God's Gifts

My favorite place to walk is the Arboretum. Last Sunday I took a walk at the end of the day. I try to carve out some time on Sunday to do something fun. Many times, its simply working in the yard. Other times, it's talking a walk with a friend. But on this day, I could not find a companion, so I took God and my camera. Note: for some reason my "notes" around the pictures are split...with part of the note on the side of the picture...so my captions are broken up and don't make sense(sigh).



I thought of you...my blogging friends. I wanted to show you how beautiful Southern California is at this time of year.



I know many of you live in beautiful places also.



On the north end is the Australian section. All the trees are natives from "down under".



















Bright yellow and red Aloe Vera


Those Orange Aloe Vera plants (3 pictures above) are about 8 feet tall!

This One-hundred twenty-five acres of beautiful land lies in the center of city and suburban life.

I'm lucky to have such a beautiful place to come to. One day I brought an older woman friend, (Mrs. L) to the Arboretum. She can't walk very far, which posed a problem.

I really wanted to show her everything. I thought we could take the sight-seeing tram, a long skinny open air bus that departs every hour. But it was out being serviced. After additional inquiry...and using some of our female charm...a golf-cart type open air vehicle pulled up and a young man invited us on board.

Mrs. L and I received a free tour of the entire arboretum via the golf cart. And because the driver was young, we found our hair flying in every direction. He was very knowledgeable about the trees, plants, the history and geology of the land. He stopped many times to point out details. What a ride!

Home Life

Oldest son C has been surviving at home. So far so good.
When I got home from work today, Mozart called me over.
"I wanted to tell you something. Last night C and I laughed together over something on tv."

That was a gift.

I'm becoming increasingly aware (and looking for) the good things in a day. I take strength from them. Life is tough and challenging for most of us. But there is beauty, and there is encouragement if you look. God is there. And He will never leave us or forsake us.