The heat is on

Those who warned us that the rain wouldn’t last long were correct.  This morning, we woke to blue skies and stepping outside was somewhat of a surprise, however much we were expecting the warmth.

We were headed for Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s house and school of architecture, on the outskirts of Scottsdale.  We’d driven up here yesterday, having been incorrectly led to believe by our guidebook that it was open.  Today, we strolled in around 9.15 am, securing our places with the slightly dippy woman selling tickets.  Slightly dippy could be an understatement – not only did she warn us against travelling around England on an American Express tour because of “the terrorists who are waiting to blow it up”, she also claimed to remember Mary from an ice cream parlour at Warwick Castle…  We paid our money and having corrected her misconceptions about the threats to tourists in England, moved swiftly on.  We still wonder if Mary has an evil twin in Warwick

We joined the obligatory guided tour, fortunate in having Sue as our guide.  She set off at a good pace, allowing us time to gather in the scant shade available before going into the house itself.

From the terrace of the house, the view was clear over the desert.  Sue explained that the cacti take around 70 years before they grow their first “arm” so some of those in view are hundreds of years old.

We are all very fond of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and admire his attention to detail and the clever way in which he trained his staff.  However, we were rather surprised to see the rough finish here at Taliesin West – the whole construction was created from a mix of local stone and a dryish concrete mix.  These same, rough walls were the interior surface too but the lines of the structure, the framed views and the overall effect was such that the rough finish seemed perfectly fitting.

The woodwork was roughly finished too, the doors hanging from simple hinges and hung directly on the stone without a frame.  Very “spiky” throughout, this was a structure of few right angles and the doors were interesting shapes!

We loved hearing of his skill in designing a building which works perfectly.  Here, we sat in the semi-basement theatre and marvelled at the way the shape of the room managed the sound so effectively.  What a clever man!

We learned of how the school of architecture works to this day, working through the Winter here at Taliesin West and throughout the summer at Taliesin, in Wisconsin, because this was never intended to be a year-round base for FLW and his team – far too hot!

Craving ice cream, we left in search of a”Cold Stone”, following google directions as far as the HQ building before realising that we were not likely to find and actual ice cream there.  We quickly rerouted to a shopping mall where we found what we were looking for!

It was interesting to see the misters along the street of this upscale area, too.  Living in this climate must present so many challenges.

Our afternoon destination was the State Capitol – or rather, the grand building which is now a museum, having been replaced by a more modern, functional structure down the street.  The copper dome shone in the afternoon sunshine as we ventured inside, adding another capitol building to our collection.

Inside was a series of rooms full of dusty bits and pieces, though a couple of questions were provoked for future research – in particular, we wondered what happened to the California Box Car full of goodies sent by France in 1949, seeing the contents of the Arizona one displayed here.  Most of the other displays didn’t detain us long, though I rather liked the US Fleet in a nutshell in the picture above.

Linking nicely with this morning, however, was FLW’s speculative design for a new State Capitol.  A room was devoted to a few of his plans and for a scale model of the building – a rather futuristic design drawn from local themes and interpreting the landscape in a somewhat abstract fashion.

The model was detailed and offered a better insight than the drawings, though for me, it’s the artwork which holds the most interest.

Another structure with few, if any, right angles in place, these drawings were done in response to a simple rumour that a replacement capitol was needed.  Sadly, the depression and economic hardships of the time meant that it was never really given serious consideration.

Although some of the elevations and impressions look attractive and reveal what was probably a well thought through and workable building

the overall design is somewhat other worldly and it’s hard to imagine it here in the city today.

Time then, to return to Scottsdale, to write up a few journal notes before I forget, to cool off a little and relax before dinner.  Our last night here before moving on, we look forward to moving on to Prescott tomorrow.

The heat will continue, I believe.

Would you believe it?

Having left behind a month’s worth of rainy days in favour of a destination in the desert, where the temperature has been into the 100s in the last few days, we woke this morning to cloudy skies and a coolish breeze.

Aah, said the residents of Scottsdale, how lucky you are to have a cool day here.  Make the most of it because it won’t last long.

It being the 4th July, we expected some places to be closed for the holiday, but in Old Town Scottsdale, most places were open – not that there were many customers in evidence.

We decided to take the self-guided walking tour.

But really, we didn’t find it terribly inspiring and many of the goods on sale in the stores in the old town weren’t quite what we had in mind.

After peering in a few jewellery store windows and shops selling Native American Art, we ventured inside the shop selling light reactive things where we bought a couple of bottles of colour changing nail polish.  By now, the dark clouds were gathering but even so, the chap in there assured us that it wouldn’t rain – no, not here.

But not long afterwards, there was a drop or two on the windscreen.  Those few spots soon became more than a few and shortly after that it was pouring with rain.

Hmmm.  There were we, suitably equipped for strong sunshine and high temperatures, with extreme factor sunscreen in the bag along with our hats and dark sunglasses.  Did we have an umbrella?

Actually, it didn’t matter.  We spent the afternoon with friends Sue and Ivars, celebrating Independence Day with their family at their home, sitting by their pool and actually agreeing with whoever-it-was who remarked that a drop of rain was better than extreme temperatures.  As we drove back to our hotel this evening, the sky looked more settled and the forecast for tomorrow is for fine, more usual July weather.  Fireworks have been lighting up the sky for the last fifteen minutes or so and it sounds like the grand finale is drawing the celebrations to a close.

Good night from Scottsdale, Arizona!

On Arizona time

We’re here.  In Scottsdale, Arizona, that is.  It’s been quite a day.

As we drove to the airport, the Goodyear airship sailed by.  We hoped for a more comfortable ride for our journey, needless to say.

As if by magic, our wish was granted.  We checked in as normal and whilst I went shopping for a new pair of sunglasses, my hero texted me to tell me we’d been upgraded.

Woohoo!

To First Class, no less.

Woo-double-hoo!

So, we took the advice of the British Airways staff member on the desk in the business class lounge and hot footed it to the Concorde Lounge instead.  After a spot of lunch, we sat either side of a small coffee table with a lamp on it for quite some time before I noticed the lampstand…  Amusing, n’est-ce pas?

Sitting up there in the aerie of Terminal 5, watching the world go by and our 747 over there opposite, awaiting our arrival, the time whizzed by.  As much as I’d like to say that the ten hour flight to Phoenix went equally quickly, I’m afraid it didn’t.  Though, we were treated to excellent service, top notch food and super-comfort – what luck!

I watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and the Marigold Hotel before snuggling down to listen to Michael Macintyre on Desert Island disks (and falling asleep).

Anyone else read the book of the Marigold Hotel before seeing the film?  Your thoughts?

We landed in Phoenix at 5pm, half an hour before we were scheduled, and the temperature was 38C.

Mary was there waiting for us, having just got there herself.  We picked the car up from the largest Avis lot that ever there was and here we are.

Let the 2012 Road Trip begin!!

Road Trip Journal ready

OK, I know, my sense of priorities isn’t quite the same as everyone else, but having spent the last couple of weeks thinking about getting my road trip journal together, I thought it was high time that I actually got on and did it.  (It’s ok, I can multi task…the washing machine was going full tilt as I worked.  I don’t need that long to prepare for a journey ;-)

Anyway, this was (sort of) packing…  I wanted to edit my art kit a little because over the last couple of trips, I’ve added things to it but not left anything else out.  So, time to throw out pens which don’t work any more, leave a few pencils behind and lighten the load.

My art kit is in a roll up bag which came free with Marie-Claire magazine years ago – I know that because the whole thing has “marieclaire” printed all over it.  It’s got four zip pockets and rolls up nicely – or rather, opens out flat so I can see what’s what.  It’s a well travelled bag and must have been around the world several times over.  As a result, it’s got lots of holes in it and from time to time things fall through them.  But I haven't found an idea replacement so far and until I do, those inktense watercolour crayons had better stay put.

The next pocket has pens and pencils in, and a small glue stick.  I’ve just weeded out all the blue pens, keeping one black ball point, a couple of drawing pencils and a handful of black waterproof pens in there, with a couple of paintbrushes and a waterbrush.  Oh, and a couple of white pens, for writing on coloured paper.

My Indian hole punch sits in the next pocket (read the story of how I bought that here) together with a small pair of scissors, a tiny stapler and a craft knife.  The little gin bottle is filled with Modpodge and there’s a small reel of sellotape and a small tin of paperclips and brads too.  I’ve got a small container of sewing needles there too, which would have come in useful if only I’d brought a reel of cotton :-)

The last pocket has two small bottles of PVA glue, a few sponges and rubber stamps and some glue dots.

I also have a tin which works as my worktable when we’re driving from one place to another.  I’ve got the smallest of cutting mats (4” square), a mini paper trimmer and  a set of alphabet stamps in here.  Oh and a few more rubber stamps I found in Singapore which are ridiculously large…they are going to have to earn their passage or they’re out!

Having got all that together, I needed to assemble the journal itself.  I’ve chosen paper from Heidi Swapp’s No Limits collection which happens to be in a good colour palette for our road trip, too.

Some is very heavily themed though, and I’ll probably end up cutting those bits up to use in a different way.

I also pulled in a few sheets of some paper left over from another project, which works well with a couple of the pages.  Anyway, if we’re in the USA on the 4th July, of course, I’m going to need some red, white and blue, yes?

I punched the pages with my Cinch but for the time being, will just hold them together with a couple of book rings, which will make it easy to add extra pages and rearrange those that are there already.

Great, neat holes, all well aligned and exactly where I wanted them.  Though I have a Bind-it-all machine too, I prefer the Cinch for this reason. (No, I don’t carry it around in a pink handbag…)

I cut the covers from heavy board which I’d saved for the purpose from our last purchase of bedlinen. 

For the record, Jordi, I threw these offcuts away ;-)

I covered the insides with a bright orangey red map print and the outer cover with the dark blue version of the same.

I sanded the edges and inked them with a turquoise chalk ink.

I took it to the daylight to photograph the finished journal, ready to go.  I attached a little paperclip there on the top, ready to hold any vital bits and pieces.  That little clip’s well travelled too – I bought it in Darwin!

And now, I suppose I’d better get on with the “real” packing?