Weekend in Oz

First of all I want to say THANK YOU to those of you that wrote in after the last post. It means so much to hear from you and I'm glad you want to hear more about all that---I will definitely keep you well abreast. It's getting warm here--I'm ready for it to be legitimately warm---but as it does it certainly has that feel of infinite possibility. So feeling good. I even dreamed the other night I could speak hummingbird. That has to be positive!

LA can feel like Oz. Certainly it feels like important people are often hiding behind curtains. But it's Oz in the best way in that every spring part of this state explodes in poppies. One of my best friends and roommate from college Carmen and I drove out to Antelope Valley today to the California Poppy Reserve and here's what we saw:
Look at that!!! I took that on my iphone thank you very much using an app Carm told me about called Tilt Shift Generator. It's from the folks who brought us Toy Camera. It was so incredibly beautiful out there. If you live remotely near LA and can take an afternoon to go please do! They'll only be around for another couple weeks I'd guess...It's an hour or an hour and a half away, and it's best to go earlier in the day because the little guys start closing up for the night at about 4. Swaths and bands of poppies everywhere

We walked around the reserve itself for a while where you have to stick on the trails, and then on our way out pulled over to some land where we could roam around, sit down amongst the flowers, have a Dorothy moment lying down in them, watch them moving in the wind like a big orange wave. It's probably one of the most photographed places in the state--Carm and I got a laugh over how many people (us included) could be seen crouching down for a close-up of a poppy as though to get the best shot of their lives---but for good reason. On that note, though, Carmen IS actually a photographer and was shooting mostly on her Holga. When she sends hers to me I'll make sure you see them. That's Carmen (hi Carm!)

It is such a good feeling to head home sundrenched and dusty (it's really hot and dry out there---take twice as much water as you think you'll want to drink), driving through the bleached-out hazy LA-getting-warmer light listening to this radio station (which on Sunday nights from 6-7 has a gorgeous show of Mexican love songs), feeling summer coming on with its outdoor music and bike rides....And such a reminder to me to remember to get out of the city. Whatever "city" is to you---the routine, the scenery you know. Drive away, take in some new air, hear new sounds and pull the car over at every beautiful thing you see. The more you notice beauty the more there seems to be of it.