Matt is ten. Excuse me for a minute while I hide my head. Or laugh. Or run screaming from this room. I haven’t decided yet.
Crazy year. Zach turned sixteen. Hannah hit teen-ager status. And now this… [Read more →]
It’s not really a castle and Montezuma probably never even heard of it. But Montezuma’s Castle in the Verde Valley of Arizona was the cliffside dwelling of the 12th century Sinagua Indians. Early settlers attributed the dramatic structure to Aztec emperor Montezuma with enough certainty that the name stuck even if the facts didn’t fit. [Read more →]
Over the past three days or so, I’ve gained a better understanding of why women of my age (the specifics of which is an irrelevant detail) lose track of their gym passes and the will to fight the good fight on personal fitness.
I’m nowhere near quitting. I’ve done this for too long and believe that exercise tones a lot more than my body. It smooths out the rough spots in my emotions; it gives me spiritual muscle for Life’s considerable challenges. It gains me “thinking time,” enhancing my sense of perspective. It makes me smile more and wrinkle less.
But wow. I get it. This past week as I scrambled between back-to-back soccer games, track meets, practices for the aforementioned and “odds and ends” that included guitar lessons and daily school transportation; work-out time kept sidling a couple of steps beyond my grasp. Forget the grocery (I did). Forget the laundry (wish I could but soccer socks require hazmat removal if not laundered within three days). Forget taxes (yeah, right), a social life (sigh) and recreational reading (sigh again). It’s a crazy, but oh-so-normal life. I know this. [Read more →]
There was so much to see that it took a moment for me to realize there was nothing to hear. It was silent. And then a warm breeze rustled the leaves of the aptly named brittle bush and there was sound in the Sonoran Desert… [Read more →]
Can You Hear It...? (South Mountain Park; Phoenix, Arizona) [1:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download 
If I’d spotted it creeping across my carpet, I’d have crushed it into a paper towel with a shiver and no shame. But as this bug was moseying across red sandstone on Camelback Mountain, I instead dropped down to the best camera angle, thinking it quite spectacular. [Read more →]
