where I used to live

San Diego smells like damp pavement a lot of the time, that or the salty sea. You can see the full moon rising in the east and some dull stars trying to shimmer above, even here, close to the downtown city lights. I can appreciate these things. But, I have to say I am more grateful than I can express here to have had the opportunity to live near and just now visit Yosemite and the surrounding areas in winter, spring, summer and fall. The smell of ...fresh air, crisp and cold in the winter, of burning fireplaces and the warm sun on the lake. The moon rising through the gray trees still speckled with oranges and gold from the fall. The utter coziness of my friends' place where I stayed was so right, so satisfying, so relaxing. It was all so breathtaking and delightful!! I bought a small Christmas tree and a small string of lights to try to convey some sense of season and coziness here in the seasonal void that is San Diego. Sure 70 degree temps year round are in some ways divine, but so are a fire place to warm the home and cut the chill of below 40 temps, cut-yourself Christmas trees strung with hand made ornaments and good friends to enjoy it all with. I miss my friends and life in Bass Lake, but I didn't suffer my usual bout of angst over what I should be doing with my life and where I should move. And I'm glad I know how much it is worth it to make the effort to continue to spend time up there, even though it is good for me to live in San Diego right now. My friends there have and continue to teach me a lot about home (you should see their hand crafted chicken coop, raised bed and hand cut wood piles) and friendship and hospitality and thoroughly enjoying the natural world. It makes my current experience here in San Diego all the more rich now that being outdoors has become irresistible to me. And there is plenty to do here to satisfy. And yet when the pace here gets to be a little too much and I need a little refresher, the train ride up and back to Fresno really isn't so bad. :) Pictures to come...