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| Snowy dawn |
Ten Years Ago Today, December 20th
Dawn brought a winter wonderland scene of snow-flocked evergreens and a cloudless sky. Sometime in the night it had actually warmed up to 16 degrees - a heat wave. It was clear that at least another inch of snow had fallen during the night, bringing the total to three or four inches over 24 hours. There is nothing quite so lovely as a blanket of freshly fallen snow, sparkling in the sun. It made me think of this same day, ten years ago, the day I arrived in Tucson to take up residence. This is at odd place to be on that anniversary, at a high elevation cabin in the Colorado Rockies surrounded by snow, but there is a connection. I’m here with the man, now my husband, who was my neighbor and the first person I met in Tucson, ten years ago today. As they say, nowhere in my wildest dreams...
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| Arrival in Tucson, December 20th, 2001 |
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| Our cabin retreat, December 20th, 2011 |
At mid-morning we heard some sort of vehicle, the first we’d heard since our arrival. We got out the front door just in time to see our neighbor, the site manager of the adjacent retreat, heading back down our drive plowing our road. This is one of those things I so love about being here at the cabin and in such a remote location. Neighbors are much more likely to lend a hand, and to do it without being asked or negotiation. And it all works out. My husband has helped this neighbor by teaching a few units of science to his home schooled kids, and I’ve baked the cookies that are the post-lesson treats. We help other neighbors move wood and get hand carved bears in return. Baked goods change hands, and there’s always a hot cup of tea or cold beer for anyone dropping by.
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| Icing |
By noon the temperature was just above freezing so we put on a few layers, boots and hats, got the coat on Bump and headed out for a walk. With the long driveway cleared walking was easy and pleasant, and it felt good to move after being two days in the car and a snowy day inside the cabin. We headed down the road enjoying our frisky dog’s antics and the warm sun on our backs. Last summer’s fields of wildflowers were now carpeted in smooth snow, unmarked except for the occasional string of wildlife tracks. Caps of snow helped define the rocky outcrops. You could hear the creek gurgling under it’s iced-over top.
Back at home after an easy two mile ramble it was, at 36 degrees, way too nice to go inside. We decided to hang our one string of outdoor colored Christmas lights, and made a quick job of it, and still didn’t want to go inside. I have little experience with snow aside from living in Michigan until I was nine years old, so I am alway surprised how sitting in a sheltered sunny spot in a snowy, near-freezing landscape can be so blissful. Our south-facing porch is just such a spot on a calm day. With the afternoon sun low in the sky we sat in sweaters on the Adirondack chairs, basking like lizards, soaking in the sun and were totally comfortable. Even our once snow-phobic dog settled down in four inches of it just off the deck, laying in the sun. But the minute the sun got near to setting behind the mountain across the valley, the sun’s rays diffusing through the tops of the pines and firs, we began to feel the chill.
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| A vegan dinner, the better to have more anniversaries |
Retreating inside on this last day of fall, celebrating my arrival in Tucson and our first meeting, we made a dinner of roasted portobello mushrooms stuffed with a savory mix of brown rice, lentils, and cashews mixed with fresh parley and lemon thyme I’d harvested from our Tucson herb garden, and braised brussel sprouts. We poured some wine and reminisced about the crazy set of circumstances that brought and kept us together. Neither one of us could have imagined anything more unlikely, or so right. It almost makes you believe in fate. We count ourselves very, very lucky.
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