Each of us, if so fortunate, holds a particular place as giving us a sense of safety, comfort, and home. For me, my grandparents' farm in Iowa, a friend's ranch in Colorado, and now Lea's place in Apache Junction offers that level of grounding, for both what is within and without the walls of her home.
As a filmmaker, writer, and researcher, focused time at my computer is paramount. I have learned over the years that sitting at a desk facing a wall, or a room without exterior windows is a certain recipe for inability to be creative, productive, and committed to my work.
Rather, I prefer a direct connection with what is happening outside, the kind of stimulation that is not distracting so much as engaging, even entertaining. And in the Sonoran desert, at the foot of the Superstition mountains, there is ample engagement at every hour of every day,
I awoke each morning to a cacophony of bird song, eager to open the doors and step outside to see what is already in motion. Bright red cardinals, doves, quail, road runners, and humming birds, to name a few. Three wild rabbits, quite accustomed to human presence sat just off the front porch, moving freely among the birds that ate seeds from the ground. While I was at work on my laptop at the kitchen table, the large bay window to my right, a gorgeous coyote walked casually down the drive way and onto the stone porch. I opened the door as she passed, glanced over his shoulder, and hurried into the wash and out of sight. Each night the coyotes' gathered in the wash, maybe a hundred feet from the house, their barking ample reason to stop all that I am doing, just to listen, sometimes record.
Lea's place and Apache Junction as a whole is a reminder of how humans can live closer to balance with the animal world. Instead of cramming houses back to back, wall to wall on lots barely larger than the structure, an acre or two provides a corridor for both humans and wild life to explore. Trail running, hiking, backpacking, all within a mile or three, by foot or a quick drive.
As for the inside? Simple. Elegant. Clean. Perhaps the most productive, easy to use kitchen I have ever seen with ample countertop space and all the amenities of home. Instant hot water, a robotic toilet that will, well, ... make you wonder why you would ever go without one again, and climate control unique to each room so you can sleep cold yet walk into the warmth of the kitchen again.
Need I say more? --Kai Staats, MSc
