Apr. 25th Beautiful trees in Mesa and Ft. Lowell in Tucson

    We spent Easter in Mesa at Ev's sister's - we don't know if it's been 30 years or longer since we had the last Easter together!  The purple jacaranda tree and orange oleander bush are both on her street.   Several years ago I read a good book called The Jacaranda Tree ( by Roseanne Bittner, I think) and there was a street in our hometown in Iowa called Oleander Street.

    On the way back we stopped at Ft. Lowell Army Post in Tucson.  It was built in 1862 but moved to this spot in 1873.  At that time a stand of trees was planted, called Cottonwood Lane.  (Can these be the original trees?  Signs don't say.)  They said this was a real oasis in the middle of the desert.  The fort was closed in 1886 after Geronimo surrendered.  The fence around the museum (former housing) is made of the Ocottilo plants that we see everywhere.  The sign said it was common to use these as fences around porches.  The trunks have long thorns, so I'll bet the children didn't touch them more than once.   This was home to infantrymen and cavalrymen.  The housing walls were 20" thick adobe.