Driving Through the Desert 05.15.07

Over the weekend, seven of my friends and I made the 432 mile drive to Las Vegas, Nevada to celebrate all of our 21st birthdays. As I watched the thermometer in my car flirt with three digit temperatures, I thought back to the readings in "Land of Little Rain." Before this weekend I had had little experience in the desert. The only images I had where those I had seen on T.V. on the Discovery channel.
The landscape laid out before me was much different than I had pictured. There was much more plant life than I had expected. Deserts to me were supposed to look like the vast sand dunes like those in the movie Aladin. I suppose Disney movies are not the best resource to base my impressions on.
As we drove on the two lane highway through the heat, I imagined what it must have looked like to those traveling across the country in their covered wagons; no highway, no telephone lines and no reststops. With just the tiny, ankle-high shrubs there was no excape from the blazing heat radiating down from the sky. (At that moment I was thankful for the air conditioning technology pumping refreshingly cool air into my car.)
My mind then wandered to the kinds of wildlife that resides in these conditions and how well adapted they must be to the extreme lack of moisture in their surroundings. (Again I am thankful for the last gas station we stopped at where I purchased a liter of cold, bottled Aquafina water.) Part of me desired to pull off to the side of the road just to get a better look at what surrounded me, but I felt others in my car may not appreciate the stop as much as I would.

Wendell Berry Quote II 05.14.07

"I love the water of wells and springs and the taste of roofs in the water of the cisterns."
Water
~Wendell Berry

Everything tastes better when you know where it came from, especially if it came from something that you worked hard for. Cookies always taste better when made from scratch instead of the frozen dough you buy at the store.
Or the fresh vegetables you buy at Farmer's Market. Those are always better than what you can buy at Albertson's.

Wendell Berry Quote I 05.11.07

"My sweetness is to wake in the night after days of dry heat, hearing the rain."
Water
~ Wendell Berry

I grew up in South San Jose up in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's not a farming community and it does not get especially hot or dry, but this quote still made me think about those nights when you wake up in the middle of the night to hear the rain pounding on the roof.
I love the constant rattling of the rain in the gutter and the sound of the raindrops hitting my window. Sometimes I would sneak downstairs into the screenroom in our backyard. The metal roof would intensify the sound and I would feel as if I was right in the middle of the storm (without getting wet.)

One of the best things about a rain storm is the fresh, crisp smell in the air after it rains. The air quality up in the Bay is not great, so breathing in the clean air is like being able to eat dessert before dinner.

Morro Bay 05.09.07

In front of me I can see where the sky meets the ocean. The vast body of water stretches further than I can see. The sun dances on the water illuminating the peak of each wave that rolls in onto the shore. The sound of the waves lapping up onto the sand is calming enough to lull one to sleep. The waves rhythmically breaking into white water is a haven for the surfers who have paddled out into the chilling ocean. Looming out in the distance is the great Morro Rock, sticking out of the horizon as if begging for attention. It seems so out of place, but at the same time completes the skyline of Morro Bay.

Clouds 05.04.07

I babysit for a family here in SLO. Since the weather has been so nice lately, we stayed outside most of the day. It's amazing how interested kids are about their surroundings. The little girl spent a lot of the time searching the bushes for the lizard that was sunning itself before scurrying away. Meanwhile, the little boy and I laid on the grass looking up at the clouds. After answering numerous questions about what clouds are made of and why we can't jump from cloud to cloud the little boy began telling me what shapes he saw up in the sky. A fire-breathing dragon, teddy bear and killer whale where just a few of the things this little kid's imagination picked out of the mess of white up in the sky.

It's not often you get a chance to take a break from the day-t0-day stresses, but today was one of them. As I laid there looking up the clouds looked especially white today as if someone had bleached them out. The clean white of the clouds intensified the blue sky that served as their background.

Rockslide Ridge 04.29.07

Situated right on the edge of the cliff, I looked down the rocky ridge. I couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to witness the side of the massive rock slide down. The huge boulders at the bottom would have crushed anything that stood in its way. The noise of the rocks violently rolling down the hill must have echoed around the canyon.

The constant chirping of the crickets interrupted my thoughts. They seemed to be calling out to each other, warning of danger near by. The noise was deafening. The chirps were sharp and full of worry. As I walked toward the noise it stopped. They sat silent and still as if to hide, beginning again after I walk away.

Summer Memories 04.27.07

One of my favorite things about California is the weather. I am not a fan of the cold. Some of my favorite childhood memories are those when my brother and I would stay outside until our parents would force us back into the house.
Today is like that. Even though we are shy of the summer seasons, April seems to be hinting at what is still to come.
On days like this my brother and I would race down the streets on our bikes trying to go faster than the other. Our street was not busy, but we knew not to go further than the white fence of the blue house. Screeching to a hault, obeying our limits, we would turn our bikes around and race back to the driveway. Sometimes we could convince my dad to bring out his baseball mit and we would throw the ball around until the sun dipped down and we could no longer see. The warm summer breeze and sweet fragrent flowers would almost make you forget that the day was close to its end.