The Difference of a Few Thousand Miles

I was a long way from home last week. Out in Monterey
Bay, California for a writers’ retreat. There the ocean trumps it all as the
waves come in and the sea animals play out in the water. We left the doors open
out to the balcony to hear the waves crashing and the seals barking through the
night. During the day, we peered out toward the kelp where the sea otters floated
along, some with their babies on their bellies. Pelicans lined up in the sky and
flew past our hotel. Gulls flashed their wings at us and landed on the hotel
deck railings to see what we were having for dinner. Out in the bay, dolphins leaped
from the water, splashing their friends. People in bright yellow kayaks rowed
around to get close to the sea otters. No sign of fall there with all eyes
drawn to the beautiful blue water. All the hills are brown, not
green like in Kentucky. In places flowers and colorful plants paint the ground
red and yellow and pink. Nothing you’ll see in Kentucky.

Then the retreat was over and it was back on the airplane
for the long ride home. 2,310 miles by I 40, but I was traveling Sky 40. An
hour and a half by bus to the airport and then four and a half hours to Chicago
and another hour home. That didn’t count airport waiting time. A long way home.
I wasn’t by a window so I couldn’t see out. We were above the clouds most of
the time anyway, but on the little puddle jumper plane from Chicago to
Lexington, no one was in the seat beside me so I had a good view of the
Kentucky landscape as we came in to the airport. Horse farms and barns. Green
pastures and wooden fences. Cows and horses. And the trees got decked out in
their autumn colors while I was gone. Reds and golds. Oranges and yellows. A
blaze of color unlike anything in California.

So many differences from state to
state in our beautiful country. From sea
to shining sea. Mountains and rolling prairies. Hills and flat fields. Rocky
coasts and sandy beaches. Last week I got to be in two very different states.
Life is good. Do you have a favorite state?

The wind was really whipping today when I went out
walking to see some of those beautiful fall colors. So this quote seemed
perfect.

The autumn wind is a pirate.
Blustering in from sea with a rollicking song he sweeps along swaggering
boisterously. His face is weather beaten, he wears a hooded sash with a silver
hat about his head… The autumn wind is a Raider, pillaging just for fun.  ~Steve Sabol

I’m extending my deadline a few days for my website
giveaway. Remember, I’m giving away a NIV Study Bible and a prayer journal and
some of my books. If you haven’t entered and would like to throw your name in
the hat, just comment here with a way to get in touch with you or send me a message
from my my website. I’ve got three days to finish my Shaker Christmas story so
that gives all of you some extra time to enter the giveaway since I won’t have
time to do the drawing until the end of the week. There will be three lucky
winners.

As always, thanks for reading.