3-26-10

LUNCH

IT WAS A GOOD SOAK

Despite our continued best efforts, the cold weather has followed us to Arizona. Granted it's sunny, but the low 50's temperatures and high winds made it quite chilly today. One of our main chores for the morning was splitting and stacking firewood. What the deuce? We thought we were escaping the winter, but again, it has found us. And, our host, Happy, sounds like a WWOOF host broken record: "This is unusual weather."

Another chore this morning was to alphabetize the spice rack in semi-circles so all the spices could be easily seen. Everything at Happy Oasis is normally very well organized and labeled. But Happy was gone for 6 months in Hawaii, and since she just returned last week, things aren't quite up to snuff. Many of her exotic spices were unlabeled and in curious jars, so we had a big ol' smelling and tasting party to try to figure out what was what, and in which semi-circle it belonged. It was a fun activity, and reassured us we know some wild spices.

In a few days, hopefully we can get the place all spic and span and back to it's normal condition, although, it will be impossible to restore it fully. Here's why: Happy bought this house 16 years ago. It was the first house built in the entire Granite Dells. This area was a pristine natural oasis surrounded by cliffs, trees, and teemed with wildlife. She had lake front property and routinely kayaked throughout the mile long lake. However, in 2005, some developers decided to fill in the lake with dirt and build condominiums. What we want to know is, what fool in their right mind would fill in a natural oasis in the desert with sand? The developers filled in the lake, and chopped down almost all of the 600 trees on the lakes perimeter, thereby destroying the habitat of ducks, bobcats, mountain lions, frogs, fish, etc. Being an environmental activist, Happy put a stop to the development, but the landscape is permanently scarred.

Today, the lake is suitable for swimming only if you are a small toad, but some trees have been replanted and the beauty of this area is still very much intact. Her house is like a maze, with over 6 bedrooms, and cliff rocks peaking out from corners and crevices. It's pretty and has an organic charm when you open up your closet and see a light bulb, hangers, shelves, and a boulder extruding from the wall. Our private bedroom is situated on the ground floor, with most of the house above us. We have a bathroom with hot running water and flush toilets, and our screen door leads directly into the greenhouse. In an effort to conserve water in the desert, we are subscribing to a tinkle al fresco method.