Intentional kindness

Today, I had the privilege of finding a Ben's Bell hanging from a tree next to the Santa Cruz River here in Tucson. Please read the story, which is as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking, and maybe then you'll know how nice it felt to have been the subject of an act of intentional kindness.

Ah, that's better.

It is 48 official, U.S. Government degrees Fahrenheit at the Tucson International Airport as I type this. To put that into perspective, I did an overnight trip to Mount Graham last week and the nighttime lows were similar, meaning Tucson, at about 2,500 feet of elevation, is now experiencing an air temperature comparable to a Sky Island site about 6,500 feet higher. Its probably a bit warmer out here on the Left Side, but it still feels absolutely effing wonderful. I spent the whole day outside yesterday hawkwatching, letting the dogs roam around the yard, and lifting weights, and not once did I break a real sweat.

Weather like this allows for bike rides that don't require getting up before dawn or riding late into the night, and the dogs can be walked whenever. BeanSS and I can have breakfast al fresco in the warm rays of the morning sun or down our end-of-day beers bathed in the blazing orange light of a spectacular Arizona sunset. Or, we can just putter around outside at midday without risking a heat stroke.

The afternoon temps will be back into the 90s later this week - just in time for bike commuting, dammit - but I've had a taste of the real autumn, and there's no going back.