A fresh new page

Welcome to the new year, 365 days of promise & mystery; all I will ask for is my daily portion of grace to face whatever comes my way, and that I will find contentment in where I find myself at the end of each day.

Yesterday, after a late morning start, we wound our way east towards the mountains, stopping in the little town of Murphys for lunch (a great burger with fresh sweet potato fries) and then up to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, elevation 4000 ft

We bundled up and went out for an hour stroll thru the giant sequoias~ not particularly strenuous, but somewhat hazardous given the six to ten inches of hard-pack snow and ice on the trails.

For the life of me, I could not get any traction in my hikers, and had to hold on to Chris' arm the whole way to avoid another fall~ now that my arm is finally bordering on the functional, I am not about to go thru all that nonsense again!

We continued up Highway 4 until we reached the road closure at Bear Valley Resort, right around 7000 ft; it was approaching sunset, so we took a little stroll to the Hell's Kitchen overlook to watch for the full moon rising thru the clouds (only glimpses and no decent photos), before heading back to our valley home.

After an impromptu gathering at our friends home for games, snacks, and noise makers at midnight, we were home and in bed by 12:30~ gone are the party days and good riddance, I must say! Today is a perfect snuggle-down-at-home day; it is chilly and wet outside, so I think I'll make soup from turkey leftovers and devote my time to my book, knitting, and some football games~ I wonder who is playing?