This morning we are sitting out on our back patio enjoying the warm weather. I'm reading a book, and Bob is intently listening to one of the lectures from his online course on Justice. This is not justice in the normal sense, but rather in a very broad approach to philosophy, ethics, etc. I would probably be taking it as well, but I'm pretty much tied up with my own course on the economics of global poverty. These are issues I never studied in college since I was focused so much on the science and math, and it is quite eye-opening. Foreign aid is rarely the panacea we think it is; poverty is a very complex, local and culturally-specific set of issues.
Bob has been playing a fair amount of golf, as well as taking lessons, and spending time on the driving range. It's really nice that he can do that on a regular basis and not worry so much about the weather cooperating.
One of the interesting parts about this extended vacation is that it doesn't feel so much like a vacation. Two big contributors to that are that we are renting a "Villa", rather than staying in a hotel; and we have some very good friends here and have met others who make us feel very welcome. I have found myself saying "it's time to go home" rather than "it's time to go back to the villa or the hotel". It truly makes a difference.
A few weeks ago we thought it might be interesting to take a look at a few houses here, just for curiosity's sake. We have enjoyed our stay here so much that we know we'll be returning next winter, and we thought a bit of interior sightseeing would help us decide what to rent next year. Our friend Maren is a realtor, so it was very easy to do this without making any sort of commitment. There are so many different models of house here in Saddlebrooke, and we had only seen a couple by virtue of visiting our friends here.
The more we looked the more we got excited about being here next winter, and Bob kind of tossed around the idea of perhaps buying a house ourselves, so we didn't have to rely on rentals and didn't have to worry about specific dates when we might be able to come out. Well, so that you're not on the edge of your seats, we actually made an offer on a small (2 br) but lovely house. The offer was accepted after a couple of tos and fros, and we are now in the process of making it happen. Yesterday was mortgage day and today is inspection day. If all goes well, we will close on April 16, just before we leave! This has been almost as surprising to us as it must be to you. We are very excited about it and looking forward to being here next winter and perhaps for a short time in the summer or fall. But don't worry, we're not ready to move out of New England any time soon.
Attached are just a couple of photos of the outside front and back. The Santa Catalina mountains can be seen from both.
Only in Tucson: We noticed one or two roads with names like "Cherrybell Stra". We found out after asking that "stra" is an abbreviation for "stravenue". So I looked it up in Wikipedia and the answer was so good I have to quote it directly. "A stravenue (portmanteau of street and avenue) is a type of road particular to Tucson, Arizona. The United States Postal Service officially supports the abbreviation STRA for stravenues. A Stravenue runs "diagonally between and intersects a Street and an Avenue."
Today was our second all-day excursion looking at furniture. It's been awhile since we've bought any and it's even harder when you're not familiar with the stores in the area. After looking at and sitting on so many pieces of furniture we couldn't remember which was which, we finally bought a couch. Now we have a place to sit. Next step: a bed. After that we'll probably take our time.
We just finished dinner, it's about 7:30 p.m., and I can report that it's a lovely, dry 75 degrees outside. Delightful!
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