I am in love all over again.  With the desert.  Of course it is only April and I have not lived through a 110 degree summer day.  Oh my goodness, is it ever beautiful!  I logged a few pictures on the blog, probably all in the uncategorized section.  I still do not have the hang of this blogging stuff but I am slogging my way through it.  I love doing it.  Time is what I run  out of.

Back to the desert.  Please look at the few pics I logged today.  One is along side the street where I was doing my morning walk.  That is what yards look like here as well as the wild areas.  It is illegal to cut down the tall cacti that you see in these pictures.  If you see any huge piles of rocks in the pics they are all natural occurrences and cannot be moved even to build a house.  You must build next to them and incorporate them into your yard as they stand.  They look so dangerous and unsteady to me.  Unless a plant is native to this region it cannot be planted in the landscape.  In Phoenix I noticed a lot of palm trees and suggested to my host they would be pretty in her yard.  The city of Mesa does not allow them to be planted because they are not native to this region.  I behold this rugged landscape as serene and beautiful.  It is spring here and some plants have already bloomed and other native plants are blooming.  Unfortunately most of those pics are on my camera and not my cell phone.  I only know how to transfer pics from my cell phone at present because they are all still in RAW in the camera.

What a beautiful community this is.  My friend JoAnn and her husband Brent who live in Madison part of the year are currently here at their winter home.  This area might be worth looking into if you are searching for a place to retire and don’t mind the summer heat.  Mesa, which is in the Phoenix area is surrounded by mountain ranges.  The first and largest is the mountain range I traveled through yesterday, the Tonto National Forest on the north and east sides of the Phoenix area. The South Mountain Range is, by coincidence, South of Phoenix.  To the West of Phoenix is the White Tank MountainRange.   I am very well acquainted with the Tonto Mountain Range as I spent several hours yesterday maneuvering curve after curve.  It seems as if they go on forever.

Brent drove us up to the top of South Mountain today.  The winding road, was perilously narrow with steep cliff drop offs.  Brent was extremely adept at driving the roads and I did not once become concerned.  Perhaps, because the road was so curvy that the speed was very slow.  We SLOWLY made it to the top.  And guess what I found at the top besides a splendid view? A photo op of course.  There was a man standing on the window ledge of an old stone structure looking out over Phoenix.  I asked if I could take his picture and he said yes.  So I did.  Actually, I took several silhouette photos of him as he stood there.  It was awesome!  I climbed onto a ledge at the back of the structure so I was almost level with him.  I had the opportunity for some wonderful shots.  I talked with him and he said I could post him on the blog.  His name is Michael.  And yes, he really was as muscular as his silhouette indicates.  The last time I sent my husband a picture of a body builder at the gym in Arkansas he responded with “I THINK IT IS TIME FOR  YOU TO GO TO YOUR NEXT DESTINATION”.  He hasn’t yet responded to this one.  Perhaps because he knows that as a photographer I really do see the body as a work of art.

The view was awesome as you can see in the background behind Michael.  It was rather hazy and I do not have my zoom lens on my camera or on my IPhone.  Look closely and perhaps you can see some of the mountains in the background.  For some reason the camera just cannot capture enough to explain the true vastness of these mountains.  I would like to relive everything in slow motion.

Lunch was at “Oregano’s”, an awesome Italian restaurant in downtown Phoenix.  The downtown part of Phoenix is actually rather small compared to other cities of comparable size.  Phoenix area has approximately 4,200,000 people.  JoAnn and I orderd the special oregano salad, split it and took home over 1/3 of it.  It was delicious.  We finished eating about 3:30 and drove over to a resale shop.  It closed in 15 minutes so we didn’t have much time to shop.  I could have spent the day there.  I’m still waiting to get hungry and it is almost 8:00 p.m.  That salad was just too big.

It is days like today that are so awesome.  Beautiful scenery, wonderful company, excellent food, and when we came home we just lounged under the lanai by the pool and listened to the waterfall spill over the “vanishing edge of the pool”.  I enjoy each and every moment and live only in the present.  Only in the present, in the presence of God.

I just had a call from my beloved and his words to me:  “THAT BETTER BE A STATUE” relating to the silhouette photo of Michael that I sent him earlier.  I said, “no, he was very alive”.  Then Dave responds, “Oh, so now we know Michael really didn’t row the boat ashore, he carried it”.

A driving day tomorrow as I head out to California.  “CALIFORNIA HERE I COME, RIGHT BACK WHERE I STARTED FROM”.  Please remember to pray for driving protection for me.  I thank you.

Good Night