Ostomy Memories of Abbey on Arches

BETTER TO DIE IN JEANS, I thought as I labored up the long hill, than in one of those hospital gowns. I had missed a couple of days of my normal walk routine. I was feeling it. The day before had been a bad day. I had a screw loose. In an oral implant, that is. It had to be fixed, which was disturbingly more complicated, apparently, than twisting a loosened light bulb. More stressful and more immediate than the daily national news.
My habit, following a bad experience, is to open a favorite book at random and start reading, often by just thumbing through it and looking for passages that I had underlined on original reading. With dozens of prospects on the shelf, I pulled Edward Abbey’s classic DESERT SOLITAIRE.
Abbey, who died in 1989, was a western icon. A cantankerous and curmudgeonly loner, he was early on a seasonal ranger at Arches National Monument, before it became a Park in 1971. He described it simply in the opening sentence of his book: “This is the most beautiful place on earth.” One cannot visit Arches without understanding his enthusiasm. It is over 76,000 acres of high desert on the Colorado Plateau, home to over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, as well as dozens of other vertical stone wonders. It breaks my heart that I’ve only been there twice.
Here’s a sample of what drew him to Arches:
“I like my job. The pay is generous; I might even say munificent: $1.95 per hour, earned or not, backed solidly by the world’s most powerful Air Force, biggest national debt, and grossest national product. The fringe benefits are priceless: clean air to breath (after the spring sandstorms); stillness, solitude, and space; an unobstructed view every day and every night of sun, sky, stars, clouds, mountains, moon, cliffrock and canyons; a sense of time enough to let thought and feeling range from here to the end of the world and back; the discovery of something intimate – though impossible to name – in the remote.”
I suppose it says something about me that I am cheered by the writing of a world-class misanthrope.

Henry , funny as that is on my second bucket life in life !

My bucket list of a second chance .                                              August 2019

Ride on a dogsled ........... Hike thru the arches along the Colorado plateau.......      See A polar bear in the wild .......  Sleep under the stars on a hammock..... 

Ride on a Trike ( drive it ) .... .. Sit under the calm of a waterfall ...... Take a leap of faith with a man ......  Hear and see the birds of CostaRica ........  

Laugh so hard my gut and jaw hurts ......  

Ritz, I cannot imagine a better, more meaningful, list than yours. 

Thankyou Henry ....I'm still adding to  it,as I AM going to have much longevity and happiness during this life . I promised myself that and I never break a promise ...never.

Hello HenryM.

Thanks for the introduction to what sounds like an idyllic place. I have Google it to have a look around in photographic and written mode but no doubt this would be nothing like the real thing. 

My own preference is for greenery, mosses and rain forests but I can still appreciate the great outdoors wherever it is and whatever it has to offer. 

Best wishes

Bill

Hi Bill,  I was thinking as I was reading Henry's post, how true it is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Not that the area Henry describes doesn't sound stunning, but I, like you would imagine quite a different "most beautiful place in the world".  Mine would include evergreens, but also the ocean in all its wild glory and majestic mountains in the distance.

All the best,

Terry

Hello Delgrl525.

Your image sounds like vast areas of New Zealand, which is one of my favourite places alongside Canada.

There are many other places I like - but the 'animals' don't speak English!! 

Best wishes

Bill 

Hi Bill,  That is interesting.  I've never been to New Zealand but many I've spoken to who have, have said it reminds them of B.C. where I live.  Lots of pictures I've seen of areas of New Zealand confirm that.  I've often thought it sounded like the perfect place to live.  Not only do the 'animals' speak English, but the only 'animals' that can kill you are of the human variety!

Cheers,

Terry