Numb Eyes

Sometimes after a trip I come home and wonder why I don't appreciate and explore my own city the same as the ones I visit.  If I were a tourist in my own town, where would I go to explore?  What would I find interesting?  What is unique about this place?  I live in a big city, surely there are places that are fascinating to a visitor.  Many days I see this place through eyes that are numb from living here, sitting in traffic, running errands, focusing on the issues at hand and never taking time to just look around and appreciate. Maybe I should take time out to just be a tourist in my own town.

 Visiting a new place is like reading a great book.  Each chapter or neighborhood reveals something new and if it's good you just want to continue reading or exploring. One of the things I love about going to different places is seeing how other people get to live and what their day must look like.  What do their daily surroundings look and feel like?  We all get used to what we see every day in our lives.  The drive to work looks the same every day, the view of our backyard looks the same and pretty soon we just quit observing and go through the day blindly.  When I visit beautiful places I wonder if the people who live there also eventually quit seeing the beauty around them and just go through the motions of life with their eyes wide shut.

If this were your driveway, would you appreciate the view every day?

I was reminded of this last week when I was in Steamboat, Co.  We visited a woman who lives in a lovely scenic rural setting.  The views were amazing!  I wondered if she appreciates the beauty every day or have her eyes become numb?  If you live in Paris, does the Seine River and all of it's unique bridges become just another river?  What am I taking for granted here at home?

I am heading to Baton Rouge this weekend.  A place I lived for many years and have visited even more years.  I never truly appreciated the huge stately oaks and the spanish moss until I left for a while and came back.  Now when I return I love driving around seeing Acadian style homes surrounded by oak trees.  I enjoy going back and seeing an old place with new eyes.  As I drive back and forth on I-10 today, I am going to try to see with new eyes and enjoy the view.  This, my friends, is a bigger challenge than you know unless you have driven this flat, barren stretch of interstate highway over a hundred times too!  Maybe I'll just imagine I'm driving over the Seine or down my friend's driveway!

Keep your eyes open and enjoy the view!

January....Not For Wimps

Morning has broken

Happy New Year everyone!  The new year is just like this morning when the sun was shining through the fog and trees.  It is beautiful, fresh and full of possibilities.  I was on my way to play a muddy round of golf and was mesmerized by these rays of light.  This was not my first time to see this but usually I'm running late or surrounded by other cars and can't stop to take a photo.  This morning there wasn't a soul to be seen so I stopped in the middle of the road and snapped away.  I am in love with the sun... as has been evidenced by my sunset fixation and even the occasional beautiful sunrise I'm awake to witness.  So as we are into the second week of the new year, how's it going?

 The months of December and January are probably the two most different consecutive months of the year.  December is full of anticipation, parties, family, hustle and bustle, shiny decorations, over eating and maybe over drinking, hearing from friends and family from near and far, crazy schedules with too few hours in each day to do everything that needs to be done, and two of the most celebrated holidays in the world, Christmas and New Year's Eve.  Poor January doesn't stand a chance!

January starts on a high note with New Year's day and immediately winds down to a month when we resolve to work out more, eat less, drink less, do more, be a better person....blah, blah, blah.  We make ourselves do all of this without all of the shiny decorations and holiday gatherings that have been making us happy over the last month.  The parties are all over, those friends and relatives from near and far have gone back to their own lives and we may not hear from many of them until next December.  January is a month where we have got to be strong!  We have to pull up our boot straps and forge ahead on that measly carb-free meal, exhausted from working out and sober to boot, through the trenches of post holiday reality.  January is not for wimps!

Forging ahead...boot straps firmly pulled up....it's time to make a decision.  Study a language, writing or photography?  With no trips planned to any countries that speak French or Spanish, the need to study a language is not pressing.  The writing class is terrifying but intriguing.  I have been feeling less than inspired lately.  Not sure whether that is from leading an uninspired life, lack of imagination or laziness.  The photography class could be interesting but would inevitably make me feel insecure with my poor excuse of a camera.  I am leaning towards throwing myself to the wolves and taking the writing class, the gray matter needs some shaking up!  Hang in there gang, only 23 more days left!