California. Be Here, Now.

 

Our end of the long valley with volcanic peaks... and green!

Well, we made it back! Back to our cozy pied-à-terre in Los Osos. And we’re glad to be here! The flight over was long and boring; nothing happened, just the way we like it. It was also disconcerting and disorienting. We fly Business Class, but even with the extra room, the personalized (slightly) service, the wide, lie-flat seats, it’s still spending 12 hours in a narrow metal tube seven miles above the earth’s surface. (In addition to getting up at 4AM to make the connecting flight, plus all the usual interminable waiting in lines at the airports…) Disconcerting, indeed! 

But we survived, and landed in San Francisco during a lull in the widely-publicized series of storms that have been hitting California. We rented a car and drove south through the slow Bay Area traffic. We stopped in Gilroy for the night, a good thing as we were both wiped out.

Up early the next day (as if we had a choice through our jet lag!), we were on the road before dawn, driving past gorgeous green hills. All down the Salinas valley, and from King City to San Luis Obispo, the countryside was impossibly green. In most years it’s spring before these hills green up, where they have but a month or two before the hot, dry summer. But on this trip, all the way south we passed gorgeous, green pastoral-looking countryside!

Pastoral countryside, what much of California looks like.

The flooding was long past, but there were ample signs of it: mud and sand on the road, small lakes in the middle of fields. The Salinas River was well behaved by the time we arrived, but the wide river bed was a jumble of mud and bedraggled trees and bushes.

Ah, California! Dead-looking oaks against the green green hills.

We managed to miss the rain, mostly—we arrived at the bottom of the Cuesta Pass, just minutes from the city of San Luis Obispo, when the first drops fell. And then, how they fell! Heavy, heavy rain. But we were in familiar territory now. We made our slow way to the airport to drop off the rental car, where we were met by our friends from Oregon, Sue and Alan.

Driving through San Luis to our house in Los Osos, Sue gave us a running commentary on what had been happening over the last few days of the storm. As we drove along our once-customary streets, past familiar houses and yard, both Paula and I had this strange sensation of never having left: it was like we were gone on an overnight, and it had rained. A strange sense of odd familiarity, a bizarre case of déjà-vu. 

We’re sure glad to be back, though! It has actually been 18 months since we were last here. The house and property are fine; we live on what is essentially a sand dune. It’s well elevated, and the drainage is great, so no water issues at all. Actually, while there was some flooding and damage in our small town, it was very localized and had been cleaned up by the time we arrived.

But enough of me! Paula has some observations as well:

 

Well we’ve been back 2 weeks—it went by fast: lots of rain, flooding and mudslides (not at our house), adjusting to CA time, seeing friends, getting used to a new iPhone (me) and camera (Paul). France seems far away. Thankfully, Be Here Now is a real thing. And soon we’ll be back in France, and it is California that will seem far away.

So I thought it was a good moment to send a few photos and thoughts of life here – both our little pied-à-terre and the area.

First some general impressions:

• Kale is out, chickpeas are in. California is the land of healthy fad food. Last time we were here 1-½ years ago it was kale EVERYTHING. It’s now been replaced by chickpeas. I love garbanzo beans so I’m happy. Oh yes KETO is the rage too. Thankfully I love carbs.
• Trader Joe’s still kicks butt with new food recipes to try. Many are delicious – like stuffed gnocchi with mozzarella and tomato sauce. Or sweet cannoli dip. Or an old favorite, chicken sausage. And I’ve been having a great time making fish tacos with the BEST corn tortillas. And enjoying great Mexican and Thai food. There is a new bakery here that makes delicious croissants and pain au chocolat - heaven.
• This is the season of green – in CA it only rains until April and we live at the end of a long valley of volcanic peaks and GREEN in every shade. They are even called the Irish hills – but only until May. Then it’s all brown. We live 5 minutes walk from a huge estuary and ocean and land that will never be built on. It is glorious.

The back bay at low tide, with the famous Morro Rock in the distance.
Five minutes from our house!

• Our downstairs apartment is very familiar and cozy. And has lots of kitchen stuff and sharp knives. And “our own bed”. Wow. Decorated with mementos of France and Spain, of course. If you are ever in Central Coast California - let us know. It's usually vacant.

Our living area.

Our own bed!

• After not driving for 1-½ years I am happy to report it is like I never stopped driving.  Even with manual 5 speed. But the cars and trucks seem bigger than ever. Scary.
• Because we don’t have street lights in our little town—heck, some streets are still dirt—we see the stars – bright and shiny – I had forgotten how glorious that is!

View of the fairy land that is our night time garden. Yes, there is a star up there!

• And lastly I thought it was quite serendipitous that one of my favorite watercolor painters was offering a 4 week class right in the middle of my time here.  Can't get better than that.

It might seem like I am falling in love with my old home again. I am, but I think it’s a passing affair. We are flirting. I’ll be ready to head back to France and Europe—it’s still my first love.

Daytime view of the garden.

Miss you all and hope you are enjoying life wherever you may be or traveling to.

 

And, facing away from the bay, we have this view!

We’ll be here in California until late February. Then it’s back to Montpellier! And hopefully, winter’s end. Until then, we’ll see what we can get up to here in Los Osos.

 

 

Bishop's Peak (right), the most prominent of the seven volcanic peaks;
 at the opposite end of "our" valley.

 

Seville, 2022

                      11 December 2022

A distant view of the cathedral and La Giralda, with the 
Inglesia Colegial del Divino Salvador (Collegiate Church of the Divine Savior) off to the left.

Well. We finally arrived! We made our first foray into the city at night, checking out the Christmas lights, spotting the well-lit Giralda and Cathedral; and stopping, finally, for our first caña (small draft beer) in Seville. I feel like we are finally really here!

Christmas lights with La Giralda .

And, it’s warm! When we left the temperatures in Montpelier, in the sunny south of France, were in the low 40s; here in Seville it’s in the high 60s. Wonderful! We’re so pleased.

 On the other hand, it is raining. And raining. And raining. But it’s warm! Apparently it’s been raining a lot. As the plane landed we saw flooded fields surrounding the airport. Walking to our new-to-us apartment we crossed streets that were partially flooded. But it’s warm!

Every time we come to Seville—and I think this is our fifth time—we stay in the same place, a cozy little apartment located in the old Jewish area called Barrio Santa Cruz. But this time we chose to stay somewhere else, just for a change. Just for central heating! We want to get away from those individual room heaters. Now we’re in a modern 7-story brick building, surrounded by other modern brick buildings. Not visually inspiring but we’ve got a spacious apartment, lots of light, and a view of the sky. And central heating!

Two things we always seem to do while here in Seville is buy footwear (see this earlier blog about Spanish boots), and visit the dentist. Our first year here we had our teeth cleaned by a young woman from Peru just getting her dental practice started, and we’ve been going back ever since.

And, it just so happens that the new place where we’re staying is near the dentist. Like, a half-block near. With reservations made well in advance, we strolled over on the morning after our arrival and re-acquainted ourselves with Dr. Laura.

Our apartment building and.. a shoe repair shop!

After our cleanings Paula was musing about our other habit. Did she need new boots? Or maybe just get the old ones re-heeled… Then we turned the corner and there, right on the ground floor of our apartment building, was a shoe repair place! (And just in case I wasn't sure what reparacion de calzaos meant, there was a picture of a shoe--and a key, because also available was duplicados de llaves).

We stepped into the shop, crowded with other customers. There was a large fellow in a white smock standing in front of a complex looking machine with grinding wheels and buffers. Paula asked, using pantomime and her best pidgin Spanish, How much to get these heels fixed? Next thing we knew Paula was offered a chair and the cobbler was slicing, cutting, grinding, gluing, and trimming. Ten minutes later her boots were good as new! 

The large fellow slicing, cutting, grinding, gluing, and trimming.

As we were paying (€10! about $11USD) I noticed a woman—the cobbler‘s wife?—at an industrial sewing machine fixing a strap on a ladies purse. It was big smiles all around, and we really wished we had more broken things to get fixed.

Twenty-five steps later we were standing in front of our sixth floor apartment door, marveling at what had just happened. Fastest case of “you want it, you got it” I’ve ever seen!

Well, after that first week the rain stopped, and we’ve been enjoying the magnificent weather. Our new lodgings are a bit further from the center, but make it easier to get to some areas we’ve rarely visited (too far then, plenty close now, from our new location!)

 

                 Christmas Lights

Every year we rush to the Plaza de San Francisco, one of the major squares downtown, to see what’s installed. One year it was an ice skating rink, one year three giant angels in lights, one year huge crowns. And this year…

 

Animation!

Animated light displays! Colors and images flowing across the surface of these giant hemispheres.

 

Colors! Note the figures on top...

The girouette (weather vane) on top of La Giralda; copies are mounted on the light domes.

Plus all the usual lights strung across the boulevards. 

Crowns along Calle Sierpes

Lights and the exquisite buildings along Av. de la Constitución.

The ever-popular Plaza del Salvador.

Oh my, but how time flies! This was written just when we arrived, and now we’re all packed up and ready to go back to the States—tomorrow it’s up early and on the plane. Once we’re in California maybe we can catch up on what we’ve missed…