Just a wee update...

Dean still has posts to write, but in the mean time....after blizzard conditions in Chicago for the past 24 hours or so....we are back in Tucson! American Airlines (who we faithfully rely upon) has a hard time getting this flight (the last one of the night to Tucson) off on time on any given night - even in the dog days of summer, when there are perfect conditions. They rose to the challenge of the first blizzard of the winter in Chicago, however, and by golly they were an acceptable amount of lateness tonight - getting us to Tucson pretty much on time! Just when you think you can predict.....! So, safely back in Tucson (and with me working the next three nights), Dean will get busy and get those posts written that he's been planning! Maj and I kept him busy enough in St. Charles - he didn't have as much free time as he thought he would!

Weekend Rewind - San Xavier Mission

We're way behind in our postings, what with the Midwest travel and active work schedules. We need to blog, not from this last weekend, but the weekend before... Our friend Donna was visiting after the Thanksgiving holiday, and while out running some errands, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to visit San Xavier del Bac Mission.







As we arrived that Saturday, there was a lot of activity. Not only was there a junior rodeo going on as we entered the Tohono reservation, but there were a couple dozen vendors set up adjacent to the Mission selling their wares, which included jewelry, baskets and other crafts. The jewelry displays in particular attracted Melinda and Donna, and they spent a lot of time pouring over the silver and turquoise work that Hector Tsosie and his mother Elisabeth makes in Chinle, on the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona

The mission is a real Southwestern showpiece - the "White Dove of the Desert" rises like a mirage out of the Sonoran landscape. The mission is over 210 years old and continues to serve the Tohono O'odham community in the area. The mission was established in the 1690s by Catholic priest Eusebio Francisco Kino, a popular figure in the American Southwest and Mexican Northwest. He went on to establish over 20 similar missions, and is also known as explorer and cartographer of the area, being the first to recognise the Mexican state of Baja as a peninsula and not an island as commonly thought at the time. The church was built in the 1790s, so recently celebrated it's bicentennial.



The mission underwent a massive restoration back in the 1980s, which included cleaning decades, if not hundreds of years of soot accumulation from burning candles from the colorful paintings and wall statuary. I saw it before and since, and the difference is amazing! The colors of the paintings and statues are bright and vibrant. Unlike most catholic churches I've seen, the interior is a riot of color, chock full of paintings and statues of saints and religious icons.


We even found a connection to our Illinois locale! The wooden statue of the female Indian in the rightmost image is of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Native American. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980, the first Native American so honored, and so holds a special place to Native American Catholics. Besides the name of a parish in South Tucson, it is also the source of the name of the Tekakwitha Forest Preserve we've mentioned so often in our blog, located less than a mile from our home in St Charles, Illinois!

Last Night's Frosting of Snow

We had a dusting of snow a few days ago, and a big storm is promised tomorrow before we leave for Tucson Wednesday night, but we were surprised this morning with a nice inch or two of fresh snowfall. While Melinda slept in, I went out and caught a few frames. Our former Arizona car, now sentenced to a career in colder climes, didn't look too out of place.



While I was out in the snow early, I wasn't the first to leave tracks. The numerous ground squirrels and rabbits were out early too. We also spotted a brightly colored pair of cardinals feeding on the berries left in the bushes near our house, but they were too shy to be photographed even through the windows in our sun room.








As I said, much more is promised before our plane leaves in a couple nights, leaving ample opportunities to get more pics before heading back to warmer Tucson. Of course, we usually see snow in Tucson too, but after a 40 mile drive up the Catalina Mountains north of town!

A Home Improvement Transformation!

As the master bedroom project winds down, the Johnson sisters are working on valances and pillows while I feel pretty useless, other than helping hold fabric taut for cutting. So time to blog about the end of the project! Here Melinda is finishing off the first valance on her sewing machine. With outdoor temps staying in the 20s today, a perfect indoor activity.






As a quick review, we live part-time in a nearly 80 year old cottage near the Fox River. It is great living out in the woods along a major stream and still be relatively close to an urban area as well. The house has gotten patchwork repairs over the decades, and was in need of some TLC, and we were interested in expanding one of the rooms a little to make a slightly bigger bedroom. You can search for the "home improvement" topic down the right side for detailed posts, but in short, this last July we tore out siding, ceilings, flooring. Since then, in short bursts we performed some wiring, reinforced the broken floor joists, and rebuilt the siding, ceilings and floors. Realize we were only up from Tucson for a week or two at a time, so the bulk of the effort was overseen and done by Melinda's sister Maj. That is her in the "before" picture with Jack the wonder dog, after a day of demolition last summer.


We were back for another work session for a couple weeks in September - that is when we did a lot of the wall, ceiling, trim work and painted. Since then, while we were in Tucson, Maj was inspired to install, stain and polyurethane the plank flooring, and the results are quite spectacular! The immediate reaction upon seeing it is that you would never want to put furniture on it to cover it up, or even walk on the floor - it was just too pretty. But the next step was to move in, so we reluctantly relocated furniture that had been piled elsewhere in the house. A beautiful room, and with the completed window treatments, now declared finished!

Remembrances of Things Green...

The trip up to the Midwest was uneventful - just like you want them! I drove the speed limit, stopped every couple hours for snacks, gas or bathroom breaks and it took nearly exactly 30 hours over 2.5 days - just like Google Maps predicted. The Highlander worked great, though the "check engine" light came on in Oklahoma. I got a shop to do a computer readout and the catalytic converter was triggering it, so may have to get that looked at eventually. But the mileage stayed up near 25mpg the entire trip except the first tank which had some mighty headwinds, so a good trip!


You know, in our now frequent trips to Illinois, you subconsciously remember how it was and sort of expect it to be the same when you return, especially in the 2 months since we were last here. And the temps in Tucson even a few weeks ago were approaching 90, so it is easy to forget that we are approaching winter rapidly. A walk through Tekakwitha Woods yesterday before picking up Melinda at O'Hare drove that point home quickly. Hardly anything green remains, except some of the grass along the paths through the prairie that was full of flowers and insects 8 weeks ago. Now it was shades of brown and grey, though there were signs of wildlife - tracks of deer, and paths through the dried goldenrod and Queen Anne's Lace to trampled places where they've bedded down.



I followed the path down through the forest path to the Fox River, now visible for a considerable distance through the now bare trees. Again, except for a squirrel or two and what I think was an owl from a long distance, no signs of life. But down by the river, something I've not seen before - signs of beaver! At least from the downed saplings and a girdled tree or two, I'd say it was beaver. I looked, but didn't see any footprints in the mud along the river, so don't know how recent the signs were, but the sapling brought down looked recent. And there, huddled down in the tooth marks of the downed sapling, a single ladybug, one spot of color in the grey world... It immediately brought to mind my last walk at Tekakwitha just before our return to Tucson. I went out with the macro lens and ended up shooting bugs until I exhausted the camera battery. One of the last pics was of a slightly different variety of ladybug - big and bold in a sea of green.



I continued on to the Fox River Bike Path and crossed the Fox at one of my favorite places where summers past I've photographed cedar waxwings, great blue herons and egrets. Visible midstream in the distance are the first couple of islands making up Five Islands Park in the Kane County park system. Also visible are the lights of The Hideaway restaurant, billed as one of Al Capone's hideouts built on the river for a quick speedboat getaway should the cops come calling. It was cold, grey, and dark, even though only 4:30. Time to get on to O'Hare and pick up Melinda...





This morning continued cold outside, but snug inside thanks partly to the new insulation we've installed in parts of the house. Checking our e-mails, we still have a great view of the Fox River from the comfort of our sun room. While admiring the snow flurries this morning, Melinda spotted a group of white tail deer crossing the yard. I was only able to get a shot of one peering over a handrail at us before they headed over the hill, waving their white flags of a tail as they departed.

No pics yet....sorry!

No pictures to post yet, though Dean did get a short walk in the woods before picking me up at the airport this evening, and he did take some interesting pictures! Mostly, we're both just glad to be done traveling for the day and that we arrived safely. We promise to get with the program and post new stuff soon....now to relax and watch "Everything Is Illuminated" until I'm ready to call it a night!

Pictureless update...

Since we hadn't blogged since last week I'm throwing in a quick update - but no real pictures today!

Dean is on his way to Illinois, as I type, driving the Highlander to it's new home. That leaves me here in Tucson to get my hours in before hopping on the plane tomorrow and taking the easy route there. I know that Dean has blog entries planned, but with traveling it's hard to get those in. I'm sure when we're sitting in the sunroom, overlooking the trees and the river, he'll get busy and get posting!