"The Way We Were"
Wednesday 12/14/05 Tucson Arizona
7 AM in Tucson. Sun only hits top of trees, turning them gold. I think today will be a pretty day. None of the birds seem to be up yet. O there is Pepper walking across our yard. And Snowball just came in house for her breakfast. I live in new world now that 3 of my neighbor’s cats have been spending so much time in our yard and house. O the sky looks bluer, I guess the Sun must be rising above the mountains. Happy is digging a foxhole for himself. O now he laid down in it. O there is Snowball hopping across the yard. I wonder if she is hunting a bird. Do you believe that! Snowball just climbed the whole tree. O now I hope the birds in their nests are safe from Snowball.
Happy in his foxhole. Sky much bluer. And whole top half of trees in yard lit up with yellow from sunlight. First bird to fly across yard. It is almost 8 AM now. O I see the early bird hip hopping across yard looking for food. Another bird swooped out of tree. O another arrived on ground.
O now two birds arrived together. And 3rd dropped down to ground. The bird world is out and about. I see they don’t get out of bed till 8 AM in winter. They wait till there is some sunlight in yard.
A week from today the Solstice arrives, the light will grow again. It is pretty this wintertime on desert. The light is now 3/4 down the trees. O Pepper is climbing the mesquite tree after a bird. I just hope those nests are high up and inaccessible. I forgot cats can climb trees and they do it so effortlessly. It is natural for them to do it.
The Sun has now reached part of the backyard itself. Bill woke up, heated up his coffee, took a chair and his book, and is reading it in the one spot where the Sun splashes across the yard. Happy is in his foxhole and Snowball is still in the sunshine surveying it all. O now she has lifted up her leg and is grooming herself. It is a long time since I have gotten to watch a kitty cat grooming herself.
Maureen and Sally were both in the jacuzzi when I arrived at the pool yesterday. Maureen is the new girl. She and her husband just moved to Tucson week after Thanksgiving so they have been here barely 3 weeks now. Maureen said her husband found our swim club, and he knew it would make Maureen happy and suggested they join and Maureen loves it. Maureen says “it is a huge beautiful place but the people are not hoity toity at all.” In fact I think all the crackpots in Tucson belong to it which is why Maureen fits right in, but I didn’t say that to her. But Maureen is right, it looks like a fancy country club, which is what makes it so nice that all the people are normal. Maureen feels like she has best of both worlds, which she does.
As for me I am stunned that a warm wonderful loud mouthed New Yorker has arrived in the middle of my club. It is so much fun. Maureen said she lived in Maine for 5 years and they didn’t like New Yorkers there. I’m not sure if this is true, I bet Maureen is missed by the people who knew her in Maine, she is so friendly and outgoing and warm. But if she was meant to move to Tucson now, then it is logical something would have made her uncomfortable in Maine. Nobody leaves when they are comfortable, and it is possible destiny had a hand.
She looked on the net and there were only 5 openings for jobs for her husband and two were in Arizona (one in Flagstaff and one in Tucson) and she chose Tucson. Then she went on Craig’s List and found a little house to rent. It is a guest house behind a much bigger house, but it is exactly the location she wanted, in the middle of everything, and it turns out it is also a lovely area.
The woman was very reluctant to rent it to Maureen because she couldn’t figure out why Maureen wanted it. It does sound very tiny for Maureen, her husband, and their two basset hounds. But Maureen realized the woman’s reluctance was based on Maureen’s happiness, so she told the woman, “I want it, so I will do whatever you want, sign a lease, pay the money ahead of time, pay the first 3 months rent first, whatever you want, I want this house.”
So the woman said OK. And now that Maureen arrived she likes the little house. She spent yesterday going to the nursery to buy a million plants to put in the little yard around it. Maureen says she loves gardening and can’t wait to get her hands in the earth. She is stunned this is planting season in Tucson, that the middle of December can be a time to plant all the winter flowers. In Tucson pansies, geraniums and petunias are winter flowers, they love our winters.
Her friend from San Francisco (Maureen had also lived 8 years in San Francisco) invited her to join her at a fancy resort in Palm Springs next week. Maureen said the two of them had gone there many years ago and had a great time and she is thrilled to be going back. She said it is 5 hour drive across the beautiful desert, which she said is a perfect drive.
I think it will be nice for Maureen. Relocation means a ton of work, so a week in luxurious resort where everything is done for you will be a nice vacation. Maureen said they ate out every night their first two weeks in Tucson but now she is going home to make stew. She doesn’t like the haircut she got at the foothills beauty shop last week, “I look best in bouffant poof like Barbra Streisand has.”
I guess you’d have to say the original encounter between Maureen and me and Sally was blessed. The 3 of us were in the jacuzzi when Sally was talking about the fairy mermaid dolls she made for her two little granddaughters. I included Maureen in the conversation by describing how beautiful the dolls are. And of course Maureen won Sally’s heart instantly when she asked if she could purchase 5 of them.
The conversation meandered off dolls to playing dress-up when we were little kids, and then somehow on to shoplifting. I said “I got caught shoplifting in Alexanders when I was 19 and it was awful.” “Which Alexanders?” Maureen asked. “57th St. and Lexington” I said. “O two blocks from Bloomingdales” Maureen said. Which is how I found out she was a New Yorker.
I dreamt about my long-time friend Helen last night. In my dream I was telling her why she was like Robert Redford my favorite actor. I said to Helen “it is impossible to figure out what makes Robert Redford so wonderful, I have tried. And it is same with you Helen, you are wonderful like Robert Redford, but I can’t figure it out, it is not something which can be explained nor can it be understood, it just is.”
7 AM in Tucson. Sun only hits top of trees, turning them gold. I think today will be a pretty day. None of the birds seem to be up yet. O there is Pepper walking across our yard. And Snowball just came in house for her breakfast. I live in new world now that 3 of my neighbor’s cats have been spending so much time in our yard and house. O the sky looks bluer, I guess the Sun must be rising above the mountains. Happy is digging a foxhole for himself. O now he laid down in it. O there is Snowball hopping across the yard. I wonder if she is hunting a bird. Do you believe that! Snowball just climbed the whole tree. O now I hope the birds in their nests are safe from Snowball.
Happy in his foxhole. Sky much bluer. And whole top half of trees in yard lit up with yellow from sunlight. First bird to fly across yard. It is almost 8 AM now. O I see the early bird hip hopping across yard looking for food. Another bird swooped out of tree. O another arrived on ground.
O now two birds arrived together. And 3rd dropped down to ground. The bird world is out and about. I see they don’t get out of bed till 8 AM in winter. They wait till there is some sunlight in yard.
A week from today the Solstice arrives, the light will grow again. It is pretty this wintertime on desert. The light is now 3/4 down the trees. O Pepper is climbing the mesquite tree after a bird. I just hope those nests are high up and inaccessible. I forgot cats can climb trees and they do it so effortlessly. It is natural for them to do it.
The Sun has now reached part of the backyard itself. Bill woke up, heated up his coffee, took a chair and his book, and is reading it in the one spot where the Sun splashes across the yard. Happy is in his foxhole and Snowball is still in the sunshine surveying it all. O now she has lifted up her leg and is grooming herself. It is a long time since I have gotten to watch a kitty cat grooming herself.
Maureen and Sally were both in the jacuzzi when I arrived at the pool yesterday. Maureen is the new girl. She and her husband just moved to Tucson week after Thanksgiving so they have been here barely 3 weeks now. Maureen said her husband found our swim club, and he knew it would make Maureen happy and suggested they join and Maureen loves it. Maureen says “it is a huge beautiful place but the people are not hoity toity at all.” In fact I think all the crackpots in Tucson belong to it which is why Maureen fits right in, but I didn’t say that to her. But Maureen is right, it looks like a fancy country club, which is what makes it so nice that all the people are normal. Maureen feels like she has best of both worlds, which she does.
As for me I am stunned that a warm wonderful loud mouthed New Yorker has arrived in the middle of my club. It is so much fun. Maureen said she lived in Maine for 5 years and they didn’t like New Yorkers there. I’m not sure if this is true, I bet Maureen is missed by the people who knew her in Maine, she is so friendly and outgoing and warm. But if she was meant to move to Tucson now, then it is logical something would have made her uncomfortable in Maine. Nobody leaves when they are comfortable, and it is possible destiny had a hand.
She looked on the net and there were only 5 openings for jobs for her husband and two were in Arizona (one in Flagstaff and one in Tucson) and she chose Tucson. Then she went on Craig’s List and found a little house to rent. It is a guest house behind a much bigger house, but it is exactly the location she wanted, in the middle of everything, and it turns out it is also a lovely area.
The woman was very reluctant to rent it to Maureen because she couldn’t figure out why Maureen wanted it. It does sound very tiny for Maureen, her husband, and their two basset hounds. But Maureen realized the woman’s reluctance was based on Maureen’s happiness, so she told the woman, “I want it, so I will do whatever you want, sign a lease, pay the money ahead of time, pay the first 3 months rent first, whatever you want, I want this house.”
So the woman said OK. And now that Maureen arrived she likes the little house. She spent yesterday going to the nursery to buy a million plants to put in the little yard around it. Maureen says she loves gardening and can’t wait to get her hands in the earth. She is stunned this is planting season in Tucson, that the middle of December can be a time to plant all the winter flowers. In Tucson pansies, geraniums and petunias are winter flowers, they love our winters.
Her friend from San Francisco (Maureen had also lived 8 years in San Francisco) invited her to join her at a fancy resort in Palm Springs next week. Maureen said the two of them had gone there many years ago and had a great time and she is thrilled to be going back. She said it is 5 hour drive across the beautiful desert, which she said is a perfect drive.
I think it will be nice for Maureen. Relocation means a ton of work, so a week in luxurious resort where everything is done for you will be a nice vacation. Maureen said they ate out every night their first two weeks in Tucson but now she is going home to make stew. She doesn’t like the haircut she got at the foothills beauty shop last week, “I look best in bouffant poof like Barbra Streisand has.”
I guess you’d have to say the original encounter between Maureen and me and Sally was blessed. The 3 of us were in the jacuzzi when Sally was talking about the fairy mermaid dolls she made for her two little granddaughters. I included Maureen in the conversation by describing how beautiful the dolls are. And of course Maureen won Sally’s heart instantly when she asked if she could purchase 5 of them.
The conversation meandered off dolls to playing dress-up when we were little kids, and then somehow on to shoplifting. I said “I got caught shoplifting in Alexanders when I was 19 and it was awful.” “Which Alexanders?” Maureen asked. “57th St. and Lexington” I said. “O two blocks from Bloomingdales” Maureen said. Which is how I found out she was a New Yorker.
I dreamt about my long-time friend Helen last night. In my dream I was telling her why she was like Robert Redford my favorite actor. I said to Helen “it is impossible to figure out what makes Robert Redford so wonderful, I have tried. And it is same with you Helen, you are wonderful like Robert Redford, but I can’t figure it out, it is not something which can be explained nor can it be understood, it just is.”
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