A VISIT WITH MARYBETH WEBSTER & HER 14 SIDED POLYGON HOUSE

 

SUNDAY AT MARYBETH’S

We were happy to wake up to sunny skies this morning.  Despite the cooler Arizona air right now, sunshine is always on the warm side down here.  Could still see snow on some of the mountain tops so grabbed a few more photos with the 700mm lens.  One of those mountains is about 30 miles south of us & is actually located in Mexico.

THIS MORNINGS SAN JOSE/NACO MOUNTAIN IN MEXICO ABOUT 30 MILES TO THE SOUTH

Quiet day at the ranch but I did manage to give Ray a hand to fix a fence gate that had been pulled off it's hinges by vandals.  We were fortunate to have a better weather day than the cold, wet, wind, & rain of Monday.

THIS IS RAY FIXING A RANCH GATE WEDNESDAY MORNING

I met a lady in our photography group a few weeks back who is instrumental in this community for many beneficial programs for the areas local citizens through the Chiricahua Community Health Center.  Her name is Marybeth Webster & Kelly also met her in one of her morning yoga classes.  Marybeth's goodwill actually extends south over the border into Mexico where she is also active in further programs to help the local Mexican population.  Marybeth invited us to her home near Douglas this past Sunday for supper.  She lives in a very unique house, but first, a little more about Marybeth.............

SAND HILL CRANES HEADING NORTH ALONGSIDE THE SNOW TIPPED MULE MOUNTAINS

(click on pictures to enlarge them)

"Marybeth Webster, 80, came to the Douglas area 6 years ago expressly to help minimize the poverty that breeds migration in her beloved Latin America.  She learned Spanish in Costa Rica and Honduras as a scientific illustrator for United Fruit Company 45+ years ago.  Her four children are all over 48 and doing well.   She left her home of 27 years in Grass Valley, CA and built her 14-sided polygon prefabricated dream house, six raven miles (as the crow flies) from Douglas, 10 by car.  The house was built by DELTEC HOMES in North Carolina  Marybeth has to supplement a small Social Security check by working and most fortunately, found the only job in the county in her profession, art therapy at the Elfrida Clinic Elder Wellness Project.  If she ever retires, she imagines continuing work with DouglaPrieta Works, her non-profit project which encourages self-sufficiency in the under-employed of Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico which is contiguous with Douglas, AZ.  She would also like to do pastel portraits and landscapes, garden in her 6 refrigerator raised beds, hike and take photos of the incredible beauty she finds here."

Here is some additional info about Marybeth's polygon house & you can see the photos I took Sunday by clicking on our PICASA WEB ALBUM.

DELTEC HOMES are prefabricated in 8´ square panels with a patented climate-controlling pagoda roof.  They come in sizes from 8 to 23 panels and can be two or three story.  The owner orders the number she wants and works with the Deltec architect to design the interior, decide where the pre-installed doors and windows will be, and place it on her own site to best advantage, then has the slab built and ready when the semi arrives with the parts.  It took 5 men and a tractor-loader 8 hours to set up walls and roof of her 14-sided, 1015 square foot model, then nearly a year with a local crew to complete the house.

A WALK IN MARYBETH’S SYMBOLIC GARDENS

Some of you may remember our Thanksgiving dinner a week ago at a community center nearby with a bunch of nice folks & their group, Friends of the Southwest.  Marybeth is also a member of the committee here & has sent me this brief description of the tiny community...........................

THE 14 SIDED POLYGON HOUSE

"Friends Southwest Center near McNeal, AZ is a Quaker commune founded about 35 years ago by Ohio Friends.  About 10 dwellings house members, guests and temporary renters, mostly non-Quakers, on over 200 acres purchased by Pima Meeting, Tucson.  Community gardens, a common well, participative democratic decision-making, and the use of their community Center by Cochise Worship Group, the elder wellness project in Elfrida, Sembrando Salud, and others, makes it a significant element in rural Cochise County."

I would also like to add my own personal comment to the above description of the group.  I was very impressed by these people because there is no dominant religious factor at work here.  These folks are like minded in their concerns for the environment & overall peace & goodwill for the earth & their fellow man.  Truly, a common sense & logical approach to very real problems!!

Sometimes as I read through our blogs in the morning I am made aware of how fortunate Kelly & I are in our likes & dislikes of many things.  No, we do not always agree on everything but for the most part we do have a like-mindedness in much of our thinking.  For example, life is much easier for RVing couples if they both prefer to travel to the same destination.  If one prefers the palm tree lined paved roads & cement padded RV Parks of the east coast & the other partner prefers sleeping under the stars in the deserts of the southwest......there is going to be one mighty big problem for sure!!  Some folks would like to head south before the snow flies while a partner insists on staying home to do the Christmas thingy!!  One partner may look forward to the peace & serenity of boondocking while the other partner can't wait to get into all the social activities found in most RV parks.  Some want to escape the rat race while others prefer to get deeper into it.  Seems that a lot women cannot bare to be separated from their shopping malls & men from their television sports games.  Men have a habit of immersing themselves in golf.  Women have a habit of immersing themselves in shopping.  Maybe it's the golf that drives the women to the malls or vice versa.  Hobbies can become a problem if they are all consuming for one partner & not the other.  Some folks like to get dressed up & do the early bird specials at the restaurants everyday while others are happy at home with pizza & beer.  Couch potatoes & outdoor enthusiasts are not a good match.  Dusty cowboys & eastern fancy lady dressers are probably not a good idea.  Dependant & independent people are going to have a hard time making it if they are paired up.  And some folks like the call of the open road while others prefer the home & family life with kids & grandkids.  No question there for me.............give me that open road any day:))

IT WAS A FINE DAY FOR A VISIT

Kelly & I disagree on night time television but we work around that & it's the time of day I write the blog anyway with my headphones full of music clamped tightly to my head.  Our shopping habits are different.  I don't have the patience of sitting in the car like some men do while the ladies spend seemingly endless hours to go into one store after another & come out with 1 item.  I have about a 30 minute maximum attention span for the shopping thing & then I have to get out of town!!  Just being in a crowded people place of any size gets to me after a short period of time & I have to get out into the wide open spaces of the countryside.  Just one of the reasons I don't like crowded RV Parks.  Kelly is able to tolerate neighbors better than I am (just barely) but if we had a choice we would move right back out into the quiet people-less country again.  We both agree a hundred per cent of where we want to be during the winter months simply because we have the same outdoor interests.  We love the history of the southwest, the geography, & the fact that it is still seems like we're in the 1800's in many places.  We both love the RV lifestyle & through trial & error we both ended up agreeing a motorhome was our best mode of transportation.  We are animal lovers & prefer to see our dogs run free rather than having them tethered to leashes & chains.  Another one of the many reasons we avoid RV Parks as a rule.  Most of our philosophies & theories are in harmony as well & it’s another reason we are both in agreement with the Friends of the Southwest thoughts & feelings.  All & all we are a pretty good darn match but like I have said many times before......I definitely got the best part of the deal when I met Kelly & like it says at the top right of our blog site, she is the beauty & the brains of the Bayfield Bunch & I am, well..................... bah humbug!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS LITTLE DOGGIES ASLEEP UNDER A PILE OF DAD’S PAJAMAS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  In the early 20th Century, Thomas Edison was spreading the word about electricity. Once, while vacationing out West, he stopped at the Sioux reservation. Edison was shocked to learn that there was no indoor plumbing, and that he would have to use an outhouse. In fact, he was told, the Sioux had to use the outhouse even in the dead of night. To help the Sioux, Edison installed lights in the outhouse. With this kind act, he became the first person to wire a head for a reservation!    ('head' is a military term for washroom)

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