Sunday, March 15, 2015

It's warming up in Tucson

Temperatures in Tucson are warming up; it was over 80 degrees today. I suspect we'll have a 90-degree day by the first of April. That's the time we'll be leaving for home. I'm flying home with Larisa the Designer Cat on April 4; Art will begin the three-day drive a few days after that.

Here at the Voyager, the end-of-season activities are underway. We have potluck gatherings scheduled for the Reimagining God and Great Decisions groups. A cast party for Guys and Dolls. Friends to help us celebrate St. Patrick's Day by sharing Art's traditional corned beef and cabbage. Dinner with the couple who were our landlords last year. Our handbell group plays next Sunday at the resort's church service and the following night at a concert. I can see the calendar thinning out over the next two weeks. That will be good: I can get the taxes done and spend time sunning at the pool (yes, sunscreen is a good thing). It feels like the end of the school year - busy and bittersweet.

Here's what I love, love, love about this place:

  • I can be as busy as I want to be: discussion groups, water aerobics, dinners with friends, conversation conversation conversation, music, art, crafts of all kinds, dance lessons and dances. Sometimes I'm too busy.
  • We live well and contentedly in a small space - just 620 square feet including our Arizona room.
  • The community is walkable. We can also ride our bicycles. Some people have electric golf carts. 
  • We wave to people as we walk, and we say good morning.
  • There's a restaurant on the resort and the food is pretty good.
  • I can hear trains - and the wind chimes on my deck.
  • The terrain is mostly flat, but there are mountains all around. And glorious sunsets.
Here's what I love, love, love about our Washington home:
  • I can be almost as busy as I want to be: mediation, water aerobics, coffee or lunch with friends, opportunities to be with my church community, time with family.
  • We live well and contentedly in the house that's been home for nearly 20 years, with all the memories that entails. 
  • The hills in our neighborhood mean good aerobic exercise, and the espresso stand is a great break at about the halfway point of my neighborhood walk. I haven't had an espresso since we left home on December 3.
  • When I see a neighbor I can stop and chat. All ages of neighbors, from the couple up the street who are well into their 80s to the young family next door.
  • There are three restaurants within walking distance and the food is pretty good!
  • I can hear the sounds of the neighborhood - and the wind chimes when there's a front coming through.
Good places to be, Arizona and Washington. We are blessed.

7 comments:

DJan said...

Yes, Linda, you are definitely blessed to have two such wonderful places to live. It sure seems like winter went by fast to me, and Friday is the first day of Spring! :-)

Olga said...

Mike always used to say, "We have the best of both worlds." Life is really a matter of what we make of it, isn't it.

Sally Wessely said...

You are blessed in both places. I love your ability to sum it all up. I can't believe the season is already over. I had hoped to make it down this year. The trip in Florida made a trip to AZ impossible because of obligations here. Next year, I am arranging my schedule differently.

Enjoy the time you have left in your winter digs.

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

You have created a wonderful life in each place. Heck, if you added a third home you'd live well there, too!

Linda Reeder said...

Like DJan said, that winter seemed to fly by. It has been so spring-like here for so long that the first day of Spring this week feels redundant.
We had 2.2 inches of rain here yesterday, so the growth will be abundant when you return to your green world.

Tom said...

Your post reminds me of author J. A. Jance, who has one mystery series starring J. P. Beaumont centered in Seattle, and another featuring Joanna Brady in Arizona. (She has another series about Ali Reynolds, but I don't like that one as much.) Anyway ... good to hear that you're happy with your two places!

Perpetua said...

That sounds like a very satisfying, balanced life, Linda.