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| "Finger Mountain" north of Parker, Az |
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| Sunrise over Parker, Arizona |
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Arizona Barrel Cactus |
Another year has passed us by. At
least it seems that way to me. This past
year is a blur when I think about it.
When Richard and I got back from our winter sojourn of last winter I hit the ground running. I had sold my home on US 2 in Crystal Falls
and I needed a new place to call home. I
found it in Crystal Falls on Harrison Avenue - 822 Harrison Avenue to be
exact. After looking at a few homes and
going back three times to 822, I knew it was going to be the one. The curious thing is this. When we moved to Crystal Falls in February of
1976 we moved into a cute little YELLOW house on Third Street. When we found the house that would become
home for the next 30 some years it too was YELLOW. The house on Harrison
is.....surprise....YELLOW. I see a theme
beginning. However, it should end with
the house on Harrison. Hopefully, it
will be my last home unless, of course, there is another yellow one out there
waiting for me.
The summer passed by so quickly with the work that was being done in the
house; packing up the house out in the country, sorting, giving away. I moved in on Sept 7th and began the
unpacking and putting away. If anyone
has lived in one place for well over 30 years you will know how much
"stuff" is gathered, boxed and saved and then discovered when one
moves. It definitely was a time of cleansing and of letting go. I am
somewhat settled into my new little house on Harrison. It is not quite yet home, but Jonas my cat
likes it so it must be ok. With the help
of some wonderful craftsmen it all came together. My children came “home” one
last time to say goodbye to the home they had grown up in, played in, laughed
and cried in. It was an emotional couple
of days but good for all of us. It isn’t
the home that I will miss but the land, the trees, the rocks and even the weeds
I called the lawn. It was time, and the
perfect young family walked through my door one day and it became theirs. I think that home will be a happy dwelling as
it has (almost) four little children to raise and nurture and protect. This family will be wonderful stewards of the land as Roger and I tried to be . They love the trees, the pond and even the old falling apart barn.
Richard and I began our 2013-14 trip
on November 24th this year and headed downstate for Thanksgiving with my son
and family in Dexter, Mi. My daughter
Anne Marie and her husband, Daniel flew in from Portland, Oregon for the
holiday. It was so good being all together
again especially with the little ones. I
stayed through to Safia's 8th birthday and then Richard picked me up and we
headed into some of the worst weather we have experienced in the last four
years. We had hoped to get as far south
and west as we could without running into extreme winter weather. Not possible this year. We wove our way through and around and in
between fronts that were coming through.
We had to stop one day at 11:30 AM because of freezing rain. We were t he smart ones on the road that day
it seems. The next day leaving Mt
Vernon, Illinois, we passed several semi-trucks jack-knifed, belly up,
sideways, in all positions in the median of the four lane. We used common sense and got off the
road. The trucks....well, they just kept on trucking.
The past four years we have always taken “the roads less traveled”
literally., The Blue Roads as we call them to get to wherever our planned destination is. In fact the journey has always been our
destination. Not this year. For whatever reason we both felt compelled to
bee line it for the south west even taking the dreaded highways to get
there. We pushed and finally arrived
where we both felt we needed to be....the desert near Earp, Ca. just across the
Colorado River from Parker, Arizona. We
have met other people from all over, and it has become kind of a home away from
home. This year we met a couple from
Iron River and spent Christmas together as well as New Years.
Coming here is like taking a deep cleansing breath and a slowing down of
bodies and minds. The air is dry, the
temps are in the 60's during the day under clear sunny skies. There are huge washes, canyons and small
mountains to climb, a road to bike and countless rocks to bring back to Iron
County. This is an excellent place for
"older" bones and muscles to lose their ache and to re- find the
bounce that got misplaced over the years.
I wish you all a HEALTHY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
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