Picacho Peak

Get ready, devoted readers (both of you). This is likely to be a long post. There are a lot of pictures in this one. Remember that you can click any photo for a larger version.

This was a very good day. My friend Tracy and his neighbor had both separately recommended that I should consider a trip out to Picacho Peak. It’s a mountain about half an hour out of Tucson on the way to Phoenix. I gave that a try today.

Picacho Peak is an Arizona state park. It is known for its wildflowers in the spring. You can also climb to the top of the peak. It’s a very forbidding looking mountain. Here is a photo that I took of it from a distance.



I spoke to the ranger at the entrance to the park and she told me that there were two ways to get to the top of the peak. One is a two-mile one way hike that was listed as difficult for the whole route. The other is a three-mile trip one way and was listed as moderate at the beginning and difficult at the end. I decided to take the easier way.

The trail went up hill quickly for a while and then leveled off and ran for quite a long time over small hills. Small by comparison to the peak in any case. I was beginning to think that I had taken a wrong turn when the trail angled to the left and began to climb the mountain in steep switchbacks. I was quickly out of breath which is partly due to being out of shape, partly because I’m minus some lung, and partly because I had put on some pounds over the last year and was lugging more of myself than I ever had to do before. It finally got to the point where I would count my paces – maybe 40 or 50 – and then take time to stop and catch my breath. I was determined to make it to the top but I was beginning to wonder whether I would be able to do it. The trail at this point was high up and had a steep drop on one side.


Finally I got to the spot where the real climb began. They have installed cables to help you get up some very steep, exposed spots. I met a couple who passed me on the trail just before the first set of cables. Here is a photo of one of them making that part of the climb.


That was followed by some more switchbacks and then another set of cables. I think there were four sets of cables in all. Hiking up the switchbacks was harder for me than climbing up the mountain using the cables. The cables let you put your arms into use. I come, as they say, from good peasant stock so I did better with that part. Here are pictures of two other spots where cables were in use.


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The views at the top were amazing. There was nothing to break the vista in any direction. I am very proud to have hauled myself up there.




Coming down wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I was very glad to be down on reasonably level ground again. The desert was beautiful, as always, with tall saguaros stretching to the horizon. It was only a six mile round trip hike but it seemed farther. I’ll remember this day for a long time to come.

Snow in the desert

OK, it didn't work out for us to get snow in the desert. There was snow in the mountains nearby yesterday morning. It just didn't make it as far down as us. Very beautiful nonetheless. I tried to drive into the mountains in the hope that I could see snow on some cacti but they had closed the road. That was probably just as well since I would have hated to crash the rental car.

A day in the desert

I spent all day today wandering around in the desert. I had become a fan of geocaching a couple of years ago and decided to devote today to that. I had a very successful day and found 11 caches, including two that were multi-stage efforts. This proved to be a very good way to spend some time in the desert. I ended up going to many places that I wouldn't have seen otherwise and got to look at a lot of the desert close up. I'm sore; I have several bruises (only one is bleeding); and I have more than a few cactus spines that I don't think are completely removed. It was a great day.

I took some photos with my new camera. They seemed to come out well. It would be hard to mess up with a day as beautiful as this.




It was partly cloudy most of the day and windy. It was cooler than normal, too, but far from cold. A perfect day for rambling about. I'm glad that I had this day. The news here is full of predictions of snow in the desert for tomorrow. The last time they had measurable snow was seven years ago. Tomorrow they're predicting one to three inches in the valleys and more at higher elevations. I hope they're right. Snow on the cacti would be something to see.

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P.S. on Tuesday morning at 6:50 a.m. - no snow after all. Too bad. They're still talking about it but just rain so far.

First day away

This is my first full day in Tucson. The weather prediction is not good. Rain is expected later today and may last through Wednesday. We'll see how that goes. It is often not as rainy as they predict. My concept of a rainy day isn't the same one they have here.

I decided to make the best of this morning and went out for a walk through some of the desert to see the sunrise. It was very beautiful - and quiet. I took some photos and am including a couple of them here. I didn't take too many, though. On this trip I'm going to try to do a little less photographing and a little more seeing and remembering.

Pre-trip scramble

I am leaving for vacation in a few days - heading out to Arizona to visit my friend Tracy. I am looking forward it. I haven't been on a real vacation since last year at this time. That was a trip to Arizona, too, and Barry joined me out there. It will be a bittersweet visit this time with all that has happened over this year. It will be good to see Tracy, Elaine, Karl and Jane again.

Thinking of it, I did go on one other trip aside from a couple of conferences. That was when Sue and I did that 5K down in Disney World. That was a whirlwind trip, though, and with the run (well, mostly walk in my case) at the very end we weren't really able to relax. It was a ton of fun, though.

Home again

Yesterday was great. We ended up not going to the ball. The events of the day and difficulty getting around the city made it a challenge. We finally got back to the apartment at about 4 and the parade was just beginning. It was supposed to start at 2:30. That meant that the balls were going to run later than expected. We had hoofed it about seven miles through town and then stood for hours. It would have been another two mile walk to the ball and then three hours of standing around with the 7,000 other people who were expected to be there. Somehow the charm of that paled in comparison to actually having been in the crowd at the inauguration itself. We decided to head on home. Traffic on the way out of the city was amazingly manageable.

There were a million street vendors selling Obama everything. From what I could tell, the big sellers weren't actual inauguration souvenirs but chemical hand warmers. They were a big hit. I didn't need to have a lot of stuff but I did want to get some sort of souvenir. I bought this "I was there." button.

Making history

Well, the day was cold and it was a little difficult to hear but I was on the spot today when history was made. It was good to be in the crowd.

I wanted to have a great photo of the inauguration to include with this post but the photos of the capitol building were the best I could get. I'm using the photo above instead. According to the people who were waiting by the fence when I passed by, this is George W. Bush leaving by helicopter.

My view

Evidently there was a problem with the number of tickets. We made it through the gate but there was nowhere to go after that. Some of us spotted this view through a fence and we're camped here. It's not perfect but it's a view and we can hear. Many people behind us who also had tickets won't make it in at all.

This may be the last post for a while - at least the last with a photo. Service seems to be getting spotty.

Still in line

The line is moving slowly in little bursts of activity. At least we can see the actual gate now. That's a plus. It feels colder now that we aren't moving much.

This is fascinating but the crowds are unbelievable. At this exact moment I'm looking forward to a trip to Tucson in February where it will be warm and I can go someplace where I can be the only person for miles.

In line now

Well, we made it to the lines. It took about two hours to walk down to and then around the mall to the spots where our lines begin and then another 10 minutes to get to the end of the line. This picture doesn't really capture the crowd but it's the best I could get.

Back from dinner

We wandered around Capitol Heights this afternoon and ate at a Mexican restaurant. It was about a block from Ben's Chili Bowl where Obama stopped earlier this month. The line at Ben's was down the street and around the block. It was a hoot.

We decided to make an early evening of it so we wouldn't be too dragged out tomorrow. We're back in the apartment now reviewing our strategy for tomorrow morning. We'll need to walk about four miles from here to the security checkpoint so we want to get an early start.

Down in D.C.

OK, we made it this far. Mary Jo and I are staying overnight with her friend Randy. We gave him a break and decided to go out for a while. Here we are on U Street.

Off to the inauguration

It's hard to believe but I'm going to the inauguration tomorrow. Mary Jo, my friend since high school, has worked with the Democratic National Committee ever since I can remember and was able to get tickets. We'll also be going to the mid-atlantic inaugural ball tomorrow evening. I've got my glad-rags ready to go for that. We'll be leaving this afternoon to stay with a friend of Mary Jo's who is within (long) walking distance from the events. Mary Jo will be located in the seated area closer to the Capitol. I'll be in the standing area on the mall beyond the reflecting pool. I'm VERY glad for this opportunity. If I can pull it off, I'll post photos on Flickr and Facebook when I get back but it's easy to email them in to this blog so if I get any good photos I'll post them here first.

Woo hoo!

A sad loss today

I heard today that my aunt Dolores died. We were nearly out the door on our way to see her when the news came in. Dolores had been very ill for some time and I'm relieved for her that the difficult time has ended. But that's a bit of rationalization on my part. The selfish me wants her back.

I guess, legally, Dolores doesn't count as an offiical aunt. Her husband Steve was the brother of my mother's sister's husband. Confusing, I know, but maybe this will help:
Dolores -married- Steve -brother of- John -married- Kathleen -sister of- Nancy (my mother.)

When my mother and father left the Windber/Johnstown area to live in Baltimore, Steve and Dolores were the only hometown people who were living here too. I remember my mother telling me about the times when my sister died and when my father died. Steve and Dolores were right by her side in an instant. She said that she wouldn't have been able to make it through those times without them.

Dolores has always been a constant in our lives. Steve and Dolores came to our house every Thanksgiving. After both my mother and Steve had died, Dolores came to Thanksgiving dinner at my house. In recent years she hadn't been well enough to make the trip and the holiday was dimmer because of that.

We have made many, many trips up to the Johnstown area over the past few years to visit family. With Dolores gone, I realize that we have lost our last real tie to that area. So sad in many ways.

Steve was always quiet while Dolores was happiest when she was chatting with someone. Although I don't remember it, I evidently once referred to them as Stevendolores and the man who comes with her. My family has never let me forget that. One of many memories that I will hold onto now.

At Thanksgiving we always had whisky sours as a pre-dinner cocktail. Over the years we have added extra cherries in memory of those who have gone. I will say a rosary tonight and then I'll have a whisky sour with an extra cherry for Dolores. She would appreciate both those things.

A mission statement for 2009

I have been thinking a lot about the last two years and all that has happened over that time. Some great moments and some truly terrible ones. At this time last year I had vowed to live my life more fully and deeply than I had done in the past. As this year ends it is obvious to me that I didn't do a very good job of that. I took some time to think about the person I would like to be and listed some words that would describe how that person would live. I came up with eleven of them. I know I will make various task and accomplishment related resolutions as the new year begins and I hope that I'll be able to keep some of them. My one real resolution this year will be to check in regularly - daily if possible - to see how well I have met my character mission statment. It is:

I will remember that my time here is brief and will live with love, kindness, understanding, patience, wisdom, awareness, purpose, strength, faith, gratitude, and joy.

I'll need to practice these. I don't know if I could even list them all correctly from memory yet. I put them in that order for a reason because they all seem to relate to each other. To help me remember them, I made an eleven pointed star diagram. It is far from high quality graphic work but it will do the trick for me. Here it is.

A poem - a prayer

I needed to get something from my car today and decided to go out without a coat since I was parked fairly near to the building. People told me I would freeze but I thought a jaunt into the cold would be bracing. It was a little disappointing when I got out there to find that it is 55 degrees at the moment.

Still, the experience I had anticipated having made me think of a poem - A Prayer by Sara Teasdale. It seems a good sentiment for the end of this year, and is likely to be a little more applicable since the temperatures are supposed to drop significantly over the next few days.

A Prayer

When I am dying, let me know
That I loved the blowing snow
Although it stung like whips;
That I loved all lovely things
And I tried to take their stings
With gay unembittered lips;
That I loved with all my strength,
To my soul's full depth and length,
Careless if my heart must break,
That I sang as children sing
Fitting tunes to everything,
Loving life for its own sake.

Yesterday morning

We are having unusually warm weather and when I got up yesterday morning it was already nearly 60 degrees outside. I decided to go for a walk along the river and had a wonderful time. It was a grey morning with fast moving clouds. Maybe because of the clouds there were very few people out and I saw nobody for quite a long time. The mist on the river created quite a mood. It takes more photographic skill than I have to capture something like that well but here is a photo of the river as I crossed the bridge at the beginning of the route.


I walked for quite a way and on the way back the clouds began to clear. The wind was moving them along quickly and the light show on the trees and the river was beautiful to watch. I climbed out on a rotten log and took this video with my snappy new camera. This doesn't do the moment justice - it was one of those 'you had to be there' experiences - but I'm glad I have this anyway.

When I was nearly back to the car I came upon a heron feeding in the river. This heron was remarkably unimpressed by the presence of people and watched camly as joggers with big dogs trotted by. I was able to take this picture.


The heron and I looked at each other for quite some time. I finally realized that mealtime probably wouldn't continue while I stood there so I moved along.

I hope the memory of this morning stays with me.

Christmas has come and gone

Christmas was a great success. Everyone seemed to have a good time and all the meals came out well. There was less of a focus this year on presents which was refreshing. That removed a good deal of the pressure that seems to surround the holidays.

I'm looking forward to a similar tone through the rest of the holidays - some relaxing, quiet times spent with friends and family. Sounds ideal.

Well, this was odd

A few days ago I set up Google Analytics to track activity on this blog. It doesn't report anything that would identify a particular person who visits but it let's me know if anyone at all happened to stop by.

One of the reports gives a list of sites that link to the blog. It only reports them when someone actually follows the link and views one of my posts. I was surprised to find that my post with poems by Christina Rossetti and Sara Teasdale had recently been linked from an AP English blog from Fremont, California. My post is cited dispassionately but not inappropriately as being "from the POV of a cancer patient." It's odd because after this long year I still feel a bit like a pretender in that role. My disease has been dramatic, of course, but far less scary or threatening than those some others have fought. I am grateful for having been passed over and wish deeply that all of those dear to me could have been as fortunate.

Official one-year surgeon appointment

I had my one year follow-up appointment with the lung surgeon this afternoon. All of that went as well as could be hoped. My lungs sounded good and the x-ray was what they had hoped to see. I go back again in four months now.

I am happy about this but can't be too happy this evening. The waiting room for the surgeon is next to the waiting area for the pediatric oncology department and while I was there several families came in. I can't imagine how hard it must be for them. I won't soon forget this day.