Rose-colored walls

There is something so irresistible about waking up in an old-fashioned, quaint hotel by the sea (no offense intended hubby). Rose-colored walls, white shudders, and a mermaid carved headboard resonate with “my time.”

How lovely to have reached this moment in my life when such a blessing is possible. *Gift back to my empty self duly noted (the subject of my last post).

This weekend’s getaway is a family wedding at Carmel-by-the-Sea. I opted for the fancy digs, La Playa Hotel, where the wedding will be today.

What a delightful place that resembles a former mansion I imagine a wealthy shipping merchant owning.

The gardens swept me into another realm as I tried to capture their beauty that popped and sizzled around me.

Beds of flowers spilled over brick planters behind white benches aptly placed for sitting and pondering the view.

Bowing sunflowers growing in a quaint garden plot caught my eye. A gardener’s cart rested on the path as if his misses called him away to a piping hot dinner.

My brother and sister-in-law strolled along with me through the streets leading to Carmel’s main shopping area. They patiently waited as I snapped pictures along the way and I felt compelled to offer an explanation, “I just let my artistic side move me to capture the moment.”

Susan replied with an enchanting idea,

“JoDee, you should write a book called The Eclectic Wanderer, and put photos taken as you let your artistic self move you.”

After a wonderful time of shopping in the hobbit-like stores on Carmel’s main street, we joined the rest of our family at a quaint Italian restaurant.

Twenty plus of us raised our glasses to toast this precious weekend together.

Yes, children may move away, which breaks our heart, but good gifts and family times wait around the next corner past our gloom. We just have to venture out a little further than our pain.