It's My Sweat ...

... and I'll Complain if I Want To, Complain if I Want To ... la la la

Well yes, it was another rather hot day here in The Capital. And while Methatiam is no doubt correct (in yesterday's comments) about it being hotter in Phoenix than here, let me tell you that I'm not calling our home and native land The Great White North today. In this humidity, you can't move without sweating. If you don't believe me, ask me if I really had two showers today. Oh yes, I certainly did. And the day's not over!

Shower #1 came after our bike ride. We went in the morning to avoid some of the heat, and I'm sure it helped, but we certainly broke a sweat as they say. Although I'm not sure if it really counts if you break a sweat simply by scratching your elbow or something of the like.

Not being terribly clever, I deduced that after showering, I should do some yardwork. Right AC, not clever at all. Hence, Shower #2.

This evening, we thought that it was getting cooler, so we shut off the AC (the other AC) and opened the windows. We shouldn't have. No really. For I am nigh unto dripping again, just from the exertion of moving my fingers, you see.

I know that it will get hotter, and I shan't keep nattering on about it. Promise. But it's still May, and I reserve the right to harangue the world, which is pretty well what I am doing right now, when temperatures go into the nineties before June. I mean, it's another three weeks until it's officially summer. Good grief Charlie Brown.

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Back to Arizona photos. I am switching from Canyon de Chelly to Monument Valley for the time being. It was our mostest favouritest part of the trip, so I will no doubt have more photos from here than anywhere — before I'm done if not already.

The first photo shows The Totem, The Dancers and the Mother and Child. If you go to this version you can see notes as to what's what right on the photo.

Cuppa took the next two as is quite obvious in the first. In case you miss it here is the clue: look for who is holding the camera to her eyes. I also thought you'd like the old sign in the last photo. I wonder just how old it is?

 

Just Checking In

 

Well yes, it has been a while between posts. Has it not? Visitors and tasks have been keeping me busy. One ongoing task is to keep plugging away at our Arizona photos. I seldom post or print a photo that isn't touched up in some way, so it all takes time. Most frequently, the touching up has to do with brightness and minor sharpening — at least if the photo is halfway decent to begin with. One thing that I am doing better with most photos at picture-taking-time seems to be composition; very few of the Arizona photos have been cropped in any way.

These two are both from Canyon de Chelly and rather speak for themselves. In the second, below, Cuppa gazes up with the guide and Aussie Glen. One thing that I do like about most of the Arizona photos, apart from rocks and scenery, of course, is the sky. It is quite clear, blue and wonderful in most of the pictures.

Meanwhile, let me tell you that it's hotter in Ontario today than it ever was in Arizona. Oh, not necessarily in temperature, but it will get close to 90°F today, and with the load of humidity that we get it will feel about ten degrees warmer. That's the official line, but compared to Arizona heat, I think the difference is greater than that. But that's just me.

In any event, we have shut the house and put on the air conditioning for the first time this year. While we'd really like to put this off until June, it can't be helped. The forecasts tell us that after some rain and thunderstorms, temperatures will revert to more seasonal norms by the ends of the week.

 

Dedicated

... to my Arizona blogging friends

After a thoroughly miserable weekend — in terms of weather, at least — it turned warm and sunny today. A combination of the Arizona trip and the weather has reduced our cycling dramtically lately. In fact, it's been more than a month since we last hit the saddles, and we are approximately 450 km behind last year's efforts.

Whatever! it was almost 70°F today, and we couldn't resist. Whilst I was still working on computer things this morning, Cuppa informed me that she had packed a lunch and was ready to ride. So, that's what we did, and the pictures show the view where we ate, at a dam by the Mississippi, about seven km downstream of here.

As I contemplated our surroundings, I thought that I would like to share some of our local scenery with all of you but especially my Arizona friends. I so appreciated your landscapes, and I hope that you like seeing our abundant water and trees and greenery.

I believe that Cuppa is in the throws of posting a few more pics on Brown Betty Brew.

 

Getting With It

After posting At Loose Ends earlier today, I have managed to get with it a bit set my hand to a few things, including working a bit of some Arizona photos. These are from our Pink Jeep Tour in Sedona. It was quite remarkable where that jeep went — and scary at times to. We went places where I didn't think motorized vehicles could possibly go. That's Cuppa way up there in the last pic.

At Loose Ends

Well, it's over. The May long weekend has come and gone. Queen Victoria has been feted yet again.

Company came and went. We did the usual things — some touring of local towns and the National (Art) Gallery. We had lunches out and lunches in and snacks aplenty wherever we went and whenever we could.

Too bad about the weather though. It was and remains simply awful: cold, windy, and rainy. The weekend which is the traditional gardening weekend in these environs was anything but this year, not that we would have anyway, but I'm sure that others were rather denied their much anticipated digging in the soil.

And so, I have read (but not commented on) your blog this morning. But now I sit. I am at loose ends, at sixes and sevens as they say. I need to do (much) more work on my Arizona pictures, but I don't really feel like it. I am in the middle of a decent book, but not right now thank you. I need to get back to my exercises after a month-long hiatus, and I probably will — later — but not just now. I could blog, but I don't feel up to it, so I won't. Hah!

I guess that it's often like this after the event. You have a good time on the mountaintop, and then you awake in the valley of reality the next day. It's okay in the valley; valleys are very fine places. Trees grow in valleys; streams flow; and, the soil is fertile. And you can look up and see the peaks all around you and begin to ponder which one you should climb next.

As I gaze upward, I begin to tie some of the loose ends together.

 

The Code and The Church

Just last night, we and the kids went to the movies: to see Mission Impossible. It was truly remarkable what the protagonist and his little band of agents could accomplish: such as plan and execute sophisticated operations within incredibly short periods of time. My goodness: in no time flat, they were able to cross time zones and a ocean, devise a plan to surreptitiously obtain a secret somethingorother from one of the most secure sites in the world, fly through the air with the greatest of ease, and escape all of the intelligence agents in China.

It almost revolutionized my view of the world. Super humans exist, and god does look like Tom Cruise.

You must think me terribly silly. "My goodness AC, get ahold of yourself boy; it's just a movie. It's make-believe — by definition! Don't you see?"

Well, yes, as a matter of fact I do see. That's what we've always known movies to be: make-believe, escapism, fantasy — not truth, although it might be argued that there is a genre that causes us to examine reality in some way. But not Mission Impossible! Not Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not Back to the Future. Not ... well, I'm sure that you take my point.

So why, I wonder, the angst and vexation over The Da Vinci Code?

Does The Church seriously believe that all us sheep (or are we goats rather? :) will be gullibly led off the straight and narrow so very easily? Really now: do they credulously posit that a lifetime of belief could be so easily undone: in a theater while watching an adventure thriller of approximately two hours duration?

I read the book (opinion succinctly expressed here) and didn't find it to be nearly as wonderful as the proclamations. Frankly, I expect even less of the film. In point of fact, I expect it to be almost as atrocious as Mission Impossible. But I will go and see it and hope for the best.

Whatever my state of faith, I expect it to be unaltered by The Da Vinci Code. I'm not sure why The Church and the faithful have so little faith in their convictions and beliefs. My goodness, they seem to be ready to launch the next crusade to defend the Rock of Ages, whom I expect will remain stalwart and uncrumbling when the credits roll on this silly, little flick.

The omniscient They say, "Pick your battles. Make sure that the hill is worth defending." I ask whether this a hill worth dying on? I think not. Surely there are more important battles to be fought, more significant hills that might be worth dying upon.

I have posted these highly intelligent thoughts (hey! it's the best I can do!) just in case you have been waiting with bated breath to know what the AC might think. Thank you very much.

 

37 Years

Not too very long ago, I watched Oprah and Dr Robin Smith counsel a couple regarding their impending marriage. The couple was in their thirties; the bride-to-be was experiencing some little doubts and reservations. Oprah was adamant that you always listen to that little voice. Smith believes that you shouldn't get married until you could show up in truth. I probably recall and summarize dimly and inadequately, but that is more or less the sum and substance as I remember it.

I admire both ladies, their intelligence and perspicacity. Robin is amazing, and Oprah is ... well, she's Oprah, and I would be foolish to argue against either. Of course, you should listen to your inner voice; of course, you should show up to the marriage as a truthful, genuine, and engaged person. To some extent, however, I couldn't help but feel that both ladies were running their agendas. Oprah exults about never being married, and it was my sense that she wished that for others. Dr Smith appeared to have had a less than satisfactory marriage and may have been projecting her experiences onto this couple. Perhaps not: they are both much more intelligent than I. Besides that, I have my own filters that are too often wrong.

It's not all about character, I suppose, but character is very important in my little opinion. You can be young, not fully formed, but if you have character and integrity, you can make it work. Not that I'd advise youth to rush into the holy state ... I'm just saying that it's possible. It's possible, even against the odds.

Cuppa and I celebrated our 37th anniversary yesterday. Good grief. Obviously, we married young, and, just as obviously, we made a go of it. It wasn't a struggle against all odds either. In fact, it has been a rather smooth voyage, not one over choppy waters, not one that tempest-tossed us mercilessly in squally seas.

Yes, I think that character, commitment, integrity, and sincerity are pretty darn important, and I rather think that Oprah and Dr Robin would agree. We're probably not even saying anything really different, maybe just emphasizing different sides of the same coin of truth.

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The old couple enjoying a mountaintop experience in Sedona, Arizona.