Which is better?

One long, long post, or a bunch of little short ones?  Not sure you (my reader) have a choice.  It is my tendency to not write for a couple of days & then do it all at once.

The quality of light in Southern California is really incredible, often.  Right now the coastal areas are having "June Gloom" in the mornings.  Marine layer moves in & the mornings are cloudy & grey.  But then the sunlight comes out & the flowers seem to glow with an internal light.  I took the camera down with us this week to try & catch some of that.  I'll be honest, the pictures are a poor representation of the original.  I love blue morning glories!  They are just amazing.  In some light they are a deep blue & in other light a glorious purple.  (I also hate dys.lex.ia!  I can't begin to count the number of words i've had to "fix" so far.)

 

 I have fond childhood memories of big mimosa trees.  They grew in a way that made them very easy to climb.  

I remember the beautiful blooms.


Somehow, California mimosa just doesn't have the same quality for me now.  It looks paler & kind of scrawny.  





 

 But maybe that is just lost childhood. 

 Bougainvillea seems especially to glow in the June sunlight.  I didn't begin to capture that here.  This is just one of the colors.  We also have a beautiful red/fuchsia & deep purple.  Well, there also is a salmon/coral color, but i'm not particularly fond of it. 

 Impatiens from my MIL's yard.

 Sweet William from a planter at my MIL's house.


I didn't get any of the qualities of this flower i wanted to catch.  I should have tried from a different angle, but i was in a hurry.

The original Mother's Market was on 17th Street in Costa Mesa.  I lived 2 blocks away & often walked there to shop, long before i ever began seeking "healthy living."  That store was there 27 (? i think) years.  It was not all that well set up, but they did the best with what they had.  They have built other stores in Southern California since the first one opened.  I think there are now 6.  But the original one has just moved into this, the new store.  It is on 19th Street, about a mile from the old one.  I think they will do well.  They seem to always have a lot of people there.  

My pics of the inside were too blurry, except this one.  I love the colors of the produce.  (Well, it is a bit blurry, too, but i like it anyway.)

But i hate the parking lot!  Here is just one (out of about 8) pic i took of why it is so awful.   That darn truck is almost 3 feet out into the driving lane.  But the parking spaces are much too short.  As well as being too narrow.  The parking lot is a nightmare to navigate, but i knew it would be.  It was just the same when Border's Books was there.  Worse now, because there is always a crowd at this store. 


We've not heard anything from the church.  I don't know if we ever will.  Today was suppose to be the "Ladies' Luncheon" & my intent was to go.  Not every month, but this first one because i didn't want to allow myself to feel that G had "shamed" me.  However, the person i was going to go with (who strongly feels i should go & hold my head high) is not going.  So, not going to happen.  I don't think i could just walk into the group without feeling someone still liked me. 


Mine is an eclectic blog.  I read a lot of blogs & some are specialized (Gluten-Free eating, or infertility, or health, or decorating, etc.).  I don't want a specialized blog.  I like writing about all kinds of things.  I like showing pics of our area or Orange County, or wherever.  That is why in February i started the I looked for love blog.  Not that i wanted to isolate/separate my journey of faith or talking about my view of God or Christianity from my everyday life, but because i could see that talking about faith or belief was threatening to overwhelm my ability to write an eclectic blog.  As i'm not as well-rounded as the Pioneer Woman, it made sense to me to start another blog.  At a blog that is bigger than mine, i suppose it would be a tab, a list of something else in my life.  But in my little life, it is just another blog.  (Also, if i'm looking for something specific, i find PW difficult to navigate.)


Yesterday at I looked for love i got the most encouraging comment from LutheranChik. 
She wrote of "religious xenophobia" which i thought a very, very good term.  Too many churches tend to label other churches as the enemy or foreign.  I think having his children bicker like that would be painful to God.

This is a closer view of the drive down on Tuesday.  We are in the clear lanes & paid $2.05 for the use of them.  That was one day it was definitely worth it!


Yesterday i got a surprising phone call.


Years ago, Jan & i were roommates when i was just out of high school.  We were only roommates for about 9 months because i wanted to move somewhere that i could have a cat & i rather wanted to live by myself.  But Jan & i stayed in contact, more or less, for years.  We might not hear from one another for a while, & then when we did it was like no time had passed.  

But it had been many years since i had heard from her.  She never married, but she had a daughter & when her daughter was about 3 years old they had a house fire.  I spoke to her once after that & somehow we lost touch, tho i tried several times to find her both before having a computer & once i had one & could do online searches.  


Wednesday night/Thursday AM i really didn't sleep much, & while browsing online i thought to try again.  I checked Facebook, & low & behold!  There she was!  (FB does have its uses, much as i dislike it sometimes.)  So i sent her a short message.  She responded & said to call her this weekend, giving me her phone #.  I sent a longer message, telling her what was up with us & gave her an email address & phone #.  She called yesterday.  We chatted for about half an hour.


I have to say i find her completely unchanged.  Now, i know that there must be some changes.  It has been a long time.  She stayed on in OKC for a long time.  But now she is back in MT.  Her voice is exactly the same.  Her commitment to God is the same.  And her lifestyle much the same too. 


Jan is as much of a free spirit, or gypsy, or "Christian hippy" (depending on your viewpoint) as anyone i've ever known.  Now, whether or not this is true, i remember her ready to do anything at just about any time.  If you wanted to go on a day hike, she was ready.  Go to Yellowstone for the summer?  Pack a bag & a couple of boxes & she was ready to go.  (Each time, after praying for direction, of course.)


I was just the opposite.  I wanted to "settle in" to a place & not move again for, oh, say 20 years or so.  (The place where Duane & i were living in Costa Mesa had been my home since my junior year in college.  I'd been there almost 15 years when we moved.)  Moving is a big deal to me as i've china to box up, & books & books & books, & linens & keepsakes (although we have a minimum of those displayed).  I have let go of things more as time has passed, but i still have a tendency to hold on to things.

I'm a "stay at home" girl & Jan was always an "adventure girl."


Her faith was always amazing to me.  She just told God her needs & somehow what she needed came thru.  I've essentially never had such an experience.  But, then, i do tend to worry.  And sometimes i think my "needs" were not exactly basic.  Jan moved to back to MT to take a job that then didn't work out.  So she's doing this & that.  She said it has been so exciting to see God provide for her that she almost doesn't want a regular job, she's happy just waiting to see what God will do.  

A few days ago she wanted to go to Bozeman for the afternoon (she's in Billings now, 143 miles away; we lived in Bozeman when we were roommates).  She didn't have the money for gas.  She mentioned it to God & forgot about it.  An hour or two later a friend called, said he had $40 for her because, "God wants you in Bozeman this afternoon, Jan."


Part of me thinks - has always thought - that is what the Christian life "should" look like.  Maybe it is.  But i have grown enough to know that i can't make myself squeeze into that mold.  It would be like trying to wear a mask all the time.  Maybe that is what i "should" be like, but i know i can't be.  I also know that God accepts me as i am, even if i can't walk with as much faith as Jan does.


But i will always admire her strength of faith.


If i can find a pic (& scan it), i will. 


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