Chasing the Sunrise

It has been a particularly busy fall semester. I’m teaching a new class in an area I only have a minimal background. I haven’t felt this far out of my depth since I taught an introduction to natural resources class my first semester at Kansas State University in 1974. I was younger, more full of myself, and at the same time unsure. I have few of those feelings now. At age 66 I find teaching a new course invigorating, challenging, and just a little daunting. But it has been far more rewarding than I anticipated and just as challenging. I’ve put other projects on the back burner to try to stay what I call “15 minutes ahead of my class!” And I think I’ve been successful.

That all leads up to Veteran’s Day Weekend when I got to Friday I sensed I had a full Saturday where I didn’t have anything to do. Saturday morning came and I was still thinking teaching and writing. In fact, as I have found so often this semester, I was up early and today was no exception. At 4 AM my mind was whirling and so I was up and anticipating several hours of quiet with just me and the cat writing. Whisper, the cat, really enjoys laying across the top of my desk in front of the computer either relaxing or watching the cursor on the computer with great interest. I’m anticipating some day she will attack that poor cursor.

By 6:30 am I was busy writing and I knew we were having some cool (cold for Las Vegas) weather so I turned to my iPad and checked the weather. Of course the kids think my favorite TV channel is the weather channel - but not so much since we moved to Las Vegas. Anyway, I noted on my weather app that it had snowed out at Red Rock Conservation Area overnight. There is nothing more beautiful than watching the sunrise at Red Rock as the sun marches down the western Spring Mountains. And to have the potential for snow in the peaks was a bonus! I was a smidgen late getting out of the house and could see the sun rising over the east side of the Las Vegas valley and knew I had probably missed the march, but not the intensity of the new sun on the western mountains. Off I drove out towards Red Rock and was greatly rewarded for my efforts.

Watching the new sunrise, or in this case, the full effect of the early morning sun on the mountains is like watching a rebirth of beauty and brings great joy to my soul. If I watched it every day I might tire of it, but I only go out a few times a year - which always makes it spectacular. I’ve shared a few of my photos below. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

This is a beautiful home out in Calico Basin and I love its colors and especially the Red Rocks directly behind it.

The Red Rocks along with the desert brush and more traditionally colored hills in the background are a favorite

I really thought the sun reflections and the break up with the texture of the rocks made this an interesting shot.
And then I played with it and added a little grunge.

Seasonal Time

We have lived in Las Vegas for five years. There are many benefits to living in Las Vegas, not the least of which are mild winters and early springs. One of the downsides is the absence of a changing of seasons. We have color out our backdoor all winter long. Spring comes in early to mid-February and the Bradford Pears are good for about 10 days. We do have flowers that bloom for the next 3 months and many of them last all summer and well into the fall.

Cedar Rapids, IA - Donna and Sally

However, I have noticed over the last two springs and winters there has been a change in how I perceive time. After living in the Midwest for almost 40 years I became very acclimated to 4 seasons and constructed part of my feelings and expectations of time based on the expectation of 4 seasons. 


Those of us who have four seasons know they are considerably different. They each make contributions to our lives, both in perceptions, attitudes, and activities. Consciously or unconsciously we schedule ourselves within the context of our seasons. In many ways we consciously and unconsciously schedule ourselves around those seasons/ Just as sport is seasonally based, we too are seasonally based. Most of us are only indirectly aware of our linkage to seasons. When you lose the seasons you struggle to gain a new sense of seasonal time. 


For example, as we came to the end of the spring semester at the university, I have found myself thinking it can't possibly be the end of the academic year. We had missed fall and winter. I felt a sense of incompleteness, or emptiness, as we moved into our summer. Absent from my Las Vegas experiences are extended periods of fall, spring, and winter. We have all four seasons in Las Vegas, but to a much lesser degree. We have the colors year-round as well as similar weather, just varying degrees temperature with an occasional (and I use the term occassional loosely) rain shower or snow shower.

Fall in Terre Haute, IN - One of the prettiest places for fall
that we ever lived in.

What I'm feeling as we come to the end of the academic year is a lack of closure in my seasonal time. Intellectually I know that May signals the start of spring, the end of winter and the school year, but in the absence of easily definable seasons I feel incomplete. There is an absence that I stuggled to understand until I realized I'm still a product of midwestern seasonal time. It's unsettling, even after you understand it. I suspect that if I stay in Las Vegas long enough I will ultimately change my personal conception of seasonal time.

I always took seasonal time for granted. I suspect that if I had lived in Las Vegas my entire life I wouldn't be influenced by the lack of seasons. But since I have spent the bulk of my life living through the 4 seasons I find the absence of the seasons creating a dissonance of how I perceive closure. I am not even sure that "closure" is the proper term, but that's the feeling I get in the spring. "It can't be spring when we have missed fall and winter." But interesting side note is that these feelings didn't occur in the first three years that we were here. But this year I have noticed it more than ever. Even spending 2 1/2 weeks in cold in wintery Idaho didn't make up for a full winter season. Don't get me wrong, I'm not missing winter - just the seasonal time winter creates for me.

Denver, CO while we were visiting the Allen family

Seasonal time is as real as clock time. With a clock we can monitor the time of day. With the change in seasons we can monitor the change in temperature, daylight, color, clothing, and the like. When we change our seasonal time we lose a part of what has been ourselves. I don't think that is negative, but I've never seen anyone write about seasonal time - although I know they have. For those of you with 4 seasons, enjoy them. For those of us without 4 seasons we will just adapt.

Taken at a county park south of Terre Haute, IN. This represents the king
of summer and green that we miss in Las Vegas. It is also one of my
favorite photos.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

A Las Vegas Fall

This is our fourth fall in Las Vegas, and our most unusual. Of course as I write this most of the places where our family lives is in a deep freeze or has snow, but nonetheless, I find this fall, or what locals call winter, to be different. To begin with, over Thanksgiving we uncharacteristically had the coldest weather since we arrived, and that counts the snow we received during the first two years. We lost several plants outside during Thanksgiving week. It was more Idaho weather than Las Vegas weather.

Since then the weather has been great, yet now we find ourselves in the midst of a 5-day rainstorm. It has people all over the valley scratching their heads. It's more like an Indiana fall than a Las Vegas winter. People are scrambling to find those long lost umbrellas and discovering they can't find them.

The prettiest part of this winter is the leaves that are falling. It seems our Thanksgiving cold snap has caused the leaves to drop in numbers we haven't seen since we arrived. It does remind me of the Midwest. I even went out and took photos. Before the rain began I even enjoyed walking through the leaves and causing a rustle. One day as JoAnn and I were driving by our local park we saw a couple of small boys jumping up and down in a leaf pile their dad's had made. On the downside, no one has a clue how to remove leaves efficiently.

I took this photo at our local park on Saturday while
JoAnn and I were out for a walk. It was a dry moment.

Yes, we do get fall in Las Vegas! And yes, here we call that winter. It's not over and we may even get a little snow this year. However, that idea strikes fear into the heart of all of us.

Have a Merry Christmas you snow dwellers!

November Reflections

I was reading some Robert Frost poetry this morning and "My November Guest" reminded me of our falls in Indiana. The poem is from his 1915 book, "A Boy's Will." I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

My November Guest

MY Sorrow, when she's here with me,
  Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
  She walks the sodden pasture lane.

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
  She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted gray
  Is silver now with clinging mist.

The desolate, deserted trees,
  The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
  And vexes me for reason why.

Not yesterday I learned to know
  The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
  And they are better for her praise.

A Las Vegas Fall

The Old Man of the Forest and this Old Man Winks at You!

I have to admit that we don't get much in the way of fall in Las Vegas. I was only mildly joking when I said, "Fall arrives when we have 5 days in a row under 100 degrees." That was just 2 weeks ago. Then over the weekend we dropped from the 90s to the 70s. We are still trying to figure out what happened to the 80s.

You know it's not officially fall without a scarecrow

Yet, if you want fall, the best place to find it, without having to drive to Mt. Charleston, or Arizona or Utah or California is to go to down to the strip at the Belaggio (isn't that where everyone goes?). Every season of the year they outdo themselves and this year is no exception. You can see most of my photos on flickr, but I've shared here some of my photos I took with my iPhone.

As we were progressing through our walk we hit a tour, or rather they ran over us. We walked around outside the exhibit to get away from them and just as we were about to come in from the other side here comes this man with a green light-saber held high over his head and being followed by a mob. He was the tour guide, but maybe more appropriately called the light-saber pied piper. It was funny. Instead of "were walking, were walking" it was "keep up with the light, we have more to see."

A leaf waterfall (actually 4 leaves) was one of the highlights of our fall walk.

It was a great Fall walk for JoAnn and I and we finished it off with ice cream from the world famous ice cream bar - and boy was it good!

The brass trees had water falling continually from them. Certainly a reminder of those midwestern fall rains.

Notes, Thoughts, and Mostly Ramblings

It has been a busy start to the fall semester. I feel like I've been behind since the day classes started. We have already completed week 4 - now over 25% complete - and it was the first week I was actually at work for 5 days. Between holidays and family events it has been busy.

Some random (emphasis on random) thoughts I have had over the last few days/weeks that have little or no meaning, but then again. . . .

• We are about to see the beginning of fall in Las Vegas. That means the "dog days of summer" are almost over (see photo below). If we can put 5 days together without reaching 100 degrees then I think we will officially be in fall. We are still looking forward to the day we can keep our windows open for several nights, not just one now and then.
• I've noticed that we are anxious to get past summer the way we used to be anxious to get past winter. Now winter is just a diversion from summer.
• On the positive side, we did not turn our furnace on last year until almost mid-December.
• Even in Las Vegas if I wash my car it rains. Of course a rain here may only cover 2 or 3 square blocks, but my car always seems to be in that zone.
• Ever notice how your phone rings all week long (our's does) and on the weekend no one calls because they are busy with family or football games or whatever?
• My daughters write their blogs all week, I write mine on weekends. If I write during the week it's a clear indication I've found some free time.
• It doesn't matter how much quilting material JoAnn has, she seems to need a little more. In fact today she was cleaning out her closet to make room for her new material. Plus she purchased more storage containers to put the material in. That's okay, I love her.
• She could say the same thing about me purchasing art prints, or shirts, or shoes, or ... well you get the idea.
• We are now allowed to water only 3 days a week (September & October) and it must be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Imagine my surprise as I was sitting at the kitchen table and I heard the watering system (we use a drip line) come on this morning (Saturday). All I could see was a big fine if the water authority caught me. I ran to the garage and sure enough the "watering brain" thought it was Wednesday.

That's really about enough for now, since not much of it made sense, but gave me a chance to dodge doing work I really should be doing.

I took this photo at a scooter rally the Bradley's came down for. It speaks well for the "dog days of summer" and how we should just embrace the experience.