Sedona, Arizona (December 28, 2008)

This was our first trip to Sedona. All the things you hear about it are true. Absolutely spectacular....even the vortex (at least I think so)

It's clear why people of an artistic nature are drawn here, or those seeking spiritual fulfillment. Or both. Or, if you're like me, to hang around with the wife and take pictures....
We built a small cairn for my late sister Liz on the hillside of Airport Mesa, at the site of one of Sedona's reputed vortices. The place had some kind of magic for me, at least....


At the end of a year that was in turn exhilarating, awkward, dumbfounding, and ruinous, a few lines from a wonderfully simple song long associated with December 31 seem appropriate:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

In twenty days, George Bush will be forever gone. If that's not worth a song, what is?

The Grand Canyon Part II (Dec. 27, 2008)

On the road to the Canyon, looking East towards Flagstaff.





In short, we have arrived!


Mid-afternoon sun changes the light somewhat.

My love for this woman is as big as the Grand Canyon (Points!)

The Grand Canyon (Part I) Dec. 27, 2008

A few shots from the south rim.

Words cannot do the vista much justice. Perhaps a Thoreau might have the ability.

A foreign tourist objected to Avie taking in the view here because she would be in a picture they were taking....unbelievably rude.

Ancient snow art from early inhabitants of the canyon rim...


The airport.
On the road going north towards the canyon from Williams, AZ.

Arizona Weekend

Heading north from I-10 towards Prescott.








Snow squall above Peeples Valley.





Looking north near Merritt Pass.








Climbing into a snow squall above Peeples Valley,
looking back towards the West.


More posts from this post-Christmas 2008 trip will be up soon, including pictures of Prescott, The Grand Canyon, and Sedona.

"One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards."
— Edward Abbey

Samuel Beckett

"The tears of the world are a constant quantity. For each one who begins to weep somewhere else another stops. The same is true of the laugh. Let us not then speak ill of our generation, it is not any unhappier than its predecessors. Let us not speak well of it either. Let us not speak of it at all."
-Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot


Photo through a window in Santa Barbara, Summer 2008.

I had the chance to play the character "Lucky" in a production of Waiting for Godot in college, probably around 1973. I was pretty good, too. The pinnacle of my acting career, I'd guess.

Ventura

A few pictures from a Summer trip to Ventura.

The old Century Theater.




















Fisherman memorial.









Avie's sand art....













Beach house.

TCM Viewer

From my favorite tv network....

Winter Solstice

The winter solstice arrived this morning at 4:04 PDT.

















It's still unusually cold for Palm Springs with more frost this morning ..... I'm frozen to the bone.

Some brave souls celebrated the event at Stonehenge:

Al Franken in the Lead?

This is heartening news - it's time we had a professional comedian in Washington....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/19/franken-passes-coleman-in_n_152341.html

Frost Delay

View across the 10th fairway towards Mr. San Jacinto and the Santa Rosa Mountains.














#7 green.










The season's first frost delay
was this morning....
the course was empty.









The frost-covered gold course at Shadow Ridge was quiet but beautiful on this chilly morning.

Dawn at Shadow Ridge Golf Resort

Pre-dawn view of Mt. San Jacinto. The snow has faded a bit since yesterday.

Snow-Covered Mountians

Lots of snow on the mountains surrounding the valley this morning - more than I think I've ever seen before. Beautiful.

Trip at Oak Glen in Search of Apples

Oak Glen - above the Banning Pass - was like going to a different country entirely.....nothing like the desert.