‘Make California Great Again’.
What a beautiful place! And how fortunate I am to see it through the eyes of third generation California women!
From left to right…Heidi (Michelle’s sister), me 🤓, Cherrie (Heidi’s childhood friend-and-neighbor), and Michelle. All blessed to call bountiful California ‘home’.
I just finished a book by one of my favorite authors, about the dust bowl and the Great Depression, although there was nothing great about it. But great things DID come OUT of it. 💕 Anyhoo, many of the folks in the dust bowl states, destitute and starving after years of little-to-no rain, made their way to California, a land ‘flowing with milk and honey’, but on THIS side of the Mediterranean 😂. While California remains rich in an abundance of vegetation, year round harvests, and beautiful landscapes (hello Pacific Ocean💕), the current political administration is slowly destroying the state. The ladies shared only a small portion of their heartache at the California they knew in their childhood, but all have hope that it can one day be restored with a greater degree of election integrity, and the dissolution of ‘sanctuary state’ status. In spite of all that has been happening, I still see the California I remember as a young fresh-out-of-highschool-girl with big dreams and a heart for adventure💕
Mr. Grapes of Wrath himself lived here!
Most beautiful soon-to-be fall foliage ever! Given the lovely, temperate weather, I forget we are nearly into September.
The girls just had to bring me here to see the ‘wild west’ of their state. 😂😂 It was a good time to do a ‘loo review, even if only for me. 🤓
Artichoke fritters on a rooftop bar in Carmel-by-the-Sea 💕. Dreamy!
OCEAN SCAT!👇
Brunch in ‘the Shire’ 🤗…
And friends. New and fairly new 🤗
It’s funny (peculiar funny, and not HA-HA funny), but Michelle really didn’t know me very well, as we only had six, full days of new-found friendship during our Prague-Budapest-Vienna trip this past April. And as I was slowly waking up my first morning in Salinas, I was pondering her level of trust evidenced by her inviting me into her family. I can easily recall that first morning of setting out as a group for a tour of the Jewish Ghetto in the heart of Prague. Michelle forgot to set her alarm, and as our group got settled on the bus, one was missing…Michelle. Victor, our tour director, went to find her, and within just a few minutes, Michelle appeared, looking frantic, frazzled, and apologizing profusely. There were some who teased her about her tardiness each day after that, but not I. I knew it could easily have been me. I simply smiled, patted the seat in front of me, and said, “You may have just saved us from something terrible.” And after she had stowed her bag, I added, “Everything happens for a reason, yes?”And ever since that moment, we just clicked.💕 The greatest thing I’ve learned in my 62 years, is ‘Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God, in Christ, forgave you.’ 🥹(Eph 4:23)
And so we are off today to explore more of the Pacific coast! I am so looking forward to dipping my toes in the ocean waves 😆🤗!
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