stopping to smell the flowers

a lot of people tell me to slow down, stop and smell the flowers, take it easy, etc. that’s hard to accomplish when i’m home and working, so when i’m away, i like to take advantage of  opportunities to do so.

i still like to be active though, especially when i’m somewhere that has such lovely weather, so we spent a lot of time outdoors during my visit to the bay area. on friday cookie and i went running with a friend at a park known here as “the dish”; a hilly area that is home to several large satellite dishes. i have never run with other people before so i was a little nervous, but it turned out to be great; i now wish i had a running partner at home to go out with sometimes . . . but i don’t think mister knitspot will be interested, haha.

today is my last day here and i’m going to make this post kind of short on writing—i don’t want to miss too much of this beautiful day; i heard it’s cold and snowing at home.

but i took a lot of pictures this weekend, so i’m going to try to share them in little groups to keep the wording concise.

on saturday cookie and i hiked up windy hill in the afternoon; it was an incredible clear, cool day with lots of sun—just perfect.

we did the seven-ish mile hike, which was strenuous for us, but not so much that we couldn’t appreciate the scenery and the fresh air; i enjoyed the climb.

it just got prettier and prettier as we climbed; that, along with frequent photo breaks and poppy sitings, made it feel easier.

and we definitely saw people way more hardcore than we aspire to be, haha. i don’t think i could ever, ever ride up that climb.

the summit was worth the hike—it was so clear that day that we could see san francisco, the mountains, and all the bridges.

the downhill is always a little harder for me, but at least in this case, it was cooler and the woods held some pretty secrets like flowers and moss to appreciate

we were really glad we did the hike on such a good day for weather. we were also really glad to see the parking lot at the end, haha; it was just the perfect length of hard walking for us. we were famished of course, so we ate and slept very well that night.

the next day we hit the farmers market in cookie’s neighborhood, which is a very good one—lots of vendors and lots of community participation. it was busy and packed with all manner of wonderful local offerings.

i bought some lip balm form the bee people that i love; i wish i had gotten two.

we stocked up on everything from oranges to berries to eggs so we could have good eats for the next few days and even looked at goods we didn’t buy, just to learn a little more about them.

at the end we had to decide on flowers, which you can see was no small matter—which to choose out of all these lovelies??

the winner was tuilps! we picked out some closed buds that looked like they would bloom into a soft orangey color. they’re in my room now, beautiful as can be.

we headed home to make some brunch and plan the afternoon. we were pretty tired from the previous day’s hike, so we decided to keep it low key. we couldn’t get into the cantor museum at stanford on thursday, so we decided to try again that afternoon. they have an excellent walker evans exhibit that we wanted to see.

they also have a wonderfully curated collection, including several richard serras—he’s one of my very favorite sculptural artists. it’s a gem of a museum (and it’s free!); don’t miss it if you’re in the area.

we stayed right up til closing, which is a great time to leave right now, because the light at that time of day is just about perfect for viewing the outdoor sculpture gardens (and appreciating the landscape of the campus in general).

the rodin garden is might impressive and i love that people of all ages enjoy it at a variety of levels.

a walk through several shaded outdoor “rooms” led us to the main quad where a second rodin installation is placed—the burghers of calais.

further on we saw the chapel building and walked all around the outside of it, looking at the doors and stained glass.

what a beautiful environment in which to go to school, right?

after that we went home to make dinner and eat. i wish i could say i didn’t conk out afterward, but i did. it was probably a good thing; we had a big day on monday, too.

for my last full day we had a good one planned—heading up inot napa for wine tasting and good eating with friends. the day was another gorgeous one, though the bridge area was totally encased in close, dense fog (that won’t sound unusual to those who live here, haha).

once we got clear of the bridge though, it all rolled off and the remainder of the day was stellar for sightseeing.

our first stop was at zin restaurant & wine bar in healdsburg, where we met up with romi and her friend susan, who is an owner, along with her husband jeff.

we broke out the cameras to start shooting each other, haha.

healdsburg actually has a wonderful cheese and chocolate shop, and excellent bakery, and many other attractions; it’s a good destination to keep in mind for wine tasting trips.

once fortified, we headed out on the wine trail and spent the remainder of the day tasting at quivera, ridge, miner, and stag’s leap wineries.

quivera was our favorite of the day and miner had the next best wines

not that any of them were at all bad—not by a longshot.

we finished up the evening by dining at redd in yountville; that can be summed up in just one word, i think—YUM!

and now it’s my last day here, so i don’t want to waste any more of it on the computer. i’ll be back at my desk tomorrow and probably back to blog on thursday. see you then.