Mr. Charleston Called It: The Arboretum is Magic

Driving an hour or so outside of Phoenix, up near the little community of Superior, you will come upon a place full of color, texture and magic.

The Boyce Thompson Arboretum is a peaceful 300+ acre garden with native Sonoran Desert species, cactus varieties from Australia and South America, and unexpected forested pathways leading around orange boulders and toward dead-ends you're happy to discover.  

There are lots of well planned gardens and places of beauty, but some of them call to you in a way other places do not. It's the kind of connection you can't really explain. Here's a bit of what I enjoyed at the Arboretum:

Travel, Security and Being New

I am so grateful for the luxury of travel. Wish I could do it all the time.

It makes me appreciate the larger world we all share. While it reinforces the diversity of Earth in terms of the unique flavor of places, traveling also drills in the unifying factors of the human experience in general.

Understanding I’m not exactly talking about a visit to China here, I still enjoy knowing that no matter where you go, people are people. And you are yourself wherever you go.

I feel the great sense of appreciation knowing how fortunate I am to return to Husband and D-Man. My dear friend in Arizona is alone. She’s new in a big new place, looking for work, the right man, and a group of friends she can be herself with. Those are hard things to come by at any time in life, in any place.

Over the last few years but particularly after this visit, I realize I’ve taken security for granted—that which comes from knowing I have a steady, trusted group of people on which I can depend. Knowing someone is waiting for me when I come home is huge. Being the independent person I’ve always tried to be, I’ve lost sight of how much peace of mind I derive from Husband, the parents and others. Self-sufficiency has little to do with it. It’s more about connection and safety.

I often wonder why it’s such a small priority for us to be receptive to new people with whom we come into contact. Perhaps we don’t know when someone new to our community really needs us—they don’t tell us they’re new or we don’t think to invite them out with us. Or maybe it’s because we think there just isn’t room for anyone else in our busy schedule. Our lives are so full and settled as they are—so many superficial details taking up most waking hours of our days.

I’m going to make a bigger point of discovering and embracing new people in Sarasota. I am grateful to those who did it for me when I was new so many years ago.

Final Coyote Resting Place

Here in Arizona, and in many places in the US, coyotes are everywhere. We have a growing population in Florida as well. I think they're interesting, charming and versatile as a species.

Even the nature lovers among our human inhabitants here on Earth tend to forget the majesty of a creature as it becomes more common. And poor coyote has fallen victim to irreverence since he's not so rare. But I find him pretty amazing.

On Saturday as we were driving up to Pinnacle Peak (outside of Carefree, Arizona) for a hike, the light was so beautiful streaming through the saguaros all over the landscape. They looked like they were glowing as the sun highlighted the spines. And the salt bushes were almost angelic as the morning illuminated their fluffy seed vessels and the ground around them as if touched by newly fallen snow.

I asked the Coaching Goddess to pull over so I could take a photo or two, and we happened to choose the spot right where a coyote had passed out of its life. It was probably hit by a car. Because the ground was covered in the white dandelion-like fluff, I didn't even notice him at first. Then I saw his paws, still in tact.

You can see his outline in the second photo on this post too, if you look closely.

I thought about Coyote for the rest of the day and what his life must have been like from the start as a playful pup, through adolescence and going out on his own, and to all of the trials of his adult life surviving on what the desert provides.

His final resting place is so beautiful, and his body is going back into the desert. Where his spirit is, I could only guess.

I Thought Florida Had the Trademark on Sunsets

I'm out in Arizona for a few days, visiting with my long lost friend the Coaching Goddess who left me back in the spring for a new land. It's so good to see her. The little town of Carefree, just up the road from Scottsdale (just up the road from Phoenix) is lovely.

The big sky surrounded by a silhouette of mountains lends itself well to sunsets.

My Other Dog Face, Stream of Consciousness

So I marched down to the neighbor's house this evening and discovered that...

a.) It was not their sweet, old, shiter-spreading dog barking all night.
b.) They have taken in a second dog they found wandering around the street and have relentlessly tried to find its home for 4 days. That's not the dog barking either. They don't know what to do. The shelter here is full, and the pound carries an uncertain future.

The irresponsible person with the barking dog lives behind them. It barks all day. And it barks all night.

What is it with people and animals?!

The sound of the barking, obviously carrying farther in the cold air, resumed by 6:00 p.m. this evening. 
(Wait, does sound really travel farther in cold air? See answer.)

Neither my problem listening to the barking nor the dog's problem being left outside without care are resolved by this knowledge. And I feel pretty bad for the neighbors I labeled as the culprits at this point. They can't escape it, no matter what, because of their proximity.

So I have already established my love for all things animals with you, right? But let's just say I do not like to see pooches (however lovely they are) inside of stores or on airplanes. I looked up in Ann Taylor not long ago--stop me if I told you this already--and saw some lady with a snotty dog in a purse. "WTF," I thought, "this ain't no PetSmart."

Last week a plane bound for Phoenix landed in Pittsburgh because an 89 year old passenger's dog decided to let itself out of its little kennel. It bit another passenger and the flight attendant. Really? What the hell are dogs doing on planes again?  I forgot.

I feel sort of two-faced about the whole thing. My dog is a part of my family and I feel that pets should be treated as such. But there are certain places meant for humans--like places with tight spaces in which you've paid for a seat (and cannot escape) and places selling new goods or food you don't want to have touched by pet dander or hair.

Is that fair?  OMG! The dog stopped barking...

...Never mind, something was just loud on the tv.

I'd Like My Neighbors To Enjoy Being Outside Overnight in 32 Degrees

Maybe then they would have a greater understanding of how their dogs felt last night.

You screw with animals, and you're not really on my good side.

Around 4 am this morning, I heard a number of dogs barking on our street--dogs who had been left outdoors in the freezing temperatures we're experiencing here. In addition to being awake for quite a while after a very long work day yesterday, I can't sleep and am outraged at this irresponsibility.

Dogs are not objects. They deserve to be nurtured and taken care of. If you can't do it, don't own a dog. Don't "try it" and give the dog up if you can't handle it. Don't even make that decision to go there by getting one in the first place.

I called the police twice in the last two hours. When they arrived on the street, three of the barking dogs were just walking around the street.

I understand these things happen. Accidents occur. Dogs go under fences or escape through unsecured doors. But really? On a night when it's freezing here in Florida?

I know one household to which a barker from this long early morning belongs. The dog has been a wanderer for quite some time and is frequently found taking its morning constitutional in our backyard. I feel terrible for the dog--it's old and not well cared for. The problem is, the alternative is death in the pound. They don't go to great lengths to adopt old dogs out. They get euthanized.

I believe these neighbors have had difficult financial circumstances, but I'm so disappointed that they aren't doing what's best for their pet--or the neighborhood. And they're going to get a knock on the door from me when I get home this afternoon.

I Do Eat Eggs

I've been a vegetarian for 17 years, but I do eat eggs, organic and free range. Those chickens were treated well, and the eggs themselves are unfertilized non-beings that will never be on the way to freedom from the shell. At least I thought so.