June 2009 June may rarely be the ideal month to visit the desert, but it being the month that my sister & I & our friend Roshni all had free time available, off we went. The most peculiar sight we saw as we drove through Death Valley (temperature: 108F = 42C) was a coyote who trotted up to us (though not too near for its comfort) clearly expecting a handout. Though (or perhaps because) it got nothing from us, it chased our car some distance down the highway as we drove toward our night stop at the Furnace Creek Ranch, the best feature of which is its two spring-fed swimming pools, whose pure warm water swiftly relieved the tensions of driving:

http://www.furnacecreekresort.com/

After Furnace Creek it was on to Las Vegas, for meetings with friends, a hike in the Red Rock Canyon magnificence, and two Cirque du Soleil shows: The Beatles LOVE and KÀ. KÀ was voted (by open ballot among us three) as our favorite of all the Cirque shows that we've seen (my tally now stands at half a dozen).

On to Texas, and two exhibitions at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (time prevented me from taking in the heralded Genghiz Khan extravaganza as well): "Terra Cotta Warriors", which included actual figures from the clay army marshaled by China's Ch'in Emperor; and "The Nature of Diamonds," which followed that highly-sought-after form of crystalline carbon from its geological origins to its industrial and gemological expressions.

Crystals form a primary focus of this museum: as you enter HMNS, the world's greatest geode (weighing nearly four tons) greets you; and once upstairs, something breathtaking is always to be found within the gem vault. This trip I contributed my own breath to the biggest ever (1869 ct) emerald crystal found in North America (Dec 2003), by general acclamation of experts the finest emerald crystal in the entire world.

June ended for me again in Floresville, for the first time in 5 ½ months, dining at Mata's Café, catching up on local news, which included the spotting of two alligators in the San Antonio River within the precincts of the Floresville City Park - one of them four feet long. I felt somehow comforted that despite (or perhaps because of) the ongoing drought (the worst in decades), the local fauna continue to endure, even as the local flora withers away. There may be hope for Nature yet ...

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