Back Home Again, Again

Yesterday I was navigating my way through DC to catch my flight home from the Baltimore airport. Today, I took a walk through the moody, wet, spring woods to the sounds of woodpeckers knocking on trees and wild turkeys gobbling on the far hill. Jeez, I really am living the life! To be able to visit cities and live in the country has always seemed the best of circumstances to me. Thanks to John's travel schedule, the frequent flier tickets are plentiful. And thanks to all the amazing young people in my family, I have lots of people to visit in marvelous places.

I visited my niece Emily who lives and works in Washington D.C. over the weekend. I was supposed to help her paint her new condo, but an eleventh hour real estate debacle occurred (as they are wont to do) and we ended up playing instead of working. I didn't bring my camera, so she has all the incriminating photos. It was such fun to walk the city, eat at great restaurants, browse bookstores, drink cappuccinos, and meet her friends. We got in some salsa dancing (which I have no idea how to do) and mojitos (I found out in Mexico that those taste very good) and the American Indian Museum (beautifully designed) and a drag show brunch on Easter (don't ask), and a little bit of shopping...it was a blast.

Back here, at a much quieter pace and during a lull in the rain (which has begun again in earnest) I took a walk through the woods and fields. I love doing that after returning from several days away from home. It quiets my soul to say, "Hello," again.

I love the way that beech trees retain their leaves until the following spring when new growth finally pushes them off. The leaves are a delicate, butter yellow against the smooth, silver grey bark. The overall effect of them weaving through the other, bare branches of a crowded woods reminds me of lace.

May apples are coming up! They look like alien pods all writhing and weird to me.

Little wood violets are out, too. Their heads were hunkered over from the rain, but that color was unmistakable. Soon, they'll be everywhere--enough to make a small bouquet in a tiny vase.

While I was gone, John was busy finishing the stairwell in bittersweet vine. It is impossible to photograph. You'll have to come see it in person.

I'm with LeRoy in thinking that it is the coolest thing ever. I feel like I'm walking up into a treehouse every time I climb the stairs.

And we won't have to worry about small children falling off the stairs anymore. He's still got some work to do finishing the railing around the whole upstairs. Guess I'll have to travel off again for a long weekend so he can get busy!

Where To Begin?

Wow. I don't know where to start on the Mexico trip. There is too much to put into one post so you'll have to bear with me as I try to organize it into something that I can understand over the next week. Overall, it was fantastic. I am in awe of my beautiful, intelligent, and intrepid step-daughter. I truly don't understand how she musters the energy to face completely new cultures over and over again and stick with it until she becomes as close to a local as an outsider can be. Because it does take energy to make your way through a foreign place and people--no matter how beautiful, compelling, friendly, etc. We visited Sarah when she lived in Aix en Provence for a year and it was also a foreign place, but the culture was, on a scale, much more similar to my own than was Mexico. I am of European descent after all. The faces looked like mine in France.

Mexico was so different and I don't know enough about it to tell you why exactly. I was humbled and amazed. Humbled by the fact that these people are our neighbors and I hadn't ever met them before, and amazed at the richness of their history and how that history has trickled down to the present in certain behaviors and in architecture and cuisine, etc. It was also just plain fun to experience so many new things, and I am sure that the level of fun was in direct proportion to the fact that we had a wonderful set of guides in Sarah and Jorge.

Okay, so. I'll begin with some pictures of walking through the streets. We did this everyday. Similar to European cities, you walk everywhere in Oaxaca. That right there is different enough from the US, no? A portrayal of our walks would not be complete without a strong mention of The Stella--our tireless walking companion. (And for that matter, the graffiti.)

We leave Sarah's apartment and descend into the city...

We went to a gigantic market in Tlacolula on our first day. There is my hair sticking out like a sore thumb. I'm quite positive that the Mexicans, if not ready for my hair, are used to the look that was surely on my face--eyes agog and mouth slightly open.

On our first day, I was also stunned by what sounded like a gunshot close by. Sarah and Jorge stood, unfazed, as I clutched at my heart. "Oh," they laughed, "those are fireworks. Someone is always setting them off." Indeed. They often alerted people to the presence of parades or protest or pride marches that you might stumble across anywhere.

And everywhere, I mean everywhere, a church. Those Spaniards weren't taking any chances, I guess.

Stella was always an object of attention. Here on the Zocolo, or main square, a boy keeps asking, "Does she bite?" And despite Sarah's repeated assurances that she didn't, he could not bring himself to touch her.

We had some fun with the street paintings, or at least John did : )

And oh, the colors! Holy God Almighty, the colors!

On two occasions, we walked the Cerro Fortin, Sarah's running route. It is straight up, oh I don't know, five hundred or more steps. Besides the exercise (which we really didn't need at that point) there was an almost 360 degree view of the valley and that was worth it.

And there you have the merest taste of the streets of Oaxaca. At the end of the day, we slogged back up the hill to Sarah's house, tired to our bones, and ready for some cold beers and warm sopes.

Next up: a botanical extravaganza! All you biophiles get ready.

Home Again, Home Again

It's Monday and we are truly, officially not on vacation anymore. We arrived back to Columbus on Friday night, drove out to the farm on Saturday morning, and spent the weekend coming back into ourselves.

California was lovely and our friends were even lovelier. One of the first things we did in Los Angeles was set out for a walk. It was misting, of all things, so we had to don some chapeaux.

There is Col in her infamous kitty hat.

And after that it was non-stop. We ate at fabulous restaurants--how can you not in such cities as LA and San Diego? We saw a hilarious show at the Groundlings Comedy Club. We visited the neighborhood coffee shop every morning to get our coffee on (girl got to get her juice!) And we did something I've never done in all the times I've visited Col in LA--we took a hike. Stough Nature Preserve sits on the hills above Burbank. We walked straight out of the parking lot up some fire roads. The colors were soft and autumnal in a desert-like way.

At the top of one of our hills was a picnic table near a lone pine tree. On the picnic table was a box where people wrote their thoughts on paper and left there for others to read. We had a nice rest there, ate some berries, and of course left our own thoughts on a scrap of paper.

The next day we drove north to wine country in the Santa Inez Valley to do some tasting with some of Col's friends. Yeah, that was hard. That was a really hard day. Mmm hmm.

And then we were off to San Diego. John and I drove our rental car to San Juan Capistrano to sight-see at the Mission before meeting up with Karen. I visited missions near Santa Barbara with my parents when I was a kid. They bought a painting on one of our trips and it hung in our home when I was growing up. I loved looking at it and remembering the cool stones and hot sun, the yellow adobe and fuschia flowers, and the endlessly interesting play of shadow and light across the pathways. This shot reminds me of that painting, and is, for me, the quintessential Mission image:And there are those fuschia flowers (with the addition of a sweet hubby).We stayed in a little motel by the ocean that night and watched a sunset. You can't have a travelogue about California without a sunset shot!The next day we continued down the coast and met up with Karen in San Diego. We took another hike--this time along the coast. We began up high and travelled down to the beach. It was another glorious day, although a little hot. Thank goodness we didn't run out of water! Karen!


We returned to LA after a delicious meal at a Mexican restaurant that one of Col's friends recommended--El Agave. We each had a different mole. I wanted to lick the plate, it was that good.

On our last day, we took it easy with Col, laying around, eating one last meal with one last bottle of wine. And then we flew home.

Thanks to Col and Karen for your hospitality and energy. It was so good to see you both. Friends like you are priceless. Thanks, California, for your rugged beauty and for giving me a new reflection of myself. Hello again, Ohio, my undeniable place of heart. It's good to be home.