Things That Move In Circles

Diorama Life

This scene is so beautiful and bucolic it's hard to believe it actually exists.
But it does, and just 45 minutes north of San Francisco.
The tiny little church of St. Mary's is over 100 years old and stands in the tiny little town of Nicasio.
The central square of the town is surrounded by the church, a few houses and a saloon (well, a very saloon-like restaurant) with all sorts of live music that draws people from miles and miles around. From the town website:

Nicasio has retained its rural atmosphere and tranquil beauty. The community still looks like a frontier town, a place where change is slow and predictable. The town gradually drifts through time, at an unnoticeable rate and will most likely boast those characteristics for many years to come.

It reminds me of a diorama or a town surrounding a trainset. Or a scene from the I SPY books. (Click on the View from Duck Pond Inn.)

I can't decide whether or not I would like to live in a town like this. It seems that lately I've been craving the country life more and more...

Hard at Work

I would like to be able to say that I haven't posted here because I've been SO BUSY with a million different projects.
But I haven't been. I can't think of one project-like thing I've done in weeks.
Except for maybe yesterday when the baby (must find him a new name soon as he has just turned 2) and I planted flowers on the deck.
Later in the evening as we were relaxing and lining up cars (Download cars_lined_up.jpg), he brought out his bunny to admire our handiwork.
He led him around and showed him all the flowers and told him the colors. He then asked bunny if he "like the flowers? We bought them at Home Depot."
While I'm blown away by his memory retention (I mentioned to him IN PASSING that we were going to Home Depot as we drove), I'm sure his grandpa would be shocked to shit with this latest addition to his vocabulary pool...He owns a small nursery on the East Coast and is constantly on the verge of being Put Out Of Business by said store that so inexpensively provided the beautification for our deck.

I have now learned that the baby is much like a tape recorder that you didn't realize was taped underneath the table or secretly held on the other end of a telephone conversation (in Great Sleuthing Tales, of course)...or perhaps he is more like the parrot (in Other Great Sleuthing Tales) that witnesses the robbers breaking in, overhears a string of words, and later saves the day by repeating the crucial piece of evidence to the sheer raucous delight of the theft victims and the sleuths.

There will be no delight, however, of ANY KIND, should my dad ever hear the words "Home Depot" come tripping out of the baby's mouth.

Here Again

Ohhhhhhhh, it was so good to get away. And now sooooo good to be back.
Road trips with the baby have gotten a tiny bit better as his utter obsession with cars now dwarfs his desire to scream and flail about in his car seat.
As we drive down the highway he shouts out every bug car, sedan, station wagon, jeep car, mini car, sports car, convertible, convertible sports car top-up, convertible sports car top-down, pick-up truck, gasoline truck, mail truck, bulldozer, and so on. We passed many hours listening to the baby's broadcast of the entire inventory of California Highway 1.
Details of the trip to follow...
The above photo was taken somewhere outside of San Luis Obispo on the drive down.

Away...

My computer has been ill and in the repair shop for over a week now.
We are down here in Los Angeles visiting friends and then driving back up the coast to camp in Big Sur!

More later.