northern Calif living

OK- this is what it looks like when I'm exercising in my backyard. It's been raining almost every day since we got here on Dec 30, but we've had a few days, here and there with clear skies. On this morning I had to stop exercising to take a picture of the rainbow. I don't want to post any pics of inside the house yet because it needs paint! I always like bright colors; always shades of purple and green, and not sure what else, maybe some brick red or ornage the color of cantaloupe. Right outside the back sliding glass door we have a cement patio, maybe 5 feet wide that goes along the back of the house. Not all the way but long enough for me to do my zumba workout. It also has a cover- the roof overhangs the patio portion so I can dance even if it's raining. This is the back left corner of the yard, but we're at the back end of a court so our yard is really big, sorta goes with the curve of the street so we have really big side yards. I'll take more pictures when the rains are gone and the trees grow leaves. There's also raised beds on the right side, and Everardo has already planted 2 trees- one peach and one green apple.

These 2 photos are where I walk Sam. Just a couple of blocks over and the houses stop. We're at the north end of town, there's these huge fields of grapes with open grassy fields around them. Sam is in heaven sniffing around and splashing in all the mud puddles. It's a nice place for me to walk because we're alone out there and I can talk out loud with nobody to hear me. That's how I pray, how I talk to the universe. I need to do it out loud, otherwise if I'm praying inside my head, other thoughts barge in....I'm asking the universe for guidance and at the same time remembering I need to get milk, or pay the electric bill! But if I talk out loud I can focus on just one thing. So I love walking out there. I used to sit out on the rocks overlooking the ocean when we first got to Mexico, talking to the universe and finding my way. Then in Baja I sat out in my universe chair and talked, both at the beach and then in our last place- there I could sit out in front of the house and talk, it was far enough from the neighbors. Here I'm not sure. We're in a neighborhood with a fenced back yard, and yes I can sit on the bench we have on the front porch- and probably will. But Sam loves walking out there, so it's kind of a win win.
The second photo I took while walking out there with Sam. It was a cold day, but not raining that afternoon, and I was so surprised to see snow so close up there on the mountain. So pretty isn't it?
But boy it's been cooooolllddd! Very rainy "El Nino". It's really helping with the drought in Calif so I can't complain. And it's raining in Baja, too. I saw on facebook muddy water rushing down the streets.

It's so green here. I do love it. And Everardo found these trails last week that are amazing! It's like the redwoods, well I guess it is the redwoods but I think most of the trees are pine, and another type with more whitish bark. He runs the trail and I walk it- it takes me a little over an hour. In fact the first time it was an hour and a half but I was stopping to look, to oooh and ahhh, and take photos. The second day I did it in an hour and 9 minutes, and today it was an hour and 4 minutes. I do some short jogs in some places, but I can already feel my sciatic nerve starting to bother me, so no more jogging. I get this pain right above my right butt, and if I keep it up soon the pain will go down the back of my leg. That happened to me years ago, and that's why I do the elliptical and zumba- not running.

So my new health plan is to do zumba 3 days a week and the hike at least 2 days a week and maybe one weekend say as well. That walk is like meditating.....I'm falling in love with it. It's starting to feel exactly right to be here. Everardo walked the trail with me the first 2 times and today he ran it, but then started back the other way and met me, so walked part of it with me. Did I say how much I love him? The trail is really multiple trails, and they shoot off of each other. Someone told me you can walk across the back of the town in the hills! I only want to walk for an hour ha ha, so Everardo and I picked a trail that pushes him and pushes me. The first half an hour it goes up, then sort of dips and turns, then flattens out, then down some, then up again. Finally with weaves back down. The views are breath taking. I'm also back to counting calories and choosing smart calories like veges and fruit, peanut butter of course and my protein shake when I finish my workout.

So the routine I created in Mexico is working here just fine. I always review and revise and I love adding the hike. Actually I had been planning to add the hiking in Baja at our last place since it was on a hillside and I heard there were trails, but then we left, so I started it here. The only difference I guess with the trials are that the dog has to be on his leash. Not in the vineyards, but on the hiking trials. It's funny- while we were gone they stopped giving out plastic bags in the grocery stores, which is what we used for dog poop bags....so now I'm using 2 or 3 bags to buy veges to get them ha ha. When we see a dog run or park they many times have a supply of poop bags so I stuff my pockets with them. Also at the store if you want a paper bag you have to pay $.10 cents. I asked why and have gotten a few different answers, but the one I could buy was that they want you to bring your own bags- which we have at least started bringing in the car- but we never remember to bring into the store! It was super weird at Christmas time when we were buying gifts and they ring it all up and then just hand you the tag. Remember when you buy a bunch of stuff and places like Sears or Wallmart have those gigantic plastic bags? Yeah no more, just juggle all that stuff out to your car. I wonder if more stuff is getting shoplifted?

OK well here's some photos of the new hiking place: (viva)

I've been gone a long time. And now I'm back. However I'm not in Mexico. I'm in northern Calif in a town almost as small as the tiny town we left in Mexico. It's been a long time since I wrote anything here and so much has happened. Should I change the name of my blog to and now for northern Calif?

Well we've actually been in Calif since Oct, but it was kinda chaotic, living in someone else's house while trying to sell our house and buy another one up north. I read the last post and we were thinking about leaving. Well, I told Everardo I missed Drew so much and he said- "lets go". It kinda happened whirl wind fast- ha ha like every time we make a decision to move.

So this is going to be a short post. Just to get me back into it. It's different here; different than Mexico. Funny, different than Calif before we left- I guess because I look at things differently now. Oh man being able to lean down and get a drink of water out of the kitchen faucet! Not needing to carry toilet paper in my purse- except I still do. How expensive everything is. How trafficky! How I can read all the labels on the food in the store. How the frozen food section is miles long in EVERY store ha ha! How my eating habits have changed- I don't want frozen food. How green everything is. Yes there's green in Mexico- Nayarit is the most beautiful place I've ever seen; Guerrero was so green and lush and the mountains of Michoacan! But where we lived in Sonora- a desert! And Baja was pretty much of a desert as well. So all the shades of green are so wonderful! And we're so close to the redwoods.

So next post I'll write about our new house- which I love! So open and cozy. The vineyards down the street and the awesome hiking trails just a couple of blocks in the other direction. ......