Week 3 - January 2012

Week 3, 2012

This will be our last week in Moab until sometime this spring.  We are starting the slow process of cleaning and packing and will be headed back to Placerville on Saturday.  It has turned out to be a philosophical week, and one that has caused me to ponder the fragility and temporary nature of everything that I am experiencing.  It is good to appreciate what you have, live with honesty, kindness and creativity, and try to leave everything and everyone a little bit better off because of you..

We did some more hiking this week, and I am most proud of our 7 mile trek on the primitive trail at Devil's Garden (Arches NP).  It required some high exposure slick rock scaling, which I actually did without any vertigo or major heart-pounding experiences.  I won't say that my fear of heights is gone, but under some circumstances, it seems to be better.

Devil's Garden primitive Trail
La Sal Mountains in the back

I also had my first pastel lesson with JC Borders.  It is interesting to learn his technique, which is quite different from what I have used in oils.  I won't convert to his style, but I am learning things that I will probably adapt to my own.  When I am here, I will probably go Tuesday mornings and work in his studio.

I also started going to an early Thursday morning meditation, Buddhist style.  This is for no charge in a hall around the backside of the library.  So, I get up in the cold and the quiet and walk over there for some peaceful times with peaceful people.  This added to my week for contemplating more about what it means to lose people that we love and recognizing that taking care of the living is the best way to honor those that are gone.

Last night we decided to visit the women's (girls?) Moab Madness Roller Derby at the Middle School.  Pretty sassy.  When I get a chance, I will post a short vido clip of that crazy, wild action.

Moab in January

January 6, 2012

For some reason, I feel a wish to touch bases after my first week a an officially retired person.   Although I took all of December off, there really is some sort of reality that kicks in when the official day arrives, which for me was December 31.
    
December was lovely, but busier than I have ever been.  I spent the month with my family, at first in Eugene to help with the arrival of Leonardo Francisco (my newest grandson) and then in Placerville where the previously-mentioned arrived for the holidays, as well as Xochitl.

As of December 31, we came to Moab, and have been trying to relax, although our friends here are still in celebration mode.  Some come from far away (Australia being the farthest) and others are local.  But we have spent some time hiking with them and sharing meals.  I have also indulged in the Moab Aquatics center, trying my hand at swimming laps, which seems to be a generous type of exercise that is kind to my knees.  I have done some running, but much more hiking, and it  has been freezing cold here when the sun goes down.  Even so it gets tolerably warm during the day with the full Moab sun.  It seems to be almost shorts weather on my front porch in the afternoon, and I have spent some time basking in the sun there in the rocking chair my daughter Rosa gave me, reading good books and smiling.
As of tomorrow, most of the Moab friends will be gone -- either back to their real homes, or off on long vacations.  In honesty, I am looking forward to that, and the anticipated quiet and solitude.   I thoroughly enjoyed hiking with these folks, and showing them some places that we have learned about, but I kept thinking that the constant chatter was too much and I longed for the quiet hikes that I love out here -- where you can even hear the wings of the ravens when they fly past you overhead.  So, I get that soon.
 
Also, I long to set up my art studio here in Moab - soon to be called 'Lopez Annex'.  I brought many things with me and I only need some time.  I was unable to do anything in December at all and I really need that time with my art tools to really feel content.  Well, I should qualify that last statement a little bit.  Benjamin and I built two pinatas in December, which was art after all.  He chose to make two cars that are featured in the animated film 'Cars', so we did.  That was a messy and fun adventure for which his favorite part was filling them up with goodies.  It all culminated, of course, when we brought those back to Placerville and smashed them in a celebration with his cousins.

I have such a lovely family and am lucky beyond any reasonable expectation.