Mt. Lemmon Oktoberfest

Good morning! One more month until the big 5 0! This past Saturday Shawn decided we should celebrate our anniversary up at the Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley Oktoberfest. I wasn’t that thrilled about the idea because I was still sore from my fall on October 6th and I also bought eclipse glasses and did not want to miss it (we didn’t we left after the peak viewing time). The biggest negative for me was driving up a mountain. Seven years ago Shawn suggested the Oktoberfest for our 20th anniversary but I bought tickets for Ales on Rails on the Verde Canyon Railway because our honeymoon was a train trip through the Canadian Rockies and I thought another rail adventure would be fun. I also was avoiding the height of Mt. Lemmon, but we did take the drive on Saturday and I teased Shawn he was really trying to keep me from seeing 50.

Drive up Mt. Lemmon
Crisp October afternoon
Sublime fall colors

Other than the harrowing drive, I did enjoy the afternoon. We listened to a live band, had bratwurst and sauerkraut and of course beer. Then when we drove back through Tucson, we stopped at the Flying Leap tasting room to pick up our wine bundle and finished the night with dinner at Vero Amore – Swan.

Vero Amore Patio October 14, 2023

Anniversary
Our love continues to grow
Each day in your arms

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Autumn leaf peeping
Trees lose their lush summer greens
Bashful foliage

Twenty Seven Years – Sculpture

Good Morning! Shawn and I made it to our 27th wedding anniversary with some effort on my part to not celebrating it. On world cerebral palsy day I took a header on my evening walk and came home a bloody mess. Almost a week later, my body is still sore. Honestly I am trying to make it to 50 even though I am definitely feeling every bit of my age and then some. So the traditional gift for making it to twenty seven years of happily ever after is sculptures. Of course my readers know my tradition is poetry.

Lighting Unity Candle October 12, 1996

The poor unity candle did not survive the move to Arizona. I had it packed and shipped in the moving truck with the rest of our belongings and when it was unpacked it was an unrecognizable melted glob of wax. So only made it to our 2nd anniversary. I know I’ve talked about the fact Shawn and I danced to Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman for our first dance as a married couple. And keeping with the sculpture theme and since we saw Bryan Adams in concert this past summer, this was my gift to Shawn today. It’s not a traditional sculpture, but I thought it was a cool concept.

Shawn and I Bryan Adams Concert July 25, 2023

Wooing my husband through poetry

As with my #NaPoWriMo poem from a couple years ago, Bryan Adams played Please Forgive Me and not our song. Shawn was really hoping he’d play Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman? But we weren’t that fortunate.

Welcome October

Tempe, AZ Sept 27, 2023

Searching for Nirvana…

Accept who you are
Embrace the imperfections
Half a century

Good afternoon and welcome to October 1st. Last Wednesday Shawn and I attended a poetry workshop over at the Virginia G. Piper writing center on the ASU campus over in Tempe. Shawn had to take my photo with the mural near the parking garage. I turned it into a senryu, using a headnote with the #haikuchallenge word for yesterday, nirvana. And we’re just going to ignore I’m not exactly half a century until November 17. 😉

I wanted to post it here for two reasons: 1) This Friday October 6, 2023 is #worldcerebralpalsyday so make sure to wear green in support of CP research, and 2) we will be having a celebration for my 50th birthday on Saturday November 18th. So for anyone who would care to join us in warm, sunny Arizona, there’s a month and a half to make plans.