Delight in the Desert
Today is all photos from our trip to Arizona. We just got back, and it was good to be in my home state for a visit. I admit to not wanting to live in the desert any more (too many thorns, too hot in summer, too little green), but there's nothing like going back to where you were raised. There's something magical about the desert, including the gorgeous sunsets and the rock formations. Here's a classic pile of boulders outside of Carefree, AZ in the evening, with a huge metal sculpture of a bird perched on top. The area north of Phoenix and Scottsdale is a riot of rock formations, including this massive one, the size of our barn, that fell from a cliff on the other side of the Read More
Keeping Kids and Dogs Safe–From Each Other
A cosmetic surgeon once told me that he dreads Sunday night phone calls. They are, almost always, about kids who need their faces put back together after being bitten by a dog. He said it breaks his heart. It breaks my heart too, thinking of the hundreds of cases I saw where the owner said the dog "was great with the kids all weekend, I just don't know what happened on Sunday night." Of course, we most likely do know what happened--the dog finally was exhausted, lost patience, and the rest is medical history. It's easy to blame the parents, but the fact is, are we, each one of us, doing what we can to keep kids and dogs safe from each other? We have to start by acknowledging, Read More
Welcoming a New Year
I am writing this on Monday, January 2nd, the year two thousand and twenty three. An arbitrary date, of course, depending on the whims of history and culture. Yet, I love the ritual of dipping into the river of time, and the gift it gives us to reflect and look ahead. You all know, no doubt, that New Year's Resolutions are an excellent way to disappoint yourself--given how quickly they tend to fall off the table. I stopped making them years ago, (see my "Not Resolutions of 2010" for example) but still love the idea of setting intentions for the year to come. I did a lot of reading over the holidays, and was inspired by an article authored by Amanda Morris about NY's resolutions, Read More