Tucson, AZ: Temporary Home #2

Temporary Tucson home #2, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

This was my temporary Tucson home #2 for about six weeks.

Temporary Tucson home #2, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

Temporary Tucson home #2, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

Again, the serendipity of direct and indirect networking brought me here.


Back in Las Cruces, there was that evening I went to contra dancing. While there, a woman approached me:

She said, "Are you the person who's moving to Tucson?"
I said, "Yes!"
She said, "My name's Katie. Someone pointed you out to me, and said that I might want to talk with you. I live in Tucson, but I'm thinking of moving to Las Cruces."

We chatted a bit, then exchanged contact information so I could ring her up when I landed in Tucson.

Temporary Tucson home #2, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

About a month later ....

1. I hit Tucson late on a Saturday afternoon.
2. Saturday night, I texted Katie and explained I was in town, could I buy her a cup of coffee in the next couple of days, and would she kindly spill a bean or two on what's what in Tucson?
3. Katie and I agreed that Monday would be a good time to meet, and she selected a coffee place near the university.

On Monday morning, we got together. It was a cool, sunny, breezy day, and we sat out on the cafe patio. There were orange trees.

From Katie, I learned about the Threshold Choir, of which she is a member. More on this here and here.

Temporary Tucson home #2, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

I told Katie I sought a place to live - an apartment, a casita, or if the circumstances were right, a rental in someone's house.

It just happened that .... 

Katie had a friend who, that very day, was moving into a communal house, and that there was one more room available - if it hadn't yet been spoken for - that I might want to look at.

Temporary Tucson home #2, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

Aiee, the price was high! But for a month or so, with utilities 'n all included, I could swing it, giving me ample time to find my one-year Tucson place.

Katie called her friend, and lo! Angels were singing, as said friend informed Katie that, yup, the room was still available, and we could hie over there right then and take a look.

Katie graciously drove us both over to the house. I scanned the place, was able to talk with the landlady (who's out of the country for an extended time), negotiate the rent, test the internet connection, and take note of the following amenities:

• Large furnished bedroom with a lovely view and plenty of space for me to work online; 
• Fast internet (essential for my work); 
• Three-quarter bathroom for my private use, although it was down one floor from my bedroom; 
• Side garden with outdoor furniture, colorful plants, pleasing ambient bird sounds, and visual entertainment of lizards zipping up and down and around;
• Ample parking; and
• Colony of gregarious ground squirrels in the front yard. 

Temporary Tucson home #2, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

I moved into my Tucson temporary home #2 the next day.

I became the sixth of a group of housemates: four women and two men. Each of us had our own sleeping room. Two of us had a private bath, and four of us shared two bathrooms. There was an additional full bathroom downstairs for community use.

My gratitude to Katie for being the kind conduit for my temporary arrangement! 

Tucson, AZ: Temporary Home #1

Ashram, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

I'm not an ashram kinda gal, but it gave me pleasure to tell people that I was staying at an ashram. Made me feel very exotic, and also mischievous, as it might insert a little nibble of uncertainty in the minds of friends and family elsewhere. Ashram? She's staying in an ashram? Is she on drugs? Did she fall under the spell of some scoundrel with a spiritual shtick? She's not going to try to convert us, is she? Or, worse, ask us for money? Maybe I should call her and see if she's OK. No, maybe it's better not to call.


Although I'm not an ashram kinda gal, I am a pragmatic kinda gal. This retreat space met my budgetary and technological needs. In addition, it is in a bang-up good location in Midtown-ish. (I don't have all of the Tucson neighborhoods down.)


Although the exterior of my room was uninspired (hah, get it?), and there was zero view from my room, the inside of my room was sweet. Sunlight soaked the room during the day via a skylight in the ceiling.

My temporary home, ashram, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

There was a work desk and an office chair! Once some challenges got ironed out, the wifi was just about good enough for me to work. Thoughtfully placed hooks lined the wall across from the utilitarian bathroom. The tile floor shined with clean good health, mostly due, I'm sure, to the request for guests to remove their shoes before walking into the room.

My temporary home, ashram, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

My temporary home, ashram, Tucson, Arizona. March 2019.

I wasn't the only woman new to Tucson, looking for sort-of-permanent digs, staying at the ashram until the hunt produces fruit.

One woman has sought a long-term home for some time. Because of financial constraints, she alternates between what she referred to as "car camping" and a once-or-twice weekly overnight at the ashram. She does volunteer work at the ashram, as well, in exchange for a free meal at the ashram's vegetarian restaurant.

Another woman, an artist, had just found an apartment, but it won't be ready until May. From her I learned that the cleanliness of the ashram rooms is no sure thing. I encountered her on the grounds one morning with a broom in her hand.  She reported that she was working on the third layer of grime in her room. This startled me, as my room was immaculate.

People come and go at the ashram. My experience was that when I had a question about the location of something on the grounds or about when something opened or closed or otherwise ashram-related, and I'd ask an individual who was engaged in a work activity there, more often than not, my question was met with gentle befuddlement, a shake of the head, and an "I don't know; I'm just ..." and the answer would sort of trail off.

But there were two or three, no, let's stick with two, individuals who generally knew what was what, so I just learned to ask one of them.

A slide show of the grounds below:

Las Cruces NM 2019: Temporary Home

Las Cruces, New Mexico, temporary home. March 2019.

In my month-to-month amble from Missouri to Tucson, it has looked like this:

Opelousas, Louisiana
El Paso, Texas


... and then Las Cruces, New Mexico.

As with the El Paso hang-out, my Las Cruces pad resulted from the power of networking. In this case, I met my host back when I lived in El Paso. We both attended a music-related Meetup at one of El Paso's Al Fresco Fridays.

"Drake" has a sharp wit that he uses mostly for good. Sometimes evil. One has to stay on one's toes around him.

Drake's dad, "Beck," lives with him in a DIY assisted-living arrangement.

Drake loves to get out and travel; Beck needs someone on site to support his semi-independence.

While still in Missouri, I thought, heyyyyyyy ..... what would it be like if I were to spend a month in Las Cruces at Drake's house in an arrangement where I could step in to support Beck's at-home independence and Drake could disappear to some global dot for awhile? If Beck, whom I'd previously met, was amenable, it could be a win-win-win!

I called Drake, proposed the idea, he said ..... Yeah!

And six or so months later .....

A roadrunner greeted me upon my arrival at Drake's house!

Las Cruces, New Mexico, temporary home. March 2019.

... and so did a relative of Drake and Beck's, "Susie," who is a newish nomad herself. Susie was hanging out in Las Cruces waiting for Montana to warm up some more. Thus she was my housemate for the month. Good news for Beck, as he now had two "minders," as he called us, to support his independent living.

Drake had already departed on his semi-plotted road trip when I arrived, which meant that I enjoyed: 


Another comfy bed, vast room, and a wicked-good shower due to its ample size and exhilarating water pressure.

Las Cruces, New Mexico, temporary home. March 2019.

A nice space for my portable office.

Las Cruces, New Mexico, temporary home. March 2019.

Las Cruces, New Mexico, temporary home. March 2019.

 A view of the wrinkly Organ Mountains that I love, with extravagant sunrises thrown in for free.

Las Cruces, New Mexico, temporary home. March 2019.

I am reminded of my early rootlessness, when I was the grateful guest at My Exclusive Vacation Homes on the Missouri Riviera.

El Paso 2019: Temporary Home

 

My temporary home in El Paso, Texas. January 2019.

Something special has happened this year, my ninth rootless year: The awesome power of a social network.

While still in my Missouri year, I thought about how I'd navigate my way from Missouri to Tucson, my 2019-2020 home.

What would it be like, I wondered, if, on the way to Tucson, I were to:

1. Drop down to South Louisiana for a few weeks for an injection of danse joyeaux et amis;
2. Revisit Big Bend National Park for a week;
3. Pass over to El Paso for a month's revisiting friends and sights there; 
4. Jog north to Las Cruces, New Mexico, for a month's intermission there; and only then
5. Land in Tucson? 

And this itinerary would begin after a month in Mexico City!

The plan was so delicious, so elegant, I kept it in a mental recipe-card size box, only opening the lid enough to peek inside occasionally, for fear of drawing the attention of mischievous fairies who delight in tossing mortals' cards into the air and laughing while their victims scramble to catch their wispy little plans before the wind carries them away.

OK, well, I did have that unfortunate car thing (RIP sweet Camry), which extended my stay in Opelousas (never a bad thing), and the weather turned in Big Bend (and on Plan B outside of Corpus Christi), but other than that .... El Paso!

A good six months before the end of my Missouri year, the friend of a friend in El Paso put out the word that she had a room in her house to rent. I noted this information, then pulled it out a few months later, contacting "Audrey," about said room. Still renting? Yes. Affordable to me? Yes. Available for my time frame? Yes.

And the universe aligned it just so. (Except for that car thing.)

A damn comfortable bed. A gigantic shower with kicking water pressure.

When I walked out the front door, this view:

View across the street from my temporary home in El Paso, Texas. January 2019.

When I looked over to my right, the uplifting view of the next door neighbor's house and xeriscape yard:

View of next door neighbors' house from my temporary home in El Paso, Texas. January 2019.

 Damn, I'm a lucky chica.

Now how do I know this friend of a friend, anyway? When I was fresh on the scene in El Paso back in September 2017, I went to Upper Tom Lea Park to participate in a drum circle. I met a woman there, "Dana." One of Dana's many attributes is her pleasure in bringing together people who she thinks might hit it off.

Dana arranged for me and Audrey to meet one day over lunch.

Who'd've thought that more than a year later, I'd leave El Paso, come back to El Paso, and rent a temporary home from Audrey?

Thank you, Dana!

My Exclusive Vacation Homes on the Missouri Riviera

I have three.

At each, I enjoy expansive garden-level suites with full kitchen and public-room accommodations up on the terrace levels.

At Catrisse Bluff, I enjoy a serene, monastic bedroom in soothing southwestern colors, with a full, private bath across the hall and an adjoining living room that has a wonderful stone fireplace. Upstairs, through a wall of windows, I can look from "my" bluff, across the vast, picturesque Missouri River flood plain, to the distant bluffs on the other side.

At Pamela House, I sleep in an ornate, antique bed in a bedroom with an en suite bath. There is a cozy sitting area next to a large picture window that looks out on pretty foundation plantings. Upstairs, as I sip fresh  coffee, I step through the french doors onto the immense screened-in deck with fireplace. It opens into a friendly yard and garden.







At Chez Katherine, I am in a Parisian apartment, sleeping in a bed so high I need a stool to get in, with a dainty crystal chandelier in front of the garret-like window, and a huge map of Paris on the wall. Yes, I do need to traipse down a tiny corridor and across a roomy family room to get to my private bath, but, well, it is a vacation home, n'est ce pas? One makes do. Upstairs, I enjoy coffee in one of several sink-into-comfort upholstered chairs or couch, or I may walk out to the huge screened-in deck that overlooks a secluded wooded yard; the enclosed deck is reminiscent of a mountain lodge. And did I mention the outdoor shower? The hammock? The swinging, turquoise bench under the arbor?

And, of course, my current, main pied a terre is at Carol Cottage, a sunny yellow place highlighted with Dutch blues and whites, and black and white prints, which sits prettily on a small-town lane.

Carol Cottage

Being rootless does have its perks when one has friends and family who "keep the light on" for you.