A few years back while living in the Conejo Valley, one Friday at about 6 AM I walked out to get the morning paper and found clear, calm blue skies, and a nicely temperate temperature. Why so many move to SoCal. By 10 AM, everything changed. The typical slight southwest wind reversed itself into a Santa Ana condition, a high gale coming from the northeast, with gusts up to 70 mph. And I was headed into the wind that afternoon, leaving for a…
Read MoreTemecula
Some mornings, the sun instantly brightens the sky. And some gloomy mornings merely become more dreary. Yet on others, the midday sun blasts through the clouds and haze and fog. Why do our emotions seem to follow the amount of sunlight? I discovered that our current hometown of Temecula provides a metaphor that might help here…
Read MoreBeauty As Its Own Reward
I’m a decent stream fisherman for trout. On a Sierra trip a couple of years back, in 13 hours of fishing I pulled in 43, some up to 15”. That’s pretty good for smaller Sierra streams. No brag, just fact. (Kudos to the first that gets that allusion about “no brag”). Then came McGee Creek.
Driving south on old 395, I saw the line of trees marking McGee, and was ready to drive on by. Why? In ten or twelve stops there over the years, I have caught the grand and humbling total of two trout there, both last spring. Yep, entirely shut out before. But the stream’s beauty continues to entrance me—gorgeous holes that…
Read MoreA Time to Sail
OK, I may get the nautical terms wrong, or just not use them, but I AM a landlubber with limited sailing experiences. My first came when good friends and former neighbors, Ray and Carol Ann, invited Sheila and me to join them for a day on the waters of San Diego with their sailboat. The air rushed past my face as we flew into the wind. One side lifted as we turned, reminding me of taking a tight turn on my motorcycle, but somehow even more thrilling. Then Ray invited to experience the joy of “driving” it, and encouraged me to take a wild turn as one side cleared the water. My wife screamed “Slow down!” in fear, even as Ray encouraged me on. I confess, I listened to…
Read MoreChanging Lives
Conversations about long-gone events can change our perceptions of them. Last night, a conversation with our campus pastor J.D. about doing church, about how people decide to follow Jesus, about how we are uniquely gifted and experienced, about how we communicate effectively, forced me to reformulate how I came back to Christ in February 1971. That decision came from three events within a two week period…
Read MoreParental Cruelty?
Admit it, eagle cams have hooked a lot of us. Redding and Big Bear in CA, over 50 in all. We eagerly watch the hatching, the fledging, the first flights. And I’ve picked up a lesson from them, one we might all use in…
Read MoreHello Again, Old Friend
Earlier in the day, the trout on Rock Creek almost jumped into my creel. I’d parked alongside the road and hiked overland to a rarely fished stretch, not another fisherman in sight. Anywhere. I loved both the solitude and lack of competition. The first hole yielded a small brown, maybe 8”, who likely appreciated being returned to his frigid home.
He was the first of twelve trout caught in just over two hours that day; two were keepers at 14” each, and provided dinner for Sheila and me my first night back. Pizza at the campground’s café and a hot shower seemed to top off the day. But God was yet to surprise me. Relaxing in the small cabin…
Read MoreDeep Roots
Winter may be southern California’s finest season. The temps are moderate (we’ve been in the 80s for most of February) and winter rains turn the hills into a lush green with native grasses. But weeds accompany the native grasses. Often abundantly. Our house has a slope, about 20 feet high and 90 feet long, covered with ice plant. I’ve discovered weeding it often is best, but navigating the bank in my old steel baseball cleats in my 70s can wear me out. So, I do it in stages. Just a few weeks ago…
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