Dream House

I came across this image tonight on pinterest.  I think this is going to be the place I picture in my mind from now on, when I'm picturing the perfect safe and quiet place to escape to.  And of course, it's surrounded by palm trees.

Canadian Palm Tree

For those of you in far-away warm places, who have been so amused by my love affair with palm trees that grow outdoors, and have so generously sent me palm tree photos from spots scattered across the globe, I thought I'd share a picture of a Canadian Palm Tree.

 

Yes, it is indoors!

Daily 5 - Year 2, Day 93

Today's Daily 5:

1. A long hot shower
2. a treatment appointment tonight that helped with my sore neck
3. a good 2nd day of work
4. good news on facebook - things like the fact that a relative who is quitting smoking has made it a full year without a cigarette
5. sipping a big mug of passion tea (the old version, not the new one that starbucks sells, that doesn't taste at all good anymore.  I still buy the old version at a local grocery store.)
6. having an iphone
7. my US social security card arrived today.  good timing, hope for some future plans came in the mail with that card.
8. being able to wear jeans to my new job, on a day that isn't a Friday.
9. laughing over funny moments that remind me that God has a sense of humor.  Things like waking to a terrible snow storm this morning, and thinking longingly of palm trees that grow outside, and then looking up from the blog post I was writing (via my iphone) on the bus, and seeing a life-size papier mache palm tree, and a smaller one besides, sitting in full glory in the back of a pickup truck bed!
10. escapist television while catching up on some online work

Sunday Morning Again

The last Sunday morning that I was laying in bed with my laptop on top of me, blogging, I was in California.

I'm having, in some ways, at least, another of those early mornings. 

This time I'm in bed at mom and dad's (I stayed here last night.).

I've been awake since 6.  My body seems to refuse to be asleep for longer than 4-6 hours at a time, and since I made the effort to go to bed earlier last night than I have been, I woke early.

And then laid here, wishing I was still sleeping.  Knowing my body could really use those extra couple of hours of sleep.

It's another of those (relatively rare in my life) Sunday's where I'm actually going to go to church.

To be honest, I'll probably go to church and, when the time comes where I'm supposed to be paying attention to the sermon, I'll likely pull out my journal so it looks like I'm taking notes, and just spend some time writing.  Is that horrible?  I've been using that ruse at a whole variety of churches for years.

I have an hour and a half or so to roll out of bed, dress for the day, eat something, and join mom on the way out the door.

I'm having early morning pondering and moments of frustration.

I'm reflecting on the irony of the fact that after a week in which I saw more close friends in person than I have in ages (and even managed to talk on the phone or skype with three of the closest who are far away), I'm feeling lonely.

I'm thinking about the things that the week to come will hold.

Time with family from out of town.

Hopefully connecting with a friend to get some important information I've been waiting on.

Is it shallow that one of the things I'm really looking forward to is catching the newest episode of The Amazing Race?

The week needs to hold time spent sending off some resumes.

And time spent quiet, and alone, writing and reading and praying.

It will hold one of my favorite house church events - the week that happens every month or two where we gather and cook and eat together, setting aside any agenda for the evening other than sharing food and enjoying each other's company.

So I lay here in bed, with a TV by internet show playing quietly in the background, and I'm working to shake off the early morning fears and melancholy.  I'll get up and smile and laugh.  I'll make the choice to enjoy the people I'm spending the day with.  I'll go to church and worship.

(And I'll wish, just for a second, that I was still laying in bed in California, and that when I got to church I was going to be greeted by a dear friend, and that there would be palm trees outdoors along the way!)

"You're Just Going to Stay" (California Part 2)

For nearly as long as we've been corresponding, Lisa has been trying to convince me that the "other CA - the state, not the country" is the place to be.  And, I'll admit, the lack of snow is definitely a selling feature.

Upon arrival, she immediately set out to convert me, with a complete lack of subtlety that was absolutely hilarious.  She basically told me I wasn't going home, I'd just have to move there, and how could I possibly be in San Diego and not fall in love with the place?  That said, her zeal for conversion (and how well she'd gotten to know me via all those years of blog posts and emails and facebook) made her an excellent tour guide!

Food was the one highlight I didn't take any photos of, but lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory made me a convert to Mizithra cheese (turns out that this is a CA delicacy that I can repeat simply by going to downtown Calgary!)  Steak dinner at the Boathouse, and Godiva chocolate cheesecake that we shared over the course of several evenings were all highlights.  And, genuine Mexican food in Old Town.  So good.  I love Mexican food!

On Wednesday we spent the day at the zoo.  Thanks to a friend of Lisa's who works there and got us in free, I've now toured the famous San Diego Zoo, and not actually seen the entrance!  I love zoos anyway, but this one was great fun - pandas, koalas, polar bears, giraffes and otters were some of my favorites of the day.  (I was also quite astonished by the size of the Galapagos tortises, though their sheer size doesn't really show in photos.)

And then, of course, there is the great love of palm trees that I discovered!  I actually don't think, in the course of my travels, that I've ever been to a place where palm trees just grow outside.  In the wintery world in which I live, palm trees are in the indoor botanical gardens at the zoo or downtown - not outside.  They're the thing you put in the photo of some tropical location on your computer desktop background to get you through the winter - the pipe dream of someplace fabulous that you'll maybe go someday.  Quite honestly, palm trees might be the biggest selling factor for a move to California one day!  They definitely became the standing joke for the week, as one or the other of us pointed them out, including the "miniature palm trees" on one of the rides at Disneyland!

In the posts to come, various sites, the best parts of the trip, and of course, Disneyland!