It's a beautiful morning in Tucson. Yesterday it rained all day, so I knew today would be a nice day. It rains just enough here to clear the air and make the sky so blue you can almost touch it, like a pastel painting.

I'm sitting on the patio of my favorite hangout near the University of Arizona campus drinking a "grande skinny cinnamon dolce latte", noted on my cup as a "SCDL". The air is crisp, the temperature is perfect for a sunny morning, and I'm doing nothing. What a life.


The view from here provides a glimpse of a major college campus on a school day. Bike riders pass me scooting along like wheeled snakes, darting in and out of traffic. Signs remind cars to park "Backwards Only for Bikers", so along University Drive every car is parked with headlights facing toward the street. Students walk past the patio where I've set up temporary camp, most with backpacks, pierced ears and noses. Flip-flops are the shoe of choice for many. I see one particular guy almost every morning walking to class, and I silently giggle at his dress code: big brown shoes and brown socks to the knee, Hawaiian shorts with a floral theme, white T-shirt (always a white T-shirt). He's a bulky human, not unlike a local Sasquatch, with dark hairy arms and unshaven beard. Of course, every Sasquatch you see must have an iPod, so this one is no exception.

The Marriott Hotel is in the distance across from me, and so is the La Salsa Mexican restaurant. A Pei Wei restaurant is next to the La Salsa, providing students with an international variety of foods. Local bars make up the remainder of University Drive, along with a donut shop, a few clothing stores and a student book store.

I took this picture to remind me of location. University Drive leads to the main entrance of the University of Arizona. The "Downtown Centro" sign is one of hundreds you see around town telling tourists where downtown is located. Actually, the city of Tucson is user-friendly and I've had no problem learning how to get around town. The colored banner hanging from the light post is a nice design highlighting the "Main Gate Square", the name given to this shopping development.

This tree reflects the time of year. It is winter. I noticed the one leaf, dead, hanging on, until the next wind gust blows it away. The tree is right in front of me as I sit here, and I took the picture to remind me that I'm alot like that leaf. Although I'm not dead, I sometimes feel like I'm hanging on, trying to avoid a gust of wind, so I might continue to enjoy the nice weather and blue sky above me.