my old friend, the ditch trail

             

                                                               

Here & There in the Bay Area

There's just something about rows of trees.

Taking time to smell the roses.

My road trip buddy, Cooper. (He's not my dog, but I wish he was.)

Intricate and beautiful.

Sunset at the condo

There's a trail that runs next to the water.
Cooper and I went for a walk, then I went for a run.
These sunset pictures were from later, after dinner, sadly not during my run.

Saw this view on the way down to Half Moon Bay.

Flowers for sale outside of Rite Aide. Beauty is everywhere.
It's even for sale....

I could sit all day and watch the waves unfurl and the tide wash onto the shore.

This beach had a lot of black sand, so that mixed with the blonde sand and the tide continuously
coming in made some pretty amazing linear patterns.

Flutter by, Butterfly

Lessons from a Flower- The Desert

I went to the desert today.

It's not a real desert, but a ridge that sits between some houses (they're pretty far apart) containing much volcanic rock and a beautiful view. I love to go there because I can be alone and sit and reflect. It's peaceful there.

I sat on a fallen tree and surveyed my surroundings. I saw a beautiful purple and yellow flower. What follows is the entry I made in my journal:

Alone. The only one. I scan to look for others just like it, but see none. It's alone, but beautiful. If I hadn't walked further to sit on the tree, would it have been seen and enjoyed? Perhaps. But perhaps not. I look again and finally see one more; no, two more. They form a triangle if I were to connect them with a line. Triangles represent strength and bravery. I feel neither. The things that have brought me to this desert are painful and have sapped my strength. I'm weary and clawing at life. Or do I claw at death, which seems to be so inevitable? Whichever, I bear the scars of the clawing.

How can these flowers, so wild and free, have grown in the desert? Maybe they're a reminder that beauty can indeed come from dry, weather, sun-scorched places.

What if I pick it and take it to a softer environment? Would it die? Perhaps. Because perhaps it requires this type of harsh climate and environment to grow. Perhaps some beautiful things do come from the harshest places. 

The more I look, the more flowers I see, all purple and yellow, and all forming triangles with one another. The one is not alone, after all. If we take the time to really look around, we'll find that we're not alone after all and that we don't have to weather the harsh desert on our own. We'll realize that others are weathering it, too.

And maybe they can be the strength and bravery we so desperately need to grow. 

Intro

A coworker asked me the other day if I'm keeping a journal of all of my adventures (i.e. my hikes and places I go where I take gazillions of photos). I said no, but that I should. 

Then, the idea struck me of starting a blog where I can log all of those adventures and share my photos. 

So, that's what this is. This is a memory book, so to speak. It's a place where I can share the sights I see and the thoughts that come from those things, if any do come.

Hopefully, you'll join me on the adventure. God has set out there more things than we can see in our short lifetimes that are breathtaking, and I plan to capture as many as I can. I'd call myself a beauty seeker, nature photographer, runner, hiker, adventurer, rock lover...and these are the sights and some thoughts I've stumbled upon in the pursuit of being myself.

Enjoy!