Tuesday morning we realized a couple of things. The first was that the only thing we had scheduled for that day was to exercise, and the second was that we could go anywhere do it.
So off we went to the townlet of Bedrock, Colorado, which featured a lone store that was shuttered and fronted by a For Sale sign. The store dates back to 1882. I learned later that this establishment had a moment of glory in 1991 when it was used in a scene in the movie Thelma & Louise.
One-half mile up a rocky dirt road from the store was the Bedrock Campground. which consisted of four rough-cut sites and no bathroom facilities. The Dolores River forms one boundary of the camping area, and when I walked over to check out the water I scared up a Gopher Snake about 2 1/2 feet long which immediately left the area.
No matter, we thought. we’d come neither to shower, nor to poo, nor to snake-watch, but to hike. And the trailhead for the Dolores River Trail took off from that campground.
The walk turned out to be a fairly easy one through a desert canyon whose beauty I think is easy to appreciate from the photos. Several species of lizards darted in and out of the brush as we meandered along. One very pleasant surprise was the number of varieties of blooming flowers. Way more than we would have expected for a day in April. One of our personal faves is the claret cup cactus, and we’ve included a pic in the gallery.
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BTW. This Colorado town has nothing to do with the Flintstones. Not now. Not ever. I have no idea where Fred and Wilma lived, but it wasn’t here. Besides, you know they weren’t real people, right? End of story.
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Let me pose you readers some questions to ponder. If you can, set aside the headlines and the personalities of the past several months as you compose your answers.
- Do you think that any person, no matter who, should have absolute immunity for their actions?
- Can you think of any person who could possess such freedom without becoming corrupted?
- When or if it occurred, what forms might that corruption take? (Suggestions: think Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Genghis Khan)
Frankly, I don’t see any reason to believe that this Supreme Court is up to deciding such questions. They have failed to come to grips with their own internal sleaze issues, and this notable lapse comes with far less power given them than the absolute immunity they are considering.
The integrity of this court is wafer-thin and their conduct makes one wish that members’ terms could be limited by something other than mortality.
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Robin and I just now finished We Were The Lucky Ones, a series on Hulu that deals with one Jewish family’s experience of the Holocaust. Rotten Tomatoes gave it 96% and it deserves it. Much of the strength of any story is in the skill of the telling, and this is what causes this film to ring so true.
What makes it different from many other holocaust stories is in the small details of what happens when something truly monstrous comes upon the world. A drop at a time until you realize you’re drowning.
It’s not a light entertainment, but it was worth the heart’s work we needed to do to watch it.
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You know, some of the changes associated with aging like wrinkling, sagging, and thinning would be more acceptable if there were some trade-off. For instance if you also experienced an increase in a sort of gray-haired gravitas. But when I checked my look in the mirror this morning I registered a flat zero on the gravitas meter once again.
Here are a handful of views on life I have collected from friends and the learned among us:
- Old age is not for sissies
- No good deed goes unpunished
- Old age isn’t a battle; old age is a massacre
- In youth we run into difficulties. In old age difficulties run into us.
- Old age is the only thing that lives up to its reputation
While I don’t fully subscribe to any of these pithy aphorisms, as yet I have not come up with one of my own. I would like one with some snap to it. Memorable, you know.
Oh, and a bit of gravitas wouldn’t hurt.
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Little Home In The Valley 