Sunday, April 13, 2014

April 13, 2014

NOT Church Rock, This formation is
between Tsaile and Window Rock

Thursday was the first time since I came back that, after school, I pulled out of the parking lot, turned the radio up to the point that the doors of the truck shook, and left.  All by myself....well, to be scrupulously honest... I had my walker.  I can get by with just the cane as long as the footing is good, and there is no wind, but 'no wind' isn't likely in this part of the country in April.  I didn't want to wind up  rolling along the desert like a chubby , white ball of cotton.  The phrase 'Tumbling Along With the Tumbling Tumble Weed', in my case, brings to mind more than a great Western song by the Sons of the Pioneers.


Monument Valley 
So, I pulled out to the main road, turned left and headed towards Kayenta.  Since I came back, I've gone into Chinle   many times and have felt pretty safe doing that.  I know that if anything happens, my cell phone works up there, and besides, if I had a problem,  sooner than later, someone who knows me will drive by.  The drive to Kayenta is another thing, though. It's a lot less travelled and even with my local phone, there are dead zones in coverage.  But, it's a very restful drive.  The rocks that are in that direction are just  gorgeous, with the striations of color , dark red to a paler off-white.  As you get closer to Monument Valley, they become even more striking, mystical even.  Just sitting there and looking at them calms me, and I do not know why.

As I got to the T-where you can turn left and go to Kayenta or turn right and head towards Shiprock, I , as always, have to stop and marvel at Church Rock.  No matter how many times I see it, depending on the light, it looks different.  I, most especially,  love it when the sun is setting .  With he rock jutting up against the blue sky,  the clouds behind it,  it never fails to take my breath away.  I pulled off the side of the road and sat, listening to the radio.  Queen was singing.  Queen?  In Kayenta?  Whatever....at least it wasn't that vanilla nonsense  that passes for country music today.  Deciding it was too late. by then, to drive up to Shiprock and see if my hairdresser was working, I started the truck, headed towards Kayenta and the Sonic.  An I-40 sized unsweet tea, and I'd head back.

I'm , definitely, not a hundred percent.  For one thing, my weight loss has slowed, and I''m at exactly the point where, at all times before, I have given  up.  I'm struggling because I know that I , this time, I simply cannot. Work environment is , quite simply, gaga.   However, all in all, I'm so much better.  Feeling grateful. Not to feel grateful would be just so wrong.