getaway

This has been one of my busiest summers at work and I really haven't gotten to travel or rest at all, so I was very glad when my husband suggested a trip down the coast for the weekend. We stayed in a little town near San Luis Obispo, not far from Pismo State Beach. The distant horizon, the soft, warm sand, the ocean breeze and sound of the waves were perfect for clearing one's mind and simply being without any rush.

 
The colors of the sand and sky were so beautiful, and the weather was just right. We saw pelicans and gulls. And we found a number of sea shells.

Our house has a wild hillside stretching farther down than one can see. Long-limbed, gnarled oaks grow back there, sheltering the house and dropping a carpet of leaves. I ventured out there shortly after sunrise and felt like I was in a storybook. I asked a passing deer how old the trees were, but he just looked at me curiously and did not reply. He was surely too young to know.

We packed in as much vacation as we could into one weekend. I played and sang the three songs I now know on the ukulele, we attended a go-kart race in Santa Maria, we walked around the old town area of Arroyo Grande and crossed its swinging footbridge. We tasted wine in Paso Robles, ate fresh bread at the bakery, wandered around San Luis Obispo and deliberately drove around on back roads that we hadn't been on before.

Now I'm back to work, rushing to complete projects and either forgetting to eat lunch or hastily gulping a sandwich at my desk, but I'll keep this weekend with me and take the soft palette of the beach or the vivid strokes of the oak branches and let them come out in my painting one day soon.

Hope you're enjoying these summer days before they're gone!