Last weekend I traveled to northern California where I have lots of family, and while there visited Silicon Valley for the first time. There's a fabulous indoor market in San Mateo called Draeger's where I spent a long time studying the gorgeous flower selection in the middle of the store, above. Draeger's stocks everyday groceries as well as a huge selection of specialty items – chocolates, teas, cheeses, coffees – some of which are tagged with "a favorite of the cooking school," which is located up the escalator (look at the class line-up here). Of course those were the foods that caught my eye…great marketing!
At Stanford in Palo Alto, above and below
Camellias in bloom on the campus.
While I was out there it was 65 and sunny. It has been such a warm winter that many of the trees have their springtime blossoms. But as you know, California is so dry, no rain, therefore, no water. Here we are in the Midwest with miserably cold temperatures and too much water. The contrast is striking.
These breathtaking pictures are the perfect antidote to our apparently never ending polar vortex. I just showed the post to my brother who is visiting from San Francisco. Apparently it rained there today, finally, and they are rejoicing!