MaryAlice Musings and More

Today was the first day since arriving in Arizona that the sun shone.  It felt good to see and feel the sun.  The morning started  I woke up this morning to a very industrious woodpecker somewhere outside my window.  I haven't spotted him/her but I heard them.  I spent a good part of the morning enjoying watching the birds.  There is what I think is quail, it had the cutest plume on its head and ran and ran down the site walk - made me laugh, a good long laugh that I really needed to have - Yes it is a Gambol Quail check them out!  Other birds would fly by, sit on the wires in the backyard, I would catch glimpses of iridescent blue.  LIttle rabbits running around.  Doesn't look like Maine here, that is for sure. While the sun was shining I went for a walk in the neighborhood.  Amazing to see the color, the mountains, the cactus.  The flowers are so bright and happy right now,  they have had days with rain and then a lit...

Wow,  Social Distancing, Change and Being in the Moment, that is what my last couple of days have been about.  Karen, Jen and I are hunkered down at the Desert Oasis,  the rain is in a lull right now and the birds outside are so very happy - they have been having lots and lots to say!   I have been mostly up since about 2:30 this a.m.  when Myah sent a "what's app" message that she was being sent home from Spain.  That started a back and forth from Phoenix, Minneapolis and Granada Spain.  University classes are suspended and will resume as online courses on March 23rd.    The travel arrangements are stressful and as I type there still has not been a callback from Delta.  Myah is at once sad to leave Spain, stressed about the arrangements that are needed to get back home, and glad to be headed home to her family.   Sasha is working hard to help get travel changes made, and this time of waiting is hard for everyone...

Sorry I did not post this until today.  I had thought it was on Facebook so it is Day 12, but here is a recap from Day 9. It is Day 9 and I couldn't end my trip to LaPosada without acknowledging MaryJane Colter, one of the few women architects of her time.  She was an amazing architect who absolutely conjured and captured the romance, majesty and authenticity of the west.   Her buildings for the National Park Service, especially at the Grand Canyon are amazing.  So before leaving I took this pic acknowledging MaryJane Colter  (she did live in Minnesota for awhile so another affection for her).    We left the hotel and took 87 South towards Phoenix.  The road starts in high desert, moves to scrub brush and then into the Ponderosa Pine forest.   Then opening up to great vista's of mesa's, then through the switchback and then the saguaro cactus begin to appear.  The flowers were starting to pop up along the road and on the...

Monday was Day 8 of my travels, and it was a very good.   I slept in until 8 a.m. and was so happy to be off the train and at this hotel that I so wanted to visit.   The really good news for me was that I was able to get off the train at LaPosada, because the Southwest Chief did not leave Winslow until the morning - the time for the conductor and engineer had "expired" and not only did they have to change a car,  that needed a new crew.   Not a good time for people on their way to LA.   One does wonder what long distance rail travel would be like if we really supported an infrastructure for the trains.  The irony is as we walked to the restaurant at 7:30  there was the South West Chief heading west -- right on time, some days are better than others on the train!    LaPosada in Winslow is a visual delight and the owners artist Tina Mion and her husband Allan Affeldt have done a beautiful restoration...

It is Monday almost noon in Winslow Arizona.  I am sitting by the fire in this lovely grand sitting room at the LaPosada Hotel.  I will write more about my time here later, for now I am taking time to reflect on the past days from leaving Chicago to boarding the South West Chief and disembarking just after midnight today.   On Saturday, I decided to take a long walk to the lake before it was time to check out of my hotel.  I took the Chicago River walking path and ended up at Navy Pier.  The sunshine was bright and warm and I just took in the buildings, the buzz, the walk along the river and finally the expansiveness of Lake Michigan.  Lake Michigan was my ocean, i love the movement, the colors, the contrast between the bigness of the city and the bigness of the lake.  It was a perfect way to end my time. I had to do a brisk walk back to the hotel,  I had already asked for a late check out and here I was basking in the beauty of the lak...

This is the first trip where one thing that keeps coming up no matter what is hand washing,  antiseptic wipes,  articles about staying safe.  I am walking a line of being aware and embedding good habits in my daily travels.  Today was a take it easy day that began early.  The weekly Katahdin Collaborative Steering Committee "Zoom call" started at 7 a.m. central time.  I got up early enough to start my tea and get things set up for the meeting.  We are working on the last things that are needed for us to post our opening for a full time Community Coordinator for the Collaborative.  We had a good meeting that then went right into a second and third meeting - lots of work completed, decisions made and I had a a small list of "to do's"  which I took care of this morning.  By the time I finished my work it was time for lunch and I was starving.  I set off to find middle eastern food,  I have been so very happy to eat my way t...

I am having a delightfully spacious morning in my oh so very nice hotel room overlooking the Chicago River and incredible architecture.   Yesterday, I arrived in Chicago and was delighted when I checked into my hotel, I have a great space to lay down my head, and there is a comfy couch and a good desk...everything I need.  AND the view is amazing. Yesterday I went to Andy's Jazz Club, it was started in 1950, and has been a mainstay for local, national and international jazz talent.  i was transported as I sat at the bar with several others patrons who were long time customers, possibly musicians themselves and for sure were lovers of jazz.  It feels so good to be sitting in the same room with a very diverse group of people,  it makes me feel more whole, more in my self and safe.  I was taken aback a little by how much I felt the pull of these very Midwestern, Chicago people.   On Wednesday morning I had breakfast with this woman on the tr...