NIU

California flowers

Posted by Stacy on Thursday, June 05, 2008 3:07 PM

I love the summer time out here on the coast. When school gets out I just can't help spending all of my time at home. I couldn't imagine staying on campus for the summer and missing out on the beach and the forests out here. My parents have lived out here since I was only five and so I consider California my home now, warts and all. I know there are plenty of problems with the area we live in but I just can't knock it when it's always been good to me. There are very few things I like better than going out in to the hills around here and smelling the sweet California flowers blooming and the sea air just blowing them in towards the east. It's like the flowers here on the coast just want to meet those on the west. They are little Americans through and through; never satisfied with where they are and ready to expand across the nation till the hit the sea and turn back again as homesick as ever. Whenever I am here I help my mother with her business selling gift baskets on the internet. She puts me to work loading and wrapping up the baskets for a couple of hours a day before she loads the car and takes them to the post office for shipping. She's been selling these little baskets for mothers for a long time. They are cool little packages that have a bunch of local foods that are great for women's health in particular. I realize this summer that she is extremely active for a woman of her vintage and that I wouldn't give a thing for her to be like the women her age who she is friends with. They are all bed ridden or trapped in some home somewhere. This weekend we are going to go for a bike ride up the road and then I am taking her up to my favorite clearing where you can look out at the sea while sitting in those sweet California flowers. I wish I had the power to bring this little place to everyone and not lose it for myself.