Long Time No Post
Well, it's been a couple weeks since I posted anything here... I've had a great Christmas. My wife and I went to her Mom's place in Tucson, Arizona. There's a lot of cactus in Arizona. One day we drove out to Mount Lemmon. It was a beautiful drive. Gorgeous rock formations, and a forest of saguaro cactus, which changed to majestic pines as we gained in elevation. But nobody wanted to get out of the car to actually walk around in the wilderness, even for just a couple minutes. When we reached the turnaround point (a scenic lookout) they wouldn't even get out of the car for a minute to check out the view. Just happy to watch things go by in the windows, I guess. Oh well, next time maybe I'll ask Mom to drive so I can at least spend a little time looking out the windows myself. Back at Mom's place, I went for a hike, and saw armadillo tracks, and what looked like jackrabbit droppings. The vegetation is mostly prickly pear cactus, barrel cactus, and chollas, with desert broom and the occasional acacia or paloverde tree. I ran across an animal den that looked big enough to house a 60-75 pound animal. Some tracks found nearby led me to believe it belongs to one or more javelinas. I gave the den a pretty wide berth.Her Mom cooked a fantastic spread, lunch and dinner, every day we were there. It was really, really easy to eat too much. It was nice to see them all again.
Since then, the whole house has come down with a nasty cold. I think I'm over the worst of it, hopefully my immune system will triumph in a few days. I've decided that my new year's resolutions can wait until I'm better. I really need to exercise more, and that's the main focus of my good intentions this year, but I can't see myself working out with a box of kleenex. So next week, unless this cold hangs on that long.
Happy New Year!
posted by Jules @ 1/04/2006
8 comments
8 Comments:
Glad you had a good trip, Jules, and also glad to see you back!
jules, i really love the american southwest. when you live in ohio it seems so strange and beautiful. my wife and i talk about moving out there someday. hope you feel better soon.
Thanks for the well-wishes, everyone.
Hey Jules!
I spent a few weeks in Tuscon and Arizona a while back. An ex-girlfriend was studying there.
Did you visit Monument Valley? It's incredible! They had a blizzard there just before I arrived - took some great photos.
No, I wish we had more time there. But I wouldn't have expected a blizzard! It was eighty degrees and 15% humidity. Some Christmas! :-)
off-topic:
Jules, what you did at the funeral was beautiful. Posting it on all the blogs was not. When you act in the moment there is only the act.
If you try to eat the same meal twice then the second time around you will be eating only vomit.
johnzendoe:
Were you thinking of what Jundo Jim posted on Nishijima's blog? Thankfully, I haven't spoken at any funerals recently. I think he was the one that posted his speech about his friend's funeral. I was glad he shared it on Nishijima's blog, I enjoyed reading it.
I think his intent was to point out to the people engaging in the flamewars that there's more to life than arguing on blogs. As it says in the Dhammapada, "For those who understand that we must all come to an end, their quarrels cease at once."
Jules,
Yes, Monument Valley is pretty high. It was November. There was indeed a blizzard at about 6am, although it only lay for about 3 hours. I was one of the first into the park when it opened and took some great photos. I'll put them on my blog.
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