Vida. Risa. Amor.

I'm beginning to love Arizona. I'm probably saying that now, because it's April and this is our "bragging season" with the temperature only reaching the upper 70's while the nights are still cool enough to wear a jacket. When it starts reaching 117degrees in July, is about the time when I start considering other options of where might be a better place to move...but I try to remember to remind myself that for the 6 months of blazing heat we have to endure through, we also get 6 months of "perfection" to make up for it.

It was abso-freaking-lutely beautiful where I hiked with my friend today. Without a cloud in sight, the morning sun seemed to bring out the natural beauty of the wildflowers that are really making a statement this month. I've lived in Arizona for almost 7 years now, so I know that if you don't take the chance to get out and see them, you will totally miss it. The hot fuschia pink flowers are just blooming off the cactuses...(I refuse to say "cacti", which is the correct plural of cactus, because some words are just lame to me)...and the splashes of purples, yellows, oranges, and white against the green color of the spiky cactusES proves to me that only God knows how to make the best bouquets. There were also groups of butterflies chasing each other and birds chirping all around that made it feel like I was in a fairyland.

Of course I forgot my camera, so I won't be able to post pictures until I learn how to download them off of my cell phone....which also captured another amazing find. We found a 10 pound desert tortoise on our hiking path! My friend moved him under a shady tree and hoped when we came back down she could bring it home. At the rate it was moving when we found it we never would have imagined it would have gotten far, and I'm guessing maybe it didn't like the idea of moving to a new home so he figured out a way to hide. It's shell was the same color of the rocks, and it's obvious he had some skills in the art of camoflauge. I have seen a few coyotes in the desert, but I have yet to see a scorpion, or a rattlesnake, or a tarantula...but of all things today: a desert land tortoise!! (A.K.A.: A turtle!!)

So I'm hoping I can get out a few more times before Arizona turns into an oven soon. I'm getting more interested in learning the names of the mountains and their "secret" paths, the desert plant life, and yes, even learn a few actual names of the several different species of birds that I've been "informed" live here. But until I can get comfortable with saying big words like Cacti, strawberry hedgehog, globemallow, and brittlebush, I might have to rely on my expert mother to keep me informed....(she's smarter than google!) I might have seen a pair of golden eagles gliding at the top of the mountain I hiked today...which is just another reason I think we should be allowed to brag about for living in Arizona.