We’re thankful for our national parks. We’ve been to several on our travels and have seen God’s beautiful country on display. The last half of this little video consists of photos taken on our drive through the Sequoia National Park…at least as far as we could get without chains.

We also saw orange and lemon groves ready to harvest. Olives and other delectables are grown in the valleys.

The slippers were Kip’s Christmas present. I got fresh tangelos.

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas. We’re on our way home, but we’re taking the long way…

My son used to say, “Mom, can I have some Martian mallows in my hot chocolate?

Tonight, after a day that started out pretty disappointing, I was determined I was going to end it by doing something fun. Kip built a fire in the firepit, and I roasted and ate ten or fifteen Martian mallows.

Maybe it was fifteen or twenty. Kip took a pass. He had an exhausting day at the Reagan Library yesterday.

Those teleprompters are more difficult than they look.

Anyway…you’re probably wondering how someone could have a bad day in beautiful Santa Barbara…

We have really been looking forward to taking Nellie and Rylie for a long walk on the beach, and today seemed like the perfect day. It was sunny and warm. We found a beach up the road, paid the $9 to get in, and headed to find the parking lot. It was then that we discovered all the signs posted everywhere. No dogs allowed!

The girl at the booth who let us in couldn’t have helped but notice our two dogs vying for her attention. Did she think we were going to drive to the beach and sit in the jeep? She hadn’t said a word.

We stop on our way out to ask her if there were any beaches around that would allow you to walk your dogs and she along with a ranger who had shown up in the meantime, both said there were none.

We couldn’t believe that could be true, so I googled it and found two within thirty minutes who allowed pets on the beach, and one was even a no leash beach. Though the sun was under a cloud by the time we got there, we had a good time, and the dogs were really funny. They never did figure out the rhythm of the waves.

No beach pictures…I left my phone in the car. These were taken on the way to the Santa Barbara beach that likes dogs. It really is beautiful around here.

One more day here and then off to see General Sherman’s Tree in the Sequoia National Forrest. We’ll be there until the day after Christmas.

Written last night…

As many of you know, our lives and those of my California family have been rather hectic since the first part of August. My brother, Billy, and I have been lazer focused on my stepfather, Gus, who underwent some pretty major heart surgery and has also had to adjust to advanced macula degeneration and the many life changes it involves.

He has been quite the trooper and has put up with my bossy self and my know-it-all attitude. I know he must have been so happy to see me go yesterday. Kip and I were there for 36 days. That doesn’t count the month I was there during and after the surgery.

This trip involved getting Gus settled into a new house and all that entails. I fear I fell way short of leaving him as organized as I should have, but it was really time to take my husband and my dogs and go. Gus’ eyes told me not to come back even if I left my car keys or my coffee mug behind, which I usually did when we left to head back to the RV over the 36 days.)

So, we left and decided we needed to go somewhere and take some time to figure out where we were/are. Right now, we’re in a lovely RV park near Simmi Valley. We’re taking off early tomorrow and will see the Reagan Library and then we’re going to spend three days in Santa Barbara near the ocean. By the time we leave there, it will be December 23rd. Christmas will be spent on the road, and it will surely feel weird. Did I tell you we have 4 kids, 8 grandkids, and 4 great grandkids? Christmas snuck up on me… I will never understand how people manage to keep their lives organized.

I did buy a tree today for the RV and the dogs helped me decorate it. They have really come a long way in their relationship- building with the cat. One of them puts their ball near the cat who is reclining in the recliner and the other one tries to get the ball while the kitty bats them with her paws. She enjoys the game a lot. I can tell. She had both paws around Rylies head today. It looked as if she was hugging him.

I have to call it a night, but I want to share this Christmas picture of me and some of my cousins that was taken at my Aunt Emily and Uncle Wayne Sanderson’s house. I’m the one in the dress with the fur collar. I just loved that dress. I grew into it about ten years later.

It was blue

This poem is from the heart. I wrote it because I know there are others like me who have a difficult time finding the right words to say to someone who is grieving. I have three important people in my life who have recently lost their husbands. This is for them.

Sometimes, when our eyes are closed, we can see much better.
I can’t seem to find the words, so let’s do this together.

We can sit here quietly, and I’ll take your hand in mine.
I’ll look inside your hurting heart and see what I can find.

I see the one you’re missing is right where they belong.
They want you to know they have been there all along.

See them fill it up with all the love they have to give..
They want you to remember that in your heart is where they’ll live.

Let’s sit here a while longer. You can tell me what you see…
A smile, a laugh a wink… a treasured memory?

One thing about memories…you’ll recall the cream of the crop because the bad ones sink to the bottom, and the good ones rise to the top.

When our eyes are closed, we can see a little better.
Let’s keep them closed a little while and say a prayer together.

Photos by Dianna Diehm