Friday, March 31, 2023

"I go to prepare a place for you..."

Click to enlarge (you need to, in order to appreciate the full sweep of the place). 




I don't know if I've posted this picture before, but it's a trail in the White Tank mountains about 20 miles west of Phoenix, Arizona. When I was in graduate school, I used to hike there all the time, and occasionally I'd take my books out there to study. 

The desert doesn't suit everyone, but it's my favorite locale. I have this fantasy that, as you lay dying, if you can fix in your mind the picture of a place that you love, then it will become your own little slice of heaven. This is mine.

Of course, if I'm wrong about my destination, I suppose I'll wind up in, I dunno, Camden, New Jersey.

20 comments:

ArtsandAmmo said...

Like the ocean and the moon, the desert is beautiful to look at but not very accommodating to human habitation. I looked for a nice picture of Camden, but all photos seem to be of the highway through the city. I guess people with cameras know better than to take the exit. Personally, I would go for the coast of Croatia. It's like California without Californians. My greatest fear in the afterlife is being directed to my mansion only to find out I have a roommate.

Veeshir said...

I like the desert too.
I don't get to the west side much, I'm in the east valley so I go east.
I like camping at night. Just purty.

Paco said...

A&A: Haw!

"Hey, roomie, I just figured out how to hook my harp up to a wah-wah pedal. Listen to this!"

V: I can't remember if I asked you this before - did you ever drive the Apache Trail? We did. A pretty harrowing experience. We were in a big Suburban, and every now and then some hambone would come barreling around a curve going in the opposite direction towing a boat. We had a flat tire somewhere out there not far from a dam, but I can't remember which one (Coolidge? Roosevelt?)

RebeccaH said...

When the weather is better, Mr. H's ashes are going to be scattered by the family on a nearby golf course, the very one where he got his only hole-in-one. Shhh, it's illegal, but the golf course is permanently closed now. He would have wanted that.

Deborah said...

Is he going to be spread over 9, or 18, or the hole where he achieved the hole-in-one? I wonder why it would be illegal since the course is closed. Maybe it will reopen one day so he can watch games. No worries because none of us will tell.

Veeshir said...

I drove the Trail in my Mustang, that was interesting.
I thought we were going to the 2nd lake, not the one almost to Globe

rinardman said...

Having lost my older sister six months ago, and my oldest brother six days ago, I think God will put them in that kind of special place for their comfort.

My sister was an Air Force operating room nurse and loved the job, so I imagine God assigning her with her own Air Force hospital operating room to watch over. And my brother will be able to cruise down the Pacific Coast Highway in his '67 Alfa Spider with the top down, and perfect weather and something you could only get in heaven...an Alfa that has no electrical issues. :-)

Gregoryno6 said...

You folks certainly do deserts better than we do over here. I suppose some people daydream about dying in sight of Ayers Rock, but most of us would be more inclined toward going out with the tide, at sunset, on the beach.

tom said...

"an Alfa with no electrical issues,"
reminds me of when I was thinking about buying an MG or Triumph... I found a website with a questionnaire... are you good with tools; do you have a friend who's good with tools; will he bring his tools and ride with you... if not, buy a Miata!

Paco said...

Gregory: The beach is also good.

Paco said...

R-man: I'm very sorry to hear of your recent losses. God bless their souls. I have a brother who's seriously ill with lung cancer. He had squamous cell cancer that started out on his cheek, eventually got into his jaw, and then his lymph nodes. The doctors got all the original cancer, but not before it spread from his lymph nodes to his lungs. He beat prostate cancer, and the life-threatening internal infection that came in its wake, so he's a pretty tough old bird; maybe he'll lick this, too.

George said...

If Camden has bars with rockabilly music and Star Trek babes, I would find that an acceptable heaven. When I tire of that, I wouldn't mind looking at chemical plants and trucks in the night.

Desert is nice too.

George said...

Why does heaven have to be one or the other?

I'm not a theologician.

Veeshir said...

Wrong Star, Camden, NJ is more like Mos Eisley from Star Wars.
With worse music.

JeffS said...

Why does heaven have to be one or the other?

Plenty of deserts next to an ocean, George. So I'm sure that He's taken care of the matter.

Paco said...

Yeah, I'm thinking Baja California would be ideal for me. You've got the surf and the desert.

RebeccaH said...

Deborah: We're spreading his ashes on the fairway where he got his hole-in-one. The golf course has been closed for a number of years and so it's pretty overgrown, but my son-in-law was the head groundskeeper and assistant manager there for many years. He'll be able to find it for us.

Most states have laws making it illegal to spread ashes on land except for scatter gardens at cemeteries or with special permission from the landowner. I would feel guilty for doing this if I hadn't been watching our elite betters flout far more serious laws for a couple of decades now. On second thought, it's a place where Mr. H loved to spend his time, so I guess I don't feel guilty about it at all.

Deborah said...

Our deepest condolences, rinardman. I hope they're enjoying the scenario you painted. God bless all.

Deborah said...

Paco, prayers up. God bless y'all!

Paco said...

Thanks, Deborah.

Rebecca: I think Mr. H would have loved to be commemorated in the way you plan. As to breaking the law, given the way things are going, we're all either outlaws or going to be pretty soon.

Mrs. Paco and I have opted to be cremated (not immediately, of course; you know, later).The Catholic church is kind of picky about this kind of thing. Cremation wasn't permitted at all before 1963. One can now be cremated, but the ashes have to be put in a receptacle and interred in holy ground, or in a niche in a columbarium (a new word I learned this past year; it's a wall with niches that hold urns). If I had my druthers, I'd druther have my ashes loaded into shotgun shells by a company called Holy Smokes. That way, I could literally have my mortal remains blasted to kingdom come.