Tag Archives: Balm of beauty

A Beautiful Neighborhood

June 7, 2022 Cherry Leave a comment

Something changed in the neighborhood this year. Like most changes, it takes a while to discern if the change is for the better. We got a new landlord. Don’t read me wrong, we liked our old managers and most of us experienced a bit of trepidation at the change. The lease ran out for our noisiest neighbor and thus provided the Peace my roommate had been praying for. Our second noisiest neighbor got a different boyfriend and settled down. Things got a bit sloppier for a few months with regard to yard care, but it was winter and no one really noticed. Interior problems like hot water heaters and furnaces were addressed promptly. Along about April, we received notice that our rents would go up. Although this was unwelcome news, it was not unexpected. Housing, both purchased and leased, has sky-rocketed in our town. Then came the spring and that stirring desire to get things reborn. My neighbor to the east has been clamoring to garden for the past two years to no avail. Our old managers, while kind, were fearful of individualization run amuck and kept everything uniform. Groundcover. Exotic shrubs. Rules about no personalized porches. The two hanging basket hooks on my porch watched the passing world with empty eyes. Useless. Meanwhile, my roommate laid plans to hatch a homestead complete with sustaining garden. She dreamt of owning 10 acres in New Mexico, yet she languished in town in an 1880s row house.

As spring came on, shortly after we received notice of rents increase coming in summer, we also received an additional written communication. Tenants were granted permission for potted plants on porches. Hanging baskets were encouraged. A monetary allowance was provided each unit that wanted to participate. A community garden space for the courtyard was in the works. Renters who had been languishing in aimless inertia sprang into action pulling dusty lawn and garden implements from storage and attacking the sprawling ground cover, engaging in horticultural art. Getting their hands dirty.

A swell of pride in ownership pervaded the quarter block. Neighbors met to chat and plan and contemplate this thing which was coming to pass. And as always, passersby stopped to ask after any available units, to beg the contact information for the owners. This process reminds each of us how lucky we are to have an historical dwelling, on the downtown grid, in such a beautiful neighborhood – even with the rent increase.

Never underestimate the power of flowers – the pride of ownership – the freedom to indulge in beauty and industry. My roommate is putting down roots. June is busting out all over. It is a beautiful neighborhood.

Family, Goals and Dreams, Music and Theatre

But first, music; This Magic Moment WRF edition

March 19, 2020 Cherry Leave a comment

She was back in town for wilderness first responder recertification and I was playing host – sort of recertifying my position as her mom and mentor. A road trip to get her here. Three days of intense training for her whilst I puttered about the apartment. The first evening I hiked to the top of the Sky Steps to meet her and we took a nature trail home together. The second night I ran up the Sky Steps and texted, “I’m at the chimes. Where are you?” A few minutes later she responded, “Bringing a couple classmates home for dinner. We are shuttling cars.” Oh my goodness, I would have to hurry. The only key was in my pocket. I met the three of them walking up the middle of the road, two blocks from the house. Two beefy outdoorsmen of her generation; one in hiking pants, the other in shorts and man-Uggs, looking pure Australian, but speaking Californian. Both had hair as long as my daughter’s. In fact, one had the exact same braid and hair color as my daughter. These were not the college sophomores of ten years ago, no, these were mature and rugged young men. Used to the out-of-doors, used to putting entire physical prowess and brain into every challenge, used to working with the public, guiding, being responsible.

My daughter served us popcorn as an hors d’oeuvres and then the young people headed out to grocery shop and see the town. The meal boded well to be fresh, cast-iron cooked, healthful – – and late.

I stole those solitary minutes as appropriate to play through a piano set and then moved on to guitar. Halfway through The Gambler the shoppers returned. Calistralia’s eyes lit as he entered and he gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up. I proceeded to Killing Me Softly With His Song. Wonder of wonders, he began to sing words – and harmony. In the kitchen, Andrea had scrubbed the sweet potatoes and started them to bake. Concluding my practice time, I turned to the young man and asked, “Do you play guitar?” “I have,” was his succinct reply. That reply told me volumes. Some reshuffling of dinner preparations occurred. We all pitched in. After that interruption, I stepped into the living room and handed him the guitar. Oh my heart, what beauty now emanated from those six strings. Rather than weep, I turned to the other ranger, “Do you play any instruments?” “I am a fire-dancer,” he said.

I tossed him the Remo Fruit Shakes from our china closet. Andrea picked up her mandolin. I moved to the keyboard. Dinner was almost ready. But first: music.

Emotional Health

I almost forgot to walk

September 2, 2018 Cherry Leave a comment

Loosing one’s memory is a possibility we approach with trepidation. We want to keep our memories – the good ones, anyway – as long as possible. Proper exercise, we are told, is one of the actions we can take to combat the onslaught of loosing as we age. Besides the practical advantages of exercise; I love a hike in the great outdoors. Nothing restores me better.

I was traveling for work again. Calling on the far flung stores. Face to facing with staff. Hearing their needs and concerns. Delivering new interpretive merchandise.

It is monsoon season, so I was taking the long way around. Part of the road on my favorite commute has washed out, but a good portion of the long route lies up Scenic Highway 12, so there is no lack of beauty.

As I neared the trailhead for Mossy Cave, I slowed, noted the full parking lot, checked my watch and hurried forward to Cannonville and Escalante. I did take time to fill the gasoline tank in Tropic and to take an arpeggiatic run on the piano in front of Clark’s – but I did this standing up – without alighting on the piano stool.

By lunchtime I was finished with Cannonville. A couple hours spent at Escalante and I was on the return road by 3:30 pm my time (4:30 local). “How excellent,” I thought, “I will make it home before dark.”

It pains me that I almost forgot to stop. A wakeup call. I frequently drive two hours on a weekend just to get to cooler temperatures and beautiful hiking places. Yet, I almost maintained speed right by one of the most beautiful sections in the state of Utah – in order to make it home before dark. Stress, you know. The to-do list instead of the HooDoo list. Workaholism at its most insidious. Could it be that I am now immune to the magnetism of National Parks?

Just in time I reminded myself that I am not domiciled in Page AZ simply because there is mound after mound of office work to be done. One can find mounds of office work anywhere. I am here specifically for working closely with National Parks and reveling 24 X 7 in beautiful places.

I stopped. I hiked. I was refreshed. My mission is renewed.

Uncategorized

Landscape from a Working Woman’s Perspective; My Favorite Commute

February 18, 2018 Cherry Leave a comment

My favorite work commute is Cottonwood Canyon. Ostensibly I came to Page, Arizona to work as a buyer and retail manager, but my underlying motive was to move a bit further down the Colorado River – to see ever more of the great outdoors and sandstone terrain. I knew the job would require a healthy amount of travel, calling on and merchandising seven small non-profit bookstores spread across southern Utah and Northern Arizona. The imperative inherent in the job description was to get to know the landscape of the public lands within my jurisdiction of Glen Canyon Natural History Association. Once I understood the area, I would design and order merchandise that interpreted the landscape; a mug here, a T-shirt there, all merchandise to help educate, tangible trinkets to take home as talismans, memory triggers of time spent in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area or Grand Staircase Escalante.

My business route takes me on a sweeping grand circle of sorts. Down past Navajo Bridge, Lee’s Ferry, Lonely Dell Ranch; Up Highway 89A to Kanab; passing turnoffs to North Rim of the Grand Canyon and Pipe Spring; Highway 89 past the turnoffs to Zion and Cedar Breaks; Across Highway 12 past Bryce Canyon; several stops within Grand Staircase Escalante and through Capitol Reef, a detour to Bullfrog and Hall’s Crossing; Highway 90 with Natural Bridges in view as well as the buttes that are the Bears Ears; possibly 261 through Cedar Mesa and down the Moki Dugway to 191; continuing on Highway 191 to join Highways 163 and 160; and back to Page. It takes several days to drive this loop, more than a week if I called on all the stores in one trip. I prefer smaller loops. Along this route there are numerous opportunities to choose other back roads and lessor known shortcuts.

My favorite work commute is Cottonwood Canyon. When you take Cottonwood Canyon you experience a variety of colors and geological features. You get out and away from the paved road and any traffic. You can usually go there in a regular car (not so if it is raining or has recently been raining).

All the colors of a commute up Cottonwood Canyon

There is no early morning drive I like better than that dirt and gravel road. It gets me to Cannonville 40 minutes quicker than taking the paved route through Kanab and it gives me a panorama of beauty, a kaleidoscope of ever-changing light and colors of sandstone.

IMGGrovesner Arch in early morning_20171228_083342472_HDR — Grovesner Arch soon after sunrise

If you have the luxury of a day off rather than a business commute, several beautiful trailheads are accessed along the way and there is even a written guide to the Geology of Cottonwood Canyon to interpret the rock layers you see. Cottonwood Narrows is a spectacular little hike that can be done in minutes short of an hour if you have a car waiting at the opposite trailhead. If not, double your time and hike back the way you came in, or walk back to your car on the dirt road. On your hike you will enjoy both shadow and sunshine, a little bit of narrow slot canyon, and you might even see a few small arches in the rock walls towering to either side.

Hiking in The Narrows of Cottonwood Canyon

Character, Emotional Health, Spiritual Well Being

To be fed by ravens

September 15, 2016 Cherry Leave a comment

“Vaya con Dios,” Friend said.

“Who is this Dios of whom you speak?” She asked. “I will go out into the desert to find him. Perhaps I will be fed by ravens.”

And Friend replied, “40 days and 40 nights?”

Forget a mere month and 10 days; it had been over 40 years since the two friends had actually talked face-to-face. This cogent Facebook exchange was fraught with meaning. One friend was tired, exhausted, the journey too much. She was moving to the desert, hoping to reclaim a portion of her spiritual and emotional health – to find herself. And with this four-line dialogue, she had communicated an identification with the emotions of the Prophet Elijah.

A minor prophet from ancient Hebrew literature – not even major enough to have an entire book of the Tanakh (Old Testament) named after him – Elijah stood up to a wicked Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 19). He called fire down from heaven (1 Kings 18). He succeeded in his ambiance beyond wildest dreams and expectations. Yet, after the fact, exhaustion and depression nearly pulled him under.

She knows there have been great victories. Victories huge enough to be followed by great desponds. There have been supernatural successes. Successes rewarded by jealousy and threats.

Now, she is in the desert for healing and nourishment. It may take being spoon-fed by ravens. It may merely take daily hikes into the wild and beautiful. She has enough faith left to believe this will happen.

Cherry Odelberg