Eleven short days until we leave Arizona on our return trip home. We’re heading north this trip, spending time in some of the national parks in Utah, visiting with a friend in Charlotte, NC, and driving up the Outer Banks (I miss the ocean!). And I can’t forget Kansas….We’ll spend three weeks in Williamsburg, VA, then we’ll be back home in New Hampshire–assuming the snow is gone by then.
Taliesin West
This doesn’t leave us much time to visit the places that we didn’t get to over the “winter.” Friday we toured Taliesin West, the winter home of Frank Lloyd Wright.
I previously read two novels about the women in Wright’s life, “Loving Frank” by Nancy Horan and “The Women: A Novel” by T. C. Boyle. These two books provide a slightly different perspective of Wright’s life than the tour guide was willing (trained??) to offer.
There’s no denying that he was an architectural genius. My favorite room: the breezeway!! He situated it so that you look out the back and your view is of the McDowell Mountains and out the front you look down into the entire valley of Phoenix. Also, it is designed to catch the breeze coming up from the valley, creating, I presume, a most comfortable place to write or read when the temperatures soar–assuming you can tear your eyes away from the view.
Not that we haven’t been busy since I last posted. Jen, Jeff, Laurel, and Alex were here in February. We
Friendly Butterfly at Desert Botanical Garden
had a great time with them: the Desert Botanical Garden and their Spring Butterfly Exhibit, miniature golf, a boat ride on Saguaro Lake, a hike in Usery Park (not me….sick), the pool and the hot tub (not me….brrr), horseback riding (not me….sick). We even enjoyed a mini-family reunion with our niece, Wanda, and her two children from Maryland who happened to be here at the same time visiting a friend.
Steve and I got free passes from the local library for the Phoenix Art Museum as well as Arcosanti, “an urban laboratory focused on innovative design, community, and environmental accountability.” Paolo Soleri founded the community in 1970, which appears to rely mainly on the sale of windbells they create and tours. Soleri studied under Wright and developed the theory of Arcology (architecture and ecology), which he has applied at Arcosanti. The concept is intriguing but the execution needs work.
March was good news on the adrenal cancer front. I am now two years and four months cancer-free based on my most recent CT scan. Yippee!! Unfortunately, my mitotane level is just barely at the therapeutic range on four pills a day. As I’ve been quite nauseous and tired at that level, I’ve reduced to three pills a day. Wonder what my level will be in May?
As for our remaining days in Arizona, maybe I’ll just spend the rest of the time enjoying the rest of the time!!
Karen Whalen 