tucson daily photo

2007-01-16T02:56:00.000-08:00

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Movin' On

2007-01-15T02:08:00.000-08:00

Well its my somewhat belaboured attempt to illustrate that I'm moving the blog, heading on out, down the road, over the dip in the road and on over the ridge..well you get it. Hopefully I'll have the new Tucson photo blog up by Tuesday.

Another Visit to the Old County Courthouse

2007-01-14T01:54:00.000-08:00

The Old County Courthouse is an elegant building in the old Spanish colonial style, built as a hollow square around a central courtyard. On one side of the square is lovely tiled dome, with a walkthrough underneath that has its own graces. The photo is of the walkthrough facing towards the central courtyard and visible, through the farther arches, is the gray and white striped public library across the street.. I've shown the dome and library previously.

A Sabino Canyon View

2007-01-13T12:52:00.000-08:00

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Horses

2007-01-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

An installation in the Children's Garden at the Tucson Botanical Garden. I like to think an imaginative child might have seen them this way.

A Trompe L'Oeil Sighting!

2007-01-10T21:44:00.000-08:00

I was looking at another photo a few days ago, wondering if it was trompe l'oeil. Being a little vague on the concept, I looked it up here and no that photo wasn't but this one is. Appropriately enough, its on the wall of a store selling doors. Maybe not the best artistically but still, it works.

Sixth: Michigan St. to Pennsylvania St.

2007-01-10T19:59:00.000-08:00

My weekly exploration of Sixth St moving gradually north. This block has a laundromat, an herbalist, two businesses handling legal documents for Spanish speakers, another bus line to Mexico, an internet cafe and computer store, a coffee shop and the usual tire shop (one in every block so far).

The shops are right up against the sidewalk so as you walk by the beauty shop you see someone getting their hair done just the other side of the window. Or the barber standing in the barber shop door way, camera shy but enjoying the evening - next door to the cyber cafe where the teenager visible in the open door is totally focused on a computer screen. A sense of a kind of shared space, a neighborhood intimacy. Something I noticed in Barrio Historico too, where the houses also are right up against the sidewalk. In the Barrio photo a few days ago, I think the cutout man with his back to the sidewalk is sort of a play on that too.

And grafitti, part of the neighborhood too, for good or bad.

St. Augustine's Tower in Afternoon Sun

2007-01-09T14:26:00.000-08:00

Its a Pretty Blue Really Big Rock

2007-01-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

Azurite and Malachite from Morenci, AZ. Detail from a boulder at Tucson Botanical Garden. The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show starts at the end of January. People come from all over the world for its wholesale and retail gem, jewelry, mineral, fossil, and bead shows. More info here.

A Photo from The Tucson Botanical Garden in January

2007-01-07T23:56:00.000-08:00

Taken today. The red bunches are some kind of berry.

2007-01-06T10:33:00.000-08:00

Haven't a clue what to call this. Picnic with Dragon? Any suggestions? (Its from a gallery entrance in the Zee's Warehouse building.)

Two Windows in Barrio Historico

2007-01-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

I have this odd thing happen to me sometimes when I'm taking photos out in public. I'll be shooting away and someone will approach me and turn out to be knowledgeable about place or subject. We'll have this conversation about what they know and then they continue on to wherever they were going. I am a perfectly average looking middle-aged woman so has nothing to do with my charms as a woman, and in fact, in the US, being a middle-aged woman makes you practically invisible in some senses.

Anyway, that happened with the top photo too. I took the photo, walked up the street for a while and came back and this man was standing in front of the house and I made some comment and it turned out he was a guy remodeling the house for the owner, a real estate investor who owns a number of properties in that area. He gave me a brief tour of the inside - 14ft ceilings!, the original wood floor, unfortunately in terrible condition, most of the original ceiling, roof and interior walls had to be replaced. Per my guide, these old historic houses will kill romantic fantasies about bringing an old historic home back to life if you don't have a lot of money and expertise. So much for that fantasy.

Reflections do curious things sometimes, such as decapitate the guy in the second photo. Where did his head go?

Moonset

2007-01-04T23:51:00.000-08:00

The freeway (I-10 for those who care) at 7:15 am, rush hour still in the dark with the full moon setting. On my way to drop off a cat at the vets to be spayed. Such is the life of a pet owner. I didn't think "moonset" was word in English but yes it is and a kind of fanciful word it is too. See here for an amazing moonset photo that I didn't take.

And Its Illinois to Michigan

2007-01-03T23:18:00.000-08:00

The next block of 6th St. More small businesses trying to make a go of it, billboards about teen sex ("Sex Can Wait , Being a Teenager Can't") and Mexican beer, Linea Frontera - which appeared to be a bus service making runs to Mexico. Next to La Mexicana Carniceria, two mobile street vendors, oddly enough one Chinese and the other Mexican, parked next to each other and sharing covered tables (the photo just shows the Mai Chinese van, the Mariscos van is behind). El Fogon Restaurant (bonfire), Billares El Sur (billiards) and several other businesses, looking more prosperous on the east of the street.

Doorway in Barrio Historico

2007-01-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

"Life is a thin narrowness of taken-for-granted, a plank over a canyon in a fog."
Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)

January Theme Day Photo

2007-01-01T01:06:00.000-08:00

The Frail Duration of a Flower....

Originally posted May 8, with the title above which had to do with the fact that the Palo Verde trees had been blooming and had begun to drop their petals. Why this as my best of year? To be honest I couldn't pick a best. I love many of the photos I posted on this blog, bad or good. They represent to me all the things I felt taking them, the places I went, the memories, the people, all the places, the little adventures and discoveries this blog took me to this year. So I chose one of my favorite subjects. In fact this photo is similar to the very first photo I put up on this blog, which was also of Palo Verde trees. Just call me a tree hugger...

Please visit these other DP Blogs showing their best photo of the year. Due to time differences and differences in time posted, they may not all have the Jan. 1 photo up at the same time. Enjoy!

Porto (Portugal) -Albuquerque, NM (USA) -St. Paul, (USA) Kate -Greenville,SC (USA) -Stayton, OR (USA) -Szentes (Hungary) -Hyde (UK) -London (UK) -Dubai (UAE) -Buenos Aires (Argentina) -Shanghai (China) -Nelson (New Zealand) -Twin Cities, MN (USA) -Joplin MO (USA) -Stavanger (Norway) -Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) -Not Strictly Seattle, WA (USA) -Jakarta (Indonesia) -Auckland (New Zealand) -Sharon, CT (USA) -Evry (France) -(Aust) John -Newcastle upon Tyne (England) -Paris (France) -Bandung (Indonesia) -Brussels (Belgium) -Minneapolis MN (USA) -Aliso Viejo, CA (USA) -Seattle, WA (USA) -Budapest (Hungary) -Singapore by Zannnie (Singapore) -Tenerife (Spain) -Santa Clara, CA (USA) -Houston, TX (USA) -Sydney by Nathalie (Aust) -San Diego, CA (USA) -Vancouver, BC (Canada) -Singapore by KeropokMan (Singapore) -East Lansing, MI (USA) -Sydney by Sally (Australia) -Tucson, AZ (USA) -Nottingham (UK) -Sequim, by Norma -Hong Kong -Vantaa, Finland -Kyoto (Japan) -Tokyo (Japan) -Chattanooga -Santiago (Chile) -Berlin (Germany) -Trondheim (Norway) -Delta, CO (USA) -

Zee's Warehouse

2006-12-31T23:55:00.000-08:00

Photos from Zee's Mineral Gallery in the warehouse district. They sell an eclectic mix of fossils, minerals, antiquities and artwork. And let me say the place is just amazing to walk through.

I posted not too long ago about artists in the warehouse district being evicted from the Steinfeld Warehouse. At the same time the galleries in Zee's building also got notices. However, they've all gotten a 2 month extension on the evictions and the artists groups are trying to work with the city of Tucson to prevent the evictions and/or work towards giving the artists ownership or equity in the buildings while at the same time making sure that the buildings are safe. The city maintains that there are serious structural problems, such as stress fractures in load bearing walls in the Steinfeld Warehouse. More here and here.

El Nacimiento Continued

2006-12-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

La Casa Cordova is now owned by the Tucson Museum of Art and has been the site of El Nacimiento since 1978. The creator, Maria Luisa Tena, carries on a tradition learned from her mother, growing up near Guadalajara, Mexico. The display is a combination of scenes from the bible with scenes of Mexican folk life. There are hundreds of figures collected by Maria and her family over the years. I found the detail remarkable. Each little house is furnished, has typical items you might see in such a house, dishes on the tables, brooms and such, dogs, sheep and other animals, children playing, people of all ages, angels, even a little red devil in one scene. And this is carried through many many scenes with accompanying plants and lights. Clearly a labor of love.

El Nacimiento

2006-12-29T11:07:00.000-08:00

In Casa Cordova, the oldest house in El Presidio. Details tomarrow.

From the El Presidio District

2006-12-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

These images are from the El Presidio District. Tucson was a Tohono O'odham settlement, having been occupied for thousands of years by various native groups, when the Spanish came. They built a Presidio there, at the end of a chain of forts extending up from Mexico. The new Presidio of San Agustín del Tuquison was literally at the end of the world as they knew it.

The site was selected by Don Hugo O'Conor, an Irishman, in 1775. O'Conor had served in New Spain as commander of a Presidio and governor of Texas before being promoted to inspector of military presidios and had a long history of fighting the Apaches tribes, who were the primary reason the Spanish felt a need for defensive forts. He was nicknamed El Capitán Colorado because of his red hair.

Wednesday on Sixth Street

2006-12-27T23:59:00.000-08:00

A short block, between Ohio St. and Illinois St. (these are, by the way, all names of states in the US). The usual car/tire related shop, another flower shop and a music store. New in this block a carneceria (which sells meat). Two billboards, one for MacDonalds says "Despierta contenta" with an illustration of breakfast food (Wake up happy!) and another for a gun show at the Tucson Exposition Center. A wash (dry creek bed) at the end of the block.

The sign says "Meat for roasting" and underneath, "We roast your meat for free" (carne asada is popular here) and on the right side, "camaron" is shrimp. I don't know what "marqueta" means in relation to shrimp. Would be glad to be corrected by any Spanish speakers.

After the Holiday is Over

2006-12-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

Downtown Tucson late last night. After I took this photo, I took a right turn on the street ahead. Totally missed the arrow pointing the other way. Fortunately no one saw me driving the wrong way on a one-way street. I drove down there after work hoping for interesing photos Christmas-wise and I was tired and got kinda confused by how different the streets look at night. I wonder if a cop would have given me a ticket this time of year?

My exploration of Sixth Street continues tomarrow. I've decided to change it to Wednesdays since that's usually a day off from work for me and I'll have more time to take and work with the photos and get the post up a whole lot earlier.

After Midnight: St. Augustine Cathedral

2006-12-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

2006-12-24T13:47:00.000-08:00

*********Merry Christmas!********

Ho! Ho! Ho! Roar!

2006-12-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

While this looks like some very low budget Godzilla at Christmas movie, it is actually just me trying to get a photo late at night of a poorly lit dinosaur with my not so great built-in flash. The dinosaur is a year round feature outside a well known fast food restaurant here and is life-sized (Tyrannosaurus life-sized). No its not technically a great photo but I liked the way it turned out anyway. The only on computer alterations I did were sharpening it and reducing the size.

They Were Giants

2006-12-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

Facing the alley in back of the Chicago Music store, there is a mural with a night cityscape and two surviving jazz musicians with roughly 30 ft (about 10 m) of graffiti covering whoever was originally painted between them. The Chicago Music store dates from the 1940's and quite possibly the inside looks now like it did 60 years ago. I didn't have the nerve to take photos, It was fairly dark inside, would have required flash, hardly unobtrusive, and the folks weren't particularly friendly.

Its a place for serious musicians, you wind your way through a labyrinth of shelves with distant views of higher levels and things in shadows, high ceilings and far corners, no obvious order. When I was there, in one corner accoustic guitar was being played with some authority, somewhere out of sight. A place for people who believe the music is more important than appearances. If you know what you're looking for you will find it.

Garden Cherub

2006-12-20T22:31:00.000-08:00

In the garden of the Women's Kraft Gallery on Stone St.

Sixth Street Beckons Once Again

2006-12-19T23:59:00.000-08:00

Sixth between Oklahoma St. and Ohio St. Despite the very Anglo American street names, this part of 6th is still largely Hispanic. Small businesses line the west side, with the rodeo grounds across the street on the east. The four Santa Claus's are pinatas, a curious notion if you think about it. More about pinatas in general here and here a more historic perspective. I found it surprising that pinatas probably originated in China.

Also of interest - Pollos Asadas al Carbon Restaurant with a charcoal grill outside in front so the whole block smelled like charcoal grilled meat. Next to that a restaurant offering both mongolian stir fry and sushi with live Tex-Mex music, now out of business. Of note farther down the street a handmade boot shop, also going out of business, a dress shop with a Statue of Liberty in front, a petshop in what appears to be an old quonset hut.

And two Mormon Missionaries I encountered while taking photos. They were nice guys, sincere and committed in their beliefs. We had a friendly conversation and they continued up the street on their bicycles. Part of the rodeo arena shows up behind them.

Scottish Rite Cathedral

2006-12-18T12:41:00.000-08:00

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Built in 1915 for the Scottish Rite Freemasons, this is a huge rectangular building that pretty much dominates the area where it sits. A bit ponderous for my taste, it just exudes massiveness and power.

Who are the Scottish Rite Freemasons? As it turns out the question is really who are the Freemasons. Quoting from Wikipedia, "Freemasonry is a Fraternal organization whose membership is held together by shared Morality and Metaphysics ideals and—in most of its branches—by a constitutional declaration of belief in a Supreme Being".

They use allegory related to medieval stone masons to teach moral lessons, such as one should "square their actions by the square of virtue". They have reputation for being secretive and appear to have a quite remarkable internal culture of private language and ritual. Oddly enough Freemasonry has been criticized by organized religions because they see it as an attempt to create a religion (which the Freemasons absolutely deny) which engages in unorthodox beliefs and practices.

Women cannot become Freemasons though they can join auxillary groups (in the US, see comments).

Two More From the Fair

2006-12-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

The top photo is Barbie yet again (see her here and here from July). I am oddly fascinated with her changes in personna, maybe because she has such mournful eyes. The bottom photo is of two street musicians I saw performing later. I liked the way the guy in the blue t-shirt just stopped out of curiousity.

Xmas Lights

2006-12-16T23:48:00.000-08:00

Just in the last few days a lot of people have gotten the Christmas lights up on their houses so I drove around tonight taking photos. Reindeer, snowmen and santas are popular this year, especially if they move. The bottom photo is of a whole house, to give a sense of scale. In that photo the snowman tips his hat and the reindeer move their heads up and down and in the second from the top photo of the santa train, the wheels turn.

Two From The Chapel of the Sun

2006-12-15T09:41:00.000-08:00

Top photo inside the DeGrazia chapel - I just liked the tenderness of the father and child together among the angels on the wall - and above, the chapel from the outside. The paper bags on top of the walls are luminarias, a Christmas tradition I first encountered when I lived in Albuquerque. At the simplest, a luminaria is just a paper bag with a candle stuck in sand inside. When the candles are lit inside the bags, the effect is rather lovely at night.

See Dec. 16, Minneapolis Daily Photo for a terrific photo of luminarias at night.

Street Massage

2006-12-14T23:59:00.000-08:00

The Fourth Ave Street Fair has been held since 1970 and has its roots I think in the notion of the renaissance fair combining street performers, music, food, arts and crafts sold. I've been going to it off and on for about 12 years and I think its moved away from street entertainment and spectacle to more of an emphasis on it being a shopping experience. There were however this year still a few people offering things like body painting, tarot card reading and massages.

Its held twice a year, in March and December and attracts craftspersons and artistis from all over the country. This December there were more than 400 booths.

Light and Paper

2006-12-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

Saw this at the Fourth Ave St Fair, a few days ago. Lovely work. Artists are Yoshi and Susie Aoki of Seaside, Oregon. See more here about their business, Blue Tree Lightworks.

If Its Tuesday It Must Be....

2006-12-12T23:59:00.000-08:00

Sixth street between Irvington and Oklahoma, a short but interesting block. At Irvington, the street becomes 6th and the street scape is more like a city (sidewalks!). On the west side is Las Chepas auto sales (and notary). Its not clear if the they are still in business but I like the guy on the roof.

On the east side is the Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum. Tucson has a rodeo every February that is a big deal, the schools are closed (even the university), there's a parade and all. I will admit I've never been to the parade or the rodeo. So I wandered into the museum without much enthusiasm and found it really quite fascinating. I don't really have enough room to get into the details here, but I thought since I showed a modern police vehicle yesterday, I'd show one from roughly a hundred years ago today. Prisoners sometimes made the trip to the infamous terriorial prison in Yuma over the course of several weeks in the back of this vehicle, in the dust and the heat.

GEM car

2006-12-11T23:59:00.000-08:00

This friendly cop volunteered to be photographed and hardly anybody does that for me so he deserves a day on this blog. And I like the little car. I found out later it is electric powered and is called a GEM car. One of the fun things about a google search is the oddities you sometimes come up with. Guess who else (see here) drives a GEM car, at least for photo ops. Rather ironic, I think.

Dancer at the DeGrazia Fiesta

2006-12-10T23:59:00.000-08:00

From La Fiesta de Guadalupe at the DeGrazia Gallery of the Sun.

Hanging Out at the Street Fair

2006-12-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Sonora Downtown

2006-12-08T10:03:00.000-08:00

Viewed up close and from the downtown Main Library, from a third floor window. The red sculpture that I unkindly referred to previously as the "spider" is called Sonora. I've taken so many photos of it that its beginning to grow on me. According to a handout from the library, its forms are are abstracted from recognizable natural objects like Native American kivas and baskets, palm trees, mountains, dust devils, feathers on arrows and water flowing over rocks. Its creator is David Black.

Jo, Jo, Jo!

2006-12-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

It is about time I got something Christmas related up on this blog. There are many Spanish language billboards in Tucson though most of them are found on the south side of Tucson and particularly the southwest side which is predominantly Hispanic.

According to Wikipedia as of the 2000 census, the population of Tucson was 486,699 of which 70.15% white, 4.33% black or African-American, 2.27% Native American, 2.46% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 16.85% from other races, and 3.79% from two or more races. 35.72% of the population were Hispanic of any race.

Shoppers from Mexico spend an estimated $1 million per day in Tucson.

Winter Flowers

2006-12-06T17:39:00.000-08:00

On Monday, I went hiking in the desert and discovered flowers blooming. This is somewhat surprising in winter without any recent rain but then desert plants are opportunists, their seeds can live in the soil for years waiting for the right conditions.

Sauntering Up Sixth....

2006-12-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

The long Dexel to Irvington block of the Old Nogales Hwy, transitions through railroad tracks, weeds and desert, salvage yards and auto repair shops, country bars, and restaurants to a city park and the El Pueblo social services complex of buildings at Irvington. The photos above are all from the north end of the block.

The Old Nogales Hwy changes its name to 6th Street at Irvington.

Pueblo Hotel: Swimmng Pool and Refrigeration!

2006-12-04T10:43:00.000-08:00

I was walking around downtown and saw this sign and liked its 50's imagery, so Esther Williams, Frank Sinatra, etc. And yet curiously it is attached to an elegant Mission Style building. So I did a little research and found out the building itself was originally the Willard Hotel, built in 1901-1902.

The black and white photo is titled the American's Sunday Parade 1917 and shows the southeast face of the building. My photo is basically taken from the middle of the intersection behind the parade, showing the southwest corner.

To me it is fascinating how buildings become mirrors of the human history they pass through. I do wonder a little why the building is so beautifully restored and yet the sign is left pretty much as is from the 50's. On the other hand kudos to them for not just tearing it down.

Steinfeld Warehouse

2006-12-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

One hundred years old, once the warehouse for Tucson's first department store at the turn of the 19th century, now home to 16 artists, craftsmen and galleries. Recently they all got eviction notices from the Arizona Dept of Transportation which owns that and several other properties in the warehouse district.

The city says it wants to have the building "rehabilitated". I wonder if this mural will survive. The photo shows part of the mural; I showed a different view in this blog last spring.

Second photo added on Monday, Dec. 4.

Warehouse District

2006-12-02T10:12:00.000-08:00

I walked around a corner in the warehouse district near downtown and found this beautiful mural with a trash dumpster and boxes piled in front of it and an ugly shelf sticking out from it. This is district of older rundown commercial buildings, mostly brick and neglected. And also an artist's district. More on that tomarrow,

Theme Day: A Person From The Waist Down

2006-12-01T11:02:00.000-08:00

For more theme photos, check here.

I had no idea this was about Bob so I'm thinking geez do I change the photo. Well no, not enough time but I would direct you to check out some other wonderful Bob inspired photos -> Hong Kong DP, Szentes (Hungary), Sydney (Australia) and Delta (Colorado) were particularly creative I thought.

I didn't visit all the participating sites by any means so there are probably some equally wonderful ones that I missed. Visiting 53 sites with dialup would basically require calling in sick for work, ordering in food, maybe not finishing before New Years or who knows maybe still at it until spring. Such riches, so little time.

Construction Zone

2006-11-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

Peaceable Kingdom

2006-11-29T23:37:00.000-08:00

I saw this wonderful car in front of the Tucson Children's Museum and was taking pictures when the owner walked up. Fortunately he proved to be a genial man who was patient with my curiosity. The car is a Citroen, built in the 1950's. The painting of the outside was done by a previous owner who was an artist. The current owner refurbished the the inside which looks very cool also. Its not his main car and starting it can take a little patience. He had recently been interviewed by the local newspaper and his car may appear in their features section this week.

But its in my blog first!

Slouching Up Sixth Street....

2006-11-28T23:59:00.000-08:00

Soon to change its name to 6th Street, the Old Nogales Hwy between Drexler and Irvington turned out to be a very long stretch so I'm going to do the South half of it this week and the North half next week.

In the parking lot of the 99c Bargain Warehouse there was this truck advertising seafood, doing steady business even at 9am. The tire shop up the street came with its very own pitbull guard dog, wandering around loose in front of the entrance. And amid all the dust and weeds there was something like the gateway below.

Will It Stay or Will It Go?

2006-11-27T23:28:00.000-08:00

The gazebo at La Placita. The gazebo was built in 1955 to represent Tucson's Mexican heritage and is located in a very pleasant tree-lined plaza that itself dates from about 1854. La Plaza de la Mezilla was the departure point for wagon trains leaving Tucson for La Mesilla, New Mexico, then the territorial capital.

The wagon trains were the lifeline for Tucson at that time when all goods going in or out of the then village came in by wagon trains, a dangerous enterprise as they were often attacked on the way to New Mexico by Apaches. La Plaza de la Mesilla was the center of life in Tucson when it was still culturally, if not politically, a Mexican village.

To many native Tucsonans, the gazebo and plaza are remnants of a Mexican cultural heritage that has been steadily destroyed over the last 150 or so years. The destruction of the Barrio Viejo in the 1960's to build the Tucson Convention Center (and gentrification of La Placita) is still a bitter memory to longtime residents and in their minds the gazebo is symbol of that lost barrio. More on the gazebo controversy here.

Barrio Street Scene

2006-11-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

Playing With Filters No. 1

2006-11-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

A scene from La Placita, difference cloud filter.

I had this photo, really liked the lines, the diagonals and the depth but it wasn't right somehow so I was trying random filters on it, trying to decide to give up on it and all of a sudden this appeared. Personally I love it, credit goes to Photoshop. I wish I knew enough to come up with something like this by design instead of by accident.

Images from Downtown No. 1

2006-11-24T11:03:00.000-08:00

Trash Day in Barrio Historico

2006-11-23T12:11:00.000-08:00

Trash pickup is rather efficient in Tucson, once a week, the city provides these large containers. I like this note of goofy individual expression is an otherwise dull process. The blue container is for recycling.

Yesterday was a long tramatic, complicated day which resulted in the end in a tired, mentally exhausted me just going to bed without putting up a photo.

If Its Tuesday, This Must Be...

2006-11-21T23:59:00.000-08:00

Two images from the block of Old Nogales Highwy (soon to become S. 6th St) from Bilby to Dexel. There are trucks, like the one for sale here, that you see in a lot of places around Tucson, parked temporarily in parking lots selling Mexican food. In my experience the food is usually very good, more like "real" Mexican food than something like Taco Bell (a fast food chain). I experienced my one and only taco made from cow brains at a mobile Mexican restaurant. Also posole, sopa des albondigas, tortas and tacos made from a variety of things surprising to Anglos.

Waiting in Line

2006-11-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

At the drivethru, you can guess which one. Another reason to start riding my bike again. Maybe I'll do a training for the Tour blog starting with me now, flabby and out of shape.

By the way the, the top women's finisher in the Tour de Tucson, a Candian named Alex Wrubleski, finished less than 4 minutes behind the men's winner. I think that's pretty terrific.

And totally unrelated but check out this about an amateur photographer who got really close taking a picture of lightning. Someone posted about it on an elist I belong to. Wow.

2006-11-19T13:05:00.000-08:00

Later in the morning at a different location than my first photo and farther back in the pack, I saw these folks, climbing a steep hill with varying degrees of distress. Riders who were actually competing to win would of course never put something on top of their helmets but I saw more and more of this kind of whimsy later in the race.

This year about 8,200 people rode in the Tour de Tucson. Of that number about 5,000 rode in the 109 mile race while the rest did races of 80, 67, 33 and 4 miles. It is truly a community event though it also attracts Olympic and internationally rated cyclists.

Tour de Tucson Bike Race

2006-11-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

My alarm went off this morning and it was still dark out. I thought *#^@& - its just a bike race, just a bunch of pictures of the same thing, people on bikes, forget it, wanna go back to sleep. So I turned off the alarm clock and went back to bed. And started thinking about where I could park where I had planned to watch the race and where the light would be coming from at that hour of the morning and in the end I got up.

And went and took photos and it was fun. It was exciting waiting and then seeing the first rider come over the hill and the first pack (phaeton?) of riders and then cheering them on. Especially the later more recreational riders who loved the cheers and cow bells and homemade signs, just soaked it up like brand new celebrities on their first red carpet. As they should have and you had to love them for it. Bravo Tour riders!

For more on the Tour de Tucson, a general article here and an entertaining account of actually being in the race here.

Water Wall and Surly Rabbit

2006-11-17T12:15:00.000-08:00

If I were a child, I'd want to feel the water running down the wall and run my fingers over the shapes sticking out. As an adult I stood there and thought the wall was kinda cool.

If I were a child the rabbit bench might seem silly or funny or scary or I might just want to climb on top of it but as an adult I thought of Alice in Wonderland and took photos.

From the entrance to the Children's Discovery Garden at the Tucson Botanical Garden.

Metamorphosis du Jour

2006-11-16T12:13:00.000-08:00

Butterflies at the Tucson Botanical Gardens

2006-11-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

Butterflies in the greenhouse at the Botanical Gardens, a fund-raiser special event lasting until February. The butterflies were raised in sanctioned butterfly farms in "Costa Rica, Southeast Asia and other tropic locations", shipped in the chrysalis or pupal stage and raised to emergence at the gardens and then released into the greenhouse. It was hot and very humid in the greenhouse but fun trying to get photos.

The top one is called (at least in English) a Paper Kite (Idea luconoe), the bottom one is a Great Mormon (Papilio memnon). Both are Asian.

Gaby's Music and Dulceria

2006-11-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be interesting, to pick a street in Tucson and every week put up a photo from it, block by block. So on Tuesdays from now on for quite a while (its a long street) there will be a photo from 6th street. I picked that street because it gives a good cross section of Tucson, moving from south to north. Not a definitive cross section - probably no one street could do that - but a fascinating one I think. At least the street is, I have no idea if the photos will be or not.

So I'm starting at the south end, really outside the Tucson city limits, but I think this is area is part of what makes Tucson what it is. The street is actually called the Old Nogales Highway at this point. Today's block is between Valencia and Bilby, photos taken this morning. The building and sky really are that blue.

Please check out Mary's excellent blog, Manhattan Street Project, which made me want to try something of a similar nature.

Fall Reflection

2006-11-13T12:08:00.000-08:00

Shrine of Santa Rita in Vail, AZ

2006-11-12T19:52:00.000-08:00

The bell tower of the Shrine of Santa Rita taken this fine evening. Santa Rita is the saint of impossible causes, the saint of those utterly without power who are abused by those having it. She is the patron saint of damaged wives and children, of those abused by men in authority in God's name.

Vail is a little town located just east of Tucson. There are Santa Rita Mountains southeast of Tucson where the Santa Rita Abbey (a trappist nunery) is located near Sonoita. I enjoyed reading the Abbey journal. It is quite descriptive of some aspects of rural life in southeastern Arizona.

Caber T- o- s- s! / __

2006-11-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

Cabers vary considerably but on average they weight about 150 lbs (68 kgs) and are 18 ft (5.5m) long. More here. Photos from Celtic Festival here in Tucson.

All Souls Procession

2006-11-10T02:08:00.000-08:00

See here for the official website.

2006-11-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

All Souls Procession

2006-11-08T09:37:00.000-08:00

When I think of the experience of being part of the All Souls Parade, I hear the drums that were the heartbeat of it all. They started out at a sedate walking pace and gradually got faster, louder, more jazzy. At one point we went underneath an underpass and in that small space it was like you could feel them pulsing in your bones.

All Soul's seemed to me in some ways quintessentially Tucsonan. There was no registration, no rules except local laws. People just showed up in costumes, some quite elaborate, that they made themselves to honor their dead. It seemed to me to have roots from a lot of different influences - the latin Dia de los Muertos, the more Anglo Halloween, Madi Gras. It is a celebration by the living of people who were loved and who died. Its been held for 17 years, just a few people at first but now thousands.

Election Day

2006-11-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

I got a call from Laura Bush this morning, a recorded message urging me to vote Republican. Laura Bush is the wife of the President and we are having an election in the US today. On a national level, many members of Congress are up for re-election but this election is widely seen as a referendum on George Bush's government and the Iraqi war.

Please vote if you want to say no to the war, the corruption, the tax cuts for the wealthy, the attack on our freedoms.

The photo is from the All Souls Parade, a non-political event.

Four Shillings Short

2006-11-06T11:26:00.000-08:00

This is Christy Martin of Four Shillings Short who is American born. She and her husband, Aodh Og O Tuama who is Irish, play a diverse combination of Celtic, blues, East Indian, Medival and American folk music. I bought one of their albums, its wonderful.

When I walked into the tent where they were playing, I was wondering what the lovely Irish instrument was that sounded so much like a sitar. As it turns out it was a sitar, which she was playing in this case to accompany a traditional Irish folk song. On their albums, she also plays Indian ragas. She studied sitar with Ravi Shankar and also plays mandolin, dulcimer, mandola, bodhran, banjo and guitar.

Pipers and Photographer Guy

2006-11-05T23:59:00.000-08:00

You have to know he was shooting down through a long line of bagpipers. Sometimes I envy the professionals their opportunities (and their cameras).

I had an amazing time at the All Souls Parade tonight and it was quite a surprise to discover some of the pipers from the yesterday's Celtic Festival at tonight's parade - with skelton painted faces. I have photos of some of the same people from both events.

Clown in a Kilt

2006-11-04T20:12:00.000-08:00

Today was the Tucson Celtic Festival. There were pipe bands, highland games, music, dance, games and inflated castles for the kids, clan tents and a parade of clans, stuff sold, even Border Collie sheep herding and this clown making balloon animals with great good humor all day. So many men in kilts :), so many bagpipers - who knew there were that many in Arizona. I heard bagpipes all day no matter what else was going on.

I took a gazillion photos. Which leaves me as usual trying to pick 1 or even 2 or 3 or 4 out of hundreds. While I really like the daily photo, one photo, taken that day more or less model and think it produces excellent blogs, it just isn't what I can do with this kind of material. So I've just decided to go with my particular (somewhat erratic) flow - i.e one photo daily taken at some festival or other this fall. So there will be on various days men tossing the caber, dogs herding sheep, an Irish musician playing the sittar and also glass blowers, masks, pottery, dancers of all kinds, an All Souls Parade that I'm going to tomarrow night, The Tour de Tucson bike race in few weeks and a whole lot else.

2006-11-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

The photo is of the Main Branch of the Tucson Public Library. Currently there is a controversy about computer use at the libraries. For people who can't afford to own a computer, the dozen or so branches of the library are the place to go and are heavily used. Some people are accessing pornography and others find that objectionable. More here.

Almost Show Time

2006-11-02T12:58:00.000-08:00

Almost time for the parade of Latin American dress. They look pretty nervous but everything went fine.

Check out Rudy's excellent Antigua Guatemala blog for recent posts about Dia de los Difuntos and Dia de los Santos - find it here.

Dia de los Muertos

2006-11-01T23:59:00.000-08:00

A holiday with a 3,000 year old history, recognizing the ephemeral nature of life and and the continuity of family. Perhaps life is just a dream we share with those we love both the living and the dead. See here for about Dia de los Muertos.

Decorating skull candy at the Latin American festival (above) and muertos tile murals by Las Artes (below).

Who's Out There??

2006-10-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

"I was working in the lab late one night
When my eyes beheld an eerie sight
For my monster from his slab began to rise
And suddenly to my surprise

He did the mash
He did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
He did the mash
It caught on in a flash
He did the mash
He did the monster mash

From my laboratory in the castle east
To the master bedroom where the vampires feast
The ghouls all came from their humble abodes
To get a jolt from my electrodes

They did the mash
They did the monster mash
The monster mash
It was a graveyard smash
They did the mash
It caught on in a flash
They did the mash
They did the monster mash"

From the 1962 pop song "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. See here for the rest of the song and here for the official website which is kind of fun.

Almost Halloween!

2006-10-30T10:51:00.000-08:00

Another mask, this time from craftswork displayed as part of a Latin American festival, held at Arizona Historical Museum yesterday.

What's That Up There?!

2006-10-29T12:52:00.000-08:00

Scorpian mask from an exhibit of Mexican masks at the Arizona State Museum. It was poised towards the top of a wall above an archway. Wonderful work.

Cafe in La Placita

2006-10-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

This is our best season, cool to warm sunny days. Sunny nearly every day. Sidewalk cafes are popular in Tucson, especially this time of year.

Up Close and Spiney

2006-10-27T23:59:00.000-07:00

Up close landscape of a prickley pear. Ubiquitous and etable. It is not unusual to see prickley pear pads with bite-sized chunks taken out of them, by deer and other wild animals. Humans have eaten them too for centuries, both the pads and the fruits (without the spines!). Of course these days most of us are now hunter-gatherers only in supermarkets and would not think of eating anything that grew out in the desert.

On the other hand some brave soul came up with this recipe for Prickley Pear Brownies.

Two Houses

2006-10-26T23:59:00.000-07:00

In the light of a golden sunset, two houses from Barrio Historico.

Peeling Paint and China

2006-10-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

The El Presidio District, bordering downtown on the north, during the late 1800's through early 1900's, was where the wealthy merchants built their homes. Some of those homes are now beautifully restored by this century's wealthy, the lawyers.

The Barrio Historico, south of downtown, was a working class neighborhood from the start and it is more diverse, more colorful (literally) and far more funky. Much of the neighborhood is abode brick, built with no setback, i.e. the front walls of the houses are right up against the narrow sidewalks.

The adobes are blues, pinks, coral, bright earth yellows, oranges, blinding whites, and grays too. There is peeling paint in abundance, beautiful brickwork, lace curtains, arches, many patios just visible through gates and narrow walkways. There are beautiful dying, crumbling houses and well-maintained restored ones. If I had a choice I live there in a heartbeat :)

Passageway off Cushing Street

2006-10-24T23:59:00.000-07:00

In the Barrio Historico, built between the 1860's and the 1920's, an area of Hispanic cultural and architectural traditions. Once the home of Spanish ranchers needing a residence in town to be near schools and churches, later adopted by American Anglo-Saxons, Russians, Germans, Italians and later Chinese immigrants. The majority of its residents were working class - bakers, blacksmiths, saloonkeepers and shopkeepers.

2006-10-24T01:19:00.000-07:00

Please check out the link in the title of yesterday's post if you haven't already. Thanks!

Barbea Williams Performing Company

2006-10-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

Elephants

2006-10-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Reid Park Zoo is, I think, well managed, clean, and takes good care of the animals. They keep just two elephants, Connie and Shaba, in a modest (by elephant standards) enclosure of about an acre. Earlier this year the zoo requested tax funding to expand the elephant enclose to 7 acres at a cost of $8 million.

A group called the Animal Defense League created a big controversy by proposing that the two elephants be moved to an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee instead. They pointed out that the entire zoo is currently only 15 acres and that elephants in the wild require much larger areas than 7 acres to roam in. In the end the zoo got their money and the elephants will stay.

The public was largely on the side of keeping the elephants here, as in how can we have a zoo without elephants. The Animal Defense League proposal was seen, rightly I think, as an attack on the whole idea of having zoos at all. Personally I think for some of the larger animals like elephants and the big carnivores this is a point of view that at least requires more serious consideration though Connie and Shaba look to be well treated and may well be pretty content. No one is implying that they are abused as in this article.

On the other hand I walk by the tiger enclosure, which is maybe half the size of the elephant enclosure, well furnished with trees and grassy areas, places to swim and rest and withdraw from view. And yet every time I see those tigers they are pacing, up and down, up and down. It is a sad thing to see.

inside the Snake (Again)

2006-10-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

Its the Rattesnake Bridge on a fine fall evening. Couldn't stay for the sunset unfortunately. For those who didn't see my previous entry, this is a predestrian/bike way shaped like a rattlesnake. It even has a tail that rattles!

I'm sorry, I don't know how to do a direct link; however there is more on this on May 5-7 of this blog.

Bobbleheads

2006-10-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

For those of you who's countries haven't been invaded by this particular form of kitsch, these are Bobbleheads (or sometimes spelled Bobble Heads). The heads rest on a spring. When you give it a gentle poke, the head bobs and nods and basically bobbles. For some reason this is sort of endearing and mildly fascinating. They can be sports figures, movie stars, politicians, animals, even Donald Trump or George Bush (the mind boggles).

I took this photo at Tucson Meet Yourself. Nobody sees these as art (or craft) but items like this turn up in booths on the fringe of all kinds of events.

Urban Canyon

2006-10-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

Wandering through downtown with a camera, an evening of magical light. In nature a tree is a tree, a rock a rock, a canyon a canyon. Cities are full unexplained things. Old cars in alleys behind razor wire. Stairs leading up to black doors. A man playing with a puppy next to a giant red abstract sculpture, a thing of wavy lines and false stairstepped edges. A middle-aged woman, born in the same state I was, trying to figure out a place to spend the night off the sidewalks. Beautiful giant buildings covered in relected glass clouds and sky. What goes on inside those buildings, all those people at desks, on the phone. What would happen if they just stopped, left the buildings, walked in the sunlight of an evening.

Waiting...

2006-10-18T23:17:00.000-07:00

Feeding time in one of the zoo's flight cages, for this Egyptian Goose, among others. According to one reference "Egyptian Geese are very pugnacious and aggressive, especially during breeding season. They are intolerant of other birds including individuals of their own kind and are among the most vicious of all waterfowl." Which may explain why it was in a flight cage with a lot of little forest birds and no other waterfowl.

Mosaic by Las Artes

2006-10-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Las Artes had a display at Tucson Meet Yourself. I stopped, talked with them, took photos. They fire their own tiles, use both commercial glazes and glazes they make themselves. Tiles are handpainted and in some cases airbrushed. By teenagers, trained by them. Their program helps kids get their GEDs in a working artist environment.

Their mosaics are all over Tucson and they do really beautiful work. This photo just does not do justice to this particular mosaic, especially the skin tones which were lovely. Oh and they did some of the benches in Sahuarita that I showed a photo of several months ago. Tucson has this odd small town quality sometimes, like its three degrees of separation here instead of six.

The Panethenians

2006-10-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

This photo is from a festival called Tucson Meet Yourself. Its kind of dorky name for a festival but maybe its meant to be -as if to say let's not take ourselves too seriously and just have fun with who we all are. Its been held annually for 33 years and the idea, according to the program, is "to celebrate the living, traditional arts of Southern Arizona's folk and ethnic communities". I took a gazillion photos :)

The girls in the photo are from a Greek folk dancing group called The Panethenians. They looked quite solemn most of the time when they were dancing so I was pleased to catch them in a less serious moment. This was a slower part of the dance where they got close together, moving in a line.

Stairway to Heaven

2006-10-15T09:23:00.000-07:00

My little Led Zeppelin joke. Anyway, I really liked this remarkably pink church steeple (and the clouds!)

Ghosts On The Roof

2006-10-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

On the roof of a costume store. It was windy so they're looking particularly lively (for ghosts that is).

Inside the Studio

2006-10-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

The Sonoran Glass Academy is in neighborhood near downtown - historic, low income, a place where artists can afford working space. Given its location so near dowtown if developers ever take an interest in it, its doomed to gentrification. However at the present, it is diverse and lively in its interests.

I was surprised how much glassblowing is done as a group. There was a balletic quality, an intense shared focus - a reflection of the fact that they are creating and shaping a delicate (and extremely hot) object.

Segue to the Sonoran Glass Art Academy

2006-10-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

The folks at the Sonoran Glass Academy kindly allowed me to take photos during their Pumpkin Fiesta fundraiser last Sunday. This is actually a photo taken towards the end of the making of a piece, as it is going into a furnace. It seemed somehow a fitting seque from DeGrazia.

I like the word segue here because I think its what we are all doing with the daily photo blogs. From Wikipedia: In music, segue (pronounced ['sɛgweɪ]) is a direction to the performer. It means continue (the next section) without a pause. It comes from the Italian "it follows".... In improvisation it is often used for transitions created as a part of the performance, leading from one area to another.

Light Show

2006-10-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Why is the donkey sideways?? Because Blogger insisted it had to be sideways. I am so done with Blogger.

The DeGrazia Gallery

2006-10-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

In addition to the chapel, DeGrazia built a gallery and a smaller home behind it. He built them from saguaro ribs, cholla cactus, rocks, mud and straw brick, scavengered timbers, cement. Of the adobe walls he said: "The mud wall is masculine - physically strong and durable. The straw is feminine - delicate as thread. The color is sun and gold".

The bottom photo is a photo of a photo (so to speak) of DeGrazia at work.

Adobe Chapel in the Sun

2006-10-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Better late than never :-) Inside the DeGrazia Mission, dedicated to Father Kino in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Gallery In The Sun

2006-10-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

One of the gifts of doing this blog is the discoveries it leads me to. The DeGrazia gallery took me by surprise. I visited on a whim, just happened to be driving by with some time on my hands. Based on postcards and calendars I'd seen, I had thought of his paintings as sentimental southwestern kitsch - in the same category of "art" as the strangely iconic dogs-playing-poker paintings (see here). Instead I was reminded that the workings of a truly creative mind are never that simple.

Photos are of a ramada at the entrance and the private chapel DeGrazia built. More tomarrow.