Under the Palo Verde

August 14, 2011

One of the trees I fell in love with here in Scottsdale is the palo verde tree.  When young, they are graceful and almost delicate, their bark glowing green. This particular tree is part of our view from the patio at the condo that Denny and I are living in until we find permanent digs.  It was about 7:40PM on Thursday when we pulled into the driveway, after a twelve and a half hour drive from California.  There were several stops during the drive – breakfast at Harris Ranch in Coalinga, and ice cream nosh and the usual bio breaks for both us and the Malibu.  The most memorable points were when we crossed the Arizona border, received a phone call that the buyers of our previous home in Sunnyvale officially funded, and then crossing into Maricopa county.  A long journey, indeed.

The temperatures were warm – although it was considerably cooler (at least to me) from the previous week when my sister Miriam and I drove in the Mini.  Temperatures then had hit a high of 114 on the road!  This trip it was comparatively cool – the low hundreds.  By the time we had pulled in the driveway it dropped to the mid-90’s and was getting dark.  The air conditioning was comfortable even before we had the car all unpacked.  Our welcoming committee – two crickets – were cheerfully chirping away.

Friday – a mere 96 degrees – was chockfull of activity.  After a leisurely breakfast at the General Store.  One of the best breakfast burritos I’ve ever had, and great salsa, too.  It’s a neat place with a Post Office inside, all old-time feel, lots of local traffic and friendly people.  A visit to the bank, connecting the wireless/internet, setting up the US mail and driving past a few potential homes were some of the chores we knocked out before we relaxed with our friends Karen and Mike at their pool.  Our official welcome!

Driving around town is incredible.  Views of the mountains and desert scrub are everywhere.  We’re less than six miles away from Pinnacle Peak, with many vantage points.  Camelback is another popular site, depending on which side of town we are driving.  Friday night we experienced our first “monsoon” rainstorm.  That consists of lots of lightening and thunder and rain pounds its way into the ground.  Believe it or not, it made for great sleeping!  Although the temperatures have edged up to the low hundreds, the humidity is staying pretty low and so it’s all comfortable.  I can certainly live with this!