Lake Tahoe

Time appears to be measured more by change than sameness.  The days in my life that are repetitive slip away almost without notice.  But a little variation lives in my mind for extended periods of time.  This past week offered a sweet variation, as we spent some of it at Lake Tahoe.  Our friends, Bill and Trudy Ostler, invited us to visit them in their family condo there.  So we spent our Wednesday afternoon driving to Tahoe.  I convinced Layne that it was a good idea by telling him that we could also visit the nearby community of Minden, Nevada, which we wanted to explore as a possible future settling place.

What fun it was to take in the sights and beauty of Tahoe and the Lake.  Living in a place with few trees, I took special  pleasure in being surrounded by them there.  We hiked through the forest, visiting interesting buildings as well as the natural wonders that fill that area.  The water and the sky seemed to me to be especially richly blue.  The sights and smells of nature fill the soul with a special kind of happiness that man-made stuff can't touch.  So I've decided that no matter where we live next, I want to be surrounded by lots of growing stuff.  Green preferably.

Bill, Trudy and me at the beginning of our hike into the forest.
In the background is an inlet of Lake Tahoe, with the only island
in the Lake seen behind Bill.

Layne, on a bridge offering a view of the falls
seen in the next picture.

Beautiful water fall, offering all the
water a person could want; a lovely
sight for folk who live with very
little of it, as we do.

We did explore the community of Minden.  It rests at the base of the Lake and Sierra Nevadas in the Carson Valley.  The part of the valley that lies closest to the mountains is green and lush.  Just minutes away the green melts into brown and the sage brush takes over.  We looked in both places and, as you can imagine, the homes for sale amongst the sage brush were noticeably cheaper than those in the green part of the valley.  We found some very nice places in our price range.  And, what do you know, there were Mormon monuments even there.  It was fun to find some of those.  The green part of the valley is quite desirable.  But I can't say that the area called to me.  There's a lot more places I want to look.  And there is the little problem of selling what we have.

A view of Carson Valley and the community of Minden, Nevada.
It looks very green, doesn't it?

Trudy and I at the Ostler condo, ready to head
for home after a fun-packed few days.

We spent our evenings with Bill and Trudy playing games, especially dominos.  Sometimes I forget how fun it is to spend time with great friends, playing games.  They taught us the game of Rook also.  We laughed and talked our way through the nights with these games.  Very fun.

I tried a new routine this Sunday morning.  Instead of arising and getting right into the usual routine, I put on a robe and sat on our deck for awhile, looking at the morning sights and thinking.  Sometimes life gets so full of doing that there is little time for thinking and integrating thoughts and impressions.  I've decided to experiment with making myself stop for short periods of time.  I found this morning's effort very pleasant.  Enough so that I might try it again next Sunday.