Road Trip

 

 I came back from a short trip up north.  It was a combination vacation for Jakey and my chance to pick up some details for the next Yarn Retreat book.

It is always nice to walk through the hotel and conference center that is the inspiration for Vista Del Mar.  It's also a little confusing because my imagined place is different than the real place and I expect things to be where they are not.  

My favorite thing to do is to go through there at night.  It was after 11 p.m. when we went for our walk and most of the the place was dark and the buildings that house the guest rooms had blended in with the surroundings and become invisible. 

The social hall which functions like a hotel lobby with registration and places to sit by the fireplace and read a book  was lit up and seemed like a beacon in the darkness, though the gift shop and cafe were dark.

The only person we passed was a man carrying a guitar.  The entrance to the boardwalk that leads to the beach was  hidden in the darkness and also in a different place than where it is in my imagination.  Once we found it and started on the boardwalk, there was complete darkness and only the sound of the waves to beckon us forward.  It was brisk with a breeze and fog hung in the air.  The picture makes it look as if there is more light in the fog than there was.  My eyes adjusted to the dark, but it was still mysterious.  

We traveled to San Francisco the next day.  I had been hearing horror stories about how bad the city has become.  I am glad to report that all those reports were wrong.  Everything looked like I  remembered it from years ago.  We took Jakey on his first trip over the Golden Gate Bridge as fog drifted through.  We went down Lombard Street with all the curves and had sundaes at Ghiradelli Square.  It was interesting to watch the driverless Waymo taxis navigate the streets and stop to pick up passengers.  I am not sure how I would feel going down one of those steep hills with nobody in the driver's seat.

We spent the night in San Jose and then made our  final stop was in the Felton at the Henry Cowell park or as we call it the big trees. Being in the midst of all those ancient redwood trees is the ultimate of forest bathing before the long ride home. 

Happy July!

         Well, half of the year is over. Hope it’s going well for you!

            My writing is a little slow at the moment since we have guests for a couple of days—one of my longest-time friends and her husband! She was my college roommate…and that was a while ago. Definitely fun to see them.

            Had our younger dog Roxie at the vet yesterday since her hearing seems to be going bad. Our older dog Cari started having hearing problems at a young age thanks to a bad groomer, but we thought Roxie would be fine…but that infection she had last month might have caused a hearing problem. Now we have to work more with hand signals so she won’t be able to use her hearing as much of an excuse for ignoring our commands!

            Okay, I have a few minutes. Back to my writing for now!

Details

 Now that I'm rewriting SCONED TO DEATH, I am going into the details.  Since it is about an old red school house that has a yarn shop and a tea room, I started getting into the tea they served.  I had already made a point that some of the tea blends are made by someone local who uses flowers and things from her garden.  

 I had gotten the idea from some tea blends I had bought at a holiday sale at the Huntington  Gardens.  They had tins of black tea blended with rose petals and another that had marigolds and cornflowers.  That was years ago.  The Huntington does sell a rose tea blend, but I was surprised to see that it has artificial flavor.

Thank heavens for the Internet--that's how I found out about the artificial flavor and also how I found a way to get rose tea without artificial flavors.  I found another blend that sounded interesting and with a few clicks, the two teas were on their way to me.

I love coffee, but I also love tea and drink a cup most nights while I watch a half hour comedy so I can go to sleep with a smile.

As soon as the teas arrived, I was anxious to try them.  When I opened the canister of rose tea, I was surprised to see actual rose buds and large pieces of petals in the lose leaf tea.  The scent was lovely.  When I brewed a cup, the color had a faint pinkish cast.  The taste was lighter than what I remember from the Huntington tea, but that might have been because of the artificial flavor.  I actually liked this one better.     

The other tea was an Earl Grey blend that had touches of vanilla which gave it a rich taste.  

My interest in details for the book included fashion.  I realized that Annie Sara would not need a different wardrobe for running the tea room and yarn shop. And since she and Gray are involved with serving in the tea room, they would need some form of apron.  

I hadn't really thought much about aprons but then I saw an article on CNN about aprons because there is a new season of The Bear and they wear aprons.  Chef Carmy wears a Bravard apron which is from a French company and had a certain status.  I had never thought about aprons having a status.

I passed on that for Annie Sara and Gray and instead have them wearing Japanese cross back aprons that are almost like pinafores. 

How convenient that  I have one of those. 

 

 

Travel and Unreal Animals

             I’m sure those of you who read my blogs and any of my books know how much I love animals, especially dogs. But I guess I also like fictional creatures, or at least somewhat. My husband and I went to see How to Tame Your Dragon, and I really enjoyed the animation combined with real people. I came to care a lot for the main dragon in the cast!

            Last week, we were traveling with family in the east, visiting Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. I’d been to both but not for a long time, and it was particularly fun to be seeing the sights again, this time with our grandsons who hadn’t been there before. They seemed impressed with sights like the Liberty Bell and interesting places and monuments in D.C.

            Home now with the dogs, who were well cared for by our usual sitter part of the time and our younger son for the rest. It’s always fun to be greeted by them when we get home.

            And now, unsurprisingly, I’m back to my writing.