Update

Lots of things are happening in the world so that I decided to take some time off and head off to Whiskeytown Lake for a mini-vacation from the world. I did get some of the news about the earthquake in Japan and the loss of life and the threat of damage from tsunami here on the coast of California. I grabbed some muffins from a nutritional store that has a gluten free bakery and got some muffins that may have been the best I have ever eaten in my whole life. They were freshly baked raspberry-lemon. I got a venti coffee from Starbucks and off I went under a blue striped sky.

On the way there I stopped to get some books that I had on hold from the public library and as usual I brought some books and a journal along with plenty of pens and colored pencils, pillow, and the softest lap blanket that I have ever owned. I have a place in the park that no one goes to and yet is safe enough that I feel comfortable as the Federal Park Rangers go by there all of the time. I see a wonderful view of the lake, mountains and trees. The reason no one goes there is there are no park benches or clear view of the lake. For the privacy, I can live with that. A bonus is that after 2 pm, it is covered with shade. Before 2pm, there are other places I can go but without the privacy. The number of people at the lake is still down, but there are enough of them there that I have some problems with them as many people do not put their dogs on leashes and dogs scare me.

I tend to be solitary and I am very lucky I live near parks where I can have this without much difficulty. I still have friendships and attend social function, but there comes times that I need to have some time by my self to restore the batteries so to speak. Today was one of those days.

The current batch of books that I have checked out of the library seem interesting. I remember when I first came to live in this town, the library did not buy one book that year. If it wasn't for the people who donate, there would be empty shelves in there. The library buys books now, but they have a large group of volunteers and a bookstore in the library that generates income for the library. Since, I have no intention of having a large library as I did before, I am taking advantage of this.

Nothing was better than reading in the park overlooking the lake, listening to music and doing some writing in my journal. I even took an hour nap that was very nice. Unfortunately, when I woke up from my nap, the blue patches in the sky was gone. It was late anyhow and I went home and found that my grandchildren, at least two of them, were there. I went out to dinner with one of them.