300 Days of Sunshine

The Santa Fe National Forest is open to hikers once again after being closed for over a month.  We had a dry and hot month of June with high risk of forest fires, but monsoon season is now upon us.  We now face hail storms and flooding, also causing problems for homes and local organizations, but the good news is that we're finally experiencing some much-needed moisture.  Over the weekend we took Ady, Kua, and our best friends' dog, Sam, to the Hyde Park Circle Trail, a 3-4 mile loop with about a 1,000 foot elevation gain.  The views were beautiful and the dogs enjoyed getting some exercise and fresh air.   This trail has special meaning to us because it was the first hike we did when we moved to Santa Fe, and it was also the trail where we got engaged.  We have taken several friends and family members on this hike when they visit us in Santa Fe, and while I hiked it while I was pregnant with Ady, this was her first time experiencing this hike since she's been born!  I

These are difficult times we live in, an era that challenges everything we used to believe about what America represents (or should represent), a period that, for many American citizens, questions our pride in our own identity, while also highlighting our largely-underserved privilege.  Many Americans feel a great deal of distress to the point of numbness and hopelessness about the state of the nation, fearful to turn on the news in the risk of discovering yet another disgrace, mistake, or infringement on our democracy. This Independence Day, I experience a myriad of emotions and thoughts.  I struggle with waving the American flag when so many families and individuals are being denied access to our country's borders.  I question my allegiance to this country under a leader whose values are so different from my own.  And I feel more than a little hypocritical displaying red, white and blue patriotically when today's America seems so far from what the founding fathers may h