Living Little

I took a solo trip last

week to visit my brother

and his family.

And like most trips, be

they short or long, I

carried home memories

and a fresh perspective

on life.....

While leaving 

a little piece

of my heart 

behind.

For five days I resided 

in a land where topics of

discussion included the

legend of unicorns, the

love of tractors and trains

and why dragonflies

choose to alight 

where they do.

A place where riding the

Metro or going to The

Red Door {Target} is

not a mundane chore, 

but an event!

Where an ice cream cone

after dinner is worth 

jumping up and down, 

or the promise of a book

before bed puts an extra

spring in your step.

Yes, sweet friends, within

a few, short hours I recalled

how it used to be to live life

in a whole different way.

Living little.

Living little has big 

rewards....

You exist in the moment.

You don't watch the clock,

but the birds or the clouds,

fireflies or stars.

You bust out in belly laughs.

You give and receive a lot

of impromptu hugs.

You are little and you are

happy with little and that 

is where it begins and ends.

But, with teens in my own

house now, it has been a

while since I lived little.

Like the foliage in our yard

that started out small, they

seemed to have sprouted up 

overnight, even though I realize

that it has been happening 

each day, before my eyes.

So I return home with a 

renewed resolve to view

my life and this world

through the lenses of my

dear nieces and nephew....

and live little, no matter

my age.

Think I'll start with 

an ice cream cone 

after dinner.

Care to join me?

Jumping 

up and down,

of course : )

xo

Suzanne

{All images, P&H, except
for the ones taken of 
me and the littles by my
sister-in-law.}

Ups and Downs

I was exercising yesterday,

huffing and puffing along

as the machine that I was

on graphed my progress

on its monitor.

So much of life these

days seems to be presented

to us in graph form,

such as,

the Stock Market

unemployment rates

real estate sales

new housing and construction

presidential popularity

currency's rise and fall

the weather report

and on and on.

But then, life really

is like a graph, isn't it,

with its highs, lows

and plateaus?

When I was younger, I

yearned for the excitement

of the highs ~ going off

to college, landing my first

real job, travel, dating,

love and marriage,

pregnancy and children.

But as the years have

unfolded, I've found that

the genuine joy on the

graph of life is those

plateaus, the calm seas,

which to me signify

contentment.

Into every life some rain

must fall and when you

graph it, those rainy times

are the lows on our life's

graph, be it illness, the death

of a loved one, divorce, 

job loss or other sorrows

or struggles.

I have experienced 

those dips and witnessed

them in the lives of many 

that I hold dear.

Luckily, when our graph

hits rock bottom, if we

survive it, there is no where 

else to go but up.

I have a close friend whose

early life was fraught with

lows on her graph.  Now,

all grown up and the mother

of three, it is difficult for her

to embrace the peaceful,

straight line that embodies

the present condition

of her life.

I'm always waiting for the

other shoe to drop, 

she explains.

Are you able to savor the 

plateaus in the graph of your

life, or do you worry that there

is a low just around the corner?

Do you long for more high

points, or are you grappling

with a low point right now?

As my great-grandpa Bill

used to counsel his kids

during the Depression,

It's a long, long road that

doesn't have a turn.

If you are at a low point on

your graph, I pray that

the road will turn, soon.

If you are at a high point,

enjoy those dizzying

heights.

And if,

if,

your graph has a nice,

level line, I wish you

the presence of mind to

really, really relish it.

What a gift.

xo

Suzanne

In Her Shoes {or Wellies}

We travel,

some of us, forever,

to seek other states,

other lives, other

souls.

~ Anais Nin

When I travel, 

whether it is to a

metropolis or a

the countryside,

a beach town, a

mountain village or a

  desert community,

I immediately start

to think and dream,

I could live here!

And each day on

that vacation, I hungrily

gaze upon various local

dwellings and think,

What sweet house

would I call my own?

Which leads to practical

matters {even though

it is just a fantasy} such as,

What would I do for 

a living?

Last month, when I

was on a brief holiday

with my mom in California's

Napa Valley, those same

wheels started turning.

I could SO live here!

Mmm, yes, I'd never leave.

I would get a job at a winery!

This time, I had a real-life

inspiration for my traveler

who never leaves fantasy.

Her name is Kelly Fleming.

She lives in the lovely

Calistoga Canyon area of Napa

Valley, and she owns and

operates a small, family-run, 

organic winery and farm on

300 beautiful acres, 12 of them 

dedicated to the grapes.

My mom first read about this

gem of a winery in The Wall

Street Journal, over the Christmas

holidays.  We had already chosen

Napa as this year's mom-n-daughter

trip and knew that we had to

visit Kelly Fleming Winery.

As a child, growing up in

Oregon, Kelly picked strawberries

and filbert nuts for candy money

and always liked getting her 

hands dirty.

Adult Kelly visited Napa Valley 

with her husband, helping him to

select wines for their restaurant

businesses.  In 1998 they bought

the Calistoga property and Kelly

Fleming, who wanted to grow grapes

and become a farmer, went from

being a visitor with a dream to

 a visionary who made that 

dream come true.

Over the next six years, Kelly 

directed the building of her family's

home, winery {with a limestone cave

dynamited out of the rocky soil}

and farm.  Their first vintage was

introduced in 2004.  Their premium

wines have been well-received by

the wine community, ever since.

When the limestone winery, with

it's red-tiled roof, first came into

view, my heart skipped a beat.

It had that classic look of a 

Tuscan or Provencal villa.

Imagine living and working in

this breathtaking setting.

Ah, there in lies the rub to this

little reverie.  Work, work and

'lots of it.  Living this Wine

Country dream involves
plenty of elbow grease.

When the vintner/farmer/owner

came out to greet us, she was

radiant, albeit a bit tired, in her

dusty Wellington boots.  Mom and I

had just toured the winery and 

caves with Kelly's assistant manager

and daughter, Colleen.

Colleen and Kelly Fleming

The wines that we sampled 

were delicious.  Not only could

we taste the Napa Valley sunshine
and the soul of the land in each

sip, but we most definitely tasted

the fulfillment of a dream.

Do you imagine yourself in

another's shoes when 
you travel?

If you had the means,

would you ever act on that

dream, as Kelly did?

Here's wishing you 
happy travels and
beautiful dreams,
this summer!

And we travel, in essence,

to become young fools again ~

to slow time down and get

taken in, and fall in love

once more.

~ Pico Iyer

xo

Suzanne


You can learn about visiting
Kelly Fleming Winery,
here.