining activities. The group, started in Sonoita, was originally called Swapwatch, and included members of the Sierra Club, Tucson Audubon Society, The Wildlands Project, the Sonoran Institute, League Of Conservation Voters, and the Wrong Mountain Wildlife Preserve, not to mention many local citizens from Tucson, Sonoita, Vail, and Elgin. We incorporated and changed our name to Save the Scenic Santa Ritas in late 1996. Our main focus in 1996 was stopping the ASARCO/Forest Service land exchange in the Rosemont Valley of the Santa Ritas, and preventing an open pit copper mine there. The land exchange proposal was withdrawn in early 1998, but SSSR continued to monitor the Santa Ritas for new mining proposals. In 2005 Augusta Resource, a small Canadian junior mining company bought the Rosemont Ranch and has proposed a large open pit copper mine on that property that includes dumping their tailings and waste on the adjacent Coronado National Forest lands, our public lands. We are tracking this proposal in addition to new mining and mineral exploration proposals in the Patagonia Mountains, including the Canelo Hills and San Rafael Valley. Our short term goal is to prevent any mining from occurring in these areas. Our long term goal is to obtain permanent protection by supporting withdrawal of the Forest Service lands from mineral entry, and protecting the private lands from mining.

General contact information

Save the Scenic Santa Ritas

8987 E. Tanque Verde #309-157

Tucson, AZ 85749

Email

info@scenicsantaritas.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Phone520-445-6615

And that's my story for today....

The Greener Past of Tucson

Hello all,

Tucson is a fascinating place.  I've lived here for quite awhile now.  Some years we see a lot of rain and other times we see hardly anything.  And that is the desert.  People living here for years.....and I mean years have recalled upon a time when rain was a constant in the desert.  They remember especially the monsoon rains always arriving everyday around early afternoon.  Today, Tucson still gets those rains but they are irregular in pattern.  What surprised me most came from several audio pieces by older Tucsonans.  Most of them have passed now, but they recall a time when the Santa Cruz river was actually a river and not a wash.  Todays pics are taken from a historic website listed below this pic.  I was not alive during this time period because these were taken in the late 19th century and early 1900's.  I am thankful for records like these to help us remember what our Old Pueblo was like so long ago.

Specific info and pics found at this website

Most Tucsonans who have lived here for around 30 to 40 years recall the regular rains, but as the city of Tucson and Phoenix have grown larger so has the "Urban Island Effect."  Heat is absorbed into the concrete during the day and released back at night into the atmosphere creating a warm bubble around the city deflecting potential rain from falling onto the city.  Nowhere is this more obvious than in the city of Phoenix where temps can stay into the 100's at night during the summer.  Tucson still cools down:) 

So what happened to the Santa Cruz river in Tucson?  Today it no longer flows in the area it used to pass.  This was not always the case, a combination of human errors and natural catastrophes in the late nineteenth century led to the decline of the Santa Cruz river.  Today it acts as a wash. The city of Nogales, Sonora has been releasing treated sewage into the Santa Cruz River. This has resulted in the revival of several miles of riverbank within and north of the city of Nogales, Arizona. 

Today some city leaders would like to see the Santa Cruz river running again as Tucson revives the downtown area in the "Rio Nuevo" project. It would again flow the same route it did over a hundred years ago.

We can't forget the affects of Buffel Grass on the landscape. What?  But surely this would green up a city. Not so fast.  It was introduced years ago to prevent soil erosion but what it did instead was spread across the Sonoran desert.  Today it threatens to destroy our landscape.  This grass has had a huge impact on the landscape during wildfire season.  Before Buffel Grass, vegetation was spread out and if a fire occurred by a lightening strike or campfire, it would soon extinguish itself out because there wasn't dry brush nearby.  Today fire encourages this grass to spread at an amazing speed.  The fires now last longer and burn at a higher intensity affecting our protected Saguaro cactus among other prized flora and fauna only found in this part of the world.  For more info on wildfires in Tucson, click here.

I look at this above pic and see someone on a boat or raft of some kind.  My grandparents came to Tucson over 60 years ago and bought an original Native American blanket.  These were the days of Cowboys vs. Indians.  Those days are all but gone.  Native Americans run casinos and the Cowboys now work in a cubicle and vice versa.

There was a lot of poaching back then, but today with conservation efforts, people are making great strides on bringing back endangered plants and animals to our desert.  The Jaguar and Ocelot are making a return. But I need to stay on topic...and green it is. The Pima Pineapple Cactus is making a very slow comeback. Conservation efforts are being made both on the Mexican and American sides to protect this cactus that mainly lives in Pima County.  Former ranching lands are reverting back to the original grasslands state near the Buenos Aires Bird Refuge.   This cactus is extremely endangered and continued threats include loss of habitat by suburbia, off road vehicle use, livestock grazing, agriculture, and surprise surprise....mining.  I will be covering these issues next week as we take a closer look at some of the issues Southern Arizona is currently facing.

So when people say Tucson was greener in the past, they may have been correct.  However, I'd like to think we are making a difference today in our city.  Tucson has its challenges as our city grows, but we, as a community, are very aware of how important our desert is to us.  Most of us moved here because of the landscape.  These pictures are an incredible trip back in time and view of what was:)  More tomorrow.....

Standing Tall

Black Throated Sparrow

 On a cool and breezy walk near Gate's pass, here are some moments that caught my eye.

The Saguaro stand tall and dwarf us tiny humans

Registering for Machu Picchu

Dear friends,

If you're looking for a great hike to see some ruins this summer, then you'll want to check out Machu Picchu.  But you need to register now! as permits go quickly.  250 people per day are allowed up on the trail.  June and July fill up fast so plan now. The holiday of Inti Raymi is June 25th and thousands of people make this trip from within Peru, the Andean mountains, and from around the world to celebrate the Quechua new year.  I am placing a link here for availability.  "Disponible" means availability.  Plan ahead for this trek.  My account of Machu Picchu goes through the physical ups and downs of the trip:)  Be warned.....days 2 and 3 are challenging:) 

But you won't regret the effort and time it takes to get here.  It was one of the most amazing journeys in my lifetime.   Before the trek, give yourselves a couple days to acclimate to the higher altitude which will help you climb this epic Lord of the Rings trail.  No orcs....just Inka Trail bears....if you're lucky to spot one:)  Happy Adventures!

Don't Be Hasty

Just a reminder not to be hasty and trim or prune bushes/trees right now.  We will get colder temps this month and into next.  I had been watching this tree for awhile after last years historic freeze.  It looked completely dead in March but by summer, the leaves started to grow back.  If you trim or prune a bush during this month, you could possibly kill the entire plant.  Wait until March 15th before you do any trimming.   This tree has since come back to full form and I'd probably clean it up again in spring before the new growth begins.  That which appears dead; isn't always dead:) So hold the shears for the moment:)  I get antsy as well.  But March is the month of magic in the Old Pueblo. Right now just start on your outdoor projects....like the instalation of our water fountain.  More coming up on that project and so much more......

Where the Wind Blows....

Happy New Year!! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that you're eating lots of good food and creating great memories watching football games, going on hikes, or just enjoying that precious time with your family.  The diet can start tomorrow:)

December has mostly been reflective in my writing with some artsy posts which also included, hopefully, some helpful info for people exploring gardening ideas in Tucson along with some travel fun around the state and beyond. Last year I made a resolution....one post each day with quality work behind it.  This year, I will slow down a little....just a little:)....and not be so hard on myself.  There were some intense times as I fought to keep up with my deadlines, find important information, and interview people for data etc.  AND KEEP UP WITH MY GARDENING!!  Epic fail:)

I'm going to be posting at a slower rate this year so I may not publish a story or report everyday, but I'll still be around working on this extremely fun hobby.  So no stress if you don't see a post at 2 AM in the morning here in the States.  I'm okay, just taking it slower:)  I had two moments of pure blogger hatred. During the months of July and November, I found that I didn't want to look at the program! OR pick up my camera!  But then my writer's itch would come back and I'd start doing it all over again.  As the title suggests, this year you'll see some great stuff as trips are being planned out and I'll be all over the place.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll be in your neck of the woods this year! It all has to do with my past and connections to old friends....so stay tuned for what will sure to be some exciting adventure both in the garden and around our amazing country.  This month I have several features on some Tucson plants, the garden, and some memoirs I found in a box last month.  Happy New Year to everyone!  May this year bring us all happiness and health!