This time of year is a great time to watch the celebration of life in creation! The days are long and filled with a flourish of activity as all of creation in the northern hemisphere relishes summer. It’s an especially influencing time for me as I move towards being a better steward of my body, by moving into a more sustained organic wellness and nutrition dietary protocol.

Last week, I made a trip out to Scottsdale, Arizona, in my promise to move into better health, I went to educate myself about nutrition at the cellular level. What I learned truly made a lot of sense and the journey was totally worth the time and effort.

I have never been to the American southwest and I found it to be if anything, starkly beautiful and mystical. Approaching the Phoenix airport, you can look out the window and see what appears to be an almost otherworldly landscape…for want of a better word, a moonscape. It would appear that nothing lives below on the rocky, desert terrain. Yet, it is vibrant with hidden life. It was in the early morning and late evenings, when there was time to sit and admire the vistas of the southwestern terrain that the divine diversity that exists in all creation seemed to echo in my soul. Being a Florida girl who loves the green of the Florida plants and the blue of the surrounding seas, I never thought I would be so enamored with the desert. But, how wrong I was and how beautiful the reds and golds are!

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Scottsdale is surrounded by desert mountains and their most notable landmark is known as Camelback Mountain, a mountain that looks like a resting camel.

To the south of Scottsdale is Tucson, rich in history and Catholic history at that. On the Tohono O’oodham Nation land is the Mission San Xavier del Bac.

Construction on the mission started in 1783 and was completed in 1797 and is a splendid example of a truly 18^th Century space.

A little further south of the mission you will find the Kitt Peak National Observatory. My father, who always shared his love of astronomy with me in the back yard with his telescopes, would have loved visiting here.

Both of these landmarks are on the land of the Tohono O’oodham Nation whose name means “People of the Desert,” as they inhabited the Sonoran Desert area of Arizona.

My visit to Arizona will not be my last. I found nourishment for body and soul there!

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