The picture above does not do justice to the beautiful mountains that could be seen from the back of the hotel where we stayed recenlty while visiting relatives in El Paso, Texas. I took the picture with my cell phone.  It’s not a smart phone and I don’t know if there is a “zoom” capability on my phone but I’ve never been able to find one. If I would have zoomed in before snapping the picture, then perhaps I could have captured a little bit of the majesty of the mountains.

What my camera did capture was the brilliant blue sky. Having been sun and heat starved in Chicago for the past several months, it was wonderful to bask in the wam sunlight in El Paso. I kept feeling like I had to hurry and get outside, before the sun went behind a cloud, like it does many times here in Chicago, if we see the sun at all. But in El Paso, there were no clouds. Just brilliant sun and blue sky all day, every day.

Last Sunday morning as I sat out by the pool, it was comfortably breezy and cool. At night the temperatures went down into the 60′s while during the day temperatures hit 90 degrees. The mornings were nice and cool and comfortable. I had just worked out in the fitness room of the hotel. Having arrived the night before, we didn’t really have a chance to look around our hotel at all. What I discovered Sunday morning, right after I had used the treadmill in the fitness room, was that there was a beautiful track on the street right behind our hotel. It would have been so nice to run in the cool and breezy morning on that track, watching the mountains all the while. But, I’ll have to save that experience for our next trip.

What we did see the night before, as we returned after dark from my aunt’s house, was how beautifully lit up the city was. Driving back to our hotel, we could see all the lights in the valley below the mountains. It looked like a jeweled necklace. It was so pretty, I could have sat and watched it for a few hours.

When I stepped out to the pool in the morning, I dragged a beach chair into the shade. As the sun got higher in the sky, gradually the sun took over this shady territory. Little by little, the shade retreated until finally my whole body was in the sun. It felt so good that I couldn’t bear to put my chair back in the shade. I let the sun drench me until my skin was bright red. The sun put a smile on my face and as it began to cover my whole body, my muscles relaxed and I felt calm. The earth tone mountains in the distance, the blue sapphire sky, and the flowering plants everywhere I looked made me feel peace and serenity….

I was in New Orleans last week with a friend. We rode the St. Charles streetcar to the Garden District and went on a walking tour of all the beautiful homes.

I stood in awe in Jackson Square looking at the beautiful St. Louis Cathedral.

We ate lunch and drank Mimosas in the pink room at the Commander’s Palace Restaurant. A man with a handlebar mustache led us to our table. We had bread pudding and cafe au lait for dessert.

And then there was the music on Frenchman Street. The music was the crown jewel of the trip. At one of the music places we visited, the host described the interaction between the band and the audience. He talked to the audience saying that they had come to listen to the music and dance and “leave it all there” on the dance floor.

Even though I only listened to the music and didn’t dance, I felt he was right. The music was so full of a life of its own that it resonated throughout the audience. I felt that somehow listening to it was a cathartic experience. I felt at home, connected, alive.