Apache Trail at Sunset

Thursday, March 21st

After a morning of continuing to process details of our ongoing project, we drove to my appointment with the surgeon...yes it's been another four weeks since I last saw him. He still refers to the "concrete" in my ankle and prescribed another four weeks of PT. The good news was that, since it's been over three months since the surgery on my mangled ankle and since I am walking well, I can now take walks! He would prefer that I walk on a track or a neighborhood sidewalk but did agree to hikes, on flat terrain only, while gradually increasing my strength. He recommended some specific stretches that Rich will be building a slant board and step for me to use to force more range of motion and reminded me that it will be about a year before we can determine the extent of permanent damage.

This evening we loaded the girls in the car and drove up Apache Trail. There is a 500 foot paved trail at Weavers Needle Vista so we walked it and I got these shots as the sun broke through the overcast sky and was shining on the rocks.

Wildflowers are in abundance this spring. When Bill and Deanne were here and the three of them would return from hikes with photos and descriptions of the wildflowers, I was so envious. This evening though I finally got to shoot some myself.

Orange Globemallows

Brittlebush

Coulter's Lupine

From there we drove up a few miles before turning back. We stopped at nearly every turnout watching the sunset deepen behind the mountains...spectacular!

Everything is so green here now; it is very rare to see this much green. Wednesday after PT, lunch, errands, shopping I took photos of the Superstitions on our way home. Much of the green on the lower slopes of the Superstitions is saguaros, thousands of saguaros, but the entire mountain all the way to the top is covered with green plants right now. What sights we've seen this winter with all the snow, the rain, the cool temps, and nearly always, the sunshine.

Lovin' Life ~~ And Arizona Scenes