See Ya Later, Tucson

Our sojourn in Tucson has come to an end for this year. It’s springtime in Kansas and time to plant potatoes, so we’re heading home.

We have learned our way around most of the city and met some delightful people. We have learned a lot about the desert landscape and its exotic flora that we’ve come to love and appreciate.

This time around I’ve not written about Tucson’s love of walls, or about its charming Southwest architecture. I haven’t written about xeriscaping, and other water conservation strategies. I’ve neglected to write about our intergenerational living experiment, which has been a huge success. I haven’t talked about Tucson’s unique rattlesnake pedestrian/bicycle Broadway overpass, but next fall I promise to take up these topics and more.

In the meantime, I must apologize for my February 12 post, “Tucson’s Tohono Chul Park," that featured among other things the ocotillo. Frankly I couldn’t see that the ocotillo had any saving grace other than its utility as a fence. (I even got that part wrong, as I acknowledged in a subsequent post, “Egg on My Face.”)

But as springtime came to Tucson, the ocotillo began to show its true elegance and beauty. Its thorny stalks put out tiny, dark green leaves and developed flower buds at the terminal of each stalk.

These buds will soon open and become bright red flowers that remind one of holiday candle flames.

My perception of the ocotillo is a good reminder that there is often more than meets the eye of a stranger in town. Next year I’ll come closer to becoming a Tucsonan. There’s always more to learn.

P.S. This is my last post on Tucson Off and On. I'll be writing in my Chicken Creek Journal instead. (chickenbcreekjournal.blogspot.com)

Copyright 2016 by Shirley Domer