Fall Foliage

Daily View

Every day we are grateful for our view of the Santa Catalina Mountains.  We see them from our bedroom when we wake up, from our living, dining, kitchen, and breakfast rooms, from our patio, our casita...  They are magnificent!  As I walk every day, they are right there, in my view, every step of the way, covered in saguaros,with big rock outcroppings and canyons.

Life List

I've had a Life List for many years and I update it from time to time. Its a reminder of how I want to live my life, places I want to go, and the people that are most important to me.

 

My Life List, after 60:

• Enjoy every day, wherever I am!
• Be a good friend. Cherish and cultivate relationships with friends.
• Spend time with our children and their families, all together at least once a year
• Spend time with each of my children at least once a year, at their choosing
• Spend time with each of my parents at least once a year
• Travel to places I haven’t been, at least one trip per year    

Iceland  

Southern Italy

Silk Road Tour

Peru Ruins

Australia & New Zealand

Tinos + other Greece Isles

Mineral do Pozos and Silver Cities of Mexico 

• Travel to previously visited favorite places, enjoy them all over again!

    Eleuthera

    Portugal, Duoro River cruise

Greece - Dodecanese Islands

Virgin Gorda, Nevis/St. Kitts

France - Avignon area, Paris, Languedoc

Ecuador + Argentina/Uruguay

Morocco - Marrakesh & Atlas Mountains

Cape Town + Safari 

Banff/Lake Louise

Panama Canal

Tahiti

Antelope Canyon, northern Arizona

Southern Utah, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly

Tetons near Jackson Hole, Yellowstone

Upper Captiva

Big Sur

San Antonio Missions 

• Volunteer to make a difference in someone's life
• Go to art gallery or cultural event at least once/month
• Walk or other exercise at least 5 days/week, 45 minutes/day
• Write, take photographs or make pottery... Be Creative!
• Always be thankful!

Mount Lemmon

As the crow flies, Mount Lemmon is just 12 miles from our house, but via paved road, it is 46 miles and takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes.  Mt. Lemmon's summit elevation is 9,159'.  The elevation at our home is 2735'. 

We went to Mt. Lemmon this morning, on a beautiful crisp fall morning, the first time in over 35 years!  From our house to the top of Mt. Lemmon, we passed through several biomes, from desert scrub and saguaros, to desert grassland, oak grassland, pine forest, and mixed conifer forest.  The views were amazing!  The patches of aspen in their fall splendor were beautiful.  The thousands of acres burned in the Aspen Fire of 2003 are slowly regenerating and many of the 300 homes lost to the fire, have been rebuilt.  It was a perfect morning! 

Rainbow

While sitting at our kitchen table having dinner this evening, the light on the mountains became particularly beautiful and caught my attention.  There was a rainbow! 

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

We were up before 5 this morning, and on our way to the Balloon Fiesta by 5:45.  We parked and rode a school bus from one of the designated parking lots, arriving at the Balloon Fiesta Park by 6:30.  We watched from the Fiesta Field over the next two hours as hundreds of hot air balloons lifted off.  The sky was cloudy but gave way to more sun.  It was a spectacular sight!  Going to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is about the most bang for $12 you can get anywhere!  We enjoyed every moment.

Acoma Pueblo

We stayed overnight in Grants, NM.  We began our morning at the El Malpais National Monument Visitor Center.  We drove about 20 miles south, for a lookout view over the ancient canyons full of lava flow.

Our next stop was at Acoma Pueblo, or Acoma Sky City.  “Since 1150 AD, Acoma Pueblo has been the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in North America.  Acoma Pueblo is built atop a sheer walled 367’ sandstone bluff in a valley studded with sacred, towering monoliths.  There are about 5000 tribal members and 250 dwellings in the Pueblo, with no electricity, sewer, or water.  Most tribal members live in other nearby villages and spend special holidays in the Pueblo.  San Esteban del Rey Mission Church was built in 1629, and is still used today.  The Acoma people are known for their art and rich culture.”  We took a tour and had a fascinating day!

Chaco Canyon

We visited Chaco Canyon a few years ago and thought it was beautiful.  We went back today and loved it all over again!  “Chaco Culture National Historical Park has the densest and most exceptional concentration of pueblos in America.  The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, in a remote canyon cut by the Chaco Wash.  Containing the most sweeping collection of ancient ruins north of Mexico, the park preserves one of the most important pre-Columbia’s cultural and historical areas in the United States.

Between AD 850 and 1150, Chaco Canyon was a major center of culture for the Ancient Pueblo People’s.  Chacoans assembled fifteen major complexes that remained the largest buildings in North America until the 19th century.  Many Chacoan buildings may have been aligned to capture the solar and lunar cycles, requiring astronomical observations and centuries of skillfully coordinated construction.  Climate change is thought to have led to the emigration of Chacoans and the eventual abandonment of the canyon, beginning with a fifty year drought in 1130.  Chaco Canyon pueblo sites are considered sacred ancestral homelands by the Hopi and Pueblo people.”  Chaco Canyon was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Over the River and Through the Woods... To New Mexico

We left Tucson (el. 2300’) this morning by 8 and drove north, along the San Pedro River, with saguaros covering the mountains all around, then over the Gila River, to Globe, where Papa grew up.  We continued north and ever higher, up the Salt River Canyon to Show Low (el. 6350’) with tall pines everywhere.  The terrain dropped a bit as we continued north and east toward New Mexico, with rolling grassland and junipers dotting the landscape, always with a mountain backdrop.  The drive was stunning!

We arrived in Gallup, New Mexico by 4 PM and visited two trading posts, Perry Null and Richardson.  We had been to Richardson Trading Post a few years ago and never forgot how impressed we were by over $20 million in Native American crafts, saddles, rugs, jewelry, blankets, and so much more.  It’s still impressive!  We had dinner at El Rancho Hotel Restaurant.  El Rancho Hotel El Rancho Hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It catered to Hollywood actors filming nearby, from the 1930’s to the early 1960’s.

Family Visit

Claire's family met us at Redemptorist Renewal Center at 10:30 this morning.  The sky opened just as they arrived, so we sat in their car until the showers passed.  Then we set off to see the petroglyphs, which are quite impressive and yet so easy to get to, they somehow aren't as big a "find" as when we've hiked for hours. 

We went home for lunch.  Papa helped David with tune up his bike while Claire and I went on a walk, amidst intermittent sprinkles.  Emerson and Colby had fun exploring all around our yard.  We watched most of the first Anne of Green Gables movie, which brings back wonderful memories of our girls childhood.  A good day!
 

Busy Week

This past week seemed busy for us.  Papa biked every morning while I hiked.  Rachel, from UA Development Office, stopped by for a couple of hours early in the week.  Wednesday was Taylor’s birthday, so we called to sing to her.  We had lunch with Karla on Thursday.  She got a job offer as a medical assistant just after she got home from lunch that day.  We enjoyed the Wynton Marsalis concert on Friday night.  Jennie and her mother, Jovita, joined us for dinner on Saturday.  Jennie and Dale went to school together and were in the same graduating class.  Jovita is 93 and very feisty.  We had wonderful conversation.

Besides the fun things we did, Papa got through a full week without medication.  I included “super foods” in every meal with more variety than I’ve ever cooked with.  His change in diet is working and his glucose level was lower much of the week than the week before.  We had a good week!

Wynton Marsalis

Papa and I went to the Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis concert at Centennial Hall tonight.  Marsalis played with a big band of about a dozen, with two dancers interpreting the songs.  The songs were about animals.  The music selection was interesting.  After the last standing ovation, Marsalis came down to the front and played one last song, with three other musicians.  It was the best!

http://uapresents.org/jazz-lincoln-center-wynton-marsalis

And Then There Was Light

It is a rare day in the desert to have rain all day.  Yesterday was one of those days.  For just a few brief moments, there was a break in the clouds, and there was light!  The light on the mountains, with clouds hanging low, was just beautiful!