(+2 insets) (please view large!) :)

I woke up this morning feeling so happy! In fact, for some reason it felt like a proper January 1 to me. Steve and I celebrated New Year's down at my younger brother's home but we didn't actually do anything special. It was just another day to me. But this morning I feel like the New Year has truly arrived and as I walked up and down the driveway, I thought about what this new year might be like for me and my husband.

With my rekindled passion for photography and verve for life and adventure, I'm looking forward to our slowly developing plans of purchasing an RV and travelling around the country. Originally we'd planned on diving into the deep end and getting a huge 5th wheel gooseneck trailer and a dually diesel truck. We have since scaled back to plans of a smaller bumper-pull at first, along with a less-massive truck. We will go on short trips at first and work our way up to longer trips if we decide all is going well enough for that magnitude.

We recently purchased part of the package--a long-bed diesel truck in very good used condition! It's turned out to be a wonderful deal and has awesome gas mileage for a truck—it averages about 22mpg! (our last truck was a lot smaller and yet, it only got 12mpg.) Being a diesel, it's definitely loud but only if you're outside the cab—inside it's surprisingly quiet. Steve also purchased a matching shell for the bed which will keep everything placed inside much drier. We're both really happy. In fact, our truck just passed its first test with flying colors! We drove it a total of over 750 miles/1200km round trip down to the Bay Area on our visit to see my brother and his wife. We loaded it down with a week's worth of anything we thought we might want with us, including our huge espresso machine! We barely made a dent in the truck bed's capacity! We were really happy that we didn't need to use the snow chains that Steve bought—our trip goes through an area which bogs down in snow whenever winter storms pass through. Luckily the weather was clear both ways, but it was nice to know that we were covered.

It will be really fun when the day arrives when we find the right RV for our first adventures. Both of us are looking forward to some really fun trips in the coming year!

Today's picture comes from our trip to San Anselmo/Bay Area and features a group of lovely Wisteria leaves that were about to fall off the huge old vine in Nathalie's garden. I was dazzled by the glowing leaves as I walked around taking pictures. Even though Wisterias are known for their lovely flowers and wonderful fragrance, there is so much more to love about these wonderful vines. I was enchanted by the dangling seed pods and the ones on the ground. The seeds scattered all over the ground got my attention too. I managed to get a nice assortment of interesting pictures which I hope to share at some point! (I've added two insets of past pictures to show you what Wisteria flowers look like.)

Pam, you know our love for growing from seeds. Well, I bet you know this bit of information but I'd completely forgotten: Wisteria seeds sprout very readily but if you expect to see flowers, you'll have to wait 15 years!!! Holy cow! I seem to recall that you have a flowering Wisteria...is that right? Well, I've got about 100 seeds that I took home but alas, I'm afraid there is no point in planting them. A shame because I adore these vines! Pam, I hope you are doing ok today—I sure did have a nice time visiting all of your doggy pictures and videos...you are such a great mom! *BIG HUGGGGGGS!!!!*