Sometimes I get this urge to record the little things that define my relationship with my husband. You know, the things that really show who you are but that you never really write about. Like how Samuel and I spend approximately 9.376% of our time speaking really bad Mexikish. And how we regularly use made up words like "skinnify," "Mexikish," and "rastafarious" (which means very, very, very stinky. Like raisin diapers.) These things are important to write down just in case one of us dies. So that, for example, Samuel doesn't forget me when he gets remarried to a woman that is actually good enough for him.
Today's defining installment:
Desert Beauty vs.
"Desert Beauty" the Misnomer
Desert Beauty vs.
"Desert Beauty" the Misnomer
Argument 1: The desert is beautiful. It is not the same as the ocean or the forest, but it has it's own kind of beauty.
Argument 2: Only things with GREEN are beautiful. For example, Maryland is beautiful because there is so much GREENery. Christmas is beautiful because it's colors are red and GREEN. I am beautiful because my eyes are GREEN. Leprechauns are beautiful because they wear GREEN. See where I'm going here? The desert is the fulfillment of "opposition in all things". For Maryland to be beautiful, there must be some place that is not beautiful. And there is. The desert.
Guess which argument is Sam's and which is mine ... go ahead. Guess. See, I'm brave posting this knowing that so many of you live in and love Arizona. One of my talents is very brave candor.
And then Sam cheats by finding things like this and telling me that there is green:
CHEATER.
ps. you know that I dramatize pretty much everything, right? I mean, you didn't take me 100% seriously, did you? You didn't get offended, right? I mean, what I think really is what I think ... but I did dramatize just a bit for entertainment purposes. But you already know that you should take everything I say with a grain of salt. Right? (Unless I tell you otherwise using words like, "truth", "exactly", and "seriously." Those stories I make Sam verify for accuracy. Seriously.)
14 comments:
So I pretty much agree with your side. The majority of the desert is not beautiful, though there are a few random spots of beauty which you mostly see only in pictures (like Sam has found). Little beauty, mostly blah. Sorry Arizona-ites. :)
You're so funny Janae. I have to say, I agree completely 100% with you- there is nothing about the desert, unless you consider the creatures that live in the desert, ex. horny toads, snakes, scorpions and lizards, to be beautiful. My mom grew up in the Arizona, just outside of Tuscon, near Tombstone, and she hated the desert so much, she escaped it the first chance she had when she was 18 and moved to Longbeach. She never liked to take us back to Arizona to visit our family unless she knew the temperature was mild there- so basically only during the winter. Even then, I remember thinking the place was so barren and ugly. Sure I bet Arizona was ONCE beautiful, I remember once visiting a place in Northern Arizona called the Petrified Forest, or something along those lines, so at one point, a long, long time ago there were beautiful lush green trees there where the desert now stands, but lets remember, those trees have been petrified for a long, long, time. It's a good thing there's people out there who love the heat and scorched desert dry sand, otherwise lush places like Washington State or Oregon and yes, even the communities along the coast of California would be TOO overpopulated and we'd have no where to grow. I've got a good point to make though, I bet you 90% of the people who live in desert places like Arizona and Nevada (particularly around Las Vegas near DEATH VALLEY- it was given that name for a reason) would be absolutely MISERABLE if they didn't have pools and sprinkling systems to water their lawns.
Janae, you are very entertaining. I enjoy your blog posts immensely.
I completely understand, Janae. I think if I actually took offense to half the things you said that could have been taken wrong, our friendship probably would have been nonexistent a long time ago. Seriously, (there's that word) that's part of what makes you, you and I love it. I know I can be brutally blunt with you and tell you all of the horrible things that I do or think about that most people would gasp at and decide right there and then never to speak to me again, but since you are just as blunt with me, I can tell you just about anything. And if I'm being dumb or a jerk, you'll actually TELL me, instead of sugar coating it and then talking about how bad I am behind my back. I love that about you. Don't change, you're great just the way you are.
ps how do you customize your blog header...I can't find how to anywhere!
Ok, Sam, those pictures don't prove A THING! There is no true green in the desert. It's more like "lime" or "yellow-green". If you want to see true green, you must leave the desert. I'm with you on this one, Janae! :-)
I'm with Arg 1 (Sam?). The desert is beautiful. I love Lake Powell, Arches, Bryce, etc... I love Los Alamos, New Mexico and its surrounding areas. It is amazing to watch the sun sink right into the desert horizon... wow.
That's not to say I don't like green things or there isn't a lot of ugly desert.
Prepare to hear the wrath of my sister Alyn... she practically worships the sonoran desert. I have to admit I am not a desert fan but I am hugely loyal to AZ. Yes I realize this is a problem. Overall the desert is a pretty hot, brown, prickly place... but sometimes when it's monsoon season or sunset you can't imagine a more beautiful place. No place has better sunsets than Arizona... not even Hawaii. Thanks to all that dust in the air. Don't worry I'm not offended just amused... I'm glad Sam is defending his home state. So you're not moving to Winslow any time soon?
Ok, so I think the desert is SO ugly... besides that, I was truly offended by what you were babbling about... :)
And the tail bone, happened while Debbie was in Europe and it has been the worst thing I have ever had happen. Donuts have not seemed to help. Oh well!
Debbie says, "Everyones grass in our neighborhood is dead (dormant)and ours is still pretty green. That's pretty!"
No wrath here...
It just takes more sophistication and subtlety to appreciate desert beauty! And it's not in a stucco strip mall.
Any old place can be green, given enough rain. All you that love green: please remember the ticks, chiggers, poison ivy, spiders, and bugs that flourish in the moisture. In Arizona, you can actually sit on a spot of grass without fear. And you don't have to worry about funky smelling towels or leaving your crackers open.
My eyes are used to the green after 9 years. But I want to move back west anyhow, just to live someplace with more than 2% LDS.
Isaiah 35:1-2, 6-8, 10. Thank you, Isaiah.
Living down here in the desert for a little over a year has made me appreciate the beauty the desert can offer. I miss the Northwest so much, and most of it is because of the beauty. But the desert really can be beautiful. It's starting to really grow on me. Funny how that happens.
The thing I do not enjoy about the desert is living there. We lived with James' parents for two months and I don't think my feet were ever clean from the constant dust everywhere! I do think that it has its own kind of beauty. The most beautiful part of Arizona is the always blue sky. James loves going home to the southwest and seeing the landscape and the sky.
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