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We flew to Tucson on Monday morning, it's almost a 4 hour flight! I had no idea. Peter picked us up at the airport and brought us to the new house. It is spectacular! Everywhere you look is beautiful. The Memorial Union chair sculpture sits behind their pool (unheated, so no swimming this trip!), in front of the Santa Catalina Mountains. |
| Here's another look at their house, I'll do more later. It's so beautiful. |  |
 | We had lunch and then unpacked and Meredith and I went shopping to get the turkey and dinner stuff. When we got back, we just hung out outside, it was in the high 70s and just perfect. Meredith did some computer work in the shade... |
| While Hawk read his Tom Clancy |  |
 | And Peter talked on his cell phone |
| We watched the sunset over the city below. |  |
 | And then we had dinner, OUTSIDE!!! After dinner, we watched Batman Begins on Peter and Meredith's huge flat screen tv with surround sound. It was great! |
| Meredith and I left very early on Tuesday for Miraval, the desert resort with the spa where we had appointments for manicures, facials, lunch and hot stone massages. |  |
 | The massage was fabulous, I loved holding those stones. They heated them in massage oil, they are flat black river rocks. They put some on the bed under a towel and I stretched out on top. First I got a regular massage on my legs and arms, then the rocks. They were really hot at first, but not too hot to stand. I turned over and she got my back and neck, too, and at the end I held a rock in each hand, there was a rock on each instep, and she did a little rock concert for a minute or so. It was cool. The pictures I took didn't get saved by my camera, so I got this one from their website. And lunch was this incredible plate of brown rice with black cod and vegetables, we had raspberries and blackberries for dessert, and we shared a teeny lemon tart. We grabbed pork tenderloins and tiny artichokes at Trader Joes on our way home. Bea joined us and we did the same routine: great grilled food, watching the sunset, eating outside. This time, I got a cigar, too. |
| Here are some pictures of the outside of the house |  |
 | More outside. |
| And more. They had the entire house painted, the red rails are all Meredith. |  |
 | Their 5 acres is filled with natural and incredibly beautiful cactuses. |
| Many of the prickly pears are actually lavender/purple, amazing. |  |
 | This barrel cactus finished blooming and is making fruit. |
| The inside of the living room has this wood cieling |  |
 | A wooden skeleton of a cactus stands in the center of the house. It is truly magnificient, a natural sculpture. |
| Just look at this kitchen. |  |
 | They used Paisley and Peter's idea of a single very deep sink for dishes, but that soapstone counter (which is everywhere in the kitchen) is all theirs. I can't keep my eyes off it! |
| One more shot of the kitchen... |  |
 | This is looking up at Meredith in her study. You can just see me there in the mirror taking her picture. |
| Hawk sits at the dining room table, you can see their enormous television screen in the background. |  |
 | Another beautiful cactus in their front yard. |
| It's Thanksgiving! We got up early and Peter and Hawk and I went to Santa Catalina State Park, where Peter rode his mountain bike and Hawk and I walked. It was warm and got a little crowded -- a lot of people around here had the same idea! Meredith baked the pumpkin pies while we were gone. |  |
 | Turkeys perch on the open shelves in the kitchen. |
| When we got back, Peter set up the barbeque and we put the turkey in. We stuffed it with onions so it would cook faster. |  |
 | Our gorgeous 14 pound bird, only 3 1/2 hours later. Meredith did the leg shake and we poked it. It was perfectly cooked. |
| We set the table outside and ate dinner there. It was mild and the food was delicious -- turkey, gravy, mashed yukon golds and sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts hash and cranberry sauce. |  |
 | Then we ate our pie with reddi-whip and watched the best sunset yet. |