Preserved for posterity – New Years’ road dirt. After driving through snow, ice, rain, sun, dust, and dirt, our little Hyundai looks as though we were offroading in the wilds of Moab, Utah. Instead, we were in the wilds of the Petrified Forest National Park, Santa Fe, and Socorro, New Mexico, the Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge, and finally the western range of the Mogollon Mountains in Western New Mexico.

A new twist on the old familiar bus stop. If you are visiting Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, or one of the other half dozen cities that define the Phoenix Metropolitan area, you will typically be hard-pressed to see anyone besides the homeless at these bus stops. More than likely this is due to the formidable heat we deal with on a regular basis, still it is a shame to see empty buses and lonely bus stops that rarely warrant recognition.

If you should be so lucky enough to live in a big American city where Cabela’s has opened a store and brought nature to the city, you have seen the future of retail sales. No chintzy spending going on in this chain; management has bellied up and created displays that will have visitors’ jaws hanging near the floor. Fake mountains, waterfalls, and trees are the perfect setting for stuffed antelope by the dozen, elk in herds, bounding mountain lions, leaping mountain goats, a fluffy, friendly grizzly bear, wolves on the hunt, and even a polar bear all on display in natural settings right there amongst the canoes, tents, and the world’s largest collection of camouflage hunting clothes ever assembled. Then there is the stream/aquarium display with trout, catfish, and even endangered fish, so we have an opportunity to see as much wildlife as humanly possible before they become extinct. So go visit Cabela’s as soon as you can, buy a gun, and go kill yourself – a wild animal.

This Barber Shop Quartet is a regular fixture at the annual Las Noches de Las Luminarias at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. This year they had a fantastic location next to a fire pit which lent warmth and great lighting to their performance. Around the garden musicians play flute, harp, or fiddle; they sing, tell stories, and a couple of bands are on hand. Walking around with a warm drink under the cold clear sky full of stars listening to the music out here in the desert is the closest some of us will get to feeling the holiday spirit.