Grassland Festival

Hi All,

Today we went with Ranger Vicki Wolfe to the Grassland Festival at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge .

At our booth we had activities for kids, gave our brochures and generally encouraged people to visit the park.

This Arizona falconer is holding a beautiful Harris Hawk

Mountain king snake, similar to venomous coral snake

Golden eagle, sadly with a broken wing

This ferruginous hawk is also in rehab

Aztec dancers from Nogales performed.

The fair was attended by about 300 people which is a good showing given the remote location of the refuge.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Nogales, Sonora

Hi All,

Today we went with two other couples to do some shopping in Mexico, just across the border from Nogales, AZ.

It was a lot like our visit to Nuevo Progresso from south Texas, we parked on the US side and walked across into Mexico.

Also like Nuevo Progresso, the shopping area consisted of gift shops, dentists, pharmacies and restaurants.

It's important to tell the US Customs officials that you went to Mexico for prescription medications, not "drugs". This prescription was $4 per pill instead of $23 in the US. 

This is a multistory building full of dentists!

This lovely shop displayed nice Mexican pottery, furniture and artwork.

One wall was plastered with broken pottery

This was the centerpiece in a room full of women's clothing. Do they buy more if excited ?

Crossing back into the US was time consuming though uneventful.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

More Degrazia Images

Hi,

Many of you really liked the work of Ted DeGrazia so here are a few more of his paintings.

Bullfight, another of his favorite themes

The motion he conveys with a pallet knife is amazing. DeGrazia started using a palette knife in Art school because he could not afford brushes!

How's this for motion. It is titled "Cock Fight"

Indian dance

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Ted DeGrazia Gallery

Hi All,

Back in Tucson for a day off. We visited the gallery of Ted DeGrazia, a prolific Arizona artist who lived from 1909 to 1982. 

The gallery is on the site of his home and studio north of Tucson. 

Portrait of DeGrazio

The Gallery entrance was built to look like the copper mine where he was born.

Father Kino (founder of the mission at Tumacacori) was one of his favorite subjects.

Horses were another favorite subject

As we're the Yaqui Indian celebrations

This somber painting is titled "Crying".

This wild horse painting was in the consignment gallery. Carl loved it but there is no place to hang it in the motorhome. Just as we'll since the price was $25,000.

Yaqui Indian Easter Celebration

Not just a painter, DeGrazia did this stained glass Indian piece.

As well as this mosaic!

Near the end of his life, DeGrazia was concerned about the inheritance tax his heirs would have to pay. He burned 100 of his paintings with an estimated value of $250,000.

Thankfully, thousands of his paintings survived and they are extraordinary.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Can a Phone get Jetlag?

Hi All,

Carl's iPhone 5 arrived today. The UPS tracking web site showed that it started in Zengzhou China on Monday and traveled to South Korea, Anchorage, AK, Louisville, KY, Phoenix, Nogales then Tumacacori, AZ.

Amazing!

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Whipple Observatory

Hi All,

Today we toured the Fred Whipple Observatory operated by the Harvard Center for Astrophysics. Located atop Mt Hopkins at 8550 feet, we toured a series of telescopes.

The telescopes were nice but the views were awesome.

These domes house 60" & 48"  telescopes.

Like this!

This instrument is a gamma ray telescope that was used in the 80's to discover the source of the Crab Nebula.

At the very top of Mt Hopkins is the 6.5 meter (21.5 ft) telescope used to search the edge of the known universe

From the top, we look down on the other telescopes we saw on the way up.

Once back at Tumacacori, we experienced a great sunset.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Sabino Canyon

Hi All,

After a busy week working, we headed off to explore Sabino Canyon north of Tucson.

The tram ride into the canyon gave us great views and we got off the tram and walked three miles downhill.

Saguaro cactus live up to 300 years. The one on the left, a crested saguaro, is a rare variant.

Fish hook barrel cactus live up to their name.

Great canyon scenery

Saguaros don't grow arms until they are about 40 years old. This one has reached puberty and is growing breasts!

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone