COVID BE DAMNED, WE HAVE TRADED palm trees for cactus, the Gulf of Mexico for the Sonoran Desert, humidity for dust and manatees for coyotes. Yeah, we’re spending the holidays in Arizona—Gold Canyon to be more exact—with our friend Paul. John and Paul have been friends since First Grade. They shared tents in Boy Scouts and were baseball, soccer and track teammates. They even dated serially the same girls in high school.
Paul and John, circa 1957
Old friends/Memory brushes the same years
We have stayed at Casa Paul before but this will be Paul’s first holiday season since Norrine passed away. He was looking for company and we were available. Despite our wonderful companionship and his meager Christmas tree and colorful lights, it probably won’t be an especially festive time.
Christmas, cactus and us
Connie has been enjoying her daily jaunts into the desert. She usually leaves just as it’s getting light and puts in 5 or 6 miles. Paul and I have been waiting until the sun is high enough to provide some warmth and go our for 3 or 4 miles at a slow pace. This morning Paul wanted to show us a petroglyph site that is known to only a select few. It was only four miles round trip but required a scramble down a nearly vertical jumble of rocks.
Paul's Petroglyphs
It was no problem for Connie and John but Paul, with two hip replacements, reverted to the tried but true butt-slide method.
