Odd links and mixed metaphors

I just want to spend some time figuring out how to incorporate links. I've seen some cool blog links [ Jackie :) ] and to tell the truth, it's killin' me that I haven't used any yet. So, here goes.

Since I was reminiscing about good times in Arizona the other day, I thought I would show you some of my favorite places there.

One of the things I remember most about living there is all the fun I had hiking with Randall. (That's him in the picture above. We had just gotten off the Thalys at Gare du Nord in Paris - but that's this whole other story.)

We hiked Camelback Mountain regularly. Those last few yards were pretty steep, but oh, what a feeling when you got there! Only to discover that the butterflies had gotten there ahead of you. So beautiful. And then to descend in a barely controlled, completely exhilarating plunge. I'll always remember it.

Neither could I forget boulder hopping and gasping for breath when I fell into the chilling water at Oak Creek Canyon. Laughing when I took the wrong trail and missed the summit at Humphrey's Peak. Watching the ocotillo in my front yard go from brown dessication to fresh, effulgent green after a rain; blooming so that the tips of the branches appeared to be on fire; finally burnished and replete when autumn came to our home in Kingman.

Arizona is where I fell in love with the man I was to marry and where our first child was born. I think in some ways, I was like that ocotillo. Arizona was the place where life and love flooded over and through me. With a gasp, I came alive and I've been immersed in the brilliance of it all ever since.

Whoa, after all that I feel a little like Keanu Reeves after his moment of deep thinking in the movie, Parenthood. I leave you with one last link...