After an uneventful flight to Tucson on Sunday morning, I was tickled to see Janice and Karen drive up at the airport. It was unusual that everything went on time. Their two-day drive went well. Being the optimist that I am, I left my winter coat in the car in the airport parking lot in Nebraska as I dreamed of the sunny warmth of Tucson. Trips past, I'd always overdressed. This year I made sure to bring capris and sandles. Boy, have I been surprised with the weather with the highest temps in the 40s.
We are enjoying our adobe home in the foothills of the mountains in eastern Tucson. Finding the right home was an event worth reiterating. "Margaret" as we call our navigation system took us to the wrong house in the dark, no less. Janice and Karen just got done investigating the back area in the driveway but it didn't seem right. Karen told me that there was a very big doggie door in the back. Sure that we found the correct house, Karen told me to grow a pair and decided to sacrifice the young tender one; she sent me to the front door of the "correct house." So I carefully walked up the front step, unhinged the first iron gate to proceed four more feet. The front door was all barred as I noticed signs that made the hair on my arms stand up. Dobbermans-Can you clear the fence in three seconds? We can! Cripes, I'm not going any further. I'll sleep outside in the locked car tonight, thank you!
After many minutes of frustration, Janice and I partnered as we walked up the steps of the neighbors' house to ask for directions. They were so nice and kindly told us that the house we were looking for was behind them. We were trying to get into someone else's house with Dobberman's no less!!! It's a wonder the police didn't come.
The magnificent view out to the north included the beautiful mountains. Monday morning Karen told me to listen to the morning doves cooing. I told her that my Grampa Tommy taught me to call them rain doves. When they cooed, it meant rain was on the way. Within two minutes of our conversation, it started raining. "Your grampa was a smart man," Karen said.
It rained on and off all day during our first shopping excursion. We made it to Cherry Tree Beads at the Double Tree to see Bill and Adriana. They took great care of us escorting us around their booth showing us what was new for this year. It's always exciting to be recognized year after year being so far away from home. We will be working with them this summer to have our first bead trunk show at our Christmas in July Expo.
While I was salivating over the metals at You and Me Findings, Karen went to visit our friends at Guatemala Creations. Robert and Bobbi Lee spend nine months a year living in Guatemala running their exporting/wholesaling/retailing business. They employee women there at a livable wage to create beautiful beaded fashions. They are very insistant on fairness in this trade which makes adding their products to our mission even more heartwarming. Make sure to check out these masterpieces next time you shop with us.
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