ARIZONA: TUCSON

Two and a half hour drive South of Phoenix, there is a unique city: TUCSON. Danny Gasch, the son of our good friend in Montreal and his family invited us to visit them. The weather was very nice that day, and we went there under the very blue sky. All around the busy citywe saw many high and cactus-covered mountains. After a good lunch in their elegant Golf Club, the gave us a "Royal Tour" in and around the city. We saw the very expensive houses built in the golf courses, and many high up on the side of the mountains. With water bottle in our hand (it was hot) we went in the SUGUARO NATIONAL PARK. Wetook the Canyon Shuttle tour deep inside the park, passing deep canyons, high mountains and three water passages. There were many hiker along the way, some of them with children. Because of the heavy rainfall few days before, the shuttle was not able to drive over other flooded dams.

ARIZONA: SEDONA.

The elevation of see level in Phoenix about 700 feet, but after two hours drive to North the red rocks of SEDONA is higher than 4.500 feet. The population is only 12.000, and more than a million tourist arrive all year round.On the way we took a short detour to see MONTEZUMA CASTLE MONUMENT, where the natives lived for many years in the carved-out rooms high up the mouintain.
Sedona is surrounded with 300 million years old formation. When the ocean dried up, the water left many different types of sediment: white, grey and brown and in the last 70 million years bright, real red.

We saw the BELL, the CATHEDRAL, the COFFEE POT, the SNOOPY and a few other RED rocks. The view is fantastic from every angel, before or afternoon. We visited many of the city's Art galleries, the ART MUSEUM, the TLAQUEPQUE, and the EXPOSURES galleries. Both side of the Main Street are the variety of good restaurant, art and souvenier shops. We were not able to go to further North to see Flagstaff, it was winter tha time and in the high, more than 7.000 feet elevation was snowing and was vey cold. SEDONA IS A VERY INTERESTING CITY TO VISIT!

ARIZONA: DESERT BOTANICAL GARDEN

East of Phoenix City, in the PAPAGO PARK we wisited the Desert Botanical Garden. This garden is home of SAGUAROS, the PRICKLL PEARS, the AGAVES, the OCTUPUS, and many, many other cactuses. They display also wildflowers from all ove the word. It is like a "museum" of 50.000 plants: small, medium, large or giant sizes.

Everyone is different, one has only one trunk, others two, or more branches waiting for the rain. The birds like to make their nice, cool and wet nest inside the branches. Flowers both side of the many walkways with signs about their names, and their origins, like Arizona, Mexico, California and many other tropical places. The mountains are visible in every turn on the walkways.

The garden also an education place for student. They learn not only the plants, but the culture and history of the Indian people, they see how they lived in the desert long time ago.

ARIZONA: FRANK lLOYD WRIGHT

The original structure of TALISIEN WEST in the North-East side of Scottsdale, in the end of Cactus Road, now is a National Historic Landmark. It was designed by the 20th Century greatest architect: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT as a winter retreat. He visited the Sonora Desert and fell in love with the mountains. He bought 600 acres of rugged desert land in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains in 1920.

By 1937 he decided to build his permanent home, a studio and architectural campus for a few selected and talented local and foreign students.

We took the organized 90 minutes tour to see every studio, every room and all the furniture designed by Mr. Wright. The gift store is a library of many books written about him by students or others. The place is full of small and large posters, lots of books, games, CD/DVD or other souvenirs to take home.

Birthdays in Arizona 2008

We were in Arizona in the winter. Our very good friends invited us to celebrate my own Birthday and four days later Judy's Birthday.
As you see in the first pictures they surprise me with two important candles: 8 and 4, and a very big cake. It was easy to blow the candles and difficult to eat the whole cake, but other guests were helping me.
Four days later Nathan, her charming husband invited us and his parents, and of course their son Andrew to celebrate Judy's 50+ Birthday in the Royal Palm Resorts Restaurant. You can see her chocolate Birthday cake. After a nice dinner and a Birthday song we almost eat the whole cake. I will never forget the two celebration!

Global warming in Montreal

Global warming is here, but in Montreal the month of December in 1977 was different. Snow was plenty, the Celsius was very, very low and the cold wind was very strong. Where is the melting ice?

Please tell me the truth.........

CHRONICLE-TELEGRAPH
QUEBEC, CANADA.
(North America's oldest newspaper since 1764.)

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR SHARES STORY AT CHAMPLAIN-ST. LAWRENCE COLLEGE.
In St-Foy CEGEP. (In the picture: Joan Lugtig, the dedicated teacher with her students, writer Albert Asatryan and Leslie Vertes.
By ALBERT ASATRYAN, SLC STUDENT.

Published: November 28, 2007.

Champlain-St.Lawrence College had the privilege of welcoming Leslie Vertes, a remarkable man with a painful past and an extraordinary passion for life on October 16. At 83 years of age, Vertes is one of the few remaining survivors of The Holocaust, the event responsible for the murder of six million European Jews during the Second World War.

In an hour-long talk the students, he shared his experiences as a victim of the unutterable horrors that took place less than a century ago.

As our ears listened, our mind struggled to make some sense of the inhuman treatment that these innocent men, women and children suffered and died from. There are no words to describe such cold-blooded crimes, but Vertes, though pained by his memories, tried to help us understand. With our mouths wide open, we listened and tried to imagine what Vertes went through.

Vertes survived a firing squad of the Hungarian Nazi Party, The Arrow Cross, by playing dead when a Jewish girl, just shot and bleeding, fell on him. He survived in hiding for months false papers stating he is Catholic, but was caught and nearly tortured, escaping only to luck.

He was put into a Russian Gulag and nearly starved and worked to death, but again luck intervened, and he was brought back from near-death by a compassionate intern. This is why Vertes says he was born four times.

Vertes mentioned several times in his talk that genocide is the direct consequence of exclusion, discrimination and hatred. Vertes tells us that no culture or civilization is immune to racism and discrimination and people must build a better foundation to their society by speaking up against injustice.

This is why Vertes feels obligated to tell his story, even though it is very painful for him to recount it and he doesn't sleep for days before and after giving a talk like this. Vertes believes, and I agree with him, that it is by informing future generations and by fighting with our minds against prejudice that will prevail in ending hatred and genocide.

The Jewish Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, the Genocide of former Yugoslavia - these are crimes against humanity that we must speak out against. As Vertes says, "No human is more human than another.

Thank you, Leslie Vertes for coming to talk to us, for remembering your painful past to help us make the future better.