Sacramento Living

I don't usually think about chickens when I think of Sacramento, but my girlfriend Joanie has a veritable miniature farm in her beautiful back yard.

Everything in her yard grows so beautifully, I have no hopes of ever attaining this kind of thing. I'm much better at painting plants than tending them, but I can admire their beauty.





I think this french pumpkin was trying to make its escape.

Angry chicken.
She's got her eye on you!

Northern California Farmers Market Love

I have been staying with my parents in Davis and a friend in Sacramento, really getting a feel for the area, since this is where I'll be moving in the fall. Can you tell I am in love with the farmers markets?

I love the amazing variety of fresh, ripe fruits and vegetables available in the central valley where pretty much everything is grown and you can see plenty of seafood and things like grass-fed beef, it's not so plentiful in Chicago.

This Sacramento market is under the freeway! Excellent use of space and shady and cool too!

I want to try everything, like these baseball sized melons!


Tomatoes!!! of every shape and variety.


I want to cook this two color squash!

So much color!


and texture! I love the way these bitter melon look, such an interesting vegetable.

A Trip to Hoffman Fabrics

After my long weekend in northern California, I flew south to meet up with my gal pals Leslie Jenison and Jamie Fingal to hang out for a day and tour Hoffman Fabrics before heading to Long Beach for festival.

The surf culture influence was all around from bolts of Hawaiian print fabric to the warehouse walls lined with surf boards.

Michelle Flores, on the right, was our wonderful tour guide. I first met Michelle at dinner last year in Houston.

Michelle pulled samples of some of the new batik lines to show us.

Look at all those bolts of fabric,

sorted by theme.

This is machinery that folds the fabric onto bolts.

In the evening Jamie made us a fabulous dinner, then we soaked in the jacuzzi with glasses of wine and lots of laughs.

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Northern California will always be home to me

I just got back to Chicago yesterday and am just getting to writing some blog posts, so please be patient for the Quilt Festival pics that will be coming in the next few days.

Last friday I flew up to Sacramento to spend the weekend with my folks in Davis.

Some of my favorite california plants

I love Matalija poppies!

More cool giant pinecones

Davis' awesome farmers market

I saw this modified bike in Davis,

it must belong to the person who owns this tandem one that I saw last year in Davis.

It's when I see grocery stores that look like this, that I really miss living in California

I loved seeing my friend Joanies chickens who now roam the back yard of her home in Sacramento.

It's hard to believe Joanie and I became friends almost 35 years ago, when we lived in Salmon Creek, California.

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Davis, CA

I spent a week in Davis, California at my mom's last week and loved the warm dry days, the cool mornings and fruit growing in the yard. I am in love with the produce section of the grocery stores there. People in CA, I hope you appreciate it! I get so frustrated by the lack of variety and quality of the fruits and vegetables in the midwest. Sure, there is great corn here and a few other fruits and veggies, but you only see that for a few months in the late summer and fall.

Davis is a total bicyclists heaven, there are bikes and bike trails everywhere. Aren't these bikes irresistible? Look at this bicycle built for two that has been fitted out with bamboo, rattan and leopard seats.

photo by Nina Perez

There are some great artisan shops in Davis. We stopped in several with items from Nepal and Tibet and another shop I loved called Hand Made Creation, had imported handcrafted products, lots of felted slippers, bags, woven shawls and pashminas.

Look at all that felted color!

I bought a beautiful pleated teal scarf that is bright on one side and dark on the other. I'm looking forward to some cooler weather to wear it.

Di Rosa Preserve Napa, California

I am back in Chicago now trying to catch up with everything after being gone for two weeks. I loved being back in California, spending two weeks there made me realize how much I miss living there.

Friday, last week my parents took my son and I to the Di Rosa Preserve. This facility is like a contemporary art museum/gallery housed in several buildings on gorgeous property surrounded by vineyards and a huge meadow of outdoor sculpture. 

This is what the website says: 

 

Considered the most significant collection of Bay Area art in the world, di Rosa provides opportunities for creative enrichment and enjoyment of art and the environment year-round. The di Rosa houses approximately 2,000 works of art by more than 800 artists.

The property is gorgeous; rolling hills, a pond, eucalyptus trees, gardens, roaming peacocks... and the collection of art work is fantastic. The weather was idyllic, overcast and cool in the morning, burning off to reveal clear deep blue skies and warm. There was no photography inside the buildings so all my photos are on the grounds.