It's A Beautiful Morning (Stagecoach Trail & Carmel) (Grateful For Such A Day)

Good Morning, my Gorgeous Girl,

I woke up about 20 minutes ago, feeling pretty rested, and now I am enjoying my coffee and listening to the Opera Show on KUSC. Yeah. I know I'm a nerd, lol. I just saw your post of the happy couple, and it made me happy because we are a Happy Couple, too. The Happiest! Nothing in this world compares to being in love with you, sharing with you, thinking thoughts with you, feeling life with you, being your Soul Mate. It's wonderful, is what it is. Such wonderful days these are.  :):)

My sister called, she may or may not come over this afternoon. She is a volunteer usher at a theater in Santa Monica and they have a show this morning. If she doesn't come over, I will forgo shopping until tomorrow. I may drive over to a new trail I found, near Chatsworth Park, called the Stagecoach Trail. It's named after the Stagecoach route through the Santa Susanas that connected the Valley to the route to San Francisco in the 1800s. If I don't go today, I will go by Tuesday at the latest. But right now I am just gonna hang out for a while and enjoy the morning.

I Love, Love, Love You, Elizabeth. As always, I am with you all day.  :):)

3:40pm : Okay, Incredibly Gorgeous Lady, I did drive over to the Stagecoach Trail. This time, I was just planning to scout the place out, cause I also did wanna do some shopping, so I only brought my film camera (Pentax ME Super). There's been a roll of color film in it for two years that had about five pictures left, and this finally gave me an opportunity to finish them off. The trail starts in the middle of a residential street (Larwin Ave.) that runs alongside the Chatsworth wilderness. It begins literally as an opening in some chain link fence. But then, in five minutes you are in the wilderness, among the rocks. The landscape looks much like other pictures I have posted of the area. The main attraction is the trail itself, and I imagine the same ruts are still there that were made by Wells Fargo stages coming across the mountains 150 years ago. I hiked about a half mile in, but it was very hot and the sun was beating down. We are still doing Summer here, it's still about 95 degrees out. I didn't bring any sunscreen (which I hate to wear) so I figured it was time to go back. Next time I go, I will go in the morning and I will hike much further in. I did get one good shot overlooking the Valley, looking east, and I set the F-Stop at 22, so if you look closely enough you should be able to see Wisconsin.  :)

I see the pictures of your friends. In that picture, your friend Brian looks like my brother Chris. They are in Carmel, I see. The California coast is very beautiful there. I was in Carmel only once, waaaaay back in 1980. When I was in my teens, I had a best friend whose family had moved to the Bay Area (San Francisco) in 1976, and up until 1980, I would drive up once in a while to visit him. I may have told you this before, because I know I told you the story of the bee in the car on an 800 foot cliff on Pacific Coast Highway. But on that trip, me and Ono Kahuna aka Pat (who I've known since we were 12) stopped in Carmel on the way to SF. It is beautiful, and there are some famous "windswept" looking trees that are kind of a landmark there. When we stopped, there used to be a restaurant there called The Hog's Breath Inn (lol), and I don't know if it's still there or not, but at the time it was owned by Clint Eastwood, a longtime Carmel resident. We stopped in hoping he would be there, but he wasn't. But Carmel is beautiful, and you and I will go. We can even rent a Mustang or similarly cool car. The one time we went, I had a BMW 320i. It should be noted that I am not a particularly fast driver, though, lol. What I am, is the safest driver I know. Everybody says so, and I have a number of friends I'd rather not ride with. When I had the BMW, I did drive it at about 110mph one time, out in the desert on the way to Las Vegas. So I'm not a slow driver, either. Just a safe one, but I do love classic cars. You would love the California coast, starting at Santa Monica and going up through Malibu, then to Santa Barbara, which is beautiful, and then on up past San Luis Obispo and on towards Northern California, passing through and stopping in Monterey and Carmel.

We are goin', Baby.

We will also go to all the art museums, and then we will fly to New York and go to theirs, too!

Well, I am gonna check some drugstore websites, like Walgreens, to see who still processes film. I used to go to Walgreens as recently as two years ago, but I've gotta see if they still do it. If not, then Hooper Camera it is! I'll be back later this eve, as always. May try to walk over to CSUN for some sundown pics, too.

I Love You, Elizabeth. This is a great day.  xoxoxoxoxo  :):)

(back later)

11pm: I had a nice, relaxing evening. First I went over to the Orange Grove and hung out with the ducks for a few minutes. Took a couple pics. Then I came home and played my guitar for a long time. I'd never had a seven day a week job before, and I am grateful for the job I have so no complaints, but with my job, being seven days, you kind of get locked into a cycle of coming and going and waking up early and doing it over and over for a month straight. Now, it's actually the best job I've ever had, because I do have time off every day, and it's not corporate, and I've known Pearl since I was born, and I make enough that I can save a fair amount of money. I really am grateful and fortunate, in so many aspects of my life (one aspect most of all!).

But when I do get a day off, and can sleep in and totally regain my focus, I re-engage with myself. My guitar comes back, my writing, everything I like to do. It's all there on workdays, of course, but on a day off, especially a day as great as today (when I discovered Stagecoach Trail), it was brand new all over again.

You are responsible for so much of it. I have always been the same person I am now, have always been excited about life, looking for things to do, mysteries to solve - super curious and wanting to have fun, find enjoyment wherever it might be, even during difficult times in the past. I am always a person who tries to make the most of any situation. But since I met you, and especially since this year began, it's like everything I do takes on a whole new energy. The psychic aspect - the feeling of being connected to you, spiritually and in a way of psychic subconscious communication - is constant, and has only gotten stronger since those amazing Spring months of 2012 when we were getting to know each other. You referenced Alison Scarpulla's photo yesterday, and she had a comment or observation about reality having many layers.

This is where I live my life, and I don't do it forcefully, or to tune out, or as a form of rebellion. It's just where my path has led me, and I have felt the subconscious calling me since I was very small. My friends, God Bless 'Em, couldn't be less interested in the things I am interested in. Except music, but other than that, we don't have a lot in common. Because I am not just interested in the external. I am interested in the deep internal. One of my favorite books as a child was "Curious George The Monkey", and maybe that's me, lol.

But with you, Elizabeth, I am blessed beyond measure, because I have someone who likes to do things, and to be creative, but also someone with high-level intellectual capacity, and more importantly - wisdom. 

And of course it goes way, way beyond that. Who can understand where such a connection takes place, where it comes from? I have thought about that a lot, and I know that - for me - prayer played a huge part. God answered my prayer. But as immeasurable is that is, there is also the human factor.

You and me.

And when I think of You and Me, I am amazed. I like to let it dance around the edges, you know?

There is something dazzling at work, and it is seen even in simple joys of a day off, and I like to let it dazzle and do what it does. For me, it is enough to be grateful each and every day, and to enjoy every moment of these days. Something big is at work, and you and I are within it. We can feel something special, at the edges.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful day with me, Elizabeth. We have many more to come!

Sweet Dreams, hugs and kisses.  xoxoxoxoxo  :):)