Is it Spring Already? In February?

The past week has been absolutely beautiful in my corner of Arizona, Picture Rocks. As I drive the road into Tucson the purple lupine-like wildflowers are carpeting the sides of the road.

On one day it was just a blanket of golden flowers, with their bright yellow color flowing through the desert floor in contrast to the upright saguaros and prickly cactus.

Then the next day the purple bloomed as a surprise, and little bushes of pink buckwheat like flowers appeared. Finally little white daisy like flowers were sprinkled  throughout the purple.  I keep waiting for a really cold snap to bring reality back. So far so good. The beauty of the desert is still all around me.

The photo historian in me wants to pull over with all the other gawkers to capture this mid winter phenomenon. There is no way February 18th thru 29th is Spring! Tell that to the thousands who descend upon Tucson for the International Soccer Team's games (just ask David Beckham) or the hundred thousand who watched famous golfers from all over the world in the Accenture Match Play week long series of World Championship Golf games at the Ritz Carlton, Dove Mountain in Marana (last year the golfers woke up to snow on the ground.)

What are the locals doing during this fortunate spell of great weather? They are attending the annual Vaqueros Rodeo Days. Even the little guys, "bust mutton" riding on large sheep to compete. Only in Tucson is President's day NOT a school holiday, but the Thursday and Friday of Rodeo Week is!!!

As a BEE in this desert, I am right at home with nature's surprise of riotous color all around. The wildflowers (some say weeds) have finally found their way into my backyard, covering the normal dirt, sand and rocks. They have begun to go to seed and have died back from around the front of my driveway. So I've got to get out the hula hoe to knock them down; and begin clearing the "weeds."

Clearing the weeds from my thinking, too; maybe I can focus on the symbolic desert called cyber space. Now, instead of roads in the wilderness, I can concentrate on links (that may soon be disappearing according to blogger James Tanner) into the world wide web. Now instead of looking up at the clouds passing over head on the winds of this morning's cold front passing through, perhaps I can learn about THE CLOUD and what it means to genealogy.

It may not be Spring on the calendar yet, but there is a spring in my step and a time of new beginnings in my search of the scriptures. Now to begin my journey into my series on "A Genealogist Looks at Isaiah."

Ascending the Mountain

Picture Rocks Road and the Pass into Tucson

Picture Rocks

            There is a magical place in the desert west of Tucson, Arizona called Picture Rocks and it is absolutely filled with magnificent symbolism. Picture Rocks Road is a country road and pierces the Tucson Mountains just where the morning light breaks from the East. I live a few miles down this curving road with Saguaro cactus standing like sentinels covering the hills. These unique ancient plants are huge. Some of them tower over 20 feet tall. They look like men with upraised arms. Many are over a hundred years old. The Native American inhabitants of this land revered them as sacred beings. Are they are trying to warn us? What stories could these Saguaro tell us? 

A never-ending stream of traffic passes by my house. Often I hear the siren of an ambulance or fire trucks rushing by in the dark, telling of someone who had not been paying attention or obeying the laws along this country road and there had been an accident. This road can be treacherous as it passes west through the Tucson Mountains into Saguaro National Monument Park. The speed limit is 45 mph and the signs are posted, “No Passing.”  Hundreds of people use this route every day to get from their homes to work or shopping. People who drive the same road over and over get to know every bump and curve in the road. They are lulled into a sense of security and often think of other things while driving. They can become distracted and that is the danger.

As members of the church are we bored or lulled to sleep when we hear the same things over and over? Or have we been lulled into a sense of security? Recently, economic and world events have shaken us up a bit. These are sirens in our life, reminding us that we must stay on the path and do what we promised our Heavenly Father we would do with our lives when we came down to earth from the spirit world.