purple roses

Sitting in the United lounge now in Chicago. Gives me a chance to reflect on the weekend. I was happily home in Phoenix, home for my dose of sunshine and rock climbing and Mountain Man.

Yesterday I freshly blocked out my Lotus shawl to try to take pattern photos -- again.

You might remember that I took photos when I finished the shawl in Sedona in summer '11. But the desert vibe wasn't right. Then my sister and I took photos a second time when we were in Durham for Thanksgiving last year.  For some reason I felt like I needed another try.  I'll be finishing the pattern this week and now have a lot of photos to play with.

You can probably gather from my outfit that it's still warm and summery in Phoenix at the end of September.  Spectacularly pleasant mornings and evenings, just getting up to the mid-90s in the heat of the day. Our rosebush was blooming gloriously. I love these small purple roses. Love to tuck them behind my ears and trail their perfume.

And guess what else is in season there? Prickly pears.  We picked a bowl of little wild ones when we were out climbing in the desert.

Yum.

end of the summer

September now.  Swept in with such speed.

Last you heard I was still in Taos, but by now that was weeks ago.   We had just one final day there, including a splendid visit to Frana's alpaca farm ...

And then we were off, driving 600 miles from the high desert of New Mexico to the low desert of the Phoenix valley. We settled back into the intense heat, back into intense work.   Had ourselves one final adventure -- deep water soloing in a flooded canyon up near Winslow...

And then we were off, again, flying 2600 miles to the green, green hills of Vermont.  Had a few days of peace and family at the lake ...

And then we were off, again. But this time I didn't journey so many miles -- just down to Boston for a final semester of graduate school. A victory lap, as I've taken to calling it.

I do have knitting to show, but it'll have to wait for another day when I have time for another breather.