May 2013
2 posts
4 tags
Go See Some Music
Get off your butt and go see some music.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I think there is something really incredible happening in Phoenix and Arizona. The music scene here is astounding. I was at Dia de los Crescent (Crescent Ballroom’s 2 year anniversary) last night and I’m simply blown away by what I saw. Most of the bands I had seen before, several I am big fans...
April 2013
1 post
1 tag
January 2013
7 posts
5 tags
It’s amazing to me that something I used to find so challenging and uninteresting is now one of the few things holding me together. Running. 4 miles, Tempe Town Lake, lights, people and a half dozen heron I’m calmer and more collected than I have been in weeks. Now if only I can sleep and wake up feeling half as good.
4 tags
Am I really doing this?
I haven’t officially registered but I am planning on (and therefore training like I am) running a half marathon at the end of March. Referring to myself as training to do anything athletic feels really weird. I mean this is coming from the girl who is so athletically ignorant that I would tell my little brother to break a leg at track rehearsal without any clue how stupid that sounds. I...
1 tag
Big and Small
At my neighborhood breakfast joint this morning I was struck by how big and small my world is. A majestic view of the Estrella’s (at least I’m pretty sure it’s the Estrella’s ) lined the horizon. At the same time I enjoyed the comings and goings of all these colorful, vibrant people, my neighbors really. And yet I feel so detached from both. I’ve lived here 10 years and yet I’m not confident of...
4 tags
How the New Year is Like the Muddy Bottom of the...
So life has dealt me a pretty crappy deck of cards the last few years. Details aren’t important- just consider one of your worst possible moments, magnify it and add a dose of lifetime movie f-up-ed -ness and you have a feel for the emotional stress I have been under. And in the past 9 months or so it’s been better. I would have a week or so of really bad anxiety every now and then but I would...
1 tag
December 2012
1 post
June 2012
1 post
May 2012
1 post
4 tags
Shmorgishborg Weekend
My brother has been staying with me for the past few months. This weekend was the first in a while were we had the whole weekend to ourselves without any work or social obligations. We decided to have a bit of a lazy weekend but all still check off a few of the things he wanted to do before leaving in a few weeks. We started off with something that I had been curious about for a while, Saturday...
December 2011
1 post
Goals for this weekend:
1. Don’t drive my car.
2. Take a hike in the Phoenix Mountains starting at my front door.
3. Not cave to the urge for Chile Con Queso dip.
4. Knit. Knit a lot.
November 2011
1 post
I love Phoenix in the fall. To me it’s a season of re-birth which is the exact opposite to the falls I grew up with in the Midwest. It has taken me several years work against this muscle memory that fall is a time for hibernation but rather of celebration.
As the temps cool we venture out of our air-conditioned confinement. Fall is a great time for cocktails dinners outside (yes I have grilled...
October 2011
2 posts
5 tags
Music in My Life
Over a month ago I participated in the PJ20 destination weekend with my two younger brothers and their wives/girlfriends. It was an amazing weekend and an event that really moved me greatly, something I don’t know as I was quite expecting. Pearl Jam has been a part of my life for the majority of their 20 years in existence. They were there for me through my angst ridden teenage years, through...
September 2011
2 posts
4 tags
Hit the trails at Dreamy Draw again today. Seems like just yesterday it was spring and I was doing my best to navigate trail 1 A. Lately I feel like i look forward to summers as having so much free time in them and then regret when they pass too quickly. And already the activities of fall are piling on me - busy work schedule and also trying to make this the year that I see more theater...
2 tags
As a resident of the sprawl that is Phoenix, I tend to forget sometimes that I live in an urban area. I was reminded of that today. I am enjoying the hustle and bustle that is Central ave outside the Y. People coming and going from there post work work outs, light rails zipping by, and across the street, in a public park, a man is getting his hair cut seated on a park bench. I call it one of...
August 2011
1 post
July 2011
1 post
May 2011
3 posts
Trail 1A - Complete
I had to double back twice and for about a half mile i was on an unmarked mystery trail but I’ll going to call it done all the same. I learned that I had barely scratched the surface of this trail, that my previous attempts probably only covered about a quarter, rather than the half i was guessing. I went further into the park than I ever have gone. I crossed through a beautiful valley...
Quest for the 1A
For the past several weeks I have been attempting to hike trail 1A, Perl Charles Memorial trail, a 4.8-mile loop in Dreamy Draw recreational area. I think I have made it half way several times but always seem to get turned around or confused to the point where heading back to the parking lot seems to be the best decision.
My last attempt I decided to take the trail in the opposite direction. I...
April 2011
3 posts
I love the fact that I live in one of the largest...
March 2011
6 posts
Dreamy Draw
Phoenix is an incredibly difficult city to get to know. There are dozens of gems, be it restaurants, landmarks, parks or neighborhoods that only the rare bread of native Phoenicians (or those of us stubborn enough to dig our heels into the dirt and stick around until we are considered a Phoenicians) know about. I wise person once told me “Phoenix has heart, but you have to look for it”. I was...
February 2011
2 posts
Rainy Day in AZ
There is something ironic and facinating
About a palm tree in a storm.
Stubborn fronds
Blown around madly
Like a dandilon refusing to release
It’s seeds to the wind.
These iconic and stoic trees of summer,
Synomonys with beaches, sunsets and caronoa,
Are suddenly so vulnerable.
Wind whipping them, rain beating them.
A role change from the summer months of heat
When they offer a...
Last Canoe
We took the last (and only) canoe around Encanto park yesterday. It has been ages since I have been canoeing and this was probably my first time in Arizona. With me was my step daughter who had never been either. Doing something adventurous with her when she and I are alone together seems to be the start of a tradition. Train rides, rock climbing and now boating. She has hemiplegia, effecting...
January 2011
1 post
November 2010
7 posts
2 tags
1 tag
2 tags
1 Year
My husband and I bought our home a year ago. One of the things that really drew us to the home is the yard. An oddly shaped bonus room and patio cover juts into the yard flanked by 5 large concrete planting beds. To the left, a brick wall lined with pomegranate trees (another selling point). To the right an ugly chain link fence. And the back sealed in with a rickety wooden fence. And...
March 2010
3 posts
1 tag
Chains
The train starts.
I hear a familiar click clack.
I peer over my shoulder
The strange woman in the brown down jacket
and pink flip flops
(who was staring at me at the platform)
Is madly knitting purple and pearl.
And I wonder
Has she seen me working projects on the train?
the Lucy hat, the Diana scarf, Andy’s christmas -
scratch that - birthday scarf?
Was she staring because she...
1 tag
Rainy Weekend
How can the sky be game day blue and thunderclap dark in one frame?
In mistaking model planes for hawks I wonder:
Are the creators brave or foolish?
I thought they were nerds getting out of their cars
Back seats filled with remotes and wings
Now I am stilled by their grace.
February 2010
1 post
