There are so many things I love about this time of year. The sunlight is beautiful, the temperature is perfect, butterflies flutter about in the breeze and the desert floor is covered in a colorful carpet of wildflowers. And Spring Break. Oh, how I look forward to that little reprieve and that relaxing of the schedule. Hikes with the hubby, days out with the dogs, chasing butterflies and hunting wildflowers. These are the things I look forward to with childish delight as spring fever runs rampant and that blessed bit of time approaches. Time for thinking, time for breathing, time for reconnecting with myself and my space. Time for finding my balance.
Category: Nature
A Few More of My Favorite Greens
It is that time of year again. Spring is in the air. The light has shifted with the clock and that little leap forward brings the morning sun through the kitchen window at just the right time. That beam of spring sunshine resting on a bowl of nature’s most beautiful bounty, highlighting those vibrant colors just as you saunter, sleepy-eyed, into the kitchen on a lazy weekend morning…I am suddenly struck with a realization. A deja-vu sort of moment. I have been here before, no? I recall the first time I was so smitten with this spring sensation that I felt compelled to express my silly delight in all things green and bright. That was the day I started my blog, nearly one year ago.
Canyons and Corridors
Day after day, we force our minds and bodies into that workday rhythm. We continually watch the clock as the hour hand dictates our every move. Rise, shower, pack the lunch. Drive, arrive, punch the clock. Dinner, dishes, set the alarm. And so it goes. Tick, tock, task. Tick, tock, task. If we’re lucky, the rhythm becomes an enjoyable one. Even so, we undoubtedly all look forward to those moments when the ticking ceases and nature is allowed to set the rhythm. In those moments, that jarring jolt of the alarm is silenced as we are coaxed into consciousness by the soft whispering light of the rising sun.
Mystery at the Racetrack
I always love a good mystery. Whether presented in cinematic or written form, I do so enjoy the experience of being drawn into a good plot. Theorizing, hypothesizing, predicting the outcome as you go along. I love the mystery in the unexpected and small surprises, the feeling of anticipation that comes with a little bit of unknown looming on your horizon. I enjoy the satisfaction of that single moment when the outcome is revealed. These things delight me. But it is the mystery in nature that truly astounds me.
Surviving Sick Day
From month to month, year to year, we follow the cycle of seasons. Food, clothing, activities and daily life all seem to have their transitional points along this seasonal cycle. Winter celebrations, spring break, summer vacation, fall fashion. Ski sweaters and root veggies, short sleeves and daffodils, hiking boots and stone fruits, backpacks and apples. We all have our favorite points along this cycle, we all look forward to our own favorite season. But flu season? No one looks forward to flu season.
Winter Wandering II: Bodie State Park
If you spend time in this space of mine, you are probably aware of my affinity for hidden treasures. You know those little bits and trinkets you chance upon as you wander and roam in your favorite outdoor playground. Relics from another place in time hinting at a story you can only imagine in your mind. Whether you discover them unexpectedly or hunt them quite intentionally, these deserts hold a treasure-trove of trinkets. During a recent bout of winter wandering, we happened to hit the mother load in the ghost town of Bodie.
Winter Wandering
At year’s end many of us are granted that blessed little break from the regular routines of daily life, an opportunity to reflect on the adventures of the past year and prepare for that to come. We celebrate our various holidays as the winter solstice ushers in another cycle of seasons. Ideally, this Winter Break should be a time for slowing down, pausing, taking time to connect with ourselves and our loved ones. Somehow, I lost a grip on that ideal and the hustle-bustle energy managed to take hold. The past few weeks have flown by and I suddenly find myself searching for my break. I start to worry that I may have missed it, having been swept up in this strong current of commotion. But then I come to this space, where it has been so quiet for all these weeks, and it is here I find solace in my sacred Winter Break.
These Moments
And so we begin another year. 2013 has come and gone and the cycle begins again with a fresh start, a new outlook and a list of promises made that we fully intend to keep, but probably won’t. When embarking on a new year’s adventure it is customary to establish a good set of resolutions for oneself, a guidebook for behavior with which to navigate this new and unknown segment of our journey as we continue to strive for perfection. I resolve to do this, stop doing that, do more of the one thing and be better at the rest. I began making my own obligatory list of promises for this new year…I promise to sweat more, eat less, read more books, get more done, be more thoughtful…but as I pondered my list of potential resolutions which would be guiding me into this new year, I got distracted by the view. My thoughts wandered to the hills and my list evaporated into that big, blue expanse of sky. And so I have only this: I resolve to be ever mindful of these moments. I promise to live these moments and continue to share them with others. For these are the things that fill my heart with joy. And taking pause to look back on these moments, I realize that this year of joy will lead to another and yet another. And in the end, with these little moments of joy, I am building myself a lifetime of happiness.
Sunsets and Starfall
It has been a quiet, relaxing week around here. With some time away from work and close to home, I fully intended to hit the household to do list and get some of those ridiculously prolonged projects completed. But there was this cloud of gratitude in the air, coloring our sunsets in such a way that chores and projects fell by the wayside and we spent the week watching the sky, taking photos and simply enjoying our moments.
Clouds and Cookies
When I was a child, my grandma would always send the family a big tin or two of homemade goodies for the holidays. Date pinwheels, persimmon cookies, chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate chip cookies…the contents never varied. Opening that tin always felt like saying hello to old friends and getting a big, warm hug from Grandma. The chocolate-covered pretzels were my personal favorite, but I always wondered about those persimmon cookies…what, on earth, is a persimmon?









