This weekend I visited the Carlsbad Flower Fields with a friend. It was my first time. We didn't know we were going on Kids Day. And there LOTS of families there! It was a gorgeous San Diego Saturday full of warm sunshine. Spending it outside in the beautiful flower fields was the perfect way to enjoy the weather.
Beautiful flower fields (and, yes, that IS a port-a-potty in the corner...). Carlsbad is famous for these flowers: ranunculus. Isn't that a fun word? I am pretty fond of them. Here's a closer shot of these cute flowers.
Aren't they pretty? And they come in such great colors too!
Here's a view of the fields overlooking Carlsbad, the outlet mall (yay!), and the ocean. Not a bad view!
It's such an extraordinary thing, music. It is how we speak to God finally--or how we don't. Even if we're ignoring God. It's the language of the spirit. If you believe that we contain within our skin and bones and spirit that might last longer than your time breathing in and out--if there is a spirit, music is the thing that wakes it up.
So have many others. Tolstoy said that music was the shorthand of emotion. Martin Luther called it a "fair and glorious gift of God." Aldous Huxley said that after silence, music comes closest to expressing the inexpressible.
Most people I know would say that their souls are stirred by music, especially during wearisome seasons for spirit.
I've always loved music, and it has definitely been something to turn to in the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Here's my personal playlist of songs for the soul. These are the songs I find myself turning to when in the throes of pain, sadness, or just general weariness in the state of calamity and destruction of the world in which we live.
I've provided links to the albums. If you could use a little soul soothing, check them out.
It is spring in San Diego. I think spring may just be my favorite season here, and I know we don't get a lot in the way of seasons. But spring definitely exists. It is the one time of year when this near-desert locale is green. We have been getting a lot of rain this winter, at least by San Diego standards, and it is totally worth it. All the hills are lush, and random flowers pop up along the freeways. It is warm (usually), but not yet hot and dry like summer. Everything smells awesome. And I really like to smell things.
One of the greatest scents God created is orange blossoms. Seriously, if Estee Lauder could bottle that stuff I would wear nothing else. It is amazing. At my parents' house, the air is so heavily perfumed with it this time of year, it's intoxicating.
It has rained every Saturday for the last four or five weeks now. I am a little upset that we've had sunny, beautiful days during the week while I'm sitting in my office, and rain and wind on my days off. But...today there are blue skies, some big puffy clouds, and a spring breeze. And the forecast for the weekend is sunny!
So welcome, Spring, to San Diego. We're so glad to see you again.
I moved this weekend! In the rain, nonetheless. Big thanks to my dad and my brother for making multiple trips to and from my old apartment and my new house. Yes, house! I'm renting the master bedroom in an older San Diego home, full of 70s/80s flair and charm. We have backyard. And I have two closets. Lots of room for all my shoes!
While I hate packing with a passion, and find moving exhausting, I do have to say that it does wonders for the process of simplification--my goal for 2010.
