Thinking about it…

We arrived at the Eugene airport around midnight Tucson time last Monday, then drove the one and a half hours home through a deep dark fog, barely missing a large buck and two does.  It was good to be home, but already I missed the warm sunshine and spectacular sunsets of Arizona.  My husband’s family has a reunion each year, usually January or February, in Tucson where his parents and one of his brothers live.  It’s the perfect place to be when it’s cold or raining here.  The reunion this year included four generations.  My husband’s two daughters and their husband/fiance were there…along with little Mason.  The great-grandparents met six-month old Mason for the first time and fell in love with him. 

One day, we visited Tubac…a neat little Arizona town in the Santa Cruz River valley with high-end, quaint artisan shops, restaurants and scattered horse ranches.  I would love to have found a small house for sale in Tubac and decorated it with the handmade furniture I found in the shops there.  Just dreaming, of course, and then I would only spend time in my dream cottage during the winter!

We spent one fun day at my brother & sister-in-law’s ranch, located about an hour from Tucson, at about 5,000′ altitude in the mountains and about 50 miles from Mexico.  (I’ve never been to Mexico, so maybe next year, we’ll venture to Nogales.)   The views surrounding their house and barn are spectacular…mountains on all sides.  My sister-in-law had slow-cooked a large roast the night before, and she used the delicious pulled beef to make some outstanding beef enchiladas which we thoroughly enjoyed.  They have three horses there…one of which is a retired racing horse who is living out his days there on the ranch.  He is only “jockey-broke” and basically came with a disclaimer to ride at your own risk.  Needless to say, he is living peacefully…riderless.  It had been snowing for days before we arrived and was muddy, but I still ventured out to the barn.  Since it is always windy and cool on the ranch, we went prepared with jackets.   

a view from the ranch windows...

View of the back of the ranch house from the horse barn...using a zoom lens.

The brothers played cards several afternoons and we three girls (sisters-in-law) took advantage of that time to go shopping.  Tucson has great shopping choices!  One afternoon, I was feeling particularly tired of my hair and, on a whim, had it cut at the mall there.  My sister-in-law commented that I was so BRAVE to do that (read IMPULSIVE here)!   The next day, I decided the bottom layer wasn’t short enough and proceeded to trim it (with the macho logger tree farmer’s help)!  Then one day this past week, I had my hair dresser here straighten it all up and am now, officially, growing it out again!  And, no, I’m not going to post a picture of me with my too short hair.  Thank God, hair grows and mine grows fast.

It was a good vacation in Tucson, but I must say we missed my sister-in-law from Pennsylvania and Jim’s other brother.  She’s fighting cancer right now.  I’m praying earnestly that she wins this battle soon and that they can be there at the next reunion.  Jim’s parents are in their late eighties and not in good health, so each reunion is special.  We’ll look forward to next year when, hopefully, everyone can be there…

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