Nothing But Blue Skies

Blue skies

Smiling at me

Nothing but blue skies

Do I see.

Bluebirds

Singing a song

Nothing but bluebirds

All day long.

-       Ella Fitzgerald

Blue, blue skies have greeted us every morning so far. I am amazed at the endless sunshine. How can one be glum when the sun is out to play? We have been out and about too. Maybe not playing, but we’ve been about. The first week was spent on the road pretty much constantly. We were all for finding a house in a week. And we did just that. But I must say, all the honor and glory go to the Lord because we were praying for success. We drove by every decent house that was available for rent in the area and set up lots and lots of house tours. In the meantime, we learned to know the different areas and decided which areas we liked and which we did not.

Lester and Francine Koehn came down from Ballico to meet us. They are our field secretaries and we are very excited about that. They brought with them a very special addition to our family. An almost brand new silver Sienna that we promptly named Silvia. I can barely resist the urge to laugh when I peek over and observe Brent behind the wheel of a clear windowed minivan. But Silvia is his girl. And she already has a membership at the local car wash.

We found a house in the town of Oakley. And do you know what is the best thing? Oakley just so happens to be on the edge of the city. (The new gas range in the kitchen is surely the next best thing.) You only must drive a couple of minutes and you are in the rolling golden hills. (We must call the hills golden, not brown.) There are farmer’s markets, you pick farms, orchards, vineyards, corn fields, and cattle grazing. I am so excited about going to pick cherries, peaches, or strawberries when we get some free time. There is a lot of exploring to do. For sure with the mountains being right here. We also found a dairy that has raw cow’s milk and goat’s milk. It is such a down-home place. Truly junky to be exact. The first time we went there we could not find a living soul around. Only a slumbering cow dog on the front porch, who raised one ear at us and went back to sleep. Had it not been for the cows, goats, and sheep wandering around the farm, I would have guessed the place hadn’t run in years. Finally, Brent was able to rouse someone from the house. A young guy came out in his socks and said they had been eating lunch. He showed us where the milk was and said we could come any time of the blankety-blank night or day and get the milk. Just take however much we want and leave our money. Cool. He proceeded to hop into a skid steer, still in his socks, and tootled off to feed hay. We roamed around the farm. Petting goats and talking to the cows. We have been back since to watch them milk goats. The goats were so surprised by our presence, that they nearly forgot to eat the oats they had surely pined for all the day. Visitors during milking hour seemed to be a rare happening.

And about our house. It was built in twenty-twenty. It has four bedrooms and two and a half baths. We have room for you, so please visit. The backyard is small, but there are a couple of different parks within walking distance. And I keep reminding myself that this is city life. There are very few places that have big yards. Everyone just walks in the evenings and takes their kids or their dogs to the park. The evenings and mornings are cool here, by the way. Brent has made friends with numerous of our neighbors and we haven’t even moved in yet. One neighbor man from Egypt is planning to go horseback riding in the mountains with him and I’m already getting left behind. I am realizing more and more that I am going to have to step up my game. You see, small talk just isn’t a huge talent of mine. I can easily wave, smile, and yell a friendly hello. But stand and visit as the hours go by? No. Not me. Or not with strangers, anyway. But this is Brent’s talent. So, surely I’ll have another place to fill. There are some very nice people around us, and I want to do my best to reach out and be more than just a smiling face. I have already learned that I need not be alarmed if Brent disappears into a stranger’s home and does not return for a very long period of time.

The house needs to be furnished. Yay. We have been to uncountable furniture stores, antique stores, thrift stores, consignment stores, and discount stores. We have also had quite a bit of luck with Facebook Marketplace and it can be very interesting going to different homes to pick things up. (This is mostly when Brent disappears into stranger’s homes and I am left sitting in Silvia planning my life out if my husband should never return.) I am unsure how I will part with this place after I am done setting up the house. I may take most of the stuff home with me and the next couple will have to furnish the house all over again.😝 The house is about forty miles from San Francisco and less than a mile from the water. There is a park right by the water that has lots of green grass, picnic tables, and a big pier. Locals fishing off the pier. And maybe some weed being smoked here and there…? It’s going to be a favorite place to watch sunsets. Mountains and wind turbines in the distance make up the skyline. Brent and I have decided this place is pretty. Desert though it may be.

We have spent a couple of days in San Francisco. It is a really beautiful city on the bay. It is cool there, so we are learning to pack jackets when we spend the day. Some parts of the city feel like you are in a foreign country. But so far, we have been surprised by how clean San Francisco is. We finally googled what part of town the homeless were in because we had seen very few homeless. We finally found them in an area of town that is a little lower class. Lots of hole-in-wall stores and restaurants. A good place to go with tracts and it is a rather entertaining part of town. But since then we have learned that they are making an aggressive sweep of all homeless camps in San Francisco. They have been cleaning up the city pretty majorly.

The beaches are beautiful and there are fire pits all over. A fun place to spend the evening watching the sunset and sitting by the fire. It is hard to know where to start with tracts. San Francisco alone is so overwhelming. And that is just one city. You can go in any direction you want and there is city, city, city. There are so many places we could put tracts. But I guess we have to just start somewhere, and I think we will start in San Francisco.

People here are very friendly and want to talk. Especially to Elliot and Ezra. Elliot insists on telling people his name is Brent and he is five, while shaking their hand with the wrong hand. Thank God for little boys. They make starting conversations with people easy.

Goodbye for now.