By The Salton Sea

Our intended destination for Wednesday’s adventure was The Salton Sea. However, since we dawdled an awful long time, taking in the gross extravagance of Palm Springs and that surrounding area, we ended up with very little time to explore the area surrounding The Salton Sea.

Harrumph. We will just have to return another day, I guess.

This beautiful graffiti was found on the fence surrounding the abandoned community pool.

We did get to explore a rather sad little community called Desert Shores, which is right on the edge of The Salton Sea. At one time, it probably was a nice little place to live; however, the economy, the housing crash, or what have you must have took its toll, because very few businesses remain open today. In fact, we saw an ambulance service, a motel, and a church, and not much else. Thank God there was a church so that the community would not totally be forsaken.

It saddened me that the community pool and the fire station stood abandoned, along with many private businesses. There were a few nice houses interspersed, but most of the housing was probably for the workers from the surrounding produce farms.

We did get some beautiful pictures, and I am pleased to be able to share them with you.

In our next post, we shall see what Ken was so interested in viewing. Until then, keep searching for your joy.

Love,

Jenni and Ken

Glorious Fun

Oh, it has been a glorious week so far, and it is only Wednesday!

I’d love to just blurt out all the goodness that God has been bestowing on us as of late, but I will take my time and parse it out properly over the next few posts.

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day. I spent it with my daughter, doing not much of anything, just mom and daughter stuff. We made gluten free peanut butter cookies (recipe to follow) and she highlighted my hair . . . wait for it . . . wait . . .

PURPLE! And so now with my natural silver/gray, I’m sporting the Sacramento King’s colors! Too funny. That one’s just for you, Dale! (Okay, so it doesn’t show up all that well in this picture, but my hair is tinted purple on the ends.)

Those of you who know me personally might notice something else about the pictures. I’m losing weight, although I am not sure how much because I have not stepped on a scale since Portland. Needless to say, I am down a few sizes. Yea! And it is simply melting away without all the usual starvation and torture. What’s my secret, you may ask? Well, when we started our journey, we basically changed our entire lifestyle. That, and I give thanks to God for this, another blessing in my life.

Okay, so I am blurting out an awful lot of the goodness all at once.

On to the cookie recipe. It is the simplest and most delicious cookie recipe ever. Even if you are not gluten intolerant, you may want to try these. They are amazing.

GLUTEN FREE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla

That’s it, unless you are hankering for chocolate with your peanut butter, then add some chocolate chips and you are good to go.

Bake for 10-12 minutes in a 350 degree oven, and I promise they will disappear right before your eyes, even before they have had a chance to cool. Better double the recipe, folks, it is that good.

Love and blessings to you all,

Jenni and Ken

Blessings Abound

Have you ever stopped to consider how often the blessings of God grace your life? How everything, even the simplest of things, has been touched by His hand?

Have you stopped to study the intricacy of a single bloom?

Or stood silently in awe as a great egret took flight?

Or marveled at the glow of the approaching sunset? God can even take LA’s pollution and make it beautiful.

These are but a few outward examples of His love for us. For He also gave us friendship and love, laughter and tears, compassion and forgiveness.

The blessings in my own life are too numerous to count. All day long, I praise His Holy Name for giving me glimpses of heaven.

All of this, I witness and find joy in, not in spite of my pain and illness, but because of it. For through my struggles, He has taught me much, and I am ever grateful.

Where can you find blessings today?

Love,

Jenni and Ken

Fisherman’s Retreat

Fisherman’s Retreat gets a two-thumbs-up from us. The weather may be quite warm still during the days, but the nights cool off quite nicely. The lakes appear to be full of fish, at least willing to be caught on camera if not the hook.

We have a space most conveniently located near the bathrooms, the pool, and it is not too far from the lakes. Plus it is shady to boot.

I haven’t gotten out to meet many people yet, since I am still recuperating. (The traveling has been far more difficult than I had imagined.) But Ken brings me stories from people he meets out on his walks. For today, I live vicariously through my beloved husband.

We did, however, go visit my daughter shortly after arriving, and she and her beau will be spending the entire day with us tomorrow. These are the times I long for. Oh, how I have missed my children.

I’d love for you to meet my daughter. She is one of my great delights in life. I’ll tell you all about our visit soon.

Love and blessings,

Jenni and Ken

Randomness of Blessings

One day last week, before we left the Sacramento Delta area, we happened upon some flowering plants that smelled like licorice and were absolutely covered in ladybugs. I think the plant is called wild anise, but don’t quote me on that.

It just goes to show that you never know what you may find around the next corner or the next bend in the road. I believe that both opportunities and blessings can be found just about anywhere when I open myself to them.

And so, today is simply pictures of these beautiful little blessings we found alongside the road.

Enjoy,

Jenni

My Best Friend

Let me tell you about my best friend, my husband.

We met 17 years ago, and my life has never been the same.

He can sing like nobody’s business, but he’s shy and sensitive and sings only for me. He has a sharpness to his wit and is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, though he chides himself for never having finished college. He seems to have a map emblazoned in his brain. We only have to go somewhere once, and he has it locked in to his memory banks, even if we go years between visits. Sometimes I think he is insane, but he has it more together than I do most days. He’s kind and gentle, and he is ferociously protective of me.

And he loves me. For whatever reason, he chose me, and I am forever grateful for his love and his friendship.

All he has to do is look at me with those dreamy chocolate pools, and I still get as giddy as a schoolgirl.

We make a great team, and he never complains when he finds himself doing more than his share of the chores. He knows when I can, I do, and so he cheerfully does mine along with his, all the while giving me bits of his wisdom and laughter as he chatters away. He doesn’t even mind when I make a comment like, now who’s the schoolgirl, for all the chattering.

We are a pair, that’s for sure, and I don’t know what I would do without him.

As we soaked in the pool yesterday (me sitting on the steps, shoulder deep, and Ken leaning into me, with his feet up on the side of the pool), a young lady walked by with her baby. She stopped when my best friend said hello and inquired about her day. She answered, and then she stopped again, smiled broadly, and declared, “Wow, you two look happy.”

I could not help but smile in return, for we are happy, and I am glad that it shows.

May you find such gentle intensity and trust in your relationships.

Love,

Jenni

You’ve Got Some Nerve

Hey you all!

I know you probably thought I was on the verge of falling off the edge of the earth again because it has been a few days after a nice run, but trust me, I’m still here, and I still ache to share all our good adventures (and even some mishaps) with you all; however, I have had one heck of a time with pain this past week. Last night I could seriously have drawn the paths my nerves follow down my arms and legs because the nerve pain was fiery and coursing through most of my body like lightning dancing across a minefield. If I could remember my A&P from college well enough, I could even have named most of the nerves.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, just when I thought I had gotten rid of last week’s migraine, I was hit by this week’s awesome, more spectacular version. Migraine 4.0, which included the new meltdown programming, so that within minutes, I could become petty, childish, and argumentative without warning.

But enough of that. Through it all, God continues to hold my hand as he blesses us again and yet again, share with me through others His grace and wisdom, and comfort me in my darkest, most anxiety riddled moments, as my fear that my pain will never end tries to rob me of my hope. He is one awesome God.

Our grandson asked me the other day how it is that I am always (his word) in a good mood. He knows of my pain. He does his best to comfort this elder of his in his sometimes awkward teenage ways. He repeatedly tells me I am too young to be his grandmother and he sometimes prefers to call me Jen. I know in his heart he knows I am his grandmother even if not by blood, and I know the depth of his love because I have been there since he was born. So it does not bother me if he calls me Jen in public and Grammy Jen in our private moments. These are the moments that bring me joy. This joy I carry always, a gift from God, and it allows me to choose to be in a good mood. I choose my attitude every morning like I choose a matching pair of socks. I could be bitter and angry about my chronic pain, my constant exhaustion, my past hurts, but I choose to follow my joy and I choose to share it through having a good mood. I choose not to take anyone else down just because I am full of pain and misery. It is all about choice. And I choose a good mood especially so that I do not hurt the ones I love.

May God bless you in your afflictions, as He has for me, a lowly sinner.

Love,

Jenni

 

The sculptures, by the way, we found in Winters, California. As you can see, they are for sale. Quite spectacular in person, and life size. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy what I have to offer.

Don’t Be Late For Dinner

On our drive to see part of Lake Berryessa yesterday, we traveled down the road toward Pleasant Cove and happened upon a ranch. In the pasture, I spotted one gray cow among all the angus. I asked Ken to stop so I could get a few pictures.

Lo and behold, when they saw our truck stop, they must have thought we were bringing dinner. We triggered a Pavlov response, and they began bellowing and trotting toward the barn, watching us as we slowing traveled down the road.

We laughed so hard, I almost forgot to take pictures.

But then, when we got a little farther down the road, we triggered the same response in a hog. What is it about our big white truck? Does it just scream, “Dinner’s coming?” The pig actually appeared to jump for joy when she saw us.

What I do know is that they made my day, to see these animals so excited by our presence, even if the local horses only gave us a passing glance and the wild turkeys ran for the hills.

Peace, love, and a good meal to you all,

Jenni

Winters is Wonderful

Being the optimistic soul I try to be, at first I thought Lake Minden would be a great place to stay; however, a gazillion biting insects and unrelenting mugginess from the lake quickly changed my mind. I detest using the H word, but I hated it there. I have so many bites all over my legs, I look like a poor waif who lives in a flea-infested shack. Every time I stepped outside, I seemed to get another dozen bites, plus another swarm would zoom right in the open door. We weren’t safe, day or night, from their biting, blood thirsty ways.

But Winters is wonderful. We are staying at Canyon Creek RV Resort about ten miles outside of the town of Winters California. We hear the rushing water of Putah Creek as we drift off to sleep. And thanks to a wonderfully large number of bats, the insect population is manageable. Our first night, we watched the bats swoop and dive, as they gobbled up the mosquitos.

It is so beautiful here, my heart bursts with the joy of God and His nature.

Yesterday morning as he walked Tinker Belle, Ken discovered a patch of thistle being visited by butterflies. The thought of such beauty pulled me out of bed and out of my self-absorbed pain-pity-party (having done too much the day before) so that I too could see the wonder of God’s peaceful insects.

I leave you now with these beautiful pictures.

Love,

Jenni