And Just Like That, It's 2025

Corona de Tucson

January 1, 2025

Christmas...

Christmas week just flew by.  At the top of the list was baking sugar cookie Christmas trees for Santa. Santa likes all kinds of cookies, but these are his favorite and this year Santa helped decorate them. Jamie and Andra came over on Christmas Eve to spend the night. We enjoyed our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. 

Homemade lasagna, salad and toasted buttered bread was simple and yummy.

 

Ozzie and Lucy were joined at the hip!  

Christmas morning was perfect to watch the sunrise and enjoy coffee by the fire.

Sahuarita Lake Park...

Friday we were off for a big adventure...Lucy's first big adventure ! We haven't taken Lucy anywhere except to the vets.  That's not much fun and now that the vaccines are done (and we were advised to wait a couple of weeks after she had them) we can take Lucy to some fun places.  

About 15 miles from home is Sahuarita Lake Park.  It's a manmade lake stocked with fish that is surrounded by a 15- acre city park. There is a walking path around the lake, benches and covered picnic tables.  

 And the best part...lots of grassy areas !

The path around the lake is a mile.  Lucy walked the entire path...and everyone we met said "What a happy little puppy!" She was so happy...chasing leaves,  crunching leaves and enjoying the warm sunshine and beautiful day.  

Spa Day...

Saturday was another big day for Lucy...she had her first spa day!  She loves a bath, lets me brush her and even brush her teeth.  But I was not sure how the clippers for her fur and nails would be and thank goodness, we were given a good report when we picked her up.

Lucy's favorite new treat this week is frozen blueberries...

New Year's Eve...

The Hotel Congress, then called the Congress Hotel formally opened in Nov.of 1918.

Hotel Congress was once again our choice for brunch on New Year's Eve.  

This time I chose a Cast Iron Baked Eggs dish...two poached eggs, ham, leeks, gruyere cheese, cream, and herbs served with breakfast potatoes and sourdough toast and fresh orange juice over ice...so yummy! 

I always enjoy going there!  And every time we go, I Iearn something new.  

The headlines in the 1918 Arizona Daily Star newspaper read...

"New Congress Hotel is Open; Has 100 Rooms; Grill on First Floor"

A peek inside the tap room...the original first floor grill with it's own street entrance and served lunch to the public from 11:00 to 12:00 daily. 

"Tucson's "war bride" hotel, the Congress - the only building of major proportions built in Tucson during the war period- has opened". "The hotel has 100 elegantly furnished rooms, all of them outside ones, single en suite, and has 75 bathrooms, tub and shower." "It has a telephone in every room, steam heat, and elevator." 

Lobby Entrance...in the 1918 article, the original Congress Hotel was heralded at the time as the Southwest's first "flatiron" hotel because of the triangular shape of the building and plot of land upon which it sits. 

In 1985, new owners hired friends, designers, and artists to help run the hotel and gave them "room" to experiment to see what would work to draw in both tourists and locals.  It is definitely a work of art...and absolutely beautiful. 

 

All the light fixtures were made by resident artists who would stay at the hotel.

City walks are always on the fun list of things to do.  Out destination this time was the The Children's Museum and anything and everything in between.  On the way, we passed by the Scottish Right Cathedral.  

The Cathedral was dedicated in 1916.  In 1979, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing building to the Armory Park Historic Residential District (That sounds like a mother walk!). 

 

The stage inside this beautiful Neoclassical Revival style structure (which was reported to have cost $150,000) was constructed and furnished at the time of dedication.  The stage machinery, the many painted backdrops, and the flying system are still in use today.  The building also included a 3-manual, 22-rank organ which was upgraded in 1937 by its original designer 

We stopped at the WWII memorial...

and took note of several other bits of history.

1914

The Willard Hotel was built in 1904.  The name was changed to Pueblo Hotel in 1944 and the "diving girl" was added in 1951.  That makes us the same age! She was meticulously restored in 2012.  The building underwent major restoration in the early 1990s and the pool was filled in. 

The Ronstadt Transit Center...
Linda Ronstadt was born in Tucson. Her granddad created wagon wheels and ironworks for the region. In the early 1900s, his shop built streetcars pulled by mules for the Tucson Street Railway...the first public transportation in Tucson. 

You might remember that our last walk in the city was to the Pima County Library.  What is interesting to note is that The Children's Museum building was once the Pima County Library.   In 1898, Andrew Carnegie donated $25,000 for a new library to be built in Tucson with the stipulation that the city fund the books and maintenance.  He also stipulated that should the library move, the building could only be used by another nonprofit.  The original building was built in 1901 and two wings added in 1938.

The Children's Museum opened in the historic Carnegie Library building in 1991.

The building was added to the National Register of Historical Buildings in 1976.

. 

Outside there is a veggie garden, music garden, and a butterfly garden along with water activities and a science cart for hands-on science experiments.  

 

One more thing to note...the Bufano Bench is a 22-foot marble arched bench you see when you walk up to the museum.

The bench was sculpted by Beniamino Bufano and placed at the entrance in 1920.  It reads...
"To the memory of those pioneers of Arizona who have given their lives that we might live in peace and unafraid in this sunkissed borderland."
It is believed to be Tucson's oldest piece of public art.

Back at the oasis, it's been a lazy few days.  

The skies matched my violas early one evening...

Lucy helped replant some flowers...

A hawk sighting on the wall...

Lucy's first puzzle...

Sunset from the kitchen window...

And just like that, it's 2025 !  Wishing all our family and friends a Happy New Year.  

Until next time,

One of the murals at Sahaurita Lake Park

HAPPY TRAILS !

Happy Thanksgiving !

Corona de Tucson

November 24, 2024

The ending to a very nice day...

Someone had a celebration at the oasis and it wasn't me !  Joe celebrated his 78th birthday on November 2nd. We decided on a trip to the city...I just like the way that sounds...for brunch.  Cup Cafe at Hotel Congress was our choice.  There is a huge parking garage across the street which makes it an easy destination for a yummy meal.  Joe had blueberry pancakes, eggs over easy, crispy bacon, and wheat toast.  I had my favorite...eggs Benedict with a yummy hollandaise sauce, crispy bacon, mixed greens with toasted almonds topped with the yummiest vinaigrette.  

Afterwards, we walked to the library. I have always loved "the city" even though I have no desire to live in one.  My first memories of "the city" were yearly visits with my mom and my brother to Atlanta to ride the "pink pig" at Macy's during Christmas Holidays.  San Diego comes to mind as my favorite city to visit and I love the history right here in Tucson. Tucson's first library built in 1938 is now the Children's Museum of Tucson. In 1990, the new Joel Valdez Main Library was finalized and opened to the public.

Sonora (the title of the red sculpture) was created by David Black and dedicated to the library's plaza in 1991.  Sonora stands 25 ft high and 43 ft wide.  While it may look like a giant abstract insect, it is filled with symbolism. Although I have a hard time seeing the symbolism from the photo I took.  I read the ring in the center represents Native American baskets and kivas, the columns are made to signify Mexican palm trees, and the pyramids stand for the Tucson Mountains.  

My first stop at any library is always the Children's Room.  The 9,000 square foot room is divided into three sections...Early Literacy, Early Elementary and Tweens…where children can enjoy this colorful area filled with books, a digital touch table, a pretend play complete with a wooden kitchen and "food", a puppet theater, and a Lego wall. 

The library has lots of natural light, quiet places to sit and read, places to gather with friends and a cup of coffee, local artists exhibits, and more.  

View from the second floor...

Our walk to and from the library was several city blocks.

The old...

and the new.

Joe was happy to get his eyelid stitches out. He has a protective contact lens and gets antibiotic ointment in his eye twice a day.  Vision is on the blurry side and we hope that improves.

I took a zoom photo...one teeny, tiny blue bar was on the center outside upper lid and the other on the bottom lid. 

Last Friday, we perused the Tucson Museum of Art Artisans Market, Old Town Market, and walked more blocks in the Presidio Historic District. The Artisan Market is an outside event held twice a year (spring and fall). This year's market seemed much bigger with beautiful jewelry, paintings, metal works, pottery, etc.  

We stopped to look at this gorgeous sterling silver jewelry and met the artist and his wife from Mexico.  The stones used are mostly from Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.  He is quite talented and every piece I looked at had a history. 

Every time we go, I look at these stained glass pieces for the backyard.  Janna, I think your talented husband could make these for your backyard...they are so pretty with the light shining thru. 

The pot wasn't for sale...

Old Town Market shops were open as well.

Romero House TMA School Ceramics Studio...

And a few photos from our walk in the Presidio Historic District...

The Cheyney House built in 1905.  Mr Cheney was a mining chemist and one of the early postmasters of Tucson. 

The Hereford (Hair-fud) House built in 1902 after Frank Hereford who was 41 years old when he married in 1901. In his younger days, he was a Cochise County Sheriff.

The Franklin House built in 1898.  Selim Franklin was an attorney and built this home for his bride, Henrietta Herring, who designed their home. Selim specialized in mining and cattle cases and land grant issues. He was instrumental in proposing and accepting the federal land grant to build the university in Tucson.  Since Franklin held the only college degree on the board of regents, he was made the first professor of agriculture.   

The Steinfeld Mansion built is 1900 was originally built as The Owl's Club by 13 bachelors and is the first California Mission Style on Main Street.  These unmarried men each furnished a room and hired a cook and proceeded to enjoy life...their galas, masked balls, and celebrations were the talk of the town. In 1908, Albert Steinfeld and his wife bought the property.  Albert opened a department store in 1914 and it remained one of the largest department stores in Tucson until it closed in 1984. He was also involved in banking, mining, and real estate and was one of the most prominent men in Tucson for several decades.   

Back at the oasis, we had a wonderful rainy Sunday.  It was so nice and we sure do need the rain.  

We have added more color to the backyard...

      

a large pot of daisies...

large and small pots of yellow pansies...

and my favorite...lots and lots of violas. 

I didn't capture many feathered friends the past few weeks...

and not all the birds we see have feathers.

We relocated a Walking Stick Insect that had taken up residence in one of my pots.

The best news of the month is we have a new puppy.  Our home seemed a little on the empty side and Joe and I figured out very quickly we are puppy people.  We picked up Lucy from the airport on Wed. November 13.  

This is Lucy's adoption photo from Crockett Doodles based in Greenville, SC.  She is a Cockapoo and was born on Aug. 20. Her mom is a 20 pound Cockeer Spaniel and her dad is a 9 pound mini Poodle. There were three pups in her litter...all girls...and Lucy was the last one to be adopted.

 She flew all the way across the country (with a stop over in Dallas) with her very own Flight Nanny.  Lucy was 11 weeks old when we adopted her from Crockett Doodles.  Love is such a wonderful thing.  I am pretty sure Lucy already feels right at home and we love this little bundle of fur, energy, and joy. 

Lucy's first visit to meet Dr. Huang at Animal Care Center of Green Valley. She weighed in at 6.2 pounds, had her second vaccination, and lots of hugs and kisses from Dr. Huang and the staff.  She has a rabies shot and one more vaccination in December before we can take her out in public. 

Lucy has lots of love to share...

She likes to play...

likes to chew (and everything goes in her mouth)...

Joe and I have never had a puppy this young and never experienced teething...yikes!

really likes her naps...

loves to help...

and we love to cuddle !

Joe and I are looking forward to Thanksgiving with Jamie, Andra, and Ozzie.  We sure have lots to be thankful for.  And its with lots of love and good wishes we send a Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends near and far. 

Until next time,

HAPPY TRAILS!