Getting Un-Stuck

My least favorite month of the year is over - yay!  I'm sure it has to do with spending 30 years in the Midwest - the holiday rush is over and the long, bitter winter just beginning....I convinced myself that once January was over, I could make it through winter.  Unrealistic perhaps, but whatever gets one through, right?

Here in  Arizona, I'm finding that with many January days above 50 (and even 60) degrees, plenty of sunshine, it is less to dread.  But I'm already getting spring fever and anxious for things to green up and flowers to bloom.  Time passes quickly enough - I need to stop trying to rush everything.

I've been stuck in neutral for quite a while, getting nothing done in or around the house and not hitting the trails.  Gorging on junk food, packing on the pounds while killing brain cells with mindless tv...the worst possible combinations.  Just after the first of the year (nothing like resolutions, right?) I set a goal to hike at least 20 miles per week.  I did great for the first week and then was felled by what I thought was the flu.  Turns out it was the head cold from hell and I was miserable for several days, but not nearly as bad had it been the flu.  There went the hiking program.

The weather is rebounding from a couple of cold snaps (and even an inch of snow!), so I'm trying once again to get moving.  I painted an accent wall in the master bedroom, preparing to paint in Otis' room, in the process of ordering new window treatments...that flushing sound you hear is money going down the dark hole of a pit. 

Front yard on New Year's Eve

Had a great hike yesterday on a trail that is new to me - the Mescal Trail.  Only about 3 miles round trip, this beautiful, easy hike skirts Mescal Mountain in Boynton Canyon.  The trail was quite muddy from recent rains, but what's a little mud when the sky is blue and the scenery is breathtaking?  It's a new favorite trail, and one that I will enjoy sharing with friends who visit (along with the 100 other favorite trails).

Trail view

Love how this Juniper found a way to grow

on this ledge

Most exciting news for now?  Pal Jeanette will be out here in two weeks - I am anxiously awaiting her arrival!  Trying to keep up with her should get me unstuck, for sure.  Or it might do me in...we shall see.

Next exciting news?  Some of the Nerd Herd (6 at last count) are heading here in early April.  Jeanette could not come during that time, so she's getting a jump on the group.  For the rest - won't this be a fabulous week of Nature Nerd-ing, sightseeing, talking/laughing/eating/drinking?  Based on our brief trip to see the Sandhill Cranes in IN a few years ago, there are bound to be lots of laughs and great memories to be made.  Luckily, we won't be straddling any time zones...

Have been on a couple of good bird walks, saw a few javelinas (including 2 babies), attended an outdoor concert at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix (imagine, in January!), saw a Ruby Crowned Kinglet at my feeders yesterday (first time seen in the yard), did some weeding (imagine, in January!), continuing with Rangering and will be helping out at the Sedona Marathon this coming weekend. 

I learned to make tamales and if I say so myself, they are delicious!  They freeze quite well, so I'll be preparing huge batches in anticipation of company.

My first batch of homemade tamales

The Sedona International Film Festival takes place in February and looking forward to seeing some great indie films and a performance by KebMo' on premier night.  Also have a mosaic class just after Jeanette heads home. 

"Garden Totem" made in my first mosaic class -

will be fun when I can plant flowers with it!

Writing this made me realize there are lots of fun things to look forward to.  That's a good thing - the busier I am, the less homesick I feel.  Reminds me of Dory (Ellen DeGeneres' fish character in "Finding Nemo") -

Keep Swimming!