All Things New

Here we are in Florida--Coca Beach for a week.  We have the opportunity of a life time.  Saturday Nolan and I will be at Kennedy Space Center watching the launch of the Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory.  After watching space launches since we were children we will actually be part of one in person--how exciting!  Sometimes life presents us with a gift that is totally unexpected.

We spent today exploring the area.  It is refreshing to have the opportunity to see new territory.  What is fun and interesting to us is probably boring to the natives.  Palm trees, ocean, sand, colorful kites flying on the beach and wild life that is totally foreign is like a walk through a picture book.  It was impossible to drive by the alligator on the road side.  We were not the only outsiders who had to stop for photos.  It was us and the couple from Italy.  I suppose an alligator here compares to seeing deer in Idaho--a common sight. 

Last night we attended a reception for the  MSL project participants and those invited to the launch and work shop. The NASA director gave a few remarks. He made a point of reminding everyone that we should be proud of this endeavour as Americans.   Everyone is part of the success.  It was refreshing and up lifting to be reminded of what is positive about our nation and put the negative aspects aside.  He said one of the most thrilling experiences is watching the launch of a vehicle that actually leaves this planet and moves toward an object in space.  So far out there--what an accomplishment for man.

This isn't Idaho

   
My Little mind is trying to wrap its self  around the sun shine and warmth.Yesterday we were dressing to keep warm and today we are trying to shed the layers.  The Idaho weather is left behind for a few days with much celebration.  Orland seems like another world.  It certainly doesn't take one long to adjust to a bright sky and 80 degree temps.  I wonder if people living here ever long for snow, cold and wind?  No, I don't think so.

I walked along the vast stretch of beach letting the water tease my feet.  There is something that has always drawn me to the ocean.  Is it the sound, the energy of the water or the dancing waves?  I came back with my pockets full of shells that I will add to shell jar. 

While Nolan attends NASA workshops and gets smarter and smarter, I just wander aimlessly absorbing the sights and noise of a new and different place.  For me the lack of structure and schedules is like a drink in the desert.  Let's face it, I enjoy turning my brain off now and again.  I think it needs a break and who am I to deny such a simple pleasure. 

My simple pleasure was spying a jello fish during my walk.  Something new for me and if felt it was a photo moment. Everyone walked on by--I guess they have seen one before.

In order to get to this paradise there several hours of chaos that had to be endured .  I suppose it was a small price to pay.

I am not, by any means, the super woman of holiday decor and frolics these days.   I move slowly from one celebration to the next with a sense of dread and obligation to participate.  There was a time in my life when I thought I needed decorations for every festive day that appeared on the calendar.  I couldn't wait to drag the boxes out and get started.   I saved, stored and boxed glass eggs, plaster eggs, and sugared eggs.  The snow man made of quilt batting that one of the kids made in school was gently wrapped each January to insure its safety through the coming months.   I had center pieces for the table to commemorate the numerous holidays.  It did not seem like a huge undertaking to move from holiday to holiday.  I gracefully moved through the transition with little irritation and stress.  The months must have passed slower, because I was never behind.  Now for some reason I am always playing catch up.


Thanksgiving has not even arrived and the shelves in the stores are devoid of Thanksgiving adornments.  The Christmas music is blasting through the mall and Walmart is a junky mess.  My fall wheat is still on the table along with the pilgrims and pumpkins.  The Halloween pumpkins are still on the porch--granted they are plastic so they haven't rotted--but is it really time for Christmas lights and wreaths? 

There is something not right about this whole holiday thing.  One just blends into the other and soon they become one big ball rolling out of control and continually gathering speed.  If decorations for Christmas are available in the stores the last of October, maybe we should skip November and move onto December and then there would only be one big meal to fix and plan.

                                                                                       

I just can't feel Christmas yet.  The pumpkins and pilgrims haven't over stayed their welcome yet so I am hesitant to ask them to leave before they have had their last hurrah.












I must face the truth and quit making excuses for my failure to participate with an eager spirit and artistic flare.  The honest truth is--I am being pushed faster than I want to go.  Let me keep my wheat and little people on the table two more weeks then I will gently pack them away along with the plastic pumpkins on the porch and move them to the basement to rest until next fall.  If that is possible then I will be able to make the transition form yellow and gold to red and green.  The tree will appear as well as the center piece for the table.  The snow globes will find there place under the tree so little hands can shake them and I might just put little lighted trees on the porch to fill the spot once occupied by pumpkins.  Eventually I will be ready for Christmas just in time to get the Valentine decorations out.

Slowing Down

As Garrison Keillor would say, "It has been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon.  I must say it has been a quiet week here in Southeastern Idaho. October and November are the precursor of seasonal changes.  I always feel a desperate need to hang on to October.  Warm days and chilly evenings are great for walks and bike rides.  By the end of the month the day light is noticeable shorter.  There is something about the shortening of the day that forewarns of long winter nights.

Yesterday was one of those golden jewel days that we often get as last present before fall gives way to winter; a bright sky with a few clouds slowly building as the day matured and sun low in the sky. When a day like that comes along you grab it and run.  We drove through the Teton Valley.  The summer visitors are gone and the skiers have not yet arrived.  Only a touch of snow capped the mountain tops and a few leaves still remained on the trees.

There was a feeling of solitude and a quiet sense of contentment.  Yesterday was indeed a rare gift, for tonight a soft snow is falling.  It is wet and won't last, but it is an announcement that fall has marched on and that is as it should be.  The cycle continues and things around us slow down.  We become semi home bodies and pass the time inside rather than outside.  Maybe this is how it was meant to be.  Possibly we need a time for thought, renewal and a time to appreciate the cycle of the seasons and what each brings.