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La Placita Village...nearly abandon but still beautifully colorful! Downtown Tucson The end of the season is here....so soon it seems. We came to Tucson almost 7 month ago and took a short break to be home for Christmas. Time flies so fast it seems. Tuesday night we wandered downtown to take a few pictures at La Placita and then venture out for dinner on 4th Avenue near the University of Arizona campus. The neighborhood is so quirky and interesting. Photo taken with camera pressed against the door of a furniture refurnishing shop...unique light! 4th Avenue Tucson, AZ Caruso's Italian Restaurant 434 N. 4th Avenue Tucson, AZ Caruso's is a Tucson landmark and has been in the same location forever. The food is good Italian and the restaurant is so family friendly. The waiter on the terrace gave us wonderful service and as the evening settled in the lighting was just perfect. 3 1/2 Stars Courtyard at Caruso's I have a few last pictures from Tucson for you and then my n...

(I have inserted the logos for the places I am suggesting to you. Just a little free advertising for them! Go to the web sites to find more information.) We had our first rattle snake sighting of the year on the golf course yesterday. Going up into the cactus requires some reconnoitering this time of year. We were playing down in Green Valley, AZ on the San Ignacio Golf Club . This course winds it's way among the housing built along the arroyos and cactus covered hillsides. Green Valley is a 55+ community and now boasts a population of over 17,000 with a median age of over 72 years of age. We have stayed in Green Valley for one season and have friends that own property there. The population is very seasonal with a majority of the residents leaving during the hottest months of the year for other parts of the country. The Elk's Club and the Senior Centers in the community are exceptionally active during high season. Even though the population is retirement age, the citi...

Flowers in Our Yard April 10, 2009 Haven Golf Course iphone photo 2009 GOLFING The weather in Tucson is generally just gorgeous! Yesterday we played golf in Green Valley, AZ. It is located south of Tucson and is about 40 minutes away from where we live. While Green Valley has some very upscale courses that cost a great deal, they also have a municipal course called Haven that serves all of the area. It is well maintained and very, very busy. We booked our tee times on a discount web site ( Golf Now or EZ Links , a bidding website ) and were paired with a couple from Germany. Green fees run at about $43.00 for 18 holes with a cart if you book through the course. We payed $23.00 + Tax. It was a wonderful day at the right price. CACTUS This may be a Beavertail Cactus...I am not an expert. The blooms are yellow like a Prickly Pear but the thorns are very short like a Beavertail Cactus. It is blooming in front of our neighbor's park model. The ...

She or they built the nest high in the Palm tree. It was safe from those things living in the desert that would harm the egg or the chick. Wind blew and rain came but the nest remained safe from harm. No one even knew they were there while she watched players yell after perfect Pickle Ball shots or visited in the street. The soft coo of the Mourning Dove was just background music to their day. The the bees came...a great horde of bees and workers in the park set about killing a hive on the move. Fear of Africanized bees in this part of the world guides this kind of thing. We do not know what kind of bees they were and the thinking was better safe than sorry. Life went on. We don't mess with these bees! While the workers were hanging around they notices a few branches beginning to give away on the palm tree where the bees had gathered but no ladder was handy so it was left to hang. Then the winds came again, this time much harder and that branch fell down until it was cau...

GOLF Arizona National Vista 2009 iphone photo Yesterday we golfed at Arizona National Golf Club . There were six of us playing together. The women and men formed two threesomes. Two couples had Wildcat Trail Golf Rewards Cards so they used those for their rounds. We booked our rounds through Golf Now and paid $50 each. When we called to ask if we could play with our friends, even though we had not booked together, the golf pro was very accommodating. The more we play golf in the area, the more we have come to realize that golfing can be very affordable. (It has taken us several years to learn the ropes.) If we take advantage of websites like GolfNow .com or EZlinks we can play for less than half the regular rack price. Wildcat Cards give you several rounds for free when you earn the points necessary. We could also purchase a residents card and use our resort address if we liked. This would allow us to belong to men/woman's clubs at any of the municipal courses. ...