Wanna Know What We Bought? The Tucson Chronicles (part 3)

Enquiring minds do want to know? We actually spent $12 on Wednesday on this wall pocket because it has an art nouveau design and it was only $12. Oh, I forgot the most important reason, we're cheap!



On Thursday we drove all around Tucson looking for a particular brand of Mexican drinking chocolate that Deborah read about. We went to the international market, a small Mexican grocery and then finally found it. Guess where? "Food City" which is like Kroger, Piggly Wiggly or Giant Eagle depending where you live. So we bought three of the cans in case Deborah actually likes it. Then we checked into the Marriot at Starr Pass and spent the rest of the afternoon there because there was an agenda to follow.

On Friday afternoon and evening we were released from the bonds of corporate structure and allowed to roam alone once again so we drove out to the Saguaro National Park to look at some 800 year old petroglyphs that were scratched into some rocks. We concluded that they were either gang symbols, the visions created as a result of eating certain types of mushroom or an early design patent application for a nine spoked wheel. You will have to click on the picture and look carefully for the graffiti. Guess for yourself;



On the other side of the mountain, what do you think we saw? That's right! The other side of the mountain...



Those saguaro cactus take 75 years to sprout a limb and live to be 200 years old. Some of them are blessed:



While some of them suffer from erectile dysfunction. You would too after 200 years in the desert. A little Viagra in the rain water might help;



I tried Viagra once and the pill got stuck in my throat. I had a stiff neck for a week....

These bad boys are protected. If you develop a lot then you have to relocate the saguaros. To hack them down will cost you $2000 and to buy one will run $100 per foot. Just in case you wanted to know.
Once again I was convinced to take a short stroll in the desert wilderness since a sign said Encino Trail 0.9 m. Hell, that's a short trail, right! An hour and 0.9 miles later we were standing smack in the middle of the (you guessed it!) Encino Trail! We hoofed it back to the car and drove as fast as we could (35 mph) to get to the two antique stores where we saw some stuff we wanted before the stores closed.

We got these two plates, made in Mexico of course;

They clash with the red walls but this isn't their permanent home so there!

The scoop of the day (in my opinion) was a lamp that was marked "Not Old" and priced at $55. The lamp was a sculpture of two boys doing leap frog and it had two lily shades. It wasn't old so don't get excited for us. The stores best deal was $49. There was no way we could carry the light on the plane with us and it wasn't worth the money to ship it back to Ohio. So we offered them $30 for the shades and said they could keep the lamp. Cha-chingggg! I'm no expert on glass shades but I knew these were worth more than the lamp and know they will look great in the "crack house." I think the store owner had one of those "Doh!" moments after she realized that we only wanted the shades. Here is a picture;


Art glass shades aren't cheap. Even new ones cost $50 to $100 or even more so we were happy.
Obviously we got everything back without breaking because all these pictures were taken after I unwrapped them. Don't be so disappointed, remember that I still have all that plumbing to fix in my basement!
When we got back it was in the 70s and this was the view of the front yard;



All the bulbs are in full bloom and the bleeding hearts are out too. Today it is below freezing and the tulips are exhibiting "shrinkage." (per a Seinfeld episode that is in continuous rerun.) Which reminds me of a question that was once asked of Liberace. "Which is better, roses on your piano or tulips on your organ?"