Last night I went to a Christmas boat parade with a friend.  It was fun to be out and not be in charge.  She'd been to the parade several times before and knew all of the ins and outs, making the evening very pleasurable.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoy being a follower when it comes to going somewhere new.



It's nice to go back and look at older pictures.  This isn't one of my best, but it's a fun reminder of all that's good and beautiful in my little corner of the world.  These actually grew in my backyard one year!  I had a bundle of them, and they made me very happy.  This year I'm leaving my bulbs to chance, hoping that I've got enough daffodils and freesia(which don't need to be refrigerated) in the ground to poke their pretty heads up some time after Christmas.  In the meantime I've got more navel oranges on my little tree than I know what to do with.  They're almost ripe, and none too early, as the tree's branches are dangerously sagging under their weight.  I can hardly wait to sample them, as this will be the first crop I've ever had.  What fun!

Renewal



This past weekend Jed and I went camping in the desert.  Well, not really camping ... RVing.  We had electricity and running water supplied to my little vacation home on wheels, which meant that we were warm, well-fed, and clean.  (At least I was -- Jed liked to hang out in the dirt.)  This picture was the view from our "yard".  Not too shabby.

Whenever I go away like that I marvel at what it does to my soul.  It can often be quite a chore to get everything organized to leave, but once we're packed up and hit the road I feel like I'm leaving all the cares of my "real" world behind, if only for 48 hours.