Best Laid Plans

When we arrived at the home we call Casa Espiritu, it was to find a lot of damage done in the kitchen by water leaks from a combination of the ice maker and pipes. This was the first time in ten years that we haven't come in here and had it all be mostly like we had left it.

One cabinet door was totally destroyed and the insides of the cabinets were ruined. Replacing the non-functional swimming pool pump could not be ignored(which Farm Boss did the first week) but other projects we had planned, like adding a screened porch, obviously had to be put aside.

Before anything could be replaced, the walls and floor had to dry out. When he tore out the wallboard at the back, he found black mold. Two of the cabinets had to be removed completely. I suppose we could have gone to our insurance agent to take care of all this. It would have taken time and a lot more money from somebody if not us. From the standpoint of speed (and this didn't seem like an act of god but rather one we should have thought of in terms of replacing old pipes and the ice maker line), we opted to do it ourselves.

The complications didn't let up. When we tried to buy new cabinets, the company had gone out of business a year and a half ago. That seemed to be a huge problem which might demand even more time going up to Phoenix and trying to find a close match. I didn't mind how it looked with no doors, but under the sink was no place that was possible. Lying in bed one night, I realized there were two more of the same size of doors. They closed another cabinet that I had never effectively used. By removing those doors and storing appliances in that space, with a pull out shelf, it became more efficient and looked fine exposed.

For two weeks the kitchen was a mess with just enough space to cook what was required between tools and repair equipment. Hikes and anything else mostly had to be worked between phases of the repair work. The lady at Ace Hardware came to know Farm Boss so well that when he went in, she would ask, what did you forget this time?

Finally the kitchen was finished. We were then able to begin the next phase of the project to make this house work as a vacation rental. For the nearly ten years that we have owned this home, we had borrowed two paintings from Parapluie, one a large oil ("Morning on Desert"). It especially had added a lot to the persona of the house. She had logically decided this year that if possible she would like it back.

Knowing I had to return the painting, I had brought down paintings in the truck. We also knew we had to replace several older Navajo rugs that we wouldn't leave here. With a vacation rental, there is always risk because some won't think of it as any different than taking towels from a motel. I guess it's not but it's equally dishonest. I have talked to people who have rented their homes and know that most people are honest, but you can't always tell in advance who will not be.


At any rate, when I first lifted Parapluie's painting from the wall, I felt a little sick as the living room simply didn't seem the same without it. It had added so much life to the room. I had often lain on the sofa and just looked into it. But then change is part of life and I knew we had been lucky to have it as long as we had.

The two paintings I had expected would work in its space just weren't the same. I began to wonder if I would have to buy a print somewhere, but I kept trying different combinations of paintings, sculpture and pottery. When I tried the painting of petroglyphs from an area we often visit, it was what pulled it all together.

With that painting, its sculptural qualities of the rocks, it seems that the house has entered a new phase, taken on a new identity. It's amazing how much art does do exactly that. With some rearranging of furniture, the kitchen will be a far better place for cooking and likewise better for dining. It came together in a way I hadn't planned-- serendipity.

The home has always been what I have hoped it would be-- a place for art, creativity, intellectual expansion, and spiritual contemplation. If someone else decides to rent it, I hope they will find some of what I have in the last ten years. Although I will still own it, I feel I am giving it up in some ways. That wasn't easy to do.


From here I have seen dreams come true, created art, loved, wept, experienced being. I have known disappointment here but also great joy. I have shared it with friends, had psychic readings within its walls, watched javelina drink from the pool, seen the coyotes and bobcat run past, watched bunnies and quail squabble over the seed block.

From its shelter, I have been here when the lightning has flashed and the house felt rocked by thunder. Through its windows I've watched the moon rise over Pusch Ridge and seen the sun set in the Tucson Mountains. From it I have gone out and found wonderful hiking trails, desert pools, creeks, and petroglyphs. It has been a very special place for me and I hope it will now be that for others who may find it and experience some of what I have been gifted by being here. It is a house of magic but also just a very simple little house.