Mountains are red, Pilosocereus are Cacti and they're blue.

Hey! It's valentines day! I took this picture of a heart shaped cactus  on our hike up to Douglas Springs. I got cactied on the way back down and I'm still pulling prickers out of my shin.

I thought it'd be interesting to ask the valentine veterans who live here what they're doing to celebrate this hallmark holiday. There are folks staying here from all over the country and perhaps they have romantic gestures worth noting. Alas, most of the folks I talked to weren't doing much of anything. Lots of people were going out for dinner and several said that they would exchange cards. Unimaginative (although disclaimer: I love making and sending out valentines). 

There was one couple who claimed they had no special valentine ritual, but once the gentleman walked off, his wife told me that they did in fact have a tradition which they'd carried on for 50 some years. Each Valentines day, the husband manages to give his wife the exact same card, same greeting and same message written inside. Each year, she will feign surprise and delight at the card and place it on the counter until it surreptitiously disappears. She says that neither of them has ever commented on this tradition. It shows either remarkable laziness or great planning and forethought on his part. 

This past Wednesday was supposed to be a writing day, but then my bike friends invited me to circumnavigate the Tucson Bike Loop. I couldn't pass up the chance--so off I went around the city. On the top of our 37th mile, Rick (who had been biking only in first gear in order to keep pace with the less experienced bikers (not me, guys)) mentioned that Friday would be his 45th wedding anniversary. A few of the other cyclists said they were celebrating 40 years or 43 years etc and it turned out that everyone in the group had been married longer than I've been alive.

I told them that, in a few weeks, Paul and I would be celebrating our 6 month anniversary and that, so far, things were going well. There is one couple in the park that only got married this past November, which means Paul and I have been married twice as long as they have and, at this time, I'd like to publicly make myself available should that couple need any marital advice.