More About California.

I told my father about my husband and my attempts to have day vacations. Local things where I could get us back in time to have dinner at home.

So, my Dad said, "How about San Francisquito Canyon?" (Think: San Francis Quito. Then you can pronounce it.) My dear husband and I traveled the complicated route off the Golden State Freeway into Saugus, some strange directions through very populated areas and made a left. My goodness. Such a wilderness! Thanks Dad! We traveled up and up over a very circuitous route and then up and over the San Andreas Fault and back again.  We saw desert wildness and calmer woodlands. We found a pasture with American Buffalo! I've never seen them in California before! Llamas, yes, Ostriches, yes. But Buffalo? Too cool and new.

The adventure was completely new and took us 3 hours from home.. round trip!

It stuns me how much is right here.

My mother traveled to Italy once, and the Italians asked her, "Why would you come here when you are from California? We want to go there!"

She also told me, "There is a no more beautiful place than California." She showed me the state when I was a child. She took me to Yosemite, to the Muir Woods, to San Francisco. She showed me Tahoe and the High Desert, the Sierras, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur and San Diego. She took me to every mission in the state.  I have to agree with her. What a GREAT place to live and learn and continually discover. I am constantly discovering and re-discovering new dimensions to this wondrous place. I think California might be heaven.

Phil and I can walk out our door and within 5 blocks be in the wilderness. Within 2 miles we are in the Angeles National Forest. In the car we can be at 5000 feet in about 18 minutes. Oh! What a gift.

I miss the ocean, but he does not. I drag him to the sea every now and again. It is a little farther. But, Oh! the Ocean! And there it is, about 45 minutes away.

My home. My California. My big open spaces.

What I've Been Doing.

I miss talking to my best friends. I love spending time with my husband. And... I miss my friends. I have one friend who has become a pen-pal. How wonderful is that? And how cool. We are intimate in letters, albeit, email letters. It doesn't matter, the communication comes from talking with written words. I love that.

I have another dear friend I need to call. Oh, Nansi, I miss you so. Our timing is just off right now. I will call.. soon.

I got back from 7 weeks away. I'm spending a lot of time with my husband. We miss each other so when we are apart and my work has always kept us away from each other too often. Now is the time to spend time.. together.

We've taken day trips. Day-tripper. He is really not well enough to go overnight anywhere. We've traveled up to a stream in the San Gabriel Mountains. We've taken the back roads to Free Zuma Beach, we've taken a day trip up to Mt. Pinos near Frasier Park. Ah. So Beautiful and so cool and we are back by 5pm.

I need new directions and new destinations. We are never looking for the city thing. We are looking for a little bit of wilderness and isolation. Next time, I think we'll try east. (And into the desert.)

Not going south. Done that too often, and too recently. By the way, it is almost solid city from LA to San Diego.

Almost.

Yeah, East is next. Joshua Tree National Forest. Yeah. East. Out the 210 (Foothill Fwy) to the 10 (Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Hwy.) Out towards the desert.

And back again.

Sorghum And Other Disconnected Observations.

Outside the Dept. of Agriculture the "powers that be" are growing sunflowers, corn and sorghum. I looked at the sorghum and thought, "Hmm, that must be sorghum." I have no idea why I thought that. I don't remember ever seeing sorghum before in my life, can't imagine what it is used for, but I just knew. Sorghum. I later looked it up on Google. Yep. Sorghum. What a word. Sorghum.

Why are there windows on subway trains? Not really much to see. I'm just saying.

Not smart to go out in a Hurricane. Pretty dumb, actually. (I speak from personal experience.)

To my dear East Coast friends: When an earthquake happens "duck and cover." Cover your head with your hands. Duck under a desk or table. Wait until the shaking stops and assess. Do not run around the room in a panic. Do not crowd into an elevator. Do not run outside! Things like bricks are falling from the sky.

Just after one has packed the umbrella and sealed up the box, it starts to rain.

I think as I get older I just don't want to hold my stomach in anymore. Also, my pants tend to fall down.

Off into the late afternoon on a quest for dinner.

Later.

Sorghum...hmmm.