ringing in the new

we've been traveling a lot lately. first it was illinois for thanksgiving, then virginia after christmas, to see our son and his family and meet our newest granddaughter, molly. on these trips i find myself looking at the land a lot, especially the trees, trying to imagine what has happened there over the centuries...wondering what it would have been like to live there then..and now. "can i see myself living here," i wonder?

some of the places we travel through feel familiar to me, even though i've never actually been there before. parts of virginia, especially, felt that way. we spent about 11 glorious miles in georgia and i breathed in as deeply as i could, the air of my home state.

with all the traveling, i've had plenty of time to think about things...been entertaining some new ideas...dispensing with some old ones that don't work for me any more...retrieving and dusting off others.

in some ways, i feel like an old oak with new growth. it feels good to be adding new rings.