During our recent reflective drive back to Flagstaff I calculated and announced to Paul that we had made 17 stops over the past 10 weeks. His response after his own calculation was that he had made 22 stops during the same period. The message I had hoped to communicate was that I was exhausted and it was time to unpack and settle in for a while. He was pleased to have surpassed me in stops and viewed the whole venture as something to be proud of and that energized him. Yikes! Lucky for me, he commences his final semester teaching at NAU in January so has to stay put through May. I am ecstatic to have unpacked in our Flagstaff home and be settling in for a long winter’s nap December through March.
We drove back to Arizona after Thanksgiving in California and I dropped Paul off at a friend’s house in Tucson where he could hike for several days while I visited a friend and colleague in Bisbee. I am not a fan of the desert and was not looking forward to driving in the dark on unfamiliar roads across mountainous two lane roads close to the Mexican border. Upon arriving safely, the first thing I encountered was a pack of wild javalina’s (pigs) making their way across my friend’s hilly property. As her dog barked excitedly at both my arrival and the four legged visitors she quickly announced the need to stay clear of them as the females were particularly protective of their young right now. Yikes, I was back in Arizona! This was the same day I had calculated the numerous stops we had made over the past several months having come to the conclusion I was tired of strange new places and long past ready to go home. After a scary drive in the dark this frightening arrival experience cinched it for me! I shook it all off with a little welcome bubbly with my friend, Ginger, who I hadn’t seen since we parted ways in Hong Kong after our adventurous Cambodia/Vietnam River Cruise in early 2016. She is several years ahead of me into professional retirement but it doesn’t appear as though it stuck for her.
After retiring she immediately attended a three month professional cooking school in Italy and came back to launch a catering and take out business in Bisbee. She cooks and is open for meal pick up three days a week and also works a local farmers market. I think she is putting in more hours now than in her previous life, although it doesn’t look as though I am letting any dust settle either. Once driven, always driven I guess! Anyway, after cooking and tasting all day she isn’t hungry but delivered her nightly dinner special to me each evening during my visit. I enjoyed Shrimp Pad Thai, Carne Seca and Chicken Pot Pie in her lovely home full of treasures from a lifetime of international travel. She recently brought back a new cuisine from her travels to Morocco, as she did from SE Asia, incorporating them into her menu offerings. I scoured through her myriad cookbooks while she worked. I offered to help but mostly just sat around and watched as we caught up on each other’s new lives. It was great fun and good to catch up with a longtime friend and colleague. Ginger’s daughter works with her in the business which allows for daily contact with her sweet 8 year old grandson, Skylar. One of her highly energetic 18 year old twin granddaughters, Camilla, was visiting from LA and was quick to educate me on the nutritional wonders of chia pudding, acai bowls and use of the right crystals to promote better sleep. She fits right into the Bisbee culture and learns a lot from her visits to Grandma’s.
My friend took me to the Bisbee Fiber Arts Guild where I was able to talk to and learn from a handful of rug weavers and tour their studio which is filled with different looms and all sorts of fiber art. Heaven! I am not sure I can wait until I return to the Milan Village Art School Loom Room in April? If not, I guess I can just head south as I did get the names and contact info for several Bisbee weavers who might be willing to provide private weaving lessons. Finally, on my drive back to Tucson, I found pecans from this year’s harvest ready for purchase at a roadside stand. I picked up Paul and presented him with lunch from my friend, freshly made Scotch Eggs which are his favorite. We then headed up the hill to Flagstaff as Paul munched away on his lunch and shared stories about his desert mountain hiking, all another “coming home” adventure. 2017