Honest Stuff I Make Up · · South Tucson

Strange Magic

Ombre

It is early and I haven’t had coffee but it’s springtime and just about everything about springtime here makes me giddy: Ideal temperatures and humidity, the smells of all the acacia and citrus blossoms, the magical alignment of golden hour with bicycle rides at quitting time, and so on. This morning I am riding the number 18 South Sixth Avenue Sun Tran bus. I am staring at a young man’s socks for almost a minute before I notice there is amazing hair staring at me in the face. Red and black and stars and stripes and black and red. Two people I don’t know brought fireworks on the bus and now this bus is on fire. Now I have an inexplicable urge to download the greatest hits of the Electric Light Orchestra band. I am on my way to the border for my weekly hormone treatments.

Republic

Notes · · Puerto Peñasco

Saturday Commute

High tide on the malecon

High tide view of malecón restaurants and fish shops from the deck of The Point.

Hiram used some of his comp time and took Saturday off. We went to the gym for a long work-out, got haircuts from the tattooed dreamer who loves and misses Tucson but got into too much trouble there to be able go back after he was arrested and deported.

When we finished our haircuts, it was still early enough that the nearby spice shop that closes early on Saturdays was open so we checked it out. I fell in love with the selection, bought some rice, and left sneezing from all the dusty powders.

Then we rode our bikes to the malecon for shrimp and fish baskets at The Point. The tide was very high and the jet skiers and banana boaters were almost splashing us as they screamed by.

Afterward, we stopped at Bacanora Grill, hoping to say hello to our friends who own the place, “Los Muchachos,” but they were having a tense-looking business meeting and we decided not to interrupt. We had coffee and flan outside on the carport like patio and watched spring breakers booking sunset cruises.

Los Muchachos came out separately as we were leaving and each time I offered to loan them our helmets. I am so funny.

At sundown, we walked to Playa Mirador and tide pooled. Later at home we juiced limes for margaritas and rented a movie — The Hundred Foot Journey — to watch before going bed for a couple hours and the 2am run to Albatros for my bus ride back to Nogales.

Photos · · Tucson

Acacia Blossoms

Acacia blossoms

The perfumed pom-pons of spring's cheerleaders. Acacia blossoms overhead in downtown Tucson.