Don't Tell OilMan...

...or he'll want to grow one of these himself. And then what will we do with it?

It was very foggy and very cold this morning when I got up. David was in the kitchen with OilMan drinking coffee and discussing the placement of shelves in the new garden shed, while I attempted to make my coffee. I say "attempted", because I was on early morning auto pilot and not only forgot to put coffee in my cup of steamed milk, but didn't really notice it until I was almost finished drinking it!

My neighbor Ann and I went to the little town of Graton where we visited the Graton Gallery, a wonderful place featuring local artists working with everything from photography to oils, acrylics, ceramics and textiles. We had a nice talk with one of the artists there who does giclee pictures made from aerial photographs.. I noticed that Henrietta, the life sized felted chicken is still there since I last saw her in May. I imagine the $3,000 price tag has something to do with it....

Downtown Graton is all of one block long, set amongst warehouses, apple packing sheds and vineyards, so it was a matter of a few steps to the Wildwood Cafe, famed for its polenta. Sitting in the sunny window, I had to peel off my heavy wool sweater and we chatted away about South Africa, Britain, Italy and relationships old (OilMan and me) and new (she and Paul got married two years ago). I took a picture of the outside of the Cafe with two bucycles hanging from the front railing. Very European looking....

Our final stop was the Harmony Gardens Nursery a favorite with OilMan because they not only have plants, they have several shelves full of irrigation widgets and things. Heaven for an engineer/gardener! Ann bought several leucodendrons,-- South African natives. We have a hill full of them so I was able to resist temptation and wander off to the giant pumpkin display (with a sign that says they have everything one needs to grow one's own) and take some pictures.