TAKING THE OFF-RAMP

An Expression in Flute Music

In celebration of 20 years of bringing Indian flute music to the world, R. Carlos Nakai has released In Beauty, We Return, a best-of album featuring tracks from 13 of Nakai's previous releases.

The recipient of several Grammy nominations in New Age and traditional folk music, In Beauty, We Return showcases Nakai by himself and with otherethnic artists, such as Nawang Khechog & Wind Travelin' Band. In addition, Nakai performs a jazz sample of his work and collaboration with award-winning flutist Paul Horn and guitarist William Eaton.

ethnic artists, such as Nawang Khechog & Wind Travelin' Band. In addition, Nakai performs a jazz sample of his work and collaboration with award-winning flutist Paul Horn and guitarist William Eaton.

Information: toll-free (800) 2681141; www.canyonrecords.com.

Tucson's Historic Stone Avenue Temple

The small building south of downtown Tucson may hardly seem worth the time of a tour. Outside, the plaster over brick front lacks flair while inside the old wooden floors squeak. However, the Historic Stone Avenue Temple holds a proud place both in the history of Tucson and the Arizona Territory. Jewish settlers arrived in Tucson in the 1850s and went on to become an important part of the public and political life of the Territory. For more than 60 years, they practiced their faith in private homes. Then,in 1910, they built Temple EmanuEl, at 564 S. Stone Ave., the first synagogue in the Arizona Territory. It was used until 1949; the present Temple Emanu-El is located at 225 N. Country Club Road in Tucson.Docents now lead tours discussing the history, architecture and the restoration of the structure. No longer an active synagogue, the Historic Stone Avenue Temple continues to serve the community, as a venue.

Tours and information: (520) 670-9073.

ADOPT A TORTOISE

If slow and steady is your style, the Wildlife Center at Adobe Mountain has the perfect pet for you. The center is always searching for custodians interested in adopting a desert tortoise. Although it is illegal to remove the creatures from their natural habitat, many of them end up in captivity. Once removed, they can't be released back into the desert. The displaced tortoises need caretakers who will let them amble about in habitat at their leisure.One word of warning: Adopting a desert tortoise is a long-term commitment-as much as 100 years Information: (623) 582-9806.

THIS MONTH IN ARIZONA

1859 Tucson begins to look more like a community, with a total of five whitewashed houses.

Apache Indians fill the road at Apache Pass with stones and threaten to close it altogether unless the government gives them more beef and flour in exchange for the use of their land.

1872 Beleaguered residents of Arizona beg Congress to persuade Mexico to extradite its accused robbers and murderers in the Territory.

1916 A miner working in the Pioneer Mine dies after striking an old, misfired blasting cap with his pick, causing it to explode.

More than a hundred onlookers attend the dedication of the Topock Bridge, spanning the Colorado River at Topock.

1930 The world learns that amateur astronomer Clyde Tombaugh has discovered the planet Pluto at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff.

Opposite Forces of Nature

"In Arizona nature allures with her gorgeous color and then repels with the cruelty of her formations, waterless, barren and desolate."

Up With the Birders

You go to a lovely patch of desert, listen to a lecture about birds. Then, in small, quiet groups, you make an unrushed walk down desert paths. Just the kind of tour you might expect from the gentle people called "birders."

At 7:30 A.M. on the third Saturday of every month, the Tucson Audubon Society offers special morning programs at the Mason Audubon Center at 8751 N.

Thornydale Road. There, 22 acres of saguaros and ironwoods stand protected from the surrounding urban growth. The land, a true preserve, isn't gussied up for visitors. When a cactus falls, it stays on the ground, decaying in the natural recycling process.

They don't talk only about birds here. They also talk about butterflies, plants and wildlife. Volunteer naturalists lead the tours. They require reservations to keep those tours small, but they don't charge a fee. Nice people, those birders.

If you do prefer a little more action and shoulder-rubbing, the doors open to one and all on the afternoon of March 5 for the center's annual Ironwood Festival, which celebrates the wonders of the Sonoran Desert with live animal presentations, interpretive activities, trail walks and lots of great food. Ironwood Festival admission: $5, adults; free, children 15 and under. Information: (520) 744-0004.

Last Picture Shows for Car People

With its near-perfect weather and really dark nights, Arizona was a natural for outdoor cinemas, a.k.a. drive-in theaters. During the late 1950s, the heyday years, it had 49.

Only four drive-ins survive, and there have been some changes. Multiple screens now show first-run features. Gone are the speakers that customers would invariably forget to remove, then drive away to the sound of shattered side windows. FM car radios or FM portable radios now receive the sound nicely, thank you.

Tucson's sole drive-in is the DeAnza on South Alvernon Way. It opened March 13, 1951, making it the state's oldest drive-in still in business. It has four screens.

The Glendale 9 Drive-In in Glendale has nine individual screens. The Scottsdale 6 Drive-In has six. The Apache Drive-In in Globe is Arizona's only solo-screen drive-in, and its smallest (400-car capacity).

Information: De Anza, (520) 7452240; Glendale 9 Drive-In, (623) 939-9715; Scottsdale 6 Drive-In, (480) 949-9451; Apache Drive-In, (928) 425-4511.

Calle de Matador

A downtown Tucson street named after a bullfighter? It's true. The block-long Carlos Arruza Street, located behind the Tucson Convention Center, got its name in 1972, after the Tucson Festival Society hosted the premiere Arizona screening of Arruza, director Budd Boetticher's film biography of Mexico's greatest matador. Carlos Arruza (below) became a full-fledged matador de toros (an earned bullfighter's title) in 1940 and was a star from that moment on. Boetticher, no stranger to Old Tucson's movie-set streets, directed numerous Hollywood Westerns. But bullfighting was his passion. The Arruza film, narrated by Anthony Quinn, was a labor of love, and of tragedy. While driving on a rain-slickened highway from Mexico City on May 20, 1966, shortly after the film was completed, Arruza and several key members of Boetticher's crew were killed in a road accident. Arruza was 46.

Fireflies Shed Some Light on Arizona, Too

Most Midwesterners and Southerners have memories of midsummer evenings when fireflies flickered a magical display in meadows and lawns. The fireflies' abdomens glow from a chemical reaction that occurs in their light organs, producing a heatless light called bioluminescence. Using light signals, fireflies attract mates. Anomalous groups of these insects which are beetles, also known as lightning bugs-have appeared in isolated places in Arizona. "They're a serendipitous novelty in Arizona," said Owen Martin, recreation manager for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, Clifton Ranger District. Martin has seen lightning bugs along lower Eagle Creek in eastcentral Arizona and reports others have seen them along the lower Blue River in eastern Arizona. He doesn't know why the fireflies take to these spots, but he said his experience produced a special moment for him and his fellow campers. "I had my work face on," Martin recalled, "but when I saw the fireflies, I started to reminisce about my childhood experiences of seeing them back home." Nedra Solomon, owner and founder of Glendale's Katydid Insect Museum, said people have reported seeing fireflies in areas around Flagstaff, as well.

THE DRUNKEN RABBIT THAT TERRORIZED BISBEE

A drunken rabbit terrorized Bisbee in 1921. A newspaper reported a local resident's complaint that the rabbit had eaten some grape mash that an illegal home-brewer had thrown away: "This morning I heard him [Mr. Bunny] milling around my garden and went out to chase him away. Ordinarily he runs as soon as I open the door, but this morning that darned rabbit crouched down, laid back his ears and growled at me. I gave my dog orders to chew him up, but Fido changed his mind after the rabbit chased him all over the yard. "That grape mash must have had an awful kick, for bunny has kept us all in the house all day. I'm afraid to even open the door, for every time I even look out the window that soused rabbit rushes up to the house and almost knocks it down."

Typically, the staples of a Western diet -beans, biscuits, bacon and beef -were proffered. However, as prospectors discovered gold, saloons began to accommodate their clients' desires for richer fare. On special days, a menu in Tombstone was known to feature suckling pig with jelly, oysters or Columbia River salmon.