Monday Musings

When life gets too busy...

you don't get to enjoy moments like these:

Road trips with your best friend (Dan).

Watching all the kids try to balance on a rope at family reunion!

Watching the 4th of July parade on your Dad's lap.

Having a picnic BBQ when your son comes to visit.

Enjoying wearing flip-flops on a summer day.

Trying to get a close-up picture of a baby colt.

Happy family times - those are real smiles - not fake ones!

Walks in the rain.

Campouts with your daughters.


Frisbee Golf with your cousins.

Piggy-back rides.

And a beautiful sunset on the Arizona strip.

Where time stands still....
Courtyard at Marble Canyon Motel at sunset.

There's a little place I like to go to get away from it all.
It's close to Marble Canyon - a little rock hotel set against the Vermillion Cliffs.
There are no phones or TV's in the rooms.
There is no internet or cell phone coverage.
There is an old cafe there where everything is homemade and the owner greets her guests with, "Howdy! What'll you have today?"
The rooms are small, but comfy, each room themed-
and the original structure dates back to the early 1940's.
You go to bed to the sound of the wind whistling up from the deep canyons below, and wake up to the sound of birds and a bright sunrise over the cliffs below Page, AZ.
Travelers are few - an occasional car passes by - but time stands still (almost) there.
You can feel the worries and troubles of everyday busy living just melt away.
If Dan ever wants me to accompany him on a trip,
all he has to do is promise to take me there on the way home.
I love the sound of silence -
of hearing myself exhale and inhale -
of a leaf rustling in the wind -
or just that ear-deafening sound of nothing but nature.
This is one of the places I can hear that.
And I'm ready to go back - for another dose of "let's leave this Rat Race behind for a bit".

(my apologies for a lack of humor today - perhaps next time)