a picture is worth?

with a little more spare time, i have started posting new pictures to my other blog

www.wanderingwonderingmoments.blogspot.com

see what i wander by from time to time

the purple flower tree return

as i was headed home today-i caught a glimpse of my childhood as i passed by a random side street....

there, about three houses in from the corner was a tree, and not just any tree- but a giant purple flowering tree that rained down flowers as the wind blew

as i saw it, i was instantly transported back to my california roots- when i would roller skate around the block to see my neighbor's purple tree....to see the ground littered with what look like purple confetti....and delight in how the flowers would crush under the wheels of my skates and stain the sidewalk for months to come

after a little search, i think the tree is a jacaranda tree- a fittingly magical name for a simple sight that on a spring day can make a person remember the most forgotten moments of a time long ago

on the road again....

today i leave for a trip back to florida via washington dc....

i have completely enjoyed my last few months on the road, living out of the same three suitcases and repacking my car every few weeks to go somewhere else and seeing all my friends and family-in whatever state they happen to be living in....

at the same time, i am truly looking forward to making my way south- where it is not snowing in april and the warm days of spring in a beach town seem like a vacation get away from the black asphalt of the highway

i am sure that the adventures of the road will call again soon...but until then- i am headed home.

today's lesson- look up

as i was driving south on route 23 (new jersey) between the a town that i can't remember and Paradise Road i found myself drifting in and out of thought about what i needed to get done and also just taking in this new part of new jersey that i had not yet explored

as i rounded a bend somewhere around the 125 mile marker i happened to catch a glimpse of something resting on the top of the telephone poles that lined the road....a carved tin whale silhouette to be xact

thinking that i was seeing things i made sure to slow down and look at the next one....and sure enough on the next pole there was a scary halloween goblin and then next one was a penquin figurine, and the next one was a jack o lantern head and the next on was a NY Yankees symbol and so on and so on for about 10 poles maybe less.....

i was dumbstruck as to who thought to put these items on top of the telephone poles.....how in the world did they get them up there.....how did they make sure that their decorations withstood the weather and do they change them often.....

these were only a few of the questions that buzzed through my head as i learned my new lesson for the day- you never know what you will find if you just look up