Pink Hijab Day

For Breast Cancer Survivors, Victims, Friends, Research

A man and his horse

So mom was dropping me off at my house today after running some errands together, and as we're getting ready to turn onto my street, we see an old black man riding an old black and white horse up the street. We stop and talk to him for awhile. He lives in Fountain and his horse is housed on Old Pueblo Road (south of Fountain). But he rides his old horse everywhere all over our little town. Every weekend he rides his horse up to his grandkids' house so they can see and play with the horse - that's what he was doing when he saw him. He said he also takes his horse to McDonald's and Walmart. How cool is that?

How to Supplicate

From Understanding the Month of Glory.

What is Du`a?

Dua is a simple acceptance of the difference between the existences of God and the human being.

-The existence of Allah as the source of all good, perfection, independence and bestowal.
-The existence of the human being as a vessel of poverty, need, dependant on constant bestowal and favor.

Thus the human being needs to ask for and receive the favors of the Almighty. He is in constant need for what only Allah can give Him. To help him achieve his dreams, to give him success and happiness in this world and the Hereafter, he needs the favors of Allah.

The Almighty God, in His mercy and love for the human being, has allowed believers to ask from Him, and has promised to answer them. This is a great favor of God. The following Qur'anic verses show how Allah invites believers to ask from Him:

* And when my servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the supplicant when he calls upon Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me, that they may walk the right way. (2:186)
* Call unto Me, I will answer you. Those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell. (40:60)
* Call your Lord humbly and secretly, He loves not the transgressors. (7:55)
* And call on Him, fearing and hoping, surely the mercy of Allah is near to those who do good. (7:56)

Many Hadith also emphasize the importance of supplicating to Allah:

* Du`a is the weapon of the believer, and the pillar of faith, and the light of the heavens and the earth. Holy Prophet (s)
* Know that He who owns the treasures of the skies and the earth has permitted you to pray to Him, and has promised you acceptance of the prayer. He has commanded you to beg of Him in order that He may give you, and to seek His mercy in order that He may have mercy on you.

He has opened for you the door of repentance. Therefore whenever you call Him, He hears your call, and whenever you whisper to Him, He knows the whisper. You place before him your needs, unveil before Him yourself, complain to Him for your worries, beseech Him to remove your troubles, seek His help in your affairs, and ask from the treasures of His mercy what no-one else has the power to give, namely long life, health of body, and increase of livelihood. Imam Ali (a) Letter 31, Nahjul Balagha

Allah loves the believers who ask from Him, and supplicate constantly. The Holy Prophet (s) has said that on the Day of Judgement, two men with very similar deeds will enter Heaven. One of them will see that the other is granted a rank above him. He will ask Allah: "My Lord! We have the same actions. Why have you preferred him over me"? Allah will reply, "He asked from Me, and you did not".

Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq (a) often encouraged his companions to ask from Allah. He once said to Maysar, his companion : O Maysar! Supplicate, and do not say the affair has been destined. Surely there are ranks with Allah which cannot be reached except through asking. If the servant (of Allah) closes his mouth and does not ask, he will not be given anything, so ask and you will get. O Maysar, the door that is knocked often is most likely to open.

Dua is a great tool given to believers by Allah. Using du`a they can achieve great things and overcome many problems. One who has been given the power of Dua can never lose hope, as in his hands lies a great weapon. It is man's own loss if he does not make use of the tremendous potential of Du`a.

Effects of Dua

1. Pleases the Almighty

Allah loves that believers should pray to Him constantly. He says in the Holy Qur'an: Allah would not care for you were it not for your supplications. (25:77).Ahadith also tell us of how Allah loves those who pray and ask from Him:
* God loves nothing better than that His servants ask from Him. Imam al-Baqir (a)
* Supplicate, for there is nothing like Dua to get you closer to Allah, and do not leave out your minor needs, for the One who is the Master of the major needs is also the Master of the minor ones. Imam as-Sadiq (a)
2. Gives Peace and Contentment

A person who prays to Allah, putting all faith and trust in Him, never feels alone or lonely. He has harnessed his own insignificant power onto a being who is the Supreme Power, and who has promised to answer His call. This gives him great peace of mind. It makes him confident that with the help of Allah, all things can be done. He knows also that whatever happens to him is the decree of the Wise, the almighty. Says the Holy Qur'an: Those who believe and whose hearts are set at rest by the remembrance of Allah, surely by Allah's remembrance are hearts set at rest. ( 13:28)
3. Increases Knowledge and Humility

Most duas teach us about the greatness of Allah, and His qualities. They also make us aware of our lowly position and our helplessness. That is why Allah says: Call unto Me, I will answer you. Those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell. (40:60) Those who do not ask from Allah are described as the proud ones. Believers are encouraged to pray all the time, and for all things - even those which seem minor. Allah once told Nabi Musa (a), O Musa! Ask Me for everything, even the mending of your shoelace. When a human being realizes that he is in constant need of the favors of Allah, this will prevent him from becoming proud and arrogant. It reminds him of his own neediness and poverty.
4. Changes what is destined

Du`a reverts what has been destined. Although Allah decrees all things, He has given us the ability to make changes through Dua. The Holy Prophet (s) has said: What is destined cannot be averted except through Dua. Another Hadith says: Indeed caution cannot save you from what is destined, but what can save you from it is Dua. Imam `Ali(a)
5. Averts Difficulties

Many problems and difficulties in life can be avoided by praying to Allah. He is in complete control, and can keep away all afflictions from those who ask Him for that. The following Ahadith explain the importance of Dua for avoiding difficulties: Whoever fears difficulties should supplicate, Allah will never let the difficulties come to him. Imam as-Sadiq (a) Surely Dua meets the difficulties, and the two join together until the Day of Judgement. Imam al-Kadhim (a)

Etiquette of Du`a

As we spend more and more time reciting Duas during the holy months of Rajab, Sha`baan, and Ramadhan, it is necessary to know the correct etiquette of Dua. Supplicating to the Almighty should be done in the appropriate manner - in the manner that Allah loves - in order to benefit fully from it. The following are some of the Etiquette of Dua according to Hadith.

Begin with Bismillah: A Hadith of the Holy Prophet (s) says: No dua which has Basmalah (saying of Bismillahir Rahmaneer Raheem) at the beginning of it is rejected. A dua should begin in the name of Allah, putting all trust and hope in Him alone. Describing Him as Kind and Merciful creates confidence that the dua will not be rejected.

Send Blessings on Muhammad and his family: A Hadith of the 6th Imam (a) says: Whoever has a wish he wants Allah to fulfill, let him begin with blessings on Muhammad and his family, then let him ask his wish, and end by sending blessings on Muhammad and his family. Allah is nobler than to accept the first and the last (the blessings) and reject the middle. Salawat is a dua for the Holy Prophet (s) and his family. Whoever includes that dua is assured of the acceptance of his dua for himself.

Praise and Glorify Allah: Every Dua should begin with the praise of Allah, the recognition that He alone has the Power and Might over everything. A supplicant increases in his humility as he acknowledges the greatness of the Almighty. He realizes that everything is in the control of God, and if He wishes, the dua can be accepted and answered immediately.

Acknowledgement of Sins: When supplicating to Allah, one should be aware of and confess that one is a sinner, undeserving of the favor of Allah. Humility and apprehensiveness are commendable qualities in the one who supplicates.

Pray emotionally: Allah says in Hadithe Qudsi to Nabi Isa (a): O Isa! When you ask from me, supplicate to me the supplication of the grief stricken, the overwhelmed, the one who has no helper . . . and do not supplicate to Me except in an emotional state. Your grief should be only one. Whenever you pray to Me in such a way, I shall answer you. A soft heart and tears are the best weapons of a human being in his quest to achieve nearness to Allah. When one prays emotionally, the Dua is very sincere and acceptance is assured.

Pray for others: Whoever prays for others pleases the Almighty greatly. A Hadith of Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a) says: Nothing is more swiftly answered than a Dua recited for others. According to the Holy Prophet(s), the Dua of a believer for other believers is returned to him as many times as the number of believing men and women from the beginning of creation to the Day of Judgement.

Have confidence that Allah will answer your prayers : When praying, the supplicant must have trust that Allah will answer his prayers. A Hadith says, Whenever you recite Dua, assume that what you need is at the door.

Du`a is always answered

Whoever asks something from Allah, his du`a is always heard and answered. Sometimes it is not answered in the way the supplicant expects. No du`a is rejected. Allah is more noble than to tell His servants to ask from Him, and then reject their du`a. Many Ahadith tell us of how Allah always answers the supplicant, and is pleased with Him. A believer who prays and asks from Allah, is guaranteed one of three things:

* Either his du`a is answered immediately
* Or he is given a reward for it for the Hereafter
* Or a difficulty is averted from him

During the month of Ramadhan, believers try and spend as much time in du`a as possible. This is the month in which du`a carries even greater reward than usual, a month in which the mercy of Allah guarantees immediate acceptance of du`a.

Which Candidate Do You Really Prefer?

Take Harvard's Project Implicit Test to find out!

Steve Fossett

I'm sure most have heard by now that Steve Fossett's plane has been found. I think missing persons cases are one of the greatest tragedies anyone left behind has to endure. The mystery and incompleteness of the ending is torturous. An acquaintance of mine had to suffer through her mom being missing for a few months. Eventually they found her and her car in the bottom of a pond or lake. A very sad end, but by the time it came it was also a relief, just to have some idea of what happened and have her found.

The Steve Fossett case was a big deal because he was a daredevil, a bit of a celebrity. I actually participated in the search for him, looking at hundreds of satellite images for his plane using Amazon's Mechanical Turk. It was fascinating work - see some of the sightings people made. I suspected we would not be looking for an intact plane, but rather anything that could be wreckage. I believe the search did turn up a number of previously unlogged small plane wrecks - I wonder how many of those involved other less publicized missing persons cases? It was a case of random people all over the world coming together to do something needed. That doesn't happen too often, it seems. What if people did that for just anyone, not just a famous person?

Dolphins making and playing with ring bubbles

This is sooooo neat!



A little more information about it is at Snopes.

Horsethief Falls

Thanks to some friends, I got out in nature today to Horsethief Falls.

We were visited by a gray jay, known as a Camp Robber. I tried to get a picture but it kept moving too much. Beautiful song, and it was definitely curious about us. This is what it looks like:

Rain!

We had rain this evening, alhumdooleluh! As a dry state, when rain comes our way we are joyous for the blessing - even with flash floods. :) What a sign of God rain is.

I guess our rain broke a record nearly 100 years old: story here

RMA conference

Dreams

If you've read my blog in the past, you might recall that I had made some posts about recurring places in my dreams.

Lately I've been reading a book that made me think about dreams again. One thing this author (Robert Moss, if I recall) says that I am pondering is that the places in your dreams are as real as this place, just a lot more fluid and possibly much easier for us to control/manipulate. In Islam, we learn that this world is really not the "real" world, but illusory - it is what our senses tell us is there, but ultimately our brain chemistry acts much in the same way to images in this world as it does to dream or "imaginary" images. This is one reason why people can heal themselves sometimes through dreaming or imagination, because the body and brain can respond to these "made up" visions the same way it does to sensory input from this world.

So it seems to be that the dream world or imaginary world is as real as you decide to treat it. If you decide to regard it as real, then you can interact with it as if it were and get results much more "real" than you might otherwise, such as the healing, etc.

Well for about a week, every time I wake up I've asked myself what I just dreamed. Sometimes it takes me a moment or several to realize I was dreaming at all because it was so real or so gone already, but other times the dream itself wakes me up and I remember it quickly. I turn on the bed light, write a few notes about the dream, and then go back to sleep. As I write the notes, I have discovered, I think, that every single dream is in a recurring place. Previously I had thought only certain dreams of mine were in recurring places. As I think about the dream, I realize that although maybe I wasn't in that exact same place, it is connected to it, or it is the same place but slightly modified. So I am concluding that perhaps there is some entire universe-reality in my dreams of actual places that I can see and describe, sometimes I could map them, and sometimes change at will, and I keep dreaming in that universe, the same places, every time, my whole life. It is a big place - so I can go somewhere I've never been before in my dream but realize how it is connected to other places I have been - just like someone can go to, say, Pueblo, in real life for the first time, so it is unfamiliar, but he or she has a sense of how it is connected to Colorado Springs, Denver, Chicago, or whatever.

Perhaps that lends credence to the idea of its reality, just maybe not as collective as one as this one? It makes dreams seem much more important and powerful, a whole other life, one in which we have a lot more direct manipulative power. Yet one connected to this reality, our brain working out things, who knows all what - so that sometimes we can do things in our dreams that can affect us here, like healing, or we can pay attention to dreams and learn something about what is going on in our psyches, perhaps.

Some people in all religious backgrounds have claimed to be able to travel in this reality in their dreams, and to meet people who had lived before or are in other places, etc. Maybe they really can! Maybe we really can! Anyone want to try to meet up with me in dreams? :) I had one experience like this I can particularly remember in which I woke feeling I had really been to this basement room in the Haram in Mecca that I had passed through once briefly when I had gone for hajj. It was really peaceful; but I don't think I commonly experience that - but maybe people can train themselves to do so.

And then there are the occasional precognitive dreams. It is suggested that these dreams are just tapping into something that is 'in the wind' in our psyches before it has happened in this reality, but time is much more fluid in the dream world. I don't know that I've ever had a precognitive dream; I wonder if any reader has?

Anyway, I'm still thinking about a lot, such as some other ideas I read about - that we can have guides - sometimes human or animal or whatever in our dreams. I've noticed lots of cats and dogs in my dreams, more than I expected. Last week I saw Scooter, a cat that my brother's family had but they quit taking care of it (! lots of sadness, anger, .....), it became a neighborhood cat and a few weeks ago it disappeared. In my dream he was on a neighbor's roof in pouring rain. He came when I called him and he was terribly skinny and that's what woke me, and I remember thinking, "This is Dreamworld, you don't have to be skinny if you don't want to be" and I think he got the message, he seemed okay and I lost contact with him then, and I also felt his appearance was meant to alert me to something, like a message for me, but I am not quite sure I figured that out.

Another idea I'm still thinking about is the idea of problem solving in dreams. I think we've all experienced it to some extent, when you are thinking of some problem, sleep and wake up with an answer or solution. Apparently in history some people used this as a major source of their problem solving and creative work. Robert Louis Stevenson claimed the vast majority of all of his stories were written by creatures he called "brownies" in his dreams. A lot of physicists had scientific breakthroughs in dreams - and I did study physics after all, didn't I? :)

I've also noticed a lot of these dreams I've had, 'I' am not necessarily in them - sometimes I am more of an observer, or 'I' am there but not really, like I am playing a character that is kind of me but that I am not really that attached to, like I am not "in" that person so much. That has surprised me, too. But we'll see what happens if I keep paying attention to the dreams.

The Lady of Shalott (by Tennyson)

On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And through the field the road run by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Through the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four grey walls, and four grey towers,
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.

By the margin, willow veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early,
In among the bearded barley
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly;
Down to tower'd Camelot;
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers, " 'Tis the fairy
The Lady of Shalott."

There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.

And moving through a mirror clear
That hangs before her all the year,
Shadows of the world appear.
There she sees the highway near
Winding down to Camelot;
There the river eddy whirls,
And there the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls
Pass onward from Shalott.

Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad
Goes by to tower'd Camelot;
And sometimes through the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two.
She hath no loyal Knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.

But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often through the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, went to Camelot;
Or when the Moon was overhead,
Came two young lovers lately wed.
"I am half sick of shadows," said
The Lady of Shalott.

A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flamed upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.

The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down to Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armor rung
Beside remote Shalott.

All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down to Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, burning bright,
Moves over still Shalott.

His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down to Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flashed into the crystal mirror,
"Tirra lirra," by the river
Sang Sir Lancelot.

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces through the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.

In the stormy east-wind straining,
The pale yellow woods were waning,
The broad stream in his banks complaining.
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot;
Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And around about the prow she wrote
The Lady of Shalott.

And down the river's dim expanse
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance --
With a glassy countenance
Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
The Lady of Shalott.

Lying, robed in snowy white
That loosely flew to left and right --
The leaves upon her falling light --
Thro' the noises of the night,
She floated down to Camelot:
And as the boat-head wound along
The willowy hills and fields among,
They heard her singing her last song,
The Lady of Shalott.

Heard a carol, mournful, holy,
Chanted loudly, chanted lowly,
Till her blood was frozen slowly,
And her eyes were darkened wholly,
Turn'd to tower'd Camelot.
For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott.

Under tower and balcony,
By garden-wall and gallery,
A gleaming shape she floated by,
Dead-pale between the houses high,
Silent into Camelot.
Out upon the wharfs they came,
Knight and Burgher, Lord and Dame,
And around the prow they read her name,
The Lady of Shalott.

Who is this? And what is here?
And in the lighted palace near
Died the sound of royal cheer;
And they crossed themselves for fear,
All the Knights at Camelot;
But Lancelot mused a little space
He said, "She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott."

Sewing 301

Red Rock Open Space

This is Red Rock Open Space off highway 24 near Manitou and Garden of the Gods, with fellow teachers Jenny and Eric and Jen's dog Baloo.

Upper Columbine Trail

Mt. Cutler was closed for maintenance - but we found other trails in the area. Thanks for coming down Carol - and sharing zucchini! We intensely examined and pondered tree sap, listened to the wind, talked about Sherman Alexie novels, Alzheimer's and lots of other things. I guess I talked her ear off. Then she drove home to a wildfire, which had also been a topic of conversation....

Neighbor

Mom and I were walking the dogs and the little old hispanic lady across the street by the track compelled us to visit her on her shady porch because her family was out. She is 83 and lost her husband of 62 years this spring. She cried about it and went on telling us about various things in her life, often looking far into the distance with her memories while repeatedly forgetting our names and losing track of the conversation. I thought of my own grandmother down in Florence in the Veteran's home, silently comparing how well the two women of the same age were in terms of health and memory.

My neighbor never drove, so she walks to the store, although her son and other family that live with her or visit her disapprove, she said, worrying about her safety. Often her house is overrun with people and cars - she has 18 great-grandchildren. But at the moment she was alone. She said it gave her a chance to clean up the house and went on about a particularly messy room used by a grandson.

Today she was upset that she didn't have a cold drink to offer us, she said; Someone in her family was supposed to bring her some soda but they hadn't, and she was clearly disappointed or distressed. After awhile we left,having to excuse ourselves, as she would talk as long as we would sit and we were always eager to go on back to our homes.

And I went to my house across the street and contemplated if I should bring her a soda. I wanted one myself after being out in the heat, and I knew she must be sitting there wanting one, too. How terrible that I was contemplating it and not just doing it without a second thought. But here I was, thinking things like if it would upset her son who lives with her but wasn't home at the time, or if she has some medical problem that a soda would exacerbate, like the lady in Chocolat, or if I would make her feel bad by bringing it over.

But finally I went to my fridge, found I had two sodas left, and I got them both out, put one on my counter and took the other, went out my front door and across the street to give it to her. She came down to the fence to meet me. I gave her the soda and fresh tears came to her eyes.

"I was just sitting there praying to God for someone to give me a cold soda!"

I thought that was a funny prayer, and then followed that thought, "Well, why not pray to God for a cold soda?", but I just said, "Well,there you go, then," wondering if I was really the answer to a prayer for cold soda and still feeling pretty stupid about the whole thing. But her tears had taken me aback, made me uncomfortable that I did it and uncomfortable that I almost didn't.

Devil's Head Lookout

So today I met some IES friends at Devil's Head Lookout on Rampart Range Rd. for a hike. For the drive up, I went through Deckers and the remnants of the Hayman fire and it took about 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours. The hike took maybe two hours, and then for the drive home I stayed on Rampart Range Rd. down to Woodland Park - dirt all the way but I got home in about two hours.



After a 1.4 mile hike up, you go up these stairs to get to the lookout tower. A ranger is stationed there to look for forest fires.



Here is one view from the tower. There were some turkey vultures flying around, so if something looks like a bug, it is probably one of the vultures. Oh and you can buy a t-shirt from the ranger to prove you were in the tower, if you want. :) He also gives out these little cards to everyone that goes up there to prove you were there. And you can sign a log book. Some of the kids were busy signing it and I wanted to head down since I didn't know what to expect for the drive back down the dirt Rampart Range Rd.

I recommend the hike, but it does require some fitness to get to the top. Fast and easy down. I thought my niece and nephew were going to go with me, but they ended up having a birthday thing today. It was a long drive without company but I didn't really mind except briefly in the middle of Rampart Range Rd. when I hadn't seen another soul/car for many miles and a fair chunk of time. :) No one would know where to look for me. Did you ever read that Richard Bachman (Steven King) story about the roads that cut through time?

I would like to hike more but I need a partner; my mom would worry too much if I did it alone very much. So let me know if you want to go hiking sometime. I'm not going back to working Saturdays this fall - I am arranging to try to pick up near the same hours during the week after my regular work day - so Saturdays would be great!



Saw the moose at the Cheyenne Mt. Zoo yesterday.

South Dakota trip

On Wednesday we left by 7:30 am and headed out via Limon to Brush to I-76 into Nebraska. In Nebraska we took I-80 to Grand Island (neither Grand nor an Island) to Columbus up to Yankton, SD where my nephew's ball tournament was taking place. We stayed in Vermillion, SD. As we passed into Nebraska, the scenery changed to be greener, flatter and more humid. Nebraska along I-80 seems to be pretty much nothing but corn fields with occasional little ponds and villages of a few hundred people. Grand Island is the third largest 'city'at about 40,000 people, but it feels and looks small. It is kind of spread out and flat and reminded me of Oklahoma that I've visited before. Nothing exciting going on there that we could see.

Passing into South Dakota, the land became more rolling, which was welcome. But Vermillion and Yankton might as well be Nebraska or Iowa. They are very close to both - just a few minutes' drive, and maybe an hour's drive to Minnesota. We didn't have time to step into Iowa or Minnesota, but I would've liked to just to say I've been in those states. It was very humid in Vermillion/Yankton. How can anyone from Colorado stand humidity? Or any human, for that matter? The air smells moldy, it feels thick, it blocks the sky and steals its color, and it just oppresses. I know the benefits of wetter climates, I just don't want to live in one.

The boys managed to catch a bunch of frogs by the motel and put a bunch of them in a motel bathtub and we got rained on a very hard, male rain that first night in town. It was hard to find things for the boys to do between practices and games, including the fact that the team coaches and parents did not have the planning personality I have - they were more last-minute, seat-of-the-pants people than I am. I would've made itineraries and travel maps and directions, etc., were I in charge. I can try to go with the flow, I just like to have an idea of where the flow is going - even just a stated expectation that this is how we're going to do things - at the last minute - as opposed to just not knowing. Also, no surprise to me, but I learned I'm really not much of a social creature. I was an observer on the trip, observing people and places, interacting a bit here and there. Listening to some people talk, I couldn't figure out why they were talking most of the time. Or rather, it seemed they were talking for some psychological need that had little to nothing to do with what they were saying.

Vermillion is a college town, so they did have some fast food places but not much in the way of family entertainment we could find. One motel had a tiny miniature golf course the boys went to one day. And the town had had very nice ball fields. Unfortunately, the team lost its first two games in the tournament, but the nice thing about that was we could head home a day early. We headed north to Sioux Falls, population about 125,000 - the first "city" we'd seen in days, but it felt smaller, more like on par with Grand Island. As soon as we got a bit away from Nebraska, South Dakota abandoned cornfields for beautiful, less humid, rolling green and gold hills of hay and winter wheat and other green stuff - but not corn. The I-90 drive west was very pleasant. We crossed the Missouri, encountered no cities or traffic, but the occasional small town, many desperate or optimistic tourist traps with a million billboard signs, and many miles of road construction requiring the speed to drop 10 or 20 mph even though no labor seemed to be actually being done. But this was very pleasant driving - cruise control actually very useful and usable. We made a detour through the Badlands.



They reminded me distinctly of the paint mines out near Calhan, just bigger and not as colorful. It also reminded a bit of lands we've seen in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico (or even Colorado) - but again, not as grand or colorful. So I'm glad it is a National Park but it isn't bigger or better than what I've known or seen before. We stopped at Wall, SD for lunch and then went on to Mount Rushmore. Two great things Presidents of the US have done - Teddy and the National Parks, and Dwight and the highway system.



It was smaller than expected and really a 10-20 minute stop is all it takes (and $10 if you actually stop - but a drive-by really should be sufficient if you just want to see it). But I'm glad I've seen it so now I don't have to wonder if I'm missing anything by not seeing it. We passed through Custer and other small towns in the Black Hills that reminded me of Manitou or Cripple Creek - existing primarily for tourists. It seems much of I-90 and the Mount Rushmore exist primarily for tourism. We only skirted Rapid City, population 65,000 or so according to Wikipedia. But the area over all feels more developed than Sioux Falls, which exists kind of as an island in a sea of nothingness, while the whole area around Rapid City has a bit more going on. Custer had an alpine slide I would've liked to ride given time - it brought back memories of the one the Broadmoor used to have that I got to ride once as a kid. But the whole area felt very touristy - most of the things were kind of how we think of Seven Falls or Cave of the Winds - yes, you might want to see it once in your life, but it is overpriced and kind of made up for tourists and not as grand as someone from somewhere else might think before getting there.

Then we headed into Wyoming - still a very very empty state, least populated in the nation. The scenery changed from rolling hills to brush, with the sagey stuff we know and love but not the yucca. We drove 80 miles between any services or even towns. Places qualified as towns by some strange system - like Lost Springs, population 1 - yet having a bar. Several miles of nothing, then Shawnee, town of four buildings - two abandoned. We drove half the north-south breadth of the state before encountering a real town, Wheatland, population 3600 and the first place that had anything with a name you could recognize - like a fast food restaurant or chain motel. Well, I forgot Lusk, the first town from Newcastle by the SD border for 80 miles that we passed. It had about 1200 people and felt right out of another time. It had a main street that reminded me of places like Silverton or Fairplay, but not in the mountains obviously - so maybe like Rocky Ford - except Rocky Ford is closer to other places like Rocky Ford, where Lusk is more isolated. Even the one grocery store for a 100 miles was mom-and-pop - the only thing with a "name brand" we saw as we passed through the town was a True Value hardware store - but also named after the owner like True Value's are - Davis's True Value, or whatever. I didn't grow up in a small isolated town so they feel strange to me. And those really isolated ones make me think of the vulnerability of humanity that can be disguised and forgotten in cities because you can get something, almost anything you want, somewhere within a short drive - even though that could all change in an instant.

An hour or so from Wheatland into Cheyenne and then the scenery changed again to much more populated and it was time to turn off the cruise control the rest of the way home. The whole corridor from Cheyenne to home just has so many more people and buildings and traffic - it feels completely different.

Seeing the night skyline of Denver was almost shocking to the senses after such an endless expanse of tiny places, fields, open space. It made me think that the urban sprawl we grow more accustomed to every year as it gets bigger here is wholly unnatural and rare. And mostly unsustainable. There is something natural about cities - people do come together, but they are not meant to be everywhere and cannot survive everywhere and so cities have to balanced against isolation and open space. Empty road belongs and everyone should see it. Someday all may return to it.

The road trip also helps remind one of what matters or what doesn't. Because you notice what you miss and what you don't miss. You remember you don't need most of the material things and habits of time and behavior you have back home but not with you on the trip - and could be just fine with a lot less.

I learned I don't like dirty motels where you can see stains on your bedding. But I do like driving through scenery I haven't yet seen - particularly the West, or open spaces. And I realized that although I want to see the places I haven't seen, no place feels like home. I reinforced my general discord with the humidity and pointlessness (except for feeding the country) of Nebraska. I did, however, like the rolling hills of mid-SD and even its Black Hills kind of like Black Forest or Palmer Lake. I could survive there. Wyoming actually felt too empty to me to want to stay there, too lacking in diversity and culture. I mean, if you are in the empty expanse of Navajo Country that I love, there is still a soul to it, a diversity, a root. What makes us feel rooted? People - family - yes, but also seems to be something else - something about the very land and air themselves.

One thing I was disappointed about SD - we could be just minutes from a reservation but all to see was a sea of white people, if any people. I see a problem there. If people are living right next to each other but not mixing, something wrong is going on, something unequal - at least it seems so to me. I could see that people might choose not to want to mix in that world of whites which seems so artificial - the million billboard signs for Wall Drugs and 1880 town and other things to take your money for pointless trinkets. But I don't think that's the full picture of what's going on there. Another thing I didn't like - most corner stores, gas stations, etc., have 'casinos' in them - slot machines as far as I could tell. Not glitzy and shiny like the Reno Airport, but dirty, depressing machines. Either way, a sign of sickness. And an oddity - super unleaded gas was cheaper than regular unleaded by a dime. Here's why, according to the 'net:

The 'Super Unleaded' gas sold at South Dakota stations contains 10% ethanol. Regular unleaded does not contain any ethanol. The super unleaded has a higher octane level, but since ethanol has a lower tax rate and is government subsidized, the price is lower. Even though you get a slightly lower gas mileage with the ethanol blend...it supports the local farm economy!

I would like to go on other road trips someday if I can afford it. I would like to drive up into Montana and over Idaho into Washington, down into Oregon and maybe back through Utah or Nevada. I would love to go back to Four Corners - one my favorite places in the world - and wander around there more, as well. I'd like to take my brother's kids to see Yellowstone.

Nice book

I've been looking for this book in print for some time. I haven't found it, but I did find a nice digital version that looks just like the printed one.


The Tasbih of Fatima Zahra (as)

It is brief but lovely.

I've been quite busy with my brother's kids. I watched them for 10 days while my brother and sister-in-law were away and now they still want to play with me. We've been playing tennis and video games and just hanging out and going different places. Today we are supposed to play volleyball. My nephew's baseball team won state for his age group and so next week we are insha'allah going to South Dakota for a regional tournament.

Big Frog!

My brother's kids and I were doing some caching today and saw this huge frog about 5 miles from my house in a wetland Nature Center area. Frogs are not something we're used to seeing and we've never seen a big one like this. We heard it first, a deep throaty croak that I could actually feel vibrate in the ground/air.



This frog is maybe 1/4 the size of the other one and was sitting about 2-3 feet from the big one.





My asian lilies are starting to bloom. :)

rattlesnake!

I went hiking in Cheyenne Mountain State Park today with a friend and she startled a rattlesnake and it looked pretty much just like this, but maybe a bit longer. It rattled its tail. So we had our little adventure for the day!