Stay Open to the Wonders

Yesterday we were wandering in the "country" getting acquainted with the local area and scouting for a potential homestead when we wandered across this lovely regional park:

Everybody in Kings County loads up the RV and heads to the coast for Memorial Day weekend. I'm not kidding. Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day -- the best place to run into friends from Visalia, Tulare, Hanford, Fresno, and Bakersfield is at Pismo Beach. You don't even need to coordinate. They'll be there.

So, on this beautiful day we had the park to ourselves. Literally. The caretaker told us only two other cars had come through and the others were just making reservations for another day. We had a little picnic lunch under the majestic oaks where we listened to the silence, observed a swarm of bees looking for a honey tree, and then we took a stroll around the grounds. It's a lot like Cutler Park where the kids ran cross-country and track.

There are a couple of different playgrounds with slides and swings and riding toys: 

And we are near Lemoore Naval Air Station so watch out for low-flying aircraft.

We crossed the blue bridge over the irrigation canal that doubles for scenic creek...

...and startled a big fat cotton-tail rabbit that ran, lippity-lippity into the woodpile near a little fixer-upper:

Thanks to our extended Spring and cooler temperatures (75 is cool for Memorial Day in these parts), the park was green and gorgeous. The caretaker said he was watering some of the drier patches but it would all be dried out in a month. He said it was really rare that we had the park to ourselves. But we seem to be lucky that way.

Near the end of an enchanted visit to Zion National Park many years ago, Mr. Last commented that the only thing we needed to make it perfect was a rainbow. And I'll be darned if we didn't end up with a late afternoon thunderstorm and a rainbow...

Wandering brings much pleasure. You have to get out and look around, but you can't bend Nature to your pleasure. Stay open to the possibilities and the wonders present themselves.