Starting again at Sabino Canyon

I've decided to go on with this blog - but rather diffrerently than before.I am back in Arizona for 5 weeks to see my grandchildren and provide a little bit of domestic support. On Saturday, my son and my two grand daughters and I took a short hike in the Sabino Canyon National Forest which is a few miles out of Tucson. After several days of cloud and rain, it was a crystal clear day with air tinged with the scent of the snow which covers the nearby mountains, bundles of white and grey cumulus clouds floating across a vivid blue sky. The Saguaro cactuses and the subtle shades of the vegetation looked spectacular against the backdrop of the snowy mountains. The tiger eye coloured waters of the river flowed fast, kicking up white foam in places, eddying in gleaming silver pools in others.

Post script

The flight on a Boeing 767 was uneventful, landing in a grey, cool Manchester forty minutes early. James rendezvoused happily with his mother and Oksy and I rendezvoused happily with our Hoylake taxi which whizzed us along the M56 and M53 so that we were home before 8:45 am. The house smelt musty and unloved, so we opened windows and put the heating on at the same time. Oksy has made toast and tea and so proper domestic smells are starting to permeate the house. We have pulled the computer our of hiding and plugged everything back in ... and it works, thank goodness.

The garden looks deceptively lovely as it sort of rises above a carpet of green weeds. The lilac is blooming, and so are the bluebells. The pansies and bellis I put out just before I left at the end of March are flowering quite frantically. My South African daisy bush has fallen over, but is nevertheless covered in flowers. The rhubarb looks promising. Everything looks healthy! I can't wait to get my hands onto it all.

Chicago was quite green at the time of our departure, but how much greener our own North West England in the full flush of growth in early May. I feasted my eyes all the way home from the airport.

The end.

Lots of pictures of tall buildings!

Our final day. After a quiet morning doing various odd jobs like cleaning up our hire car, and popping down to the post office, we set off for Chicago for a last look round. We went to the information centre in the Chicago Cultural Centre and I discovered that there was a 90 minute Chicago River and Lake cruise with a tour guide explaining the various buildings that make up the skyline. We decided that this would make a fitting end to our holiday, so we walked along to the Wrigley building and stepped down to the riverside where we purchased our tickets for the 15:00 departure.

We all have a lot of pictures of tall buildings as a result of our tour, which was very interesting with stunning views of Chicago. The first ever skyscraper was erected in about 1884-5 and was the first building to use a frame construction - unfortunately it doesn't survive. However there are many skyscrapers of different periods and styles to admire. Perhaps the most striking thing for me is that new skyscrapers are under construction - the restless urge to build high buildings is still there, and the strange beauty of Chicago's skyline is still developing.

Tomorrow we leave for the airport before midday, and so this is probably the last post in the USA. I might add a post-script when we are home on Wednesday. And I also intend to add some pictures of tall buildings ... :-)

Sunday, Sunday

Another day hanging out with our family in Chicago. Some of us decided to have a little bit of a lie-in this morning while the rest of the family drove down to Park Forest for morning mass which included first holy communion for 8-10 shining, white clad little children.

In the afternoon, the extensive grass around the house needed its first trim of the year, and all hands were on deck to pick up twigs from the weeping willow and rake leaves.

Bean to Chicago again today :-)

We've had another day in Chicago, this time en famille, and with bright sunny weather, instead of the cloud and spitting rain of yesterday.

All eight of us took the train from Olympian Fields to Randolph and ambled through the Millennium Park, where we were entranced with "The Bean"
(http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/cloud_gate.html) .

Properly known as "Cloud Gate", it is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public work of art in the USA. Do follow the link to get an idea. It is hugely popular with the public who engage with it and interact with it joyously.

We strolled along beside Lake Michigan admiring the sailing boats, and then took a footpath along the side of the River Chicago eventually returning to Michigan Avenue and our train back to Flossmoor. We are having a nice evening in together.

A day in windy city

It wasn't too windy in Chicago today which was a good thing as we decided to go up the Sears Tower. It was only open up to the 99th floor today which was more than high enough for me. I felt dread as the lift zoomed up and the indicator said: 50 ... 60 ... 70... My mind said: "This is not natural; what on earth are we doing!" However I was pleasantly surprised when I came out of the lift. We were "safe" in a spacious area with fabulous views all round. The best view is Northwards, with the Chicago river snaking through the foreground, Lake Michigan in the background, and in between the gleaming towers of Chicago's beautiful skyscrapers displaying all periods and all styles of modern architecture.


Our day had started with a ride on the Metra, the local railway system taking us from Flossmoor to Randolph street downtown. We had a wonderful cup of coffee at the Descartes cafe on North Michigan Avenue, the best cup I've had since coming to America, and sat sipping it while watching the world walk briskly by. After the Sears tower, we spent an hour or so at the Art Institute of Chicago, which really deserves more time; it is a treasure trove of all forms and periods of art. We focused on the American art collections, and enjoyed, among other works, the collection of paintings by Georgia O'Keefe (1887-1986). Born in Wisconsin of farming stock, Georgia actually studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1905. Her challenging (at the time) paintings were extremely influential especially after she began her association with the famous photographer Alfred Stieglitz who promoted her through his 291 gallery. Georgia finished her days in the Santa Fe art community in New Mexico. I was intrigued to find that several artists from Chicago were sponsored to live and paint in Santa Fe by prominent figures in Chicago in the earlier part of the 20th Century. What exciting days for artists to be painting and recording the west. Before that, artists from the USA so often went to Europe to paint and make their names: Whistler and so on.

The end of the road

We've arrived in Flossmoor in South Chicago, a comfortable, green suburb, and everything is well with all of us. Our lovely family has welcomed us and made us feel special, and we are settling down to an evening of reminiscences and videos.

Tomorrow we'll get down to exploring Chicago. Today we are savouring the achievement of arriving, and of being people who have crossed the Mississipi and the Missouri... :-)

(The image is from Rock Art ranch and is thought to have signified the end, or don't go any further)