Punched wall

Recently a wall in the apartment got punched at by a bed end which was on its way to another floor. How the bed came down that little T- corner is a mystery. After the fiasco, complaint followed. Few days later, I wanted to check if it was fixed. I pass everyday by the stairs atleast six times a day. It took me two weeks to consciously look out and see if it was fixed. Anyways, in the last two weeks it didnt seem like the wall had the damage. It seemed like a simple everyday human genius to be able to detect things if they are fixed or not even without looking at them.

South Mountains

Enroute Flagstaff, when we came across Hidden Hollow Road, I said aloud, I am not going anywhere which starts with "Hidden..." Such was the experience last time when we had to turn around as we could not climb a smooth rock on the Hidden Valley Trail at South Mountains.
When I got to this tunnel I asked myslef "Where am I?". You will too. Rocks over rocks formed years ago. Reading about these rocks, I am trying to imagine the temperature and pressure that created these rocks. This time once we got over climbing the rock we shied away from last time, we went beyond that and came across Fat Man's Pass. That was an interesting side walk.
On this trail we spotted some Cholla. It will be nice if I get to see a cactus flower bloom.

Recently I saw a mountain just by itslef and no ranges in the middle of a flat land. Have to find out its name. I have come as far in knowing that its close to Higley road.

Menudo

I was all tired and lying in a car seat so much that a 9 year old girl was surprised to see hair poking out from the front seat with no traces of a person. When she was asked about what she had for breakfast, all I heard was Menu... something, then we asked her to spell it. Well this would have worked well with an adult. She still tried to spell it and somehow I got this feeling that she only spelt it till the first half until where we could guess, so that did not help. I didnt ask her to spell it again, since anyway, I would not be able to deduce the word intelligibly from those letters. The next thing we asked was if she knew how it is made. She recalled the ingredients but not the procedure. Had my friend driving this girl known about Menudo being good for a hangover, she would have had a better Saturday Breakfast.

PS: And did I tell about my absolute crush for Chili's grilled carribean salad.

Rocky Mountain oysters

I came across this in 'All the Pretty Horses' by Cormac McCarthy. So when Blevins was asked if he had Mountain oysters or real oysters, I wondered what oysters got to do with mountains.
I will not have it even if it is served in a vegan restaurant.

Gun Powder

Interest in a region like the South or like Tibet or Isak Dinesen's Africa intensifies as the distance from the region increases. ~ William R. Ferris ( Region as Art)

Recently, at a restaurant , once all the orders were placed on the table, my friend missed something and asked if he could get Gun Powder. Now that would have shocked me if not for another friend who had told me about it a year ago. I should have known about it as a dry dip in my childhood itself. My first friend is from Delhi and the second one from Orissa. I am the closest to the origin of the dip but I knew the least about it.

H for Humphrey's

Humphrey's peak is the tallest peak in Arizona. It does not mean as much to me as to know that it is a volcanic peak. I began to see the traces of that only after 2/3 of the hike. At one place there were small rocks around the size of a palm and lesser. Pat pointed that to be a result of land slide. The tundra region had rocks. I enjoyed climbing this region more than the rest. It seemed more like play time. The first part gave me the feeling that I was walking in a village with no roads.At one of the safest places, I just slipped and fell to a slide position. My camera was saved from that fall. It had its share up at the saddle. Its becoming a habit for me and Canon to hit the ground on hikes. The last time, it happened on the Telegraphic Pass Trail. The next time I was getting down that trail, at every tough descent, I would get careful thinking of it as the particular trip point. But each new one seemed as 'That was it' .. The fear point never ends, once it sets in. Its just this one point but I keep expecting it and find it everywhere. Even yesterday, there was this point halfway, which I knew if I crossed, then we were safe after that.I saw 'Golden columbine' for the first time. Its a yellow flower with white petal like surroundage (I know this might not be right) around it. I even saw small BlueBells.Pat said they are bluebonnets and that bluebell is an icecream. Now I know, he was wrong. That reminds me, I saw this T-shirt on a kid at a movie theatre, last week - "You can agree with me or be wrong." ..hmm..Once we reached the top we spotted lightning and rain on the surrounding mountains. One of the false peak had the look of red and green you find in a satellite view of a place. There was a light drizzle on our peak. That was a nice turn.The Humphrey peak hike took us 4 hours to climb up and 3 hours to climb down. The peak was at 12637 ft. I have been to a higher point at Rohtang Pass,13400 ft. (Until I put my set of pictures, lets loan them.)http://colonelmustard.s5.com/humphreys.html
I havent heard of igneous rocks in so many years.I should see the mountain in winter with snow on it. When I read that the mountain was higher before an ancient eruption, I was reminded of the scholastic style in which the change of Alps over years is shown in the 3D movie- 'The Alps'.Each time I heard of the peak being closed for the winter, I was reminded of 'The Shining.'Towards the end, we spotted a bride in her wedding dress and her party posing for pictures. They were well dressed enough to make us feel like we were dirty after the hike.PS: I liked the Carribean salad with mandarin oranges and pineapple.

Wisdom from Vegas

While driving back from Humphrey's peak hike, we saw fireworks on the side. It seemed like this happened before too. Only this time its not dejavu. Its for real. So that time too, while coming back from Roosevelt Lake, we just wondered why the fireworks were happening. This time, I am a year wiser.

I talked aloud that maybe there is a casino or something there. Come to think of it, I havent seen such fireworks at Vegas. Somehow I connected the idea of celebrating when there is no popular reason to Vegas which is to Casinos. While this was happening, it turns out that we did drive by a casino. Then I had to convince my colleagues that I am not a whale. Before that, I had to ask what Las Vegas whales meant.

Anais Nin

Looking at a colorful metal bookmark which read 'Dreams are necessary to life', a birthday gift, a year ago. That quote is Anais nin's. I would have known about her a year ago, if I wasnt off dreaming then. I have one of her volumes, which I am reading now. It is a surprise that I had that bookmark with me so long and still thought that I havent heard of her, when I saw her book.