#11 Sunday Morning Musings and Mimosa 3/26/23

The Hall of Flame; End of Spring Training; a Pilgrimage to Taliesin West; and Praise the Lord! Another amazing week on The Great Open Road!

And that’s a wrap! We are about to finish up what I have termed as our first leg of Coach Addy’s Big Adventure. The year-long adventure is divided into 4 legs, each one approximately 3 months long. The first leg focused on the south western part of the United States (CA, NM, TX, and AZ) culminating with a stay at the Grand Canyon before heading back to San Diego in a few days.

The next leg will take us through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and ending up in Idaho where we will spend a month or so with Peder’s sister Hanne and her family-Yep we will be "moochdocking" once again! Half of the fun of this great adventure is planning the trip, deciding what you want to see, where you want to go and where you will stay along the way. I am happy to report that Leg 2 is completely planned and all accommodations are booked! We can’t wait to see what adventures await!

But first…A quick trip back to San Diego to visit friends and family and then a break from RVing as we will be taking a 14 day transatlantic cruise on The Beyond, Celebrity Cruise line’s newest ship and then spending a week in my favorite place, Paris, France! A bucket list trip no doubt! But I digress-let’s not get ahead of ourselves, it’s important to treasure the present, so let’s get on with my weekly update.

It’s hard to believe that Spring Training and our time in Phoenix has come to an end! We have been here for 5 weeks and it has gone by incredibly fast! We have done so much more than just watch our Padres prepare for their upcoming baseball season. (We are so bummed to be missing opening day on March 30, but we won’t be back in San Diego until April. A big thank you to Sempra Energy for the invite once again to enjoy this special day with others who serve on the Community Advisory Committee)

Peder asked me the other night what has been my favorite part of our time here? I couldn’t think of just one, but what I do know is that our adventure was enriched when we were able to share our experiences with friends and family. We are grateful to everyone who came to visit us and loved spending time with those who live in the area. It is our hope that this continues to be a trend as we travel across this great country of ours. So as we post our calendar for the next leg, let us know if you want to meet up somewhere!

Hot Tip #1-If you are coming to Phoenix for Spring Training, make your reservations well in advance, especially if you are in an RV! Most RV parks are already booked for next year! We put our name on a waitlist at the park where we are staying this year. Hopefully, something will open up for us.

We enjoyed our last baseball game this past Tuesday: Rockies at Padres in Peoria, aside from the rain it was a great game. Almost everyone was back from the World Baseball Classic series and all of the starters were in the game. A win against the Rockies (14-2) was the perfect end to our Spring Training adventure! We made it to a total of seven games and four stadiums. Not bad for our rookie year! Favorite field would probably be Salt River, but the most fun and memorable was Sloan Park, home of the Cubs. The stadium has a definitive buzz to it-the fans are awesome and you really do feel like you could be at Wrigley field.

We had two things left on our list of places to visit/things to do and we accomplished both this week. One of the top things to see in Phoenix is the Hall of Flame Museum of Firefighting. I was intrigued by the name and put it on our list. I am so glad that we took the time to visit this museum. It was so interesting and informative. Who knew that one of the worlds largest collections of firefighting apparatuses (fire trucks) would be in Phoenix. Beginning with basic hand and horse drawn apparatus to those powered by steam and of course the current fire engines as we know them today. A very moving exhibit was a fully restored 1996 F.D.N.Y. Rescue 4 Rig which was donated to the museum on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The exhibit also includes a video featuring the F.D.N.Y. firefighters who were on duty when the twin towers were attacked and of course there is a beautiful tribute to the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on that horrible day.

We saved our most anticipated attraction for last. This past Friday, we visited Taliesin West. This stunning site was Frank Lloyd Wright’s beloved winter home and desert laboratory. As many of you know, the architecture of FLW was a major inspiration for Peder and myself as we designed Herons’ House. Peder has visited many of the FLW homes in the past and together we traveled to Chicago to visit The Robie House and to Oak Park to see the FLW Home and Studio as we were beginning to design our home. So many of his core principles can be seen throughout our home. Major thanks to Bart and DZN Partners for capturing the spirit and elegance of Frank Lloyd Wright!

Taliesin West-Scottsdale

Robie House-Chicago

The tour at Taliesin West focused on four of the key tenets of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Organic Architecture.

1. SITE: The site matters! It is essential for the architect to have an intimate relationship with the site prior to beginning the design process. One must walk the site over and over again, at all times of the day and night. Understanding “The Nature ON the Site” AND “The Nature OF the Site” are both critical and equally important. The structure should not compete with nature, but instead be one with it, honoring and incorporating the Nature ON the Site: the location of the mountains, the plants, the views; as well as the Nature OF the Site: the way the winds blow, the sun shifts and the way the light moves throughout the day, the noises one can hear, etc…Form and Function are one! ALL of this must be taken into consideration when one begins to design and build.

2. SPACES: Spaces are not just rooms! Spaces are indoors AND outdoors and are intentionally designed for us to inhabit and intentionally designed for a purpose. All spaces are carefully designed, always considering the purpose of the space, the location of the space and the environment around the space. It is important to consider all points of view from any space, what would one see, hear, feel from any location in the space and facing in any direction. FLW also pays attention to how one will move through the spaces, the flow from one space to another is very intentional.

3. MATERIALS: Honest use of materials! Use materials that are found in the local area; the material itself should be used in its true form; the unique and inherent qualities of the materials should be visible, celebrated and preserved.

4. DEMOCRACY: Democratic environments are democracy in action: Individuals coming together as a community, united in their purpose and beliefs. Democratic environments are ones that support the goals and ideals of the individuals in their immediate and broader community; it is a place where a community of people can gather together to socialize, celebrate, and share their talents; as well as a place that supports the community’s belief that the arts are vital to a well rounded life.

As Peder and I listened to the Docent explain these tenets we couldn’t help but draw direct correlations to Herons’ House. All four of these tenets from the careful consideration of the site as we began to design the features of the home, including very specific spaces for very specific uses; the honest use of the materials; and the many opportunities that we have had to share Herons’ House with the broader community and various non profit organizations.

Hot Tip #2-Hire an architect that understands what you are trying to accomplish and has the ability to enhance the design that you are envisioning!

Every time we visit one of the Frank Lloyd Wright homes, I have an even greater appreciation for the artist that he was and a deeper understanding of how his gifts influenced the building of our home. Peder and Bart were masterful as they dreamed and designed Herons’ House. I am grateful!

This weekend has been the first weekend that we haven’t had plans. We were looking forward to some relaxation and taking advantage of the many amenities that our RV Resort has to offer. Every weekend, the resort has a different live band playing and they turn their multi purpose room into a dance hall. We had the best time getting to know so many residents at the park. Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming. The band was really good and the residents are quite the dancers. I guess those weekly dance lessons are working!

We were supposed to have our “neighbors” over for a pasta dinner and some freshly baked bread, but unfortunately they are feeling a bit under the weather. So we did the next best thing and prepared homemade bagels with all of the fixins and delivered it to them this morning. Peder is busy editing his next video where he will be demonstrating how to prepare and make bagels.

We were invited to attend their interdenominational church service and we were so glad that we went. They do a beautiful job of transforming the “dance hall” into a church. The choir was quite large and sounded so professional, they have a visiting pastor each week and the message, titled “Wait for It” was all about preparing for Easter and “sticking around until the miracle happens.” This message resonated with me and made me think of a past Director of Special Education who used to always remind parents and teachers (and me) to” not give up on the miracle until it happens.” Her words were a constant reminder that there is always hope and the importance of faith.

Lesson Learned: Be careful how short of a haircut you tell the groomer to give your dog. Poor Charlie got all of his hair shaved off and it is still pretty cold here. Oh well…good thing we have a doggie jacket and we are heading back to San Diego soon!

Bummer of the Week: I am bummed that we were so busy the first few weeks that we were here at Desert Shadows, as we have really enjoyed getting to know the community and taking part in all that they have to offer. I had read that some of these RV Resorts are not very welcoming of the “transient” visitors, I can attest that is NOT the case here. I kind of wish we were staying for a few more weeks, and I definitely hope that we can get in next year and that we can reconnect with these kind folks!

Highlight of the Week: Visiting Taliesin West and learning more about the genius behind Frank Lloyd Wright and then reminiscing with Peder how much of an influence that this architect had on the design of our home!

Homeward bound in a couple of days! We won't actually be back to Herons' House for a couple of weeks, but we will be back in Southern California and San Diego.