A Night in the Desert

Picture this, if you will. It’s shortly after 8:00 pm on August 24, five days beyond son-in-law Shawn’s birthday, one day after grandson Jason and Crystal’s first wedding anniversary. We’re sitting in our folding chairs outside. The temperature is somewhere between 75 and 80 degrees. The sky is dark, but we can see lighted windows from the only two close neighbors who are still here in the park. There is lightning far off to the southeast, periodically flaring into the black sky. Our evening is lit by the solar yard lights from our own yard and the three sites across the street. The only sound is the splashing of our fountain.

From Our Life on Wheels

We’re out here, relaxing in the desert that we live in, and enjoying a sip of good brandy,

Can you imagine it? We’re having a tough time describing it, but the flavor is here, the sense is here, the desert is here, telling us: You Are At Home. You Belong Here.

We see the occasional splash of lightning, not individual strikes, just a quick glow in the sky over the Dragoon Mountains, and I’m wishing I knew how to take pictures at night. I used to know. In the past I have gotten fireworks pictures, but I’ve forgotten how now. The book is in the trailer, but I’m not, and I couldn’t read it in the dark anyway. It gives me a goal to plan for—how to take time pictures at night and pick up the glow of lights in the dark. Another time.

Suzy remembers years ago when we first came to Arizona, when I worked for Safeway as Human Resources Director. There was an employee dinner at the Pointe Tapatio resort in Phoenix; we danced under the stars in the desert night, and she knew that she was someone. I tell her she IS someone, she has always been someone, but the memory is special; that night was hers.

This night is ours.

Sitting out here in the dark night, listening to the splashing fountain, watching the occasional flashes of lightning, and just being the two of us, here at home in the desert where we belong, has solved all of today’s problems in … Our Life on Wheels.

I recently learned a new trick from our blogging friend Rick. His digital camera will take short movies, complete with sound. Rick has put a few of them in his blog, including one of the incoming tide at Cowichan Bay near Victoria, BC. It was really neat! My fancy digital camera can’t do that, but I found out that Suzy’s little Kodak camera can!

A few days ago we wrote about the monsoon rains. With apologies to any of our readers with a slow Internet connection, here is our first video clip, so you can see and hear the monsoon.


Please tell us two things: did the "movie" work for you? Did you have difficulty getting it, or getting the blog at all?

It is this rain that brings flowers to the desert, and our own cactus garden shares in the bounty. Two of our plants have bloomed for the first time. We purchased these little guys from Ace Hardware, not knowing whether they would flourish in this part of the desert, but they seem to be happy.


From Our Life on Wheels

From Our Life on Wheels

Our cactus is happy, we are happy. Even this baby lizard seems happy, doing his pushups on the rock.

From Our Life on Wheels


From Our Life on Wheels

We're even planning a short road trip in between physical therapy sessions, doctors’ appointments, church and fraternal obligations – and rainstorms. Getting back on the road for a little bit will be a highlight of this part of … Our Life on Wheels.