暖冬cool夏
這裏一年四季溫暖如春，沒有酷暑沒有嚴寒......
01/02/2022: This is our second visit to Joshua Tree National Park, two years apart from the first one in December 2019. J was in a driving mood that day, and with the dad sitting by the side as a guide, she drove to and fro with confidence-- two hours nonstop to the park and three hours back in the nightly darkness, in a row. Asked why she was so into it this time, she answered that this is the last skill that needs to be mastered.
It was a perfect winter day, sunny and windless. As we entered the park at noon, the temperature outside the car was 50s F. Inside, the temperature was set to high 60s. Sitting at the back seat on the right side, I may not have the best view, but was compensated by the warm sunlight slanting through the car window. Like the Joshua trees that stood by the sides embracing the sun, I felt enveloped in the sunny air.
We stopped by a rock mountain. While J and I lunched in the car, he ventured alone to explore. “The daunting mountain isn’t what it looks”, he said after he safely descended. So under his lead, three of us, sometimes on all fours, made it to the summit. Standing atop, we saw a floor of withered grassland, dotted by numerous scrubby Joshua trees. A road in the middle snakes up. Elevated at the end of desert are mountains forged by varied rocks-- small, big, round or pointed. The formations could be random but often geometrical. The scene was sedate, and we found peace in front of the wilderness.
Two-hour-drive must be exacting for a new driver. As J took her nap in the car, he and I sauntered around. The air was crisp. The recent rains must have freshened the tips of Joshua trees, as they looked greener than what were in our memories. The needle-like spiny cacti were silvery and shiny in the sun. Later on another trail, we saw a fat gray rabbit scurrying for food among the dry bushes. At our last stop, a coyote was spotted before it disappeared into the depth of the desert. The land looks barren in our eyes, still it is home to dozens of plants and animals, who choose to live in this harsh but spacious desert, surviving and thriving as they adapt themselves generation after generation.
The temperature soon dropped to 30s F in the afternoon. As our shadows dragged long over the rocks, the sun suffused its last rays over the mountains. At twilight, we were headed home, driving out of the park, down a long slope that was illuminated by the city lights.
謝謝暖冬答複！孩子大了，能常回家看看我們也就知足了。
新的一周快樂！
才看見三個人的合影, 太不好找了：）
祝願暖冬和家人新春快樂，安康吉祥！
謝謝介紹和分享！
你們的假期過得有意義，一點都不宅。我們去年也去了Joshua Tree National Park,希望今年可以去更多的地方。
南加的天氣是沒得說了，雖然幹些，但是總體真是好啊，讓我們都珍惜吧。小小還去花車展那裏做義工啊，我女兒高中也去過一次。今年的花車展很不錯。等有空下了首頁再貼幾張。
比起你們，我們走的地方算少的，歐洲都沒有去過的。
謝謝小小臨帖，同祝你們全家新年快樂，女兒residence圓滿，心想事成!
暖冬夜貓子啊，我就估計你要更新，昨晚臨睡前還來轉了轉，可就在轉身之間錯失沙發啊，哈哈：））開玩笑，別介意：））
暖冬這還叫宅啊，是外出運動多多。好壯觀的雪山風景，千瘡百孔的啄木鳥樹幹也令人震撼！
花車遊行太漂亮了，前年，我還做義工幫著裝飾花車，轉眼兩年了，疫情之後就沒有去看花車遊行了。在暖冬這裏補上。
三人的身影多麽和諧美好，一家人一起歡度節日樂在其中啊：））祝願新的一年健康快樂、事事如意！
新年到現在才進城，問候暖冬，祝你們全家新年快樂平安！
花車漂亮！祝暖冬新年快樂！
You are a very diligent writer. I just read your recent post, and I believe listening to radio in your spare time will help improve your English greatly.
Wish you and your son a happy 2022! Wish your son a great 2022!
I learned a new word "varied" which has similar meaning as assorted and diverse. When I saw "sedate", I thought about "tranquil". Digging more, I learned another word tranquilizer鎮定藥.
Regards.
Your comment of water reminds me of 林瓔（Maya Ying Lin）, a designer who won the national design competition for Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington. In this monument, she utilized flowing water, which is emblematic of peace and life (flowing). The stone by the lake caught my eyes too that day, and I am glad you like it too. Have a nice day and week, my friend! (and no worries about the small difference)
"Meditation and water
Are wedded together"
reminds of a story where anglers spent long hours at the lake with little to
show, and their wives argued for buying tuna instead with the mmoney spent on
fishing. The men insisted that the catch was not the point. "What IS the point
then?" demanded the women. They couldn't say.
And the author concluded that "men always have this deep need to look at water"
which drew guffaws from the audience as he was telling the story on stage. He
might have gotten the idea from Moby Dick!