Next week I start a new adventure...

In just one week I will heading to Colorado by car, making a cross-country trip to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. The trip does have a purpose and some direction beyond the Front Range, and it may even include getting up to Vancouver or farther into Canada, depending. Depending on what, you ask? My sense of whether or not I feel called to go there.

The decision to go was actually easier than packing up... asking myself, "Should I take this jacket? Can I do without that item?" I'm also spending some time in-between packing reading a story which makes my choosing seem terribly indulgent: "Sarah's Key" is about a Jewish girl in 1936 Paris who is pulled from her house, sent to a concentration camp, escapes and.... but you'll have to read it yourself. Her survival with less than nothing keeps bringing me back to this message: try to simplify and take less.

Nevertheless, I am taking all my cameras, my laptop and a printer because I do have some ideas for generating some stories and possibly some income while on this journey. It's a wonderful treat to be able to have both time and resources to create this adventure and I hope to share a lot of it with those readers who care to come along.

The photo is of one of the red-tailed hawks that can be found shrieking around in my neighborhood like teenagers peeling out in old cars. They are nearly grown now and while I will miss their calls, I feel good that I got to watch another batch get launched this spring. We're all off to higher ground.