Truman has decided that the bar stools between the kitchen and the family room provide optimal viewing for feline type judgment.
Cuteness.
Someone is ready for his TV Guide Close-Up. Truman is in cuteness overload this afternoon.
Doomscrolling.
My brain just can’t handle the doom scrolling anymore. I am very much aware of how awful things are in the “United” States these days. I need to focus on facts, and there’s simply not a lot in the way of facts out there these days.
I’m focused on personal blogs (that aren’t overly hysterical) and being creative. It’s not putting my head in the sand. It’s taking care of mental health.
Agnetha!
Every once in a while I’ll look up this video on YouTube and revel in this performance. It’s been well over a decade, but back in the early 2010s, Gary Barlow hosted Agnetha Faltskög (from ABBA) at Children in Need Rocks. Agnetha and Gary had recorded “I Should Have Followed You Home” together, but they recorded the duet in separate studios in separate countries. They had never performed the song together until this performance.
Agnetha has always looked and sounded like an angel to me and I find Mr. Barlow to be quite the dapper gentleman. This performance is pure gold to my ears.
Energy.
I miss this energy wafting through our society.
From 1990, here’s Enigma with “Mea Culpea”. It’s from the album “MCMXC a.D.”.
Creative.
I’ve started feeling a little bit of creativity again. I feel like I’ve been in a bit of a rut for the past several weeks, but I’m started to feel a bit more “alive”, for lack of a better word. It’s a good feeling.
Just for fun, here’s two shots of me working on this lovely Monday. This is the side of the office no one sees on the Teams calls at work.
Malled.
I’m solidly Gen-X. I grew up during the heyday of the shopping mall. The closest mall to our small town was Penn Can Mall in the suburbs of Syracuse. I can still remember strolling the corridors and visiting the bookstores, the anchor stores, and especially the two record stores (Gerber Music and RecordTown). I also always made a stop into Radio Shack because I liked being a geek.
I still like being a geek.
With everyone in a hurry and with their nose buried in their smartphones, folks don’t have as much of an interest in the shopping mall. Many malls across the country are dying or are long gone, but here in the desert southwest we have a few malls that are still quite enjoyable.
One of my favorite malls of all time is Scottsdale Fashion Square. Located in trendy Scottsdale, folks from all walks of life seem to visit this mall and it’s been quite busy every time we’ve stopped in. Yesterday we walked the perimeter of the mall twice (lower and upper floors) and clocked in a 2 1/2 mile walk.
The people watching was amazing.
People watching is awesome and in the 21st century of all things tech, and especially since COVID, it’s not something that people do much these days. But I revel in it. I could sit in an airport or a mall or a busy park and just watch folks for hours. It’s one of the reasons I love traveling all over the country. The people watching is fascinating.
Life is fascinating. It’s wonderful to get out there and experience it.
Video: Impromptu Hike.
I was originally planning on hiking in the snow on Mount Lemmon last weekend, but the Pima County Sheriff’s department had a different plan, as they weren’t allowing anyone up the mountain unless they were a resident or an employee.
So, I went hiking in my familiar stomping grounds and tried to capture some decent landscape shots with new camera settings.
Here’s my latest video for your enjoyment.
Peralta Regional Park.
We are back from our 24 or so hours in Phoenix. We had a very nice overnight getaway and now I’m getting settled back into my routine so I can get the work week off to a great start.
We took backroads to Phoenix yesterday because Interstate 10 northwest from Casa Grande to the outer suburbs of Phoenix is a nightmare to drive. Woefully over capacity most of the time, the two lanes in each direction are often clogged and drivers wondering why the road was narrowed across the Gila River Indian Reservation. Apparently it’ll be widened soon, but with the U.S. Government doing very odd things these days, who knows if that will come to fruition.
Anyway, the back roads brought us to a sign for Peralta Regional Park in Golden Canyon of US Route 60. We ventured the four or so miles of dirt road to check out some hiking trails.
The Serenity Loop in the Superstition Mountains is an enjoyable, easy hike that clocks in around 1 1/2 miles. Earl isn’t used to hiking, so we picked an easier spot.
Highly recommended.
Go With Your Gut.
I woke up this morning with the intent of going hiking. I had a plan of hiking a trail I’d explored only briefly a couple of months ago. The hike would have taken me up around 1500 feet and would have promised some great photo and video opportunities.
I just wasn’t feeling it this morning. The rain looked to be moving off to the east but something in my gut said this wasn’t the morning to go hiking.
So I went back to bed and took a nap.
It’s two hours later and there’s impressive rain showers (not in the forecast) passing through with a couple of lightning strikes showing up on radar.
Always go with your gut.
As I type (and the shower is passing through) this I would have been at the furthest point away from the car. It would have been quite a wet experience, which is fine when I’m chasing storms and near the car, but not at the moment on a mountain with a few lightning strikes in the area.
Instead, a decent cloud shot will suffice. My hike would have taken me toward the highest peak in the distance in this shot.
