Not much to report from Scottsdale. Just getting some welcome rest and sun. We are having a wonderful time in our friends "villa", sitting at the pool, working some, relaxing some, doing some sightseeing. Yesterday we drove into Old Scottsdale, where mostly elder couples and baseball fans (spring training is taking place in Scottsdale right now) are on the streets and frequenting the amazing number of jewelery (and souvenir) stores.
The last two evenings we went for hikes with our friends L. and S. into the desert landscape of McDowell Mountains. When we started on the first day we enjoyed a dramatic view when a sandstorm was building up over Phoenix (which somehow dissolved later). We hiked until it got dark and learned a lot about the specific desert vegetation – cholla, saguaros and barrel cacti, jojoba, ocotillo, mesquite and palo verde... - what a landscape! Cooked dinner together with our friends in the evening – one day mexican, one day italian - and had good conversation.
Today we had a tour arranged at closeby Taliesin West, one of the buildings of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) in the middle of the Sonoran desert. This structure, started in 1937, was his personal winter home, studio, and architectural campus. Still today students are living and studying on the grounds. Though it was his field of experimentation it also became a masterpiece of his craftsmanship and geniality, among other influences inspired by japanese architecture and arts and by the Arts & Crafts movement. He "invented" organic archictecture and became the leader of the Prairie School of Architecture. But, like Picasso, he was multi-talented, and also designed furniture, textiles, dishes etc., even his own suits!
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