THE NEW YEAR – JANUARY 2022

Nomads in the desert

It’s a relief to leave 2021 behind. For many people it was a year of changes, including health challenges and life style adjustments. This was often related to covid-19, but for us it was selling the CI lab/homebase in Monticello, Utah, and becoming full-time nomads, living in our 24-foot Cougar RV. Thanks to a friend, also a full-timer, we found Black Rock Road in northern Arizona in the late autumn of 2021. We began settling into into a lifestyle and routines, while not totally foreign, were different in that there was no longer a homebase.

Happy New Year – January 1, 2022

Now it is January 2022.  Clifford and I are busy with our projects and we especially enjoy sunny and calm days when we can work outside. Whenever possible, I sit outside with my morning coffee and my “stack:” books and journals that get my day started in an uplifted way. I make the daily intention of well-being, beauty, and harmony. Observing sunrises and sunsets, I find beauty and harmony, as well as on my frequent walks in the desert. 

The rising of the sun
Sunrise from the east-facing window
Sunset on Black Rock Road
Cougar at sunset

On my walkabouts, my favorite place to walk is in the wash with its ruggedness, as I make my way through boulders, gravel, sand, and vegetation. 

Walking in the wash
Walking in the wash

Pine Mountain to the north of us is highlighted by morning and evening colors, but can stand alone as the impressive feature that it is, particularly with a fresh coat of snow. I never tire of gazing at it through our north-facing window. 

Pine Mountain
Pine Mountain at sunset

I also begin employing Segment Intending, which means for each activity of the day, I make an intention of positive results, of seeing what I want to see. This helps with my walkabouts, finding beauty in the landscape that I might otherwise overlook. 

Backlit dried desert vegetation
Cholla

Music continues to be a fun activity. Clifford and I play UK folk songs together almost daily, and he is expanding his singing repertoire with a selection of pop songs, bluegrass, country, celtic, and more.

Carol playing fiddle in the desert

I still edit for a couple of authors and I spend time editing and sharing photos most days, as well as writing blogs of our journeys. Domestic chores and errands are a part of our days, including trips through the scenic Virgin River Gorge on our way to Littlefield to pick up our mail.

Virgin River Gorge

We are grateful for quiet and privacy we enjoy here, as well as the scenic aspects of this spot of Arizona desert. It is a good place to spend the winter.

Peaceful winter home

 

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