I am not a native Californian. I grew up in snowy Cortland, New York – in the midst of lake effect snow in Upstate New York. Our summers were perfect. Our winters were cold and we were nearly always guaranteed a white Christmas.
The screaming headline front page, top of fold in the East Bay Times was about the multitude of earthquake rumbles we’ve had in California’s San Ramon Valley, where I live today.
I’m not going to lie – it scared the heck out of me when I felt my first earthquake near Berkeley in 1998. I remember waking, startled, saying to my husband — “so what do we do now?”
The answer is pretty routine. You wait to hear the multitude of the quake, see if there’s an aftershock and go back to sleep.
Quake Swarm
The case in the San Ramon Valley isn’t much different, but it is remarkable in the number of shakes we’ve had. Here’s what they said in the newspaper –
The jolt of seismic activity Monday was among the busiest of a swarm that began nearly 3 months ago. Until the quake Friday, an earthquake swarm that began Nov. 9 around San Ramon had delivered 91 earthquakes of magnitude 2.0 and above. But the swarm had slowed. There had been no quakes above 2.0 in the area since Jan. 10.
The largest quake yesterday registered at 4.2. You can read all about the quake phenomenon here.
Minus the high taxation and regulatory environment, there are a lot of really wonderful things about living in California.
My Every Day Hike
I hike every day, close to magestic Mt. Diablo. This is what my walk looked like the past several days. Notice there is no snow. I hike in 45 degree weather in the morning and mid-60’s in the afternoon. The other day, I even saw an Acorn Woodpecker on my walk. I regularly see red tail hawks, coyotes, and other wild animals who live and play nearby.
So, what’s the point?
I guess the point is this—you can love where you live even if things aren’t perfect every day.
You can enjoy life, exercise, take time to smell the roses, eat well, and reflect on the beauty of life around you.
You can hold your loved ones dear and appreciate what you’ve got.
My routine is to listen to two to three sessions on Hallow, pause to appreciate the gorgeous nature and terraine, and then listen to my country playlist.
The alternative is to worry about the swarms of quakes, waiting for ‘the big one’.
It’s pretty easy to understand why I stick to my routine, isn’t it?
Drop a comment if you’re in an earthquake zone or if you are a daily appreciator of beautiful things. I’d love to hear about it! Take a moment to subscribe if you like what you see.