my vista (not really a vista) [link]

Upstate NY can be really pretty

La Jolla. I spent as much time as I could here with a blanket, a boom box (back in the bad old days before Walkman or iPods) and a book. Peaceful.

Diego Garcia. We'd go sailing and snorkeling every Sunday. The undersea world became my house of worship.

I feel a need to be in places like these that it make my bones ache to be away from them. Since moving back to the midwest, I've felt like a displaced person. Ocean, beach, coral, cliffs are where I feel at home.

And in Texas in particular, the majesty of truly towering clouds and thunderheads is a sight to behold.

I told you Seanie, you say the word and I am on finessing you a ticket here like...something that's on something else a whole lot.

I'm such a Southern girl. I like any water, tons of green, and thick muggy weather. I'm also very much a city girl though, so I don't often get the green as much as I'd like, particularly here in Dallas, where the motto seems to regularly be, "If it's pretty, cut or tear it down!"

La Jolla. I spent as much time as I could here with a blanket, a boom box (back in the bad old days before Walkman or iPods) and a book. Peaceful.

God, I loved visiting there this year. It was SO gorgeous.

That Al Jazeera piece showed the coffee cart where I got my coffee this morning. Trippy.

Are coffee carts unique to NYC? Or do other citys have a fleet of silver boxes stuffed with coffee and pastries that appear in the pre-dawn hours and disappear by noon?

I told you Seanie, you say the word and I am on finessing you a ticket here like...something that's on something else a whole lot.

I really want to see more of Dallas than just the airport. Plus you and omnis.

Are coffee carts unique to NYC? Or do other citys have a fleet of silver boxes stuffed with coffee and pastries that appear in the pre-dawn hours and disappear by noon?

In the 80s and 90s, Seattle had a lot of sidewalk espresso stands. I think they're mostly gone now, though.

The Western mountains are rugged and majestic and gorgeous and dumb. They don't know what's coming to them. Sure, you can get lost in the wilderness, but they have no subtlety.

The Eastern mountains are old and canny and keep their secrets. You can hide in the shadows of the winding hollows and ridges and listen to the millenia of living things that have hidden there too. They look easy, but they're just waiting for someone to get stupid.

Are coffee carts unique to NYC? Or do other citys have a fleet of silver boxes stuffed with coffee and pastries that appear in the pre-dawn hours and disappear by noon?

I wouldn't say "fleets," but we have those here, too. They're actually most often found in the lobbies of other buildings. What we do have fleets of here on the streets of LA is jugos carts, stacked high with fresh fruits ready to be turned into fresh juice.

We can take you to the wacky conspiracy museum! Maybe Victory park if there's something free going on down there. And I will get you high on dirty Mexican.