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Book of Me, Written by Me, Prompt 20: The Feeling of Home

The Book of Me, Written by Me is a blogging theme where one can write about their own life using blog themes posted each week. More information can be found at Anglers Rest here.

Home means different things to different people, so this week we are going to explore what it means to us:
  • What does it feel like?
  • How do you recognize it?
  • What makes it home - people, place, time?


Home first of all is in Contra Costa County, California. This county is located in Northern California and is part of the greater San Francisco Bay Area. We have a temperate weather—not to cold and not too warm overall.

In winter, though, it can be pretty frosty in the morning. Sometimes the Tule fog can linger for many hours after sunrise or appear just at dusk and that keeps it pretty cool. In summer, if the coastal fog remains off shore, our high temperature can reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit until the hot central valley heat finally draws the fog from over the ocean into the Bay Area and cooling us down again in the 80’s.

I’ve always wanted to try living somewhere else when I was younger: on a farm or horse ranch, on a beach, in the mountains, in a foreign country, or along a river. But now at my age, I am glad I stayed here where I think it’s the best place on earth to live. We’re 40 minutes from the ocean and 3 hours from the mountains. One could surf in the morning and snow ski in the afternoon all in one day (of course I would never do either--give me a good book to read sunbathing on the beach or sitting in front of a roaring fireplace).

Mt. Diablo 2012
There is one sight that really means home to me: Mt. Diablo. Whenever I am away from home on vacation, it is the first sight of the mighty 3,864 foot mountain appearing behind Walnut Creek that makes me truly feel home. It is truly a physical landmark that has been a part of my entire life, from its green hills in the spring, the yellow grass of the summer and fall, to the occasional snowfall in the winter. I have wonderful memories of hiking and camping on the mountain with family and Girl Scouts.

Mt. Diablo. My beacon calling me home.

Copyright © 2014 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past

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