California Dreamin'

Well, school is finally done for the semester and I have so many things to do that I've been putting off! I spent some time today raking up some leaves that we abandoned a month ago, and taking them to the burn pile in the back yard. As I was burning the rubble, I began to think about all the lessons I've learned since I moved here to California. I guess that thought popped into my head because I was considering the fact that three years ago I had never gathered sticks and leaves with the sole purpose of disposing of them by fire, unless you count the many campfires I've had. I recall a decade ago being proud of the fact that I got up early once during a camping trip and started the fire all by myself! And here I was today, by myself, standing by a burn pile that I created, I managed, I saw through.

Our lives are full of lessons. One thing I've realized these past few years is that we are constantly evolving as human beings. New challenges come our way, and how we rise to meet them is what creates the person we become. I guess I never embraced those opportunities in years past, but I enjoy discovering what I am capable of, how I handle things, and most importantly, how I can stand on my own two feet and still get by.

As I was waiting for the fire to burn out, I decided to work a bit in the area nearby. It was at this point that I realized that my "voice," or, my "brand" for this blog could include observations of living in Northern California. I was born in Oregon, but I was raised in Nebraska, and consider myself a Midwest girl. On the Great Plains we have few trees--the grassland goes on forever. When I moved to Northern California three years ago I had only ever been to this state three times before: twice to LA and once when my family drove down the Oregon coast, through the Redwoods and over to Reno before heading home. So life here provides new experiences for me daily, and new opportunities for observation.

It is mid-May now, and summer is coming on us hard here in the northern part of the Great Valley. I live just outside Sacramento, on the verge of the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Our weather here is much like the weather is in the Mediterranean. Just down the street from me used to be (before urban sprawl got the better of it) several acres of olive trees. There was an olive ranch there at one time; now all that's left is the house and a few small groves of trees. I had never seen an olive tree before I moved here. The climate here, while second nature to many, always takes me by surprise. This weekend, the middle of May, the temperatures will be over 100 degrees. Granted, this is about 20 degrees over the normal range, but it's not uncommon. To me it is a reminder of the summer to come--hot and dry as they always are, but full of new adventures and wonders to take in.