Top Reasons to Pamper your Pancreas During the Holidays and Beyond

Annie picked up her athletic shoes and quietly slipped out her home’s front door. Stopping on the porch, she put them on and began walking briskly to the hiking trail. It was cold, but the early morning sun’s warmth promised a pleasant experience. Ten minutes later, she arrived and paused to take in nature’s beauty. Ironwood, mesquite, and Palo Verde trees flanked the trail. Interspersed among them were pink and purple prickly pear, a variety of chollas, barrel cacti, and of course, the giant saguaro, unique to the Sonoran Desert. Some cacti still bore their summer fruit, giving the birds an added food source. The stream running alongside the trail would be raging in a couple of months; now, it lazily flowed by the succulents on its banks, that would produce gorgeous flowers in springtime. The old crow always perched on the ancient saguaro at the beginning of the path greeted her with his usual caw.

“Thanks for the salute.” Annie thought. She adjusted the water bottle holding her favorite infusion of mint, ginger, and cucumber water on her shoulder and proceeded down the trail.

An hour later, she opened the door and was greeted by Dexter Gordon’s jazzy Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

LJ was in the kitchen making breakfast. He greeted her with a kiss. “How was the hike?”