Spring Break on the Northcoast of CA

It seems like everybody knows who Flat Stanley is by now, and when a cousin from Illinois had her daughter send him to visit me, I ended up talking to people everywhere I took him out to take pictures. It was really fun to have him visit, and we went to this old relic of a drive-in theater. Double fun.

Especially delighted this year because the word last year was that every theater that couldn't afford nearly &100,000 to convert to digital, wouldn't have any movies to show after December of 2013. Luckily only Paramount actually quit producing film reels so we don't get their movies now, but we still get some great ones.

The other day, I was sitting reading, and we do live in Earthquake territory so when the house shook, I barely looked up from my book, but later that morning realized one of our huge old redwood snags had fallen just outside my kitchen window.

and the cats quickly scrambled up to sniff out the nests where squirrels and woodpeckers had been able to avoid them before. I trust that they got away because no little gifts ended up in my entryway.

Spring break time in my yard would make Barbie happy, as pink explodes into abundant glory everywhere.  Love the apple blossoms that open white but start bright pink

and the rhododendron

 and the cherry trees my husband is mowing around in this picture

 Right before spring break we had a huge egg hunt at our preschool through 5th grade school

 down at our harbor things have been calm and warm and I hope it lasts into next week

 and this ship has been ashore for a few decades now

 I got to dogsit my son's blind, three year old love of a dog

 and wander around taking pictures while walking the dog

 Then we got to babysit the girl we have adopted as a granddaughter and listen to her tell us a million stories about her life while we draw and color and cook and play.  She has the idea that she is beautiful, smart, and artistic, and I happen to agree.

 I love spring break but I'm also looking forward to moving on into the rest of this year. I get to take my class on a tall ship ride next week and in a month my first blood granddaughter will be born.  Life here is filled with a quiet kind of joy.  I think it may be noisier soon.

UCSC Banana Slugs Return to Del Norte for Spring Break

My College Freshmen are my youngest son  and his girlfriend of the past two years.  I got lucky this year, for the first time in seven years my husband and I have the same spring break, and UC Santa Cruz did too.  So the kids flew in to our huge, Crescent City International Airport, where we almost missed them in the crowd



Then they came home where they got to hang out in luxury at our palace with my oldest son,  (just off a crab boat for his first season as a fisherman) and his girlfriend and her daughter, who will be 2 in a few months.





but after awhile the luxury becomes boring and you need to work off some of the brownies and cookies and we headed out to the redwoods.  Not a big deal at all as we were just taking a walk in a grove that is less than 4 miles from my front door.  I was surprised at the kids reaction though.  Growing up here had warped their view on trees for sure, they used to go to Yellowstone and the black hills and laugh at the toothpicks we called trees back where their Dad and I grew up, but when redwoods are just trees to you, you are warped.

But I remember going back to Wyoming after being away, and suddenly it was all beautiful, the golden prairie against the faded blue sky, the purple mountains topped with snow even in August, the red earth.  Mom laughed at how I reacted, I just didn't expect that reaction from these guys because they are still in the coastal redwoods, but they kept staring and taking pictures to text to friends and gasping over how big these trees are compared to the redwoods they live in there.



staring at the twisty tops here

 







 

So we played gawky, fascinated by everything, tourists in our own backyard and it was wonderful, and the weather co-operated. 

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If Light is in your heart, you will find your way Home. (Rumi)

The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk on the earth.  Chinese proverb