God's grace is sufficient

God, I love it here!
12:52 pm on Friday, Apr. 11, 2003

This gave me chills, and I now remember why I love it here.

We are two states.

In southern Arizona, the heat comes on little jackrabbit feet. It hops down the asphalt streets of the cities and then makes for the desert, where it slips between the paloverde and the ocotillo and gets stuck in the spines of the prickly pear. Heat makes the desert look wet, but it's as dry as a cow skull.

In the north country, snow dusts the ponderosa pines and frosts the breath of bighorn sheep. It settles around the rim of a big hole we call the Grand Canyon, because it is. It's ours, even though Nevada tries to claim it and we have to slap their hands and say no.

Arizona is all about the land. We have bricks, but some of them are made of mud. We have skyscrapers, but we know when to stop so that buildings don't climb higher than mountains. We have cities as bustling as any, but the people in them do not bustle. They notice strangers trying to read maps and point them in the direction of the ballpark and recommend places to eat burritos. They wait for pedestrians to cross the street even if the light has changed. Toes are safe here. Church bells are the anthem of the city, not car horns.

Barbara Yost

The Arizona Republic

Apr. 11, 2003 12:00 AM

100 Reasons We Love Arizona:

1 Fuchsia bougainvillea so bright it hurts your eyes.

2 Discovering that the movie Oklahoma! was filmed in Arizona.

3 Wrens that make their home in cactuses. We call them cactus wrens. They are the state bird.

4 No tolls on Arizona highways.

5 The heady fragrance of orange blossoms. Not only brides love it.

6 Being passed on the highway by a gang of 60-something easy riders on Harleys.

7 Dave's Electric Beer from Bisbee, the state's first bottled microbrew.

8 R. Carlos Nakai's haunting Native American flute.

9 The Painted Desert after a light rain.

10 Sedona's red rocks, a photographer's paradise.

11 Wind-blown pi�on trees along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

12 Bola ties. They're goofy, but New Yorkers don't wear them. The bola is our state tie.

13 The smell of Hatch chiles roasting outside the Guadalupe farmers market in the fall.

14 Chuckwalla lizards. We just like the name. Chuckwalla. Chuckwalla. Chuckwalla.

15 The otherworldly landscape of Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo Reservation.

16 Baseball spring training. Two words: Hot dogs.

17 Rex Ranch in Amado, a collection of casitas that transports you back to the 1920s.

18 The Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Coyotes and, yes, even the Arizona Cardinals.

19 Being able to go mountain climbing and still be home for dinner.

20 Living here for five years, being known as "an old-timer," and remembering the good old days before all these new people moved in.

21 A walk through the Petrified Forest.

22 Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West school of architecture in Scottsdale.

23 The Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy.

24 Eating strawberry-rhubarb pie at Mount Lemmon Cafe.

25 Going from cactus to pine trees in less than an hour.

26 Geckos running along our outside walls.

27 Ultrahot Mexican food at Los Dos Molinos.

28 Cactus. All of them, even jumping cholla.

29 Lizard drawings on the Pima Freeway.

30 Beautiful mountains, including one shaped like a camel.

31 Hiking down the Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch and enjoying the beef stew dinner with chocolate cake.

32 Spring flowers on the mountains and desert.

33 The smell of creosote bushes after a desert shower.

34 Shopping for Virgin Mary and Buddha statues at Sacred Rites in Flagstaff.

35 Being able to justify owning seven pairs of sunglasses.

36 Turf Paradise racetrack in Phoenix, from the peacocks at the front door to the horse murals on the walls.

37 Watching monsoon storms cross the distant horizon.

38 Seeing the full arc of a rainbow over the desert after a rain.

39 Italian beef sandwiches at Wolfee's restaurant in Scottsdale.

40 Shuffleboard in the East Valley. Americans vs. Canadians, eh?

41 Children riding the train at McCormick Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale.

42 Mesa Market Place Swap Meet.

43 Navajo tacos at Tuba City Truck Stop: more meat than beans.

44 Barbecue sauce so hot it makes your head sweat.

45 The warmth on your face after leaving an air-conditioned building in summer.

46 Artists' colonies in Gold Canyon. Who needs Greenwich Village?

47 Diamondbacks' third baseman Matt Williams' "cueball head."

48 Tempe's huge backlit street signs visible from a mile away.

49 Giant rabbits at Centerpoint in Tempe.

50 Giant frogs at Arizona Center in Phoenix.

51 Portal in southeastern Arizona, gateway to the Huachuca Mountains, hummingbird capital of Arizona.

52 University of Arizona and Arizona State University in the 2003 NCAA basketball tournament.

53 It's a dry heat. Really. It matters.

54 No humidity-frizzed bad-hair days.

55 Cutting your own Christmas tree in the north-country forests.

56 Hedgehog cactus blooms - so much beauty on so little water.

57 Scottsdale's Indian Bend Wash, an oasis in the desert.

58 Luis "Gonzo" Gonzalez: baseball player, milk drinker, good guy.

59 Taunting people back East in January for calling our desert "kitty litter" in July.

60 Close, but not too close, to Las Vegas and Rocky Point.

61 Phoenix's Bank One Ballpark with its flip-top lid. Baseball games with the roof open.

62 Cooking a pie in a homemade solar oven.

63 More golf courses per capita than Iowa has hogs.

64 Spotting elk and bald eagles along the route of the Verde Canyon Railroad.

65 Glendale's Thunderbird Hot Air Balloon Classic - glowing bubbles on the desert.

66 Few flying insects, fewer mosquitoes. The only swats are at Bank One Ballpark.

67 Sitting with your legs dangling off the edge of the Flatiron in the Superstition Mountains.

68 Driving east on McDowell Road in Phoenix between rose-colored buttes.

69 Squealing like a kid as you shoot down Slide Rock in Oak Creek Canyon.

70 The Phoenix Civic Plaza fountain. It looks like a fuzzy dandelion head.

71 Palm trees. Like Arizona's people, most aren't native - they came here, they liked it, they stayed.

72 Whole Foods grocery store: a foodie's dreamland.

73 America West Arena, home of the Suns and a cornerstone of the revitalization of downtown Phoenix.

74 Low property taxes. Makes buying a house bearable.

75 San Xavier del Bac mission, the "White Dove of the Desert," south of Tucson.

76 Retired state Rep. Polly Rosenbaum, born in September 1899 and still going strong.

77 The Heard Museum of Native American culture in Phoenix.

78 Picking up bargain antiques in Prescott and Glendale.

79 The howl of a coyote in the morning.

80 Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson.

81 Roadrunners strutting across the road.

82 Drinking watermelon aguas frescas (fruit drinks made from crushed melons) on the patio at Mango's in Mesa.

83 The legend of the Lost Dutchman's Mine.

84 Great ethnic restaurants: Vietnamese, Korean barbecue, Middle Eastern, Brazilian, Ethiopian, Thai, Indian.

85 A picnic at the rest stop in Texas Canyon against sandstone-colored boulders that shoot for the sky.

86 Spring break in Lake Havasu.

87 Arizona firefighters: hotties with shiny red trucks.

88 Kitt Peak Observatory west of Tucson.

89 Few natural disasters - no tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes. The monsoons can stay.

90 Kartchner Caverns near Benson.

91 Tovrea Castle, "the wedding-cake" house, in Phoenix.

92 No daylight-saving time.

93 Scottsdale Fashion Square: a shopaholic's fantasy.

94 You can tan all year long and get away with wearing short skirts to show it off.

95 A mariachi festival that puts the ole! in your day.

96 Night swimming in your backyard pool, floating on your back and staring up at the stars.

97 Block walls that allow you to go night swimming in the nude.

98 Being known as "Zonies" by Californians.

99 The Grand Canyon. Duh.

100 Brenda DeVito's fourth-grade class at Laguna Elementary School in Scottsdale. The kids sent us their 25 reasons they love Arizona, in the shape of the state, and then let us take their picture. (sorry, I have no image hosting, and I couldn't find pics of the kids, anyway. But trust me, they were CUTE!!!)

See you! AZ is great! Joy

the latest:
A prayer for today. . . - Monday, Aug. 29, 2005
A baby. . . - Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005
Update. . .a baby!!! - Saturday, Jul. 16, 2005
Easter. . . - Monday, Mar. 28, 2005
Today is the day that the Lord has made. . . - Monday, Mar. 21, 2005

before & after


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God, I love it here! 12:52 pm on Friday, Apr. 11, 2003 This gave me chills, and I now remember why I love it here. We are two states. In southern Arizona, the heat comes on little jackrabbit feet. It hops down the asphalt streets of the cities and then makes for the desert, where it slips between the paloverde and the ocotillo and gets stuck in the spines of the prickly pear. Heat makes the desert look wet, but it's as dry as a cow skull. In the north country, snow dusts the ponderosa pines and frosts the breath of bighorn sheep. It settles around the rim of a big hole we call the Grand Canyon, because it is. It's ours, even though Nevada tries to claim it and we have to slap their hands and say no. Arizona is all about the land. We have bricks, but some of them are made of mud. We have skyscrapers, but we know when to stop so that buildings don't climb higher than mountains. We have cities as bustling as any, but the people in them do not bustle. They notice strangers trying to read maps and point them in the direction of the ballpark and recommend places to eat burritos. They wait for pedestrians to cross the street even if the light has changed. Toes are safe here. Church bells are the anthem of the city, not car horns. Barbara Yost The Arizona Republic Apr. 11, 2003 12:00 AM 100 Reasons We Love Arizona: 1 Fuchsia bougainvillea so bright it hurts your eyes. 2 Discovering that the movie Oklahoma! was filmed in Arizona. 3 Wrens that make their home in cactuses. We call them cactus wrens. They are the state bird. 4 No tolls on Arizona highways. 5 The heady fragrance of orange blossoms. Not only brides love it. 6 Being passed on the highway by a gang of 60-something easy riders on Harleys. 7 Dave's Electric Beer from Bisbee, the state's first bottled microbrew. 8 R. Carlos Nakai's haunting Native American flute. 9 The Painted Desert after a light rain. 10 Sedona's red rocks, a photographer's paradise. 11 Wind-blown pi�on trees along the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. 12 Bola ties. They're goofy, but New Yorkers don't wear them. The bola is our state tie. 13 The smell of Hatch chiles roasting outside the Guadalupe farmers market in the fall. 14 Chuckwalla lizards. We just like the name. Chuckwalla. Chuckwalla. Chuckwalla. 15 The otherworldly landscape of Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo Reservation. 16 Baseball spring training. Two words: Hot dogs. 17 Rex Ranch in Amado, a collection of casitas that transports you back to the 1920s. 18 The Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Coyotes and, yes, even the Arizona Cardinals. 19 Being able to go mountain climbing and still be home for dinner. 20 Living here for five years, being known as "an old-timer," and remembering the good old days before all these new people moved in. 21 A walk through the Petrified Forest. 22 Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West school of architecture in Scottsdale. 23 The Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy. 24 Eating strawberry-rhubarb pie at Mount Lemmon Cafe. 25 Going from cactus to pine trees in less than an hour. 26 Geckos running along our outside walls. 27 Ultrahot Mexican food at Los Dos Molinos. 28 Cactus. All of them, even jumping cholla. 29 Lizard drawings on the Pima Freeway. 30 Beautiful mountains, including one shaped like a camel. 31 Hiking down the Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch and enjoying the beef stew dinner with chocolate cake. 32 Spring flowers on the mountains and desert. 33 The smell of creosote bushes after a desert shower. 34 Shopping for Virgin Mary and Buddha statues at Sacred Rites in Flagstaff. 35 Being able to justify owning seven pairs of sunglasses. 36 Turf Paradise racetrack in Phoenix, from the peacocks at the front door to the horse murals on the walls. 37 Watching monsoon storms cross the distant horizon. 38 Seeing the full arc of a rainbow over the desert after a rain. 39 Italian beef sandwiches at Wolfee's restaurant in Scottsdale. 40 Shuffleboard in the East Valley. Americans vs. Canadians, eh? 41 Children riding the train at McCormick Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. 42 Mesa Market Place Swap Meet. 43 Navajo tacos at Tuba City Truck Stop: more meat than beans. 44 Barbecue sauce so hot it makes your head sweat. 45 The warmth on your face after leaving an air-conditioned building in summer. 46 Artists' colonies in Gold Canyon. Who needs Greenwich Village? 47 Diamondbacks' third baseman Matt Williams' "cueball head." 48 Tempe's huge backlit street signs visible from a mile away. 49 Giant rabbits at Centerpoint in Tempe. 50 Giant frogs at Arizona Center in Phoenix. 51 Portal in southeastern Arizona, gateway to the Huachuca Mountains, hummingbird capital of Arizona. 52 University of Arizona and Arizona State University in the 2003 NCAA basketball tournament. 53 It's a dry heat. Really. It matters. 54 No humidity-frizzed bad-hair days. 55 Cutting your own Christmas tree in the north-country forests. 56 Hedgehog cactus blooms - so much beauty on so little water. 57 Scottsdale's Indian Bend Wash, an oasis in the desert. 58 Luis "Gonzo" Gonzalez: baseball player, milk drinker, good guy. 59 Taunting people back East in January for calling our desert "kitty litter" in July. 60 Close, but not too close, to Las Vegas and Rocky Point. 61 Phoenix's Bank One Ballpark with its flip-top lid. Baseball games with the roof open. 62 Cooking a pie in a homemade solar oven. 63 More golf courses per capita than Iowa has hogs. 64 Spotting elk and bald eagles along the route of the Verde Canyon Railroad. 65 Glendale's Thunderbird Hot Air Balloon Classic - glowing bubbles on the desert. 66 Few flying insects, fewer mosquitoes. The only swats are at Bank One Ballpark. 67 Sitting with your legs dangling off the edge of the Flatiron in the Superstition Mountains. 68 Driving east on McDowell Road in Phoenix between rose-colored buttes. 69 Squealing like a kid as you shoot down Slide Rock in Oak Creek Canyon. 70 The Phoenix Civic Plaza fountain. It looks like a fuzzy dandelion head. 71 Palm trees. Like Arizona's people, most aren't native - they came here, they liked it, they stayed. 72 Whole Foods grocery store: a foodie's dreamland. 73 America West Arena, home of the Suns and a cornerstone of the revitalization of downtown Phoenix. 74 Low property taxes. Makes buying a house bearable. 75 San Xavier del Bac mission, the "White Dove of the Desert," south of Tucson. 76 Retired state Rep. Polly Rosenbaum, born in September 1899 and still going strong. 77 The Heard Museum of Native American culture in Phoenix. 78 Picking up bargain antiques in Prescott and Glendale. 79 The howl of a coyote in the morning. 80 Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson. 81 Roadrunners strutting across the road. 82 Drinking watermelon aguas frescas (fruit drinks made from crushed melons) on the patio at Mango's in Mesa. 83 The legend of the Lost Dutchman's Mine. 84 Great ethnic restaurants: Vietnamese, Korean barbecue, Middle Eastern, Brazilian, Ethiopian, Thai, Indian. 85 A picnic at the rest stop in Texas Canyon against sandstone-colored boulders that shoot for the sky. 86 Spring break in Lake Havasu. 87 Arizona firefighters: hotties with shiny red trucks. 88 Kitt Peak Observatory west of Tucson. 89 Few natural disasters - no tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes. The monsoons can stay. 90 Kartchner Caverns near Benson. 91 Tovrea Castle, "the wedding-cake" house, in Phoenix. 92 No daylight-saving time. 93 Scottsdale Fashion Square: a shopaholic's fantasy. 94 You can tan all year long and get away with wearing short skirts to show it off. 95 A mariachi festival that puts the ole! in your day. 96 Night swimming in your backyard pool, floating on your back and staring up at the stars. 97 Block walls that allow you to go night swimming in the nude. 98 Being known as "Zonies" by Californians. 99 The Grand Canyon. Duh. 100 Brenda DeVito's fourth-grade class at Laguna Elementary School in Scottsdale. The kids sent us their 25 reasons they love Arizona, in the shape of the state, and then let us take their picture. (sorry, I have no image hosting, and I couldn't find pics of the kids, anyway. But trust me, they were CUTE!!!) See you! AZ is great! Joy the latest: A prayer for today. . . - Monday, Aug. 29, 2005 A baby. . . - Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005 Update. . .a baby!!! - Saturday, Jul. 16, 2005 Easter. . . - Monday, Mar. 28, 2005 Today is the day that the Lord has made. . . - Monday, Mar. 21, 2005 before & after