My most favorite place in Fountain Hills is the overlook trail, 500 feet above Fountain Lake. I am grateful and appreciate Stan, Joe and the others who maintain the overlook trail and who are working on new hiking trails in the hills of Fountain Hills.

Every Sunday and many Wednesdays, what a joy to be able to walk the overlook trail, high above the lake. With outstretched arms, I feel the soft breeze that ruffles my poet shirt sleeves like the unfurling sail of a two-masted schooner; the sun in my face, the quickening of my pace.

Snowbirds flock to escape the snow and walk the desert trail and see the show of the fountain reaching the sky and whispering a quiet sigh of, “Oh, my.” I step aside and wave to the joggers passing my by. I could run like that 50 years ago!

People chattering about things not of the moment and talking on cell phones; don’t they feel the wind in their face or hear the buzzing of bees and the calling of the birds? Don’t they see the saguaros standing as sentinels over the hills and the arroyos? Are they not aware of the beauty of Mother Earth and Father Sky?

Others on benches are taking in the beauty of the town 500 feet below. Look behind you at the vast green Sonoran Desert reaching to the mountain and the wonder of Four Peaks with its mines of amethyst.

This is my joy!

With appreciation, gratitude and care; the “old guy” in the white poet shirt.