the view from my window

Well, here I am. In California. Right now, it still seems so surreal. Not quite like a vacation, though, like I was worred about. It feels too...homey to be a vacation. I mean, you don't grocery shop or have a library card or receive UPS packages when you're on a vacation.

This is the actual view from my window. On the way up to Clint & Becca's house for the first time, I asked, "What are those trees along the drive? Are those...apples?" Clint glibly replied, "No, pomegranates." That was my first reality check that I was definitely no longer in the Midwest. (As if the curvy roads, citrus groves, & dry air weren't enough clues.) So after church yesterday, I snacked on pomegranates grown along the drive. This morning I woke up with a slight bloody nose from the dry air. I took a walk this morning with the dog, Sibley, and watched every step I took because of all the, ahem, snake holes. But no worries, Noah informed me that it's too cold for them to come out now(!!). Then he took me on a tour of their "fort", which consists of a cluster of rocks peppered with snake-friendly crevices and suspicious holes. It will take me a while to get over jumping at the sight of every wind-ruffled twig.

 The adorable Sibley. Her ears are in permanent cockeye.

 Just one of many citrus trees in the backyard.

I feel shockingly at home though. And for the first time in my life, I have my own bathroom! There will be lots to adjust to, but it doesn't worry me--at all. Perhaps that's naive. I know I'll miss my family fiercely at times, and there will be moments I'll long for the comfort of just knowing how to drive places without having to think or follow a GPS, & when a walk was only a walk instead of a heart-palpitating journey through snake-infested soils--and oh, did I mention there are mountain lions? (Brenda, I promise to always take Sibley with me. I actually had to drag her along this morning, but I wasn't about to brave the hills alone! Not the first morning anyway.) But it feels right to be here. And I am resting in that. After I get settled, my posts will take on the banal day-to-dayness I've named my blog after, and you will be subjected to the antics of StrongWill, Sophie, & Noah, but til then, pomegranates, snakes, & an un-cornfied view!