Vision

There's a happy side to having a bad dream, and that is, that the dreamer eventually wakes from it, having had nothing more than a cold sweat. Though it was difficult to commence a family vacation in the midst of wavering doom, I managed to keep the camera rolling if only to persuade myself that when my nightmare was finally over, I'd have some proof that it wasn't such a terrible dream after all.


We spent an afternoon among towering redwoods,


took a morning drive through endless fields of grapes,


and embarked upon a short hike through a small forest of Manzanita trees clothed in clusters of fine lace; the result of the symbiotic relationship between fungus and algae. City life does not lend itself to such mysteries. Lichens rarely survive in the air pollution back home. So these discoveries were, for me, the first of several "pleasant" signs of reassurance.
















And I reminded myself that the girls were getting a chance to SEE the things we'd learned about in Botany this year, not quite as excited about it all as I was, but nature has a way of getting directly in one's face without even being conscious of her.


Tangled trails of tree roots were no exception,


nor was the moss covered rocks or saplings that grew straight up from the base of this tree. For years I'd been telling the girls that someday I would take them to see these things.
















Another sign?

To be continued...

Sneak Preview: Our Someday in San Francisco