Welcome to my small corner of the Web world. Consider it a digest version of who I am and what's important to me. With your curiosity, let me take you into my world of dreams and nostalgia.
I'm a native Californian born in the city of Burbank. My home has been in Southern California for the most part, except for three years I lived in Northern California at the age of 12 through 15. There, I lived on a fourteen hundred acre ranch in Marin County on Highway 1. A beautiful stretch between Bolinas and Point Reyes Station. I remember some incredibly wonderful experiences. The only problem with that age though, was not really understanding and appreciating the value of the journey.
Coming from a city life in Glendale California my nearest neighbor's were just twenty feet on either side of the house. By all means that gave me quite a comfort zone. Leaving all my friends and then having to move to a country environment really didn't seem to exciting. Infact, I didn't want to go at all. The thought of meeting new people and living in a 100 year old two story 5 bedroom house surrounded by a mountainous forest of redwood trees gave me the creeps. With a two lane highway passing through the property and the nearest neighbor about 5 miles down the road, in either direction, really made me feel like I'd be a foreigner in a strange land.
After the initial fright of living there a while, it became like no other place I'd rather live on earth. In the summer one of the most exciting things to do would be waking early in the morning and go out to the coral to bridle a horse called, "Lightning" for a ride. Gently grabbing the mane on his neck- I'd jump up on his bare back and slowly head out, in the rocking of the horse's gait, on a trail towards one of the lakes on the property. About half a mile or so down the road from the house.
I suppose a person that never had a chance to live in the slow pace of the country might not imagine that kind of excitement. I really can't think of enough words to describe the wonderful thoughts and feelings I had as Lightning pressed through the dew soaked meadows. Try if you can to picture the scenery of that morning... steam rising up off the brisk grassy ground as the suns rays slightly pierce through the majestic redwoods warming the surrounding area's. Wow! How gorgeous...
Ten minutes in the journey life within the forest seems to begin. First, a few chatty melodies coming from a family of quail fill the air as they scamper across the trail. A couple of minutes later a sudden rustling coming from within some bushes ahead, startling me and Lightning, out dashes a spooked dear in haste to get up towards the hill and out of sight. While looking up at the silverery blue morning sky a pair of mallard ducks go whizzing by, probably heading for one of the lakes...A wonderful memory.