Life On The Central Coast

December 2011 We're getting ready to bid the old year Goodbye... It's been a choice not to make very many posts this year. Every time I would sit down to write I'd say, "Who wants to read about that!!??" My mom used to tell me..... If you're my age, I'll bet you've heard that line before too. And what can I say? For us, 2011 was a pretty challenging year. It seemed like every time we had a "crisis" of one kind or another that resolved, another even larger "crisis" would rise up to take it's place. It was the first year for me that I've had to live with chronic pain from what I found out in November, was a labral tear in my hip area. Seems as I age, arthritis is setting in and the Doc recommended a hip replacement. I'm trying to fend that off for a while in hopes that maybe there will be a way to have relief without such drastic measures, but it means living daily with quite a bit of pain and the inabili...

Pictures. If you are like me you have a bunch of them. This one was take just a couple of weeks ago as we were enjoying a visit to Avila Barn. My niece shared it on Facebook a couple of days ago and it's really special to me. From the moment I laid eyes on it I saw the magic that is Family. (Back row left to right - Me, My sister Lynn, my niece Carla - Carla's sons Cade in the middle and Jake, bottom middle) My sister Lynn says, "you can see we are related, we look alike." And that we kind of do. But I saw something more. The interconnectedness of a family. Without planning it at all, look at how we are each touching someone. My niece has her arm around my sister. My arm is around my sister and Cade. Lynn has her hand on Jake... we are connected, family. It reminded me of the roots of a tree.... grounded, strong, a bit tangled into each others lives perhaps but that wanting to be included... tangled....touched. Our families, our "trees" of connectedness, t...

I've played along with the Ali Edwards, One Little Word Challenge for the past 2 years.In 2008, my word was Greatfulness . There was SO much to be Grateful for that year. In one year we added 3 grandsons to our family. Last year I chose REcreate . What I was hoping for was a year of having fun, camping, doing all sorts of recreational activities. But I think the "Universe" heard RE create and instead of laying around on some beautiful beach, we did home repairs and fix-ups for the entire year! My home is gorgeous now and I'm really happy I picked that word, BUT, like the end of 2009, I'm ready for a break. I've tossed around words like peace, tranquility, rest, serenity, meditation but nothing has really seemed right. Then I was doing some reading yesterday and it said to just let the word choose you. I'm open, I'm waiting..... I think I'm hearing my One Little Word coming in.... My One Little Word for 2011 is.... ROOTS! I'm the keeper of m...