"Oh crap -- I'm 40!"

-- T-shirt birthday gift from my ever-helpful ex-husband.

Actually, that's not how I feel about it at all. The past few years have been the best of my life, despite all the angst and challenges, and I expect the next five to be better yet.

Not bad for 40, huh?


So excuse the tardiness in this post from my birthday adventure in Tucson. You can blame it on Miz K, who kept me so entertained that I've only just recovered. (And who also gave me a real literary potboiler of a novel that I had to finish before I could do anything else this week.)

It had been way, way too long since I'd seen my dearest friend. (You can read her account of the weekend here.) So how did we start our weekend? By going to see Neko Case, of course!


I've seen Neko three times now, each time with Miz K, and this was the best show yet. Her voice was *on.* Plus, it was a benefit for No Mas Muertes, an extremely worthy cause.

Friday we spent in forced relaxation mode, waiting for the gas inspector (insert gas joke here; it's a long story of annoyance you can catch up on by reading Miz K's blog), then headed up to Phoenix to visit the homemaker's mecca that is Ikea, then spend the night with K's sister Julie and her adorable family.

Saturday evening we went on a mini bar-crawl to see out my 30s, photographic proof of which can be found on K's blog (dig the birthday hats!). Started at The District, the closest replication of our O'Rourke's stomping grounds back home. Met up with a work friend of Krista's and some friends of his at Plush for live music, then to Che's Lounge (get it?), which I knew was gonna be cool as soon as I heard the cover band wailing "G-L-O-R-I-A" as we walked in the door.

But the definite highlight was my birthday proper, spent exactly as I had hoped: with a dear friend, hiking on a mountain, then watching the sun go down over the rocky cliffs. The top of Mount Lemmon, in the Catalinas, is less than an hour's drive from Krista's front door.


The drive itself was amazingly beautiful -- we kept gasping each time we rounded a bend. As we ascended the 9,000 feet, craggy cliffs peopled with saguaros pointing the way upward gave way to aspens and pines and cool mountain air.

We chose the Sunset Trail, not at all challenging, but a lovely short hike down to Marshall Gulch and back. Fallen leaves made a lovely crunching noise under our feet, pine needles whispering and giving off their unmistakeable, cleansing scent, and the glitter of quartz begging for a closer look.


We scurried back down to 6,000 feet to get to Windy Point in time for the sunset. Too many people there, but the view is lovely, over a sheer cliff. We dangled our feet over the edge, watched a couple of rock climbers, and sat mesmerized as the sky turned golden, then cotton-candy pink streaks, then back to gold again, shimmery as fool's gold.


The sunset and other good photos are Miz K's expert work with my dorky little camera. With her permission, I've posted them all on my Flickr site -- I'm always amazed by how she can frame a setting to bring out its most enticing features.

That evening, Krista took me to the Bee Line for my birthday dinner -- a good bottle of wine and the best fish tacos I've ever had. Doesn't she look old-school elegant, in her new short 'do?


The week's end came too soon. Monday we went to El Charro (great corn tamales! I miss tamales!) and did some shopping in the old town neighborhood. I couldn't resist buying a cowboy hat, even though straw is out of season here in the north.


I'm gonna have to find the travel fundage to get back to Tucson more often, because it's a truly awesome town and home to one of my favorite people in the world.

Quote of the day is by Miz K herself, on why she can't be an actor:

"I like being myself too much."

Going into my 40th decade, I find these excellent words to live by.