Walking the Historic Barrio and Skywriters

Today is Saturday.  We are still here.  It's interesting (to me, anyway), how the things that I enjoy upon our return here in the fall, are now driving me crazy.  In particular is the call of the mourning dove.  The call that is so picturesque and quintessentially Tucson now sounds like maniacal birds from hell.  Everything is starting to annoy me.  It really is time to go.  Next year I think we're going to leave earlier in April and go to San Diego.
Look at this cactus.  It's in front of one of the park models, whose owners have left for the summer  They never get to see this.  It's an amazing bloom.

 

 

There are many gas powered bicycles in Tucson.  They're all home-built.  This is the first time we have seen this configuration, usually the engine is on the down tube.  Changing that flat is going to be a chore.

 

Thursday we went downtown into the historic Barrio to walk, because sitting is the new smoking.  We're making a conscious effort to spend more time on our feet.  It was a nice walk, not too hot.

 

 

These are the original houses in Tucson.  Some have been restored and are really beautiful.

 

 

 

 

I love that turquoise fence.

 

A very pleasant courtyard.  See the white house on the right.  It's been enlarged into another lot behind it, and it is just enormous.

 

In the mid 1960s, 80 acres of the barrio was bull dozed to build the Tucson Convention center and parking.  People were living in those destroyed houses, and had been since the 1800s.  However, they were considered a blight, and had to go.  This is a pretty good article on the subject. 

 

This is what happens if these buildings are not maintained.  They crumble.  There are several buildings that look like they're beyond repair among the beautiful restorations.  According to this piece, the biggest threat to the historic buildings is the leaking water mains in the barrio.  Homes were built up to the street to make room for court yards and back yards.  The leaking mains are directly under these buildings, saturating their foundations.  So, it's always something for everyone.

 

This is a manipulated image, it's upside down so you can read it.  Yesterday we had sky writers.  Unlike the pilots of old, whose planes traced the letters using aerobatic moves, this was written using 5 planes.  They would fly side by side, and release smoke at the same time; like an airborne dot matrix printer.  It was a windy day - by the time they finished ".com" the rest of the website name was gone.

 

In other news, I just found this tweet rating page on the web.  I am quite a nice person, it seems.

I have no progress to report on the RV.  We're really hoping to be gone this week, but the universe has not shared its plans for us yet.