Walking in LA

Most mornings at our house usually start like this...

Handsome gets up, turns off the fan (anybody else a white-noise junkie?), opens the drapes to the new day, and announces whether the sky is blue or gray ... while I blindly feel around the nightstand for my glasses. He often hands them to me.

It's funny the habits old married couples fall into together.

And every morning, even while still in my half-sleeping state, I'm already hoping that he will announce that the sky is gray and overcast ... or that it's raining cats and dogs ... or that it's snowing ... or something - anything that would mean a slight break in the warm California sunshine. At the risk of sounding too much like Mortisha Adams, what I really wish, especially in NOVEMBER, is that it would stop being eighty degrees and sunny for two minutes put together.

I like sweaters and mittens.

When I was in the first grade, my teacher had us start every day by singing a little song. It went something like this:

This is the day,
(echo) This is the day,
That the Lord has made,
(echo) That the Lord has made.
I will rejoice,
(echo) I will rejoice,
and be glad in it
(echo) and be glad in it.
This is the day that the Lord has made,
I will rejoice and be glad in it.
This is the day,
this is the day
that the Lord has made!

Anybody else know that one?

I really wonder where that teacher is now. I wonder if that song encouraged her to get through days filled to the brim with seven-year-olds? I also wonder if she had any idea how God would use her song to impact a little girl's life? A little girl who daily has contentment issues. Issues so ridiculous as to complain about perfect weather.

And so, the sun shone again today - just exactly has God meant for it to do, and remembering that little tune, I reached for some sunscreen, my keys, the camera, and took a walk in what turned out to be a very lovely day.

I just have to share some of what I saw with you.

My gracious! Why was I so surprised at the beauty of it all?

 

I felt like I was walking through a tropical wonderland - could this be LA? Creation is so happy in all the sunshine.

 Walking in LA. Nobody walks in LA (hiccough/screech). Yah, for a while my sweet, first-grade song got muddled up with this one.

Walking in LA. Nobody walks in LA...

Well, they should. There are so many pretty things that need to be seen and appreciated. I wonder who drew this here? And were they barefoot?

 I tried to find flowers and things that were particularly orange and red for the season, and I was overwhelmed by the beauty of what I found.

This is called Bristle something or another. Bristle Brush? Maybe? I wish I could remember for sure, but it really seems to fit, don't you think?

And then there was this ... just sitting in the back of a pick-up in the middle of the city.

I was almost startled to see it - the pumpkin, I mean. I had forgotten that I was in a big pout over not getting what I thought was due out of a typical November - pumpkins and hay bails and wind chills and gray days included.

I still really like all those things, but today, I'm so thankful that the Lord gives us even beyond what we can imagine too.