Becky Reyes: Blog

Tonight as we were coming home from our gig at Viaggio Italiano in Sonoita, I caught the glimpse of a red object just down the hill from us on the plain. My initial thought that it was a reflection of a red light in the window but I quickly realized that it was the moon rising over the hill just slightly below us. It was a bit of an optical illusion because the moon doesn't really rise below us, but it seemed that way. It was huge and red, as if looking at the moon through a glass of red wine. There were no other lights around us (Sonoitans love their night skies, and I love them for it).
I immediately thought I surely must find an omen in a blood-red moon, but the only thing that came to me was that this world is stunning. I stared at the moon until it rose higher and turned a lighter and lighter color. It was breath-taking.
I shared this on facebook and my friend, Candy Royden, asked why the moon might have been red. I responded, "Don't know why the moon was red. I first thought that [...]

   I'm pretty sure that when I started performing again, I thought I'd be working a few times a week. And I dreamed that it could someday sustain us, but I never dreamed it would be this much fun and that I'd be doing it so often!
   Half the time though, I'm working on my newsletter. I want my newsletter to first of all, let people know where I'm playing and with whom, and second to inform people about other entertaining events that are going on in the communities where I play. So often I hear, "There's nothing to do", but I'm here to tell you that there are plenty of things to do out here.
   I'm going to try to cover events within a 100 mile radius of both Tubac and Bisbee (Bisbee being my hometown). We have artists and galleries, car clubs, fabulous restaurants, unique lodging, resorts, golf, birding, hiking, farmers markets, community gardens, coffee roasters, micro-brewers, vineyards and so much more! AND we are also a day's drive to Tucson.
   [...]

Well, next week is Thanksgiving. As I live in a near-constant state of bliss these days, I also live in a near-constant state of gratitude. The only time I ever remember being this happy was when I was living alone in a little cabin in western New York in a little burg named Prattsburgh. I was just 30 and truly living by myself for the first time. I only spent 3 1/2 years at that little cabin but in those 3 1/2 years, I grew up. I didn't have a TV or even radio so I read - voraciously. I hiked around the cabin and with my trusty Peterson Guides, identified all the plants and trees in my area and learned how to harvest medicinal plants and use them practically as I made my own salves and tinctures to great success.

The little cabin hasn't changed much. My friend Lisa Bigwood took these pictures for me last year. Oh, the roof is different. It used to be a split-shingle roof that nearly sang when it rained (the shingles were of different sizes and so each had it's own tone), but as I see [...]

One might think this is a scary or gruesome moniker to go with a scary and gruesome day, but the reality is that Day of the Dead is a grand celebration of the folks who have passed on. We honor the dead and include them in the festivities. We build altars, have small celebrations in the graveyards. Some of us even picnic at the grave sites and set a place for the departed.
I experienced my first Day of the Dead celebration when I was in a convent in Mexico around 1970 (Colegio Esperanza - Cananea, Sonora). I was a city girl from Los Angeles in a heap-o'-trouble and was sent to this convent to "straighten me out". It was culture shock to say the least. We had a very cloistered and disciplined lifestyle at the Colegio Esperanza and when we did go out, we were not allowed to stray from the group and were supervised very closely.
I remember that the nuns gathered us together and marched us to the graveyard where we were to help clean up any forgotten graves and decorate them with flowers. It [...]

Scott and I have really been enjoying our ride to and from the Santa Cruz Valley. On occasion, when conditions are right, we take our time traveling our favorite "Sunday drive" home. This isn't our normal route - we usually go "straight" home (down to Nogales, east on 82 then south on 90), but if you are into Sunday drives, maybe you might have a little vintage red corvette named, oh say, Sweet Caroline just sitting in your garage wanting to hum along a beautiful highway, you might consider taking the road less traveled. There are wide open spaces all along highway 83 (I think it's a county road) to Sonoita, a shrine in Patagonia, wineries in Elgin, eateries, galleries, and the drive is breath-taking.
 

Here are the directions from Tubac (and back again): we take 19 north to Sahuarita Road where we go east (right). We travel Sahuarita Road east for about a half hour (it gets prettier and prettier) and we turn south (right) on highway 83. Here the road starts to wind a bit (so use [...]