The Second Half

The road back home was more about people and produce/food.

The first stop heading north was at a dear friends home for lunch. She always surprises me by the creative foods she shares. It was so good to sit awhile and just chat. Then for lunch she started with nibbles smoked under a dome. Then there was melon infused with lemoncello and a delicious chicken salad with tea.

 

 

That evening we continued our journey north and had dinner with dear, very long time friends.

The next morning we headed for Solvang, California, a Scandanavian community.  

I had seen some of the sights on previous stops, but this time we were searching for a troll by Thomas Dambo. Nope, that wasn't him, but we knew he was in the area.

 

We found him at the art museum, taking up the space of the full room.

After our stop to visit the troll and have lunch, we continued venturing north.

All along the highway we saw these bells and I was reminded of my California history from school. The bells were spaced along the Camino Real as the priests would travel from mission to mission they would ring the bell to let residence know they were in the area. It was fun to see they have been preserved. 

There were many windmills on the back roads and we enjoyed discovering some new roads to travel.

 A lot of amazing trees and brown grass and hills along the way.

Our goal for the next stop was Hollister, California at Apricot King farm. After all it was apricot season and that part of California grows that best apricots I have ever had. You just can't find a good apricot at the local market and I wanted some good ones.

I buy dried apricots from this farm each Christmas, but I wanted some fresh ones.

 

 

The farm reminded me so much of my grandfather and uncles apple farms when I was growing up.  The owner greeted us like long lost family and gave us the full tour of their facility, introducing us to the workers. What a delight. Can you believe that visiting an apricot farm would have been one of the top highlights for me of the trip. I loved it.

We brought home some fresh apricots and I have one pie in the freezer for this winter, but a small batch of jam too. They also grow walnuts, and a few walnuts also came along with us. The owner kept saying they are better than what we can get at Costco. 

Apricots drying in the sun.

OK, it was time to continue heading north and across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Just across the bridge we stopped by the bay for clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls. No picture of the food, but it was delicious. I did say this second half, headed home, was about produce and food.

Once we got to my hometown, where my sister still lives, there was a stop to place flowers on my grandfather and mother's graves. The cemetery is very old and not cared for as I feel it should, this reminds me I need to write someone and complain.

We met my sister and her husband for tea and French pastries and a visit while in town.

That evening we had dinner with a dear friend and I forgot to take a picture. It was a good, good visit.

With a brief check online I saw that Corey from the blog,  French le Vie, was visiting her mom in California. We would be driving right through the town where her mother lives and I said we must stop for a brief face to face meet and a hug. I have followed Corey's blog for 20 years and I was thrilled to finally meet her. What a treat.

Her mother's garden was enchanting.

I could imagine taking a nap right there in the garden.

 

One more stop at the Olive Pit. OK, don't laugh, but they have the best olives. We stocked up on olives and brought them home. And home is where I am now, resting, a good massage, and resuming day to day life. It was a good trip, but did I say exhausting. It was like a farewell to friends and places of memories one more time.

Now back to living in the Pacific Northwest and all the beauty that surrounds me each and every day. I love my little corner of the world.

Hoping each of you has adventures of memories, then has time to return home exhausted and happy to be home.

Sending love,

Marilyn 

Running to Catch UP again

 Taking a breath today, a day of recuperation! I knew I had scheduled a crazy schedule the past week. It has all be fun, but then just sitting down to visit you and say hello again has not fit into my schedule. 

On Friday my "live-in gardener" celebrated another anniversary with a beautiful dinner at my favorite Spanish tapas restaurant. The picture is our starters. The egg is sitting on top a sausage and bun. The bottom starter looks like dessert, but it was banana bread with fois gras on top, sprinkled with hazelnuts and two dots of strawberry puree. Very unusual, but very delicious. 

 

  

Then early Saturday morning we picked up daughter, Jill, and grandson, Desmond, and headed to a little local airport to sail away in a hot air balloon. Now my daughter said it was a dream come true. My grandson was scared, but ended up loving it. I had a slight trepidation until I got there and saw how well it was managed.

 

Standing in that basket, 2500 feet above the ground was magical. It was so quiet, it almost felt like a spiritual experience. Even the people in the basket said very little. It almost felt like we were floating into heaven. 

 

 

Then that afternoon my "live-in gardener" and I were out on the street for No Kings Day. My picture doesn't do justice or show how many people were there.

 

 

 

Sunday was Father's Day where we enjoyed fish and chips at a local British pub.

 

Monday I celebrated a friends birthday with pedicures for both of us.

 

 

Tuesday was time spent with a cousin and his wife.

 

And yesterday I got invited to a Bachlorette party. Have you ever gone to a Bachlorette party? It was fun to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of a friend. I had never been invited to a gathering to celebrate an upcoming wedding before. 

 

Since I was early to the party I had a few moments to stop at a favorite rose garden and enjoy some silence in the day. 

 

 

So today I am staying home and taking a breath. Here is the view from my patio at home. Oh! I still call my husband my "live-in gardener". I mean he hasn't quite been able to surrender to no gardening at all, as you can see on our patio there are about 25 pots of plants to tend and bird seed and water to put out for the birds.

 

 

And in between times I keep sipping tea. You know me, there is always a cup of tea.

 

Hope your week of transition from Spring to Summer is terrific.

 

Sending love,

Marilyn 

Some Days

 As I sit in reflection over my tea this morning, I am enjoying the little bouquet I picked at my house in the garden just yesterday. I am reminiscing on the day just yesterday. Some days are just like this, but it wasn't just an ordinary day. It was time of goodbyes.

Yesterday I walked through the house that I had lived in for 22 years. Where did all that stuff come from? Wow! There is a lot waiting for buyers tomorrow to carry away little and not so little treasures. I feel like I moved a lot, but yet there is so much left behind.

I was their care taker for awhile. Now someone else can enjoy them.

 

 

I saw a cookbook waiting for someone to buy and realized there was only one recipe in the book I enjoyed; so I photographed it to still have.

Estate sales are fascinating me now. The company actually brought in some more stuff just to make it look full; though most of it was our stuff. The pricing fascinated me and I could tell the person doing the sale knew his stuff. My antiques were priced appropriately.

Can you believe it, but after walking through all the stuff in my house I took myself off to the antique mall. It is my peaceful place. It's not where I necessarily buy, but love taking pictures. And who did I run into, but the guy doing our estate sale. I knew he had several booths there, but didn't expect to see him.

I love the displays of live plants at the mall.

Isn't it beautiful?

Then I came back to the house for another walk in the garden and to pick a small bouquet to enjoy on my tea table this morning.

In the bouquet is a camellia bud and daphne buds, plus a bit of rosemary and tea to sweeten the deal. To me it is a lovely bouquet of remembrance and love for the garden. I will miss the garden more than the house.

Sending love,

Marilyn

Words of Kindness and Joy

 "Books are a way we leave a mark on the world, aren't they? They say we were here, we loved and we grieved and we laughed and we made mistakes and we existed. They can be burned halfway around the world, but the words cannot be unread, the stories cannot be untold." from The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes 

Books bring me JOY. How about you?

I recently finished The Librarian of Burned Books. It took me awhile to get into the story, but once it captured my attention it has resided in my heart. It was sad, but we all came out positive in the end. It gave me hope.

As you read further along in this post, I am sharing small moments of joy. The one above is a recent breakfast where I enjoyed some freshly made fig jam on a crumpet with my tea. I hadn't made jam for a few years and totally lost sight of the joy of savoring jam made by my own hands. So delicious.

The other joy was having a social media friend send me moon cakes and tea for no reason at all, but because she wanted to share the joy from her hands and heart.

Now a friend mentioned she was reading A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater. Since I have enjoyed his Christmas Chronicles each December, I decided to start reading his new book over my morning tea. His books are small essays wrapped around food.His descriptive words always delight me.

I loved what Nigel Slater said in his introduction to A Thousand Feasts. "I see no point in putting pen to paper to preserve anything negative, sad or painful. Heaven knows,there is enough of that. I have no wish to live in a rose-tinted bubble, but if I have learned one thing, it is not only to concentrate on the "positive stuff", but to cherish it. I will admit to seeking it out, to looking up instead of down, to being curious and to hold on, as tightly as I can, to "the good things", however small." He goes on to talk about noticing the "small moments of joy".

Another joy was sharing tea this past Saturday with a group of dear friends. I had connected with this dear lady above, Rui of Grass People Tree (tea business) early in the pandemic on Instagram. I attended several of her tea events on zoom and her heart just touched me. She is in Portland right now sharing tea with new and old friends, all the way from China.

It was so special to have her pour tea and share stories.

Seeing the smiles on my friends faces brought me amazing joy.

And then to also on a recent evening to sit with another dear friend and listen to these two ladies share stories. It just made me smile from ear to ear. If you don't know who these ladies are, they are Hillary Clinton and Tina Kotek (Oregon's governor).

 

In our crazy political world right now, it is important more than ever to notice the "small moments of joy".

Dear friends bring me JOY.

I encourage you to notice what you notice, maybe write down your joys, savor each one and let the joy reside in your heart.

Sending love,

Marilyn