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What a gorgeous day today.  Up in the far northwestern area of California – 5 miles or so from the border – looking over State Parks property where our 18-25 year old California Conservation Corpsmembers have been working, providing fisheries and stream restoration, brush removal and tree thinning work.

It was beautiful, sunny and warm for much of the day, but also foggy, cloudy and cold (especially when we ate lunch at the Crescent City beach).

Today I got to tour an abandoned lumber mill that was given to the State of California some years ago.  I got to see the difference our corpsmembers make in the community. And I got to see some pretty remote land that most people never, ever get the opportunity to see.

I also made some new friends on the auto trip to the location - friends that love what the CCC is doing and want to expand the existing partnerships.

What a great way to spend the day….

In another week, my husband and I embark on a trip of a lifetime – 5 weeks in Australia and New Zealand!

It’s getting hectic around here as we try to make sure we have everything we need and want for the trip…and I try to find my tilly hat and make sure everything fits in the suitcase and make sure we’ve got enough but not too many clothes and have we notified everyone and does our housesitting friend have all the info he’s going to need and have we left phone numbers, etc., etc., etc. 

But how fun that everything is falling into place the way it is, and how great that we get this opportunity to go play on the other side of the Pacific Ocean….we’re already connected by this ocean.  But soon we’ll get to actually swim in it and enjoy a new a different culture – and of course, down there it’s SUMMER!!

This time, I’m going to make sure someone points out the Southern Cross.  When I was in Australia in 1989, everyone kept saying it was too overcast to see it, but I’m not taking that for an answer this time!

I will do my best to post news and pictures while I’m gone….even if my hubby doesn’t want me on the computer very much.  I expect to be able to check emails, etc. every few days. 

Don’t you just love the internet?  It’s also given us a chance to look at things we’re interested in doing and to make connections with people we’d never have found any other way (like the silver metal clay instructor who has a B&B we’re going to stay at – and yes, I’ll take a class from her while we’re gone, too!).

Now that’s a lesson in synchronicity!  I was looking at New Zealand, and saw some interesting information about arts and crafts.  Being an artist and crafter I looked a bit more closely.  There was a listing about silver metal clay. 

Now, I have been dabbling with that for about 3 years, but there are no instructors in my area.  I saw that the artist offered classes.  I emailed her, and guess what, not only does she offer classes, she has a bed and breakfast inn!!  So guess where we’re staying in Napier?  AND, because it’s not a big hotel, it’s the least expensive of all the places we’re staying.

Goodness, do I feel blessed!

P.S.  Why do I think vacations are so important?  You can read more on my Career Life Strategies blog.

It has been phenomenally BEAUTIFUL here the past 3 days or so!!  what a nice contrast to the Christmas day storm and the freezing cold weather we’ve had the past week or so.

Yesterday it was so gorgeous that my husband and I went for an extended hike down to Agate Beach – a wonderful expanse of beach below Patrick’s Point State Park – only about 3 miles or so from where we live. 

It’s well known for agates, and after the kinds of storms we’ve had lately, we figured we’d go add to our collection.

After a walk through all the trees that were blown over in the park, where we actually had a hard time finding the path because of all the limbs, wires and debris, and then down the sometimes steep switchback to the beach, we were there for about 3 hours – biting cold winds, but beautiful sun to balance it out.  

And, I found my first agate!  In all the years of living here I had found many “wannabe’s” that look like agates until you dry them out and discover they are not quite there!  But this was my first real one – then I found another!  Whoopee!  I was on a roll.

We also found several beautiful rocks and some other very interesting stuff, including a cool piece of driftwood shaped like a candleholder.

Of course coming back up the hill as the sun went behind the trees, I was grateful to have brought gloves.  And on the way up, as I stopped to catch my breath, I was amazed at what a beautiful place we live in.

What a lovely day! 

Last night my husband was saying that he just hadn’t gotten out fishing enough lately.

I reminded him that we’ve had lots of rain, hail, sleet, and last week even snow.

He said, “Yeah, well that wouldn’t have stopped Sandy!”  Sandy was his favorite fishing buddy who passed away a couple months ago at age 92.  Sandy had been a commercial fisherman and over time he taught my DH all about the lagoons up here – where to go, how to fish them, what was biting when. 

Tom was already a good fisherman – he’s been fishing with his big brother since he was old enough to ride his bicycle down to the reservoir as a kid.  And until I met him, I had never met anyone who was so passionate about fish as he is – not even my Dad, who also loved spending hours on the lake.

So today, after dealing with an unpleasant task, Tom was watching one of the football games when he got this call from our friend Mark – Sandy’s son.  Mark was calling from one of the lagoons (don’t you just love cellphones), asking Tom to come out and share the boat with him.

Well, no coercion needed there!  Tom was out the door in about 10 minutes.  Even though it was late in the day, the sun was out, and when my guy gets back, he’ll be in such a great mood!  Maybe we’ll even have fish for dinner.

And all because he asked for what he wanted.  It’s really that simple.  Ask and it is given. Especially when we don’t get in our own way.   

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Welcome to 2007!

We lost power on Christmas evening, and it was out until Friday.  You can guess what I’m grateful for!!

Last year at this time it happened on New Year’s Eve, around 8 o’clock.  This year it was Christmas.  Now everyone’s starting to wonder if it’s a pattern we can expect to continue?  Both times we’ve had hurricane force winds – with some clocked as high as 85 mph this year!

So, I’m very grateful for the “basic” amenities that we all have come to appreciate.  They are so basic that we often take them for granted – electricity, heat, water, telephones, transportation, well-stocked grocery stores (and pantries) and especially radio (communication). 

I’m also grateful that we had to replace the pressure tanks on our wells earlier this year.  At that time I was exceedingly grateful to my neighbors who let us hook up to their water for the 3 weeks or so it took to get everything fixed.  What I noticed this time is that the water stayed available for about 2 full days instead of just the hour or two I’ve come to expect over the last several outages.

We were very lucky there was minimal damage to the trees around here – even though PG&E said there was extensive damage to their lines (5 days after all!).  We did have a tree go down on the street and for about 6 hours no one was able to get out because of the way it was blocking everything.  However, we are luckier than some of the outlying areas that had to wait even longer than we did for power.

PG&E brought in crews from as far away as Washington State as well as all over California.  Isn’t it amazing how well organized they are!  It always amazes me how willing they are to work at all hours to get everything back to “normal”.

Our local radio station, KHUM, did an outstanding job of keeping everyone informed.  They are one of the few truly local stations and did a fabulous job during last year’s storm, and this year everyone knew it was exactly the place to get the full story on what was known.

Last night ended up being a quiet night, although we did stay up until after midnight.  As for me, I just found out about Turner Classic Movies special Science Fiction day with classic 1950′s SciFi movies all day long!  If I wanted to be a couch potato, this would be the day!!

What are the “little things” that you are grateful for?  Today’s a wonderful day to count your blessings and start your year in an “attitude of gratitude”.