Riley Street Art Supply

There IS a Riley Street in downtown Santa Rosa and I walked up and down it looking for the art supply store. The reason I couldn't find it is because at some point they moved to Maxwell Court. There used to be a good art supply store in the shopping center near us, but it closed a couple of years ago when the very nice owners moved to Hawaii. 

We found Riley Street Maxwell Court this morning...this is a shot of the corner of the warehouse type building on the other side of the freeway. People who work in art supply stores must like their jobs, because they are always cheerful and helpful. The woman who helped us this morning was no exception and had a number of good tips or restoring broken lead in colored pencils in the microwave and which sketch books work best for various applications.

Although the newspaper still has a box in the paper every day giving the Covid statistics, it is now the flu and RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) that are on the rise Apparently people in the county were so busy getting  Covid vaccinations and boosters and bivalent boosters that they neglected to get the regular flu shot. we have been shot up with every vaccine on offer, but still elected to return to mask wearing in public spaces.

John was cleaning out the bird feeders to protect our feathered friends from some contagious bird virus (contagious among the birds, not transferrable to us) when he dropped some essential little screw on the floor. A hands and knees search didn't reveal it but he was able to find a replacement in the garage which he had purchased the last time he dropped the same essential screw. Somewhere under the kitchen stove there is undoubtedly a cache of lost screws nestled in the dust bunnies and spider webs.

We walked down to the creek with Spike to check the level* and were surprised how much it had gone down overnight. Perhaps it has something to do with the rehabilitation of the 'vortex' at the bottom of the street which was going on all summer. We never found out what exactly a vortex is, but surmised it had something to do with flood  control. 

On the short walk home, the temperature dropped pretty dramatically and the raindrops started again as we were climbing the driveway. We're now sitting by the fireplace getting warm and hoping that the moisture spray I treated the garland on the mantel with will keep it from turning brown. The people in the garden center swore by it. If it works , I have plenty left to spray on next year's Christmas tree....

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