Family Visits
My last post was before Easter. The time since then has been filled with family visits and a brief do nothing period. Easter like other holidays is best celebrated with family. For the past five years we have spent the day at our daughter Trisha’s. She along with Rod put on a great brunch for family and friends that lasts late into the day. Rod’s mother who makes her annual trek from Connecticut for some Southwest sunshine for a few weeks, winds up her trip with the brunch. This year, our son Phil and his mate Deb were here for the event. They inturn brought friends. Friends and family are who define us in many ways. It is because of them that we extend ourselves to do things. It is the care and love that we give to them that comes back to us in many ways.
The great thing about having people visit is that we usually take them to see the local sites. The week following Easter, Phil and Deb, my husband and I took a short trip. We went exploring in Monument Valley in Northeast Arizona. The famous land monuments in this valley have been carved by nature; wind and water, and all have names that identify them. There are the Three Sisters, Mexican Hat , The Mittens and many more. It seems strange that in this dry dusty land, water could have played such a large part in its past and that lack of it will play a big part in its future.
Lack of water to support our growing population is a looming concern in Arizona and throughout the west. About 15 years ago, my son recommended I read a book titled Cadillac Desert
It never ceases to amaze me when visiting beautiful natural sites in Arizona that most of the people who are doing the same are from other countries. We had lunch with a bus load of people from France. The Visitors Center at Monument Valley was filled with people speaking German, Swedish, French, Spanish and a dialect that I was not familar with. Do visitors from other countries appreciate our outdoors more than we do?
Our trip also included a guided hike through Antelope Canyon near Page, Az. Our guide was the grandaughter of the man who discovered the canyon while herding his sheep many years ago on this land that belongs to the Navajo Nation. This is a quarter mile hike through a slot canyon that was created by water. Words can’t describe the beauty of this canyon. As with most of nature, to truly appreciate it, you must imerse yourself and your senses. A photo can show only so much, but to be there and feel the sand beneath you feet and to let it run through your fingers, to watch the light as it changes the color of the canyon and brings out the effects of the water’s etching, to touch the stone and know that water, given the time is the stronger of the two, has a lasting effect on your soul. Water was the creator of all this beauty and without it the wind and sands will reclaim it. Water, so powerful, so all important. Why are we not more concerned about it?