Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
“Island View Beach is listed as a good area to see birds.” It appears there is a break in the rain, and after a few days in bed, I’m anxious to get my camera out and explore a bit. “According the weather, this is the best day to go.” So we head out towards Saanich […]
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“The bus is ready to be picked up,” Ric announces as he gets off the phone. It’s ten a.m., earlier then we’d expected the repairs to be completed, so we decide to forego the site we’d booked for tonight, just twenty minutes away, and start the journey north today. As it goes, 10:00 turns into […]
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We return to the hotel room only to find our keys no longer work, so while Ric goes off to the office, I sit and look up at the bright California sky and say: “Thank you for this f***ing amazing life,” and then immediately apologize for the expletive, but sometimes it is just called for. […]
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In Claremont, California, less than half an hour from where we are staying is a lovely, privately funded natural area with accessible walkways and well choreographed displays. The Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens have over 55 acres of trails, with two short walks available just inside the entrance. The cost for the two of us […]
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Ric promises me I won’t have to do anything today, and that is a good thing because my legs have turned to plastic overnight and when I tried to take the few steps to the kitchen this morning the floor rose up to greet me and I had to hold onto the counter to keep […]
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Just outside the visitor centre for Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge is a well manicured and paved walkway that leads down to the water with several covered stops along the way. The day we decided to visit was quite warm, and as I still haven’t quite recovered from Sedona’s excursions, I was happy to […]
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Along the Colorado, an hour or so north of Quartzsite, is the city of Lake Havasu, home to the London Bridge (yes, the British one). “I seem to remember a story about this bridge,” I tell Ric. “Something about how when they bought it they thought they were getting the Tower Bridge.” The London bridge […]
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“Birding won’t be the same in Arizona,” Ric warned me as we pulled away from Texas. He’s right in the sense that we don’t have experts to turn to, but there just as many interesting and diverse species to be seen. Our first morning here, I awoke to what sounded like someone swinging on a […]
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“Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix have mobility scooters on a first come first serve basis!” I told Ric excitedly. I’d been itching to get out again and see more countryside, but my body and his knees have been protesting. The gardens open at 8:00 a.m. and we are forty-five minutes away, so we set an […]
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Travelling with a malfunctioning brain is sure to cause mishaps. We already know from the fiasco in New Mexico trying to find Silver City that I am not be trusted with directions. Well, turns out I am not to be trusted with other things either. The day after we arrived in Arizona, I decided to […]
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One Woman's Quest II 