A Moveable Feast

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
- Henry Miller

Driving up and down the state as much as I have the past month, I realize that I live in a most wondrous place, a place so unique and beautiful and inspiring in its many faces. I know that I am biased, I am a complete California girl, I mean COMPLETE. And I have not traveled all the states of America, I know that many are just as beautiful, unique, and inspiring. But California is home to me and I cannot separate myself any more than I could separate from my body; the hills have hardened my bones and strengthened my muscles, the air has perfumed my thoughts, and its beauty has lit my soul.

And there is still so much to explore! I still need to travel to the northern easternmost parts. I long to swim in the Salmon river and hike the John Muir Trail. I still have not been to Yosemite. And the desert. What can I say of the desert except that my sisterfriend and I zipped through it too quickly one road trip. But I will never forget our one stop, in the middle of the night, we stopped. We drove off the moonlit road and turned off the car. We lay on the hood of her car and stared at the stars and listened to the sound of silence until it didn't sound like silence anymore...just the night. In the desert.

Cultures for many years, many years ago, worshiped nature and I can't help but join them. If there were ever a hymn or prayer or whispered liturgy I would hear it in the center of a canyon, on the top of a mountain, in the bubbling of a stream, the caress of a wave.

"But my heart cried out for you, california! Oh california! I'm coming home...I'm your biggest fan California, I'm coming home!" The lyrics to Joni Mitchell's "California" rang in my ears as I drove and drove...feasting on the landscape unfolding before me, a litany of beauty I read with my eyes.


Yes, I am a California girl.

On the Road Again

"I've always been crazy, but its kept me from going insane."
-Unknown song lyric.

No, dear reader, I have not disappeared into the ethers, and I apologize for my absence from the blogging world. I have actually been busy running up and down the beautiful state of California--literally from end to end most of the month, unable to get to a computer let alone much else. My husband's work as a diver is erratic and often he can be on one job in southern California one day and then be on another in Northern California the next. We travel as a family when the jobs are short, as they have been lately. I am tired and ready to be in one place for awhile!

I am returning home tomorrow and will enjoy catching up on everyone's blogs and get some serious reading in for the virtual book club. I will also be happy to how my little garden is growing, if the plum and fig are now in full leaf. If my lettuces have choked each other out yet as I have not had time to thin them. Back to the rhythmns of home life. Funny, I was getting tired of the daily round before my husband got called on all these jobs! I should watch what I ask for! But it was oddly what I needed for my sometimes gypsy-ish nature!

For all the travel, we did manage to make it fun. We stopped in Malibu for requisite fish and chips at Neptunes Nest, and watched the surfers catch gentle waves while the sun set slowly into an impossibly calm ocean. I am lucky enough to have visited sisters I havn't gotten to see in too long, had some amazing hikes, got to see that I definitly am not a city girl thanks to our time in LA. Lots of insights and fun mixed in with hours of driving till I thought I might scream! Babou was amazingly good. She is a trooper. I am so lucky. But most of all I will be happy to finally be home tomorrow and catch up on gardening, friends, writing, and my friends in the blogging world!

Ciao Bellas!