Small Things

Desert.

Immense and silent today. 

Not too hot--not too dry.

Filled with life and small things. 

Small things so precious--so important--so valuable--so perfect.

~:~

Trip to Arizona

Last week we decided to go to Arizona and look at different things that we heard and read about but have never actually seen. So we drove through the hot desert of Southern California. We stopped at windy Cabazon and saw giant windmills. We went through Phoenix and Tucson. Phoenix is just a huge metropolis: noting exciting about it.

Between Phoenix and Tucson there is a little known town of Coolidge where one can see Casa Grande ruins: an old remnants of American Indian dwellings.

Casa Grande ruins (Coolidge, Arizona)

Casa Grande ruins are not very famous but it's a nicely maintained park, very small. They have a history museum there and a little park that surrounds the area. Shade is a big issue in these parts of Arizona. 

The funny thing is that there is a town called Casa Grande, presumably named after the ruins. It's very pretentious and obviously blooming and growing, but the actual ruins are in Coolidge, which is a small town with absolutely nothing interesting besides these ruins. There is nothing much left but two old sites of the ancient dwellings, one of them is just a foundation.

Arizona Trip

We just took a little trip--another "Journey to the East" for us--though the farthest East we got was Flagstaff AZ. Not so very far after all but a very nice little trip in our nice little green subcompact Chevy Aveo.


So much desert. So much dirt. So little water. So many miles. Such wonderful fun.

Oh, it is awfully nice and I feel inspired and like new. It is so nice to get away for a change and a rest. (Remember the old post card vacation saw: "The hotel got the change and the bartender got the rest!")

In our case, we stayed at the least expensive motels we could find--those which were up to our high standards for "clean" and "quiet" and like that, of course--and we don't sit in bars so the bartenders--in our case--didn't "get the rest".  The gas stations did.

And we saved more of that scarce stuff, money, by eating steamed rice (we cooked our own in an electric pot) and tuna fish. (You can still buy a can of "chunky"(cat food quality) for under a dollar!) As a matter of fact, we didn't eat out even once! Not even at a McDonald's! Pretty good, huh? Such careful diners!!


Back in Temecula yesterday afternoon. Slept in our own bed last night. Cooked a real meal in our real kitchen. (Fried potatoes and onions and easy over eggs. I finished off with a can of chili eaten cold (bad but  yum!) and Tanya had her usual hot tea. 

Everything good.

TW

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Pale Sketch

We have decided to take a few weeks off from our usual work, blogs and pastimes--so I thought it would be fun to make some sketches.


Well, the first sketch I present here is pretty pale! (Can you even SEE it?)


I guess if I want to scan these sketches into my blog,  I will have to bear down a bit more on the color pencils--but I seem to LIKE them pale!


Oh well, communication is the purpose I suppose, so let the color JUMP!

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Temecula Library

Escondido Public Library. (Tomasito photo)

There are two libraries in Temecula--both almost brand new. 

The building of the one nearest  our apartment is really impressive--a City Set on a Hill on a steep hilltop overlooking the Ronald Reagan Sport Park (photo above).

We love libraries and one of our first acts in any new town is to visit the public library and get a borrower's card.

Our new library is about a half hour hike from our apartment, which makes it just about right for some good exercise. I say hike instead of walk because we live at the bottom of the hill--and the library is at the top.

The collection is so-so--not nearly the books, CDs or DVDs of our Escondido library--but lots  more public computers--which seems to serve the needs of the local people pretty well though, oddly enough, there are NO magazines about the world of  computers.

There are rows of free PCs--even a row (in the spacious Children's Section of course)  for little kids--and I mean little kids-- pre-readers. For these tykes they have colorful machines with blocky keys and the toddlers seem absolutely intent on whatever  they are doing with their fingers which translates onto lively pictures on their monitors--just like Daddy I suppose.

In fact this library seems ideal for children and child-like adults. It is a sort of a friendly "isn't this fun?" sort of a bookish place.

There was not much evidence of the used-to-be popular writer I was looking for: Hermann Hesse--no Glass Bead Game, or Journey to the East for example, but they did have Siddhartha.

Since the library is so new, the restrooms are absolutely modern and clean and the staff is very friendly, welcoming and efficient.

This library is a part of the Riverside County system and materials from the other county libraries can be ordered for the patrons.

There are comfortable seats for reading or just sitting and admiring the splendid valley view.

Its nice.

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