Tis the Season!

Living in the Southwestern Desert, if you REALLY look, you can notice the 5 or so seasons we get. It starts in January with cool-damp, graduates to warm-dry, hot-dry, hot-damp, and finally warm-dry to close out the year. But you do have to notice the small things. Here it is, the 20th of December and it was in the 70s (F)! Now how can you celebrate or notice a Winter Holiday when folks are walking around in shorts and t-shirts?

Today as we drove around town, we noticed a few signs that Christmas is approaching. First up is the Paul Bunyan statue up on Stone and Glenn. Normally carrying an 8 foot long prop axe, this time of year he switches to a candy cane. Paul is a bona fide Tucson landmark, the origins of which are lost in the mists of time. But supposedly he has made guest apperances in the movies "Easy Rider" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore".

We've mentioned Padre Kino before, and have even posted about the Santa hats that mysteriously appear on his horse's ears at Christmas. But it is nice to see a bit of color added to his statue on the north end of Kino Parkway.





And we noticed recently that the groundskeepers at Tucson Medical Center have also added the Santa hats to the tops of many of the saguaro cacti. Understated, yet a bold use of color to remind us we approach another season of good will.