Desert Fun + New Story
It’s been a busy week. And I have a new flash story up at A Million Monkeys: Lost and Found. Monday I hiked the desert, picked up some trash under a bush, and crumbs from the bush slipped down my pants. I’m still itching on my lower back.
Tuesday, the day disappeared. How does that happen? I think I was gone all morning, but I can’t remember where. Then I taught water aerobics, went to a meeting, and saw The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. I really wanted to love it. It had the whimsy, the great acting, but… well, in the end, it didn’t make sense. There was no point to me. Or if there was, I didn’t get it, which was equally annoying. I was very disappointed.
And Wednesday I went to the coolest museum ever: The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Totally awesome. It’s an outdoor museum, mostly, that’s more zoo than museum. I kept thinking that I can’t wait until my niece can see it, maybe when she’s a year or two older. She loves nature, and I wonder how she’d react to a completely different environment.
The best museum I’ve ever been to, for sure. I even got a behind-the-scenes tour, and I TOUCHED A SNAKE! I did! I really did! A very pretty one, too. 
And heard a rattlesnake’s rattle for the first time. We went into a room where they keep all the snakes they’re breeding and stuff, and a couple started rattling like crazy. Way cool.
I’m totally in love with where I’m living now. I’ve never been in love with a place, like a place to live. Could live here forever, not a single drop of restlessness. Which was not the point of me leaving. At the very least, I think this will be my home for at least six months of the year.
How’s your week been?
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
When did you start teaching water aerobics?
And how’s Glenn?
I started a week ago.
This is my second class! It’s a gentle workout, and you don’t really feel it while you’re doing it, but I’m surprised at how much I feel it the next day.
Glenn is out of range, so I probably won’t hear from him for a week or 10 days or so.
My week has been great. Especially today. My CP, Michelle Diener got The Call! She sold two historicals to Pocket Books. I’m so happy for her.
Your days sound wonderful. It sounds like this is the place of your heart.
Oh yes, Edie! Isn’t that AWESOME! I’m so excited for her!
I do love this place.
Edie, congrats to your CP!!
Natasha, it makes me so happy to hear how happy you are there. After so much struggling, it’s nice to see you enjoying what you worked so hard to achieve.
My week has been pretty good. I’m hoping to end it with good news, but we’ll see.
Oh wow, Melanie! Whatever it is, I totally have my fingers crossed for you! I’m dying to know!
Those are pretty snakes! Imagine them as boots, lol.
My week has been really good. The Universe supplied me with answers, and my monster chihuahua, Lola, is on the mend without having any surgery. YAY!
Kath! LOL!
That’s great about Lola! Phew! Big phew! Answers are always nice. I never get them from the Universe, just a blank stare. Annoying, that.
I’m so glad for you Natasha. It sounds like a place where your soul can find some richly deserved peace.
I definitely love it here, Rick!
I love the desert, but due to some medications I take, the head doesn’t love me any longer. Unless I really want to court heat exhaustion! But given my druthers I’ll buy a home in New Mexico for the winters when I retire. Or Arizona, but that would likely cost a lot more.
Sorry to hear about your itchiness to that plant. any idea what it was? But the hiking in the desert…I’m so jealous!
You must have grown up where there weren’t any snakes. Me, i grew up automatically looking before I stepped over logs or rocks on a trail so I didn’t get bitten by rattlers. We had quite a few in California in some spots when I was a kid. I like reptiles, but not as pets. they aren’t very cozy like a dog or cat.
New Mexico is nice. I’ve never been in Tucson in summer, but I’ve been in Las Vegas desert in summer, and even 120 didn’t bother me that much.
I have no idea! I’ll check, next time.
Yeah, there were garden snakes, but no dangerous snakes. This is definitely a new thing! Scorpions, spiders, snakes, gila monsters… yikes!
That sounds really nice. Are those snake colors real? Wow. That’s the worst camouflage I’ve ever seen. Unless they live in a crayola box.
My week has been filled with teenager torture. I’m tired and vaguely homicidal.
LOL, Robin! They think the red tail is to detract prey, so that if they chomp on the snake, they chomp on the tail instead of the head.
Ugh! That sounds rough!
Crazy busy here. AZ is a cool place. I went there a lot as a kid since my grandfolks lived there.
I feel that way about CO. I just love it so much, the people, getting around, the mountains, the stupid buildings…
Oh nice, Betsy! Glenn loves Colorado. Must try to get out there soon!
I’ve heard great things about that museum! Glad you’re loving AZ.
Anissa, I love it! Oh yes, you must go to the museum. Best museum I’ve ever been to in my life!
snakes feel so cool to the touch. Congrats on the story.
Charles, it wasn’t as scary as I thought!
My week has been like your day. It disappeared.
Sad flash story.Made me want to howl for the poor guy.
So has my week, actually. Ugh! I hate that!
Thanks. I was a little depressed, and I admit the worse I made it for him, but better I felt, LOL.
That museum sounds great. I bet my boys would love it. I’ve always lived in Arkansas, so if I ever move it will be somewhere with NO HUMIDITY and cooler summer temps.
“If I was a teacher and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was [sic] a student’s paper, I would give it an ‘incomplete.’ After all, how can one assess a project whose nature was irrevocably altered when the lead actor died? Whatever vision director Terry Gilliam had for this movie perished along with Heath Ledger. It’s to Gilliam’s credit that he was able to make something out of the mess left in the wake of the Oscar-winner’s untimely demise, but perhaps Gilliam would have been better off to simply let go. Perhaps he was haunted by the various disasters that beset his ill-fated attempt to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and didn’t want to lose another movie to fate, but The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus seems to be what it is: a movie assembled from diverse pieces that don’t quite match. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a patchwork quilt.”
http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1933
You’ve been busy. I recall getting to touch a large boa constrictor at the zoo. It turns out snakes don’t really feel like some primitive part of your brain seems to expect(i.e. cold and slimy) They are just warm and dry, and very muscular.