SPRING (cont.)

Remember Spring has Sprung-- 

now these baby Thrashers are ready to fly the coop!  

Leaving behind an empty nest....

What made me come to--

Back in 2003, on my way to my favorite hike in the Cave Creek Recreational Park I heard on NPR the question asked:  What made you come to Arizona?  The next 2 hours out on the “Go John Trail” in the peace and quiet of the Sonoran Desert as I listened to the birds chatter, watched the butterflies flutter by and the lizards cross the trail in front of me, I rehearsed what I would be writing about. 

My love affair with Arizona started 31 years earlier—I came here as a young mother just starting my family with a wild imagination thinking that I was going to see cowboys and Indians!  When I arrived in the Valley of the Sun all I saw was an immeasurable desert, which took my breath away.  The wide-open spaces, the spacious blue sky with jet streams crisscrossing overhead, brilliant sunsets in the western sky, the luminous moon and the millions of stars that light up the desert and silhouette the saguaros at night along with the sounds of the owls hooting and the coyotes howling.  I forgot about the cowboys and Indians and merged myself into the sights and sounds around me.  Even though Arizona is where I wanted to be, the timing was not right and I had to leave this magnificent state, but I knew I would be back! 

In my heart I never really left Arizona.  I savored my dream of returning—I spent many of my vacations here, mostly warming up from the cold, wet winters in Seattle!  Thirty-one years later I am a full time resident in North Scottsdale, a place that was unpopulated back then.  But even with the development and growth the immeasurable desert still thrives, the desert is alive with the same sounds as yesteryear.

 I have a little piece of that desert for myself now, with vegetation that I guard and care for with respect, I look to the west in the evening and enjoy the beautiful red sunsets that the Southwest shows off with pride!   

If you are looking for me, I’ll be in the desert!