It’s winter in San Diego… after a day of rain, so the flowers are very happy… and I am happy in spite of a flat tire on my bicycle.  I got the violet colored flowers after the bike tire went flat.  I got the orange lily flowers before I left the house on a bike ride.  I had got all the way up Linda Vista Road when I felt the inescapable feeling of flat tire, and I knew I didn’t have the equipment I needed to fix it, not even a tire gauge… but what good is a gauge without the proper equipment to fix the flat.  I walked the bike home… good exercise… and I was glad the rest of the way home was downhill.  

Now back to the subject of winter in San Diego.  Some flowers are most striking in San Diego’s winter season.  A hundred miles from San Diego in the mountains there is snow. When I got back home this afternoon, I thought how fortunate I am to have everything I need to be content. At home I have the equipment to fix the flat.  There is nothing in my life that I cannot fix easily, which leaves me thankful knowing that even in winter in San Diego there are thousands of people who don't have the things they need to escape the nighttime dampness and chill of winter even in a place where the climate is moderate.  The flowers are fortunate. I am fortunate.