manifesto monday: countryside drives

friday & saturday i drove to heber/midway with people i love!

we talked, laughed, and cried a bit.

ceej was in town.

i needed some calm.

so we drove.

have you ever seen this house in midway?

it's known as the "hobbit house"...

and you know how i LOVE hobbits!

(i married one!)

driving out of the city and into farm country

makes my heart and body sing.

i could drive for days with no destination

just happy with the scenery

and good conversation.

driving clears the mind

and brings solace.

this i believe.

dear sleep,

photo by annabel mehran

Dear Sleep,

I know I ignored you completely for 24 hours,

drove across Nevada last night without you.

I'm oh so very sorry...

this diziness is trying to take me down.

I promise to spend time with you tonight,

lots of time.

but it was all worth it...

because I've been seeing someone else-

someone who loves me,

and I love him.

loves.

"so often, men trip by being in a rush"

another beautiful drive we took last week. this time through countryside that makes me remember east of eden and angle of repose. enjoy these photos over the weekend...and make time to stop the car and take pictures of beautiful things...have a slow weekend!

there's something about orchards...

and empty roads...

that make my heart swoon...

and my spirit wonder...

how we live together in such a beautiful place...

where the skies and the trees talk together...

and they let me come for visits...

to learn of how they grow slowly...

with light and breath...

and we get to watch it all...

when we slow down to notice.

all photos by me...except the ones of me, which Ceej took. 3.22.09 Davis, CA

Point Reyes Drive

i LOVE driving through Marin County. it's such a beautiful and peaceful place.

i took so many photos...it was hard to choose which to share with you.

there's a lot of photos. enjoy!

i couldn't get enough of these pretty yellow blossoms. there were fields and fields of them!


i couldn't believe how many wind-blown trees we saw like this. how powerful the wind is!

the rain and the fog moved in...i couldn't have been more giddy about it!

in the city of point reyes station there is this lovely little general store. i usually just "window" shop and look at all the pretty and yummy things.

just pretty. love the dismal weather more than anything.

beautiful trees, yes?

how would you like to live in this barn in this little valley? what a dream!

i wish this drive could have lasted forever!

ceej brought along his graflex...it makes the most wonderful photos.

more yellow flowers. just so pretty.

can you see the ocean there in the distance?

we took a walk down to the beach.

at first the rain was simply a mist...

no need for umbrellas yet...

as ceej set up his camera the rain wasn't too bad, but as soon as he was ready to take the photo it started to come down in a mad fit...we continued on with the photoshoot nevertheless. we'll see how the photo turns out (it takes 10-15 minutes just to get the graflex ready for one shot!)

if you come visit us, we'll definitely take you on this drive.

hopefully the weather will be perfectly rainy for you!

i took about a bazillion photos from the car window...there wasn't enough time to stop every 10 feet as i would have liked to.

sigh.

and, of course, we took a picnic along.

hopefully next time you can join us!

tune in tomorrow...

photo by me. 3.21.09 california coast

tomorrow i'll be posting photos from our weekend drive through beautiful coastal scenery. you'll love the irish-like landscape...if your heart is anything like mine.

Driving...Again

Early tomorrow morning Ceej and I make the drive back to SLC...the 4th drive in two months. We don't drive much in the city, but we're certainly making up for it when we drive the 600+ miles to Utah so often. Sheesh.
Here's some of the scenic driving views.

Salt Flats. Of course.


Sometimes treacherous roads with high winds.


I happen to love the drive across the desert. It seems that every time we mention to people that we're driving to/from SLC they get this pitiful look on their face, and tell us how sorry they are for us that we have to drive across the Nevada desert...but I happen to really enjoy this drive. It is so nice to see miles and miles of nothing but brown and gold against a blue, blue sky.

Then we hit the Sierras...winding roads that never fail to make me carsick OR hours of stopped traffic during a snow storm. Pretty, but I'm always glad when the winding is done.

Traffic from Tahoe skiers. Boo.

When CJ drives I sit in the backseat, directly behind him. This is my new strategy because the passenger side of the car blows a nasty cold draft (even when the heater is on), and I freeze to death. So I moved over to the warm side of the car.

The stuff.

Sunset. For some reason now whenever we see a sunset in California I think of trapper-keeper scenes--you know, the ones with palm trees and the sunset colors of orange, pink, and teal? So California.

And, my good companion, the moon.

So next week I start my semester away from Ceej. I don't think it's quite hit me yet. We're both going to be lonesome for sure. This college degree better be worth it (I'm sure it will be, hopefully). See all of you in SLC!