Sunday, January 09, 2011

Tucson Artisans, Beauty and Tragedy


The day began as a very good day, it was warm when we stopped for a soda on the way to Tucson I got some shots of a very nice although a replica of dinosaur bones in front of a McDonald's.


It was a well done ...


... and a fun shoot...


... until we stopped at El Charro in Tucson only to be told about the shootings a few miles up the road at a Safeway store. We all had a very good meal while thumbing our I-Phone for news of the event.


We finally stopped thumbing the phones and tried to put the tragedy out of our minds as we walked over to the Old Tucson Artisan shops...


... a few short blocks away, There were some beautiful photography opportunities on the way like this red light shade against the yellow building...


... brick sidewalks along colorful buildings...


... shadows of street lamps ...


... and a great blue porch.


There was a very artistic white stucco building ...


... with a plant growing in the crack between the building and sidewalk.


When I saw this sign I knew we were there...


... and a look through another window verified we were there.


The galleries were rooms of a larger building and the first gallery had a wonderful hand painted wall...


...and a colorful walkway to the next gallery...


... that was filled with stained glass...


... then down another art filled hallway ...


... we found some very unique pottery...


... and a whimsical metal sculpture.


Walking outside I found a really pleasant courtyard with a Kokopelli ...


... that I saw as both magical and mystical...


... near a wood carving of the word "Love."


Looking out from the courtyard was an amusing wall across the street...


... and when I turned I found Matt and Sharyn taking a picture of me taking pictures...


... of that other wall and this interesting Southwestern entry gate.


I looked up to see the second floor of the Artisan center...

... then back in the courtyard I got another metal sculpture.


Meanwhile Sharyn was checking the news on her I-Phone...


...while I went on taking pictures from the inner courtyard...


... until I found this old but interesting metal sculpture of the sun god.


Walking back we passed a colorful law office with Matt's favorite number "222"...


... and an even more colorful back door of another office...


... I would have love to shoot this great tree without the wires and parking lot but alas it wasn't to be.


On the way back home I took a few pictures from the car. I thought this brick wall mural was very nice...


... and I appreciated the reminder that the Titanic Artifact exhibit was in town and that I'd love to see it later - today was not the day to venture around Tucson...


... even though this cactus looked very festive...


On the way home we took a back road through Sonoita and stopped for a picture at a roadside park...


... and later stopped for a picture of this windmill...


... and this metal sign at a ranch along the road.


The real gift was that Matt told us about this metal sculpture of a cowboy hearding a cow and calf...


... it was a good ending to a day of enjoyment laced with great sadness for Congresswoman Giffords, Judge Roll, a wonderful nine year old girl, Christina Taylor Green, born on 911 and departed 1/8/11 and the others who were killed or wounded today.

Quote of the Day ~
"The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time" ~ William Butler Yeats

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