April 5, 2009

Back to Reality

Spring Break 2009 is almost behind me, and I have to say I've had a delightful, stay-at-home vacation. The first weekend spent with Nora and Paul was the perfect kick-off, but the rest of the week was a quieter kind of wonderful. Gardening, sewing, research and writing filled parts of each day, but I also squeezed in lunch and coffee with friends. Even domestic tasks like laundry and cleaning somehow seemed more pleasurable when accomplished on a relaxed schedule.

My week off coincided with the beginning of a new quarter at the university. It was a busy week for Paul, but he did manage to take off Thursday afternoon. He arrived home at lunchtime with a plan. We headed north to Los Olivos and a visit to the Los Olivos Cafe for a delicious lunch and then a walking visit to the new location of the Wildling Museum.

According to Webster's Dictionary, wildling means an uncultivated plant or undomesticated animal, and the museum specializes in the art of America's wilderness. The exhibit we saw was a small collection of Southern California Impressionist paintings from the Irvine Museum. The Wildling is in a new location in the center of town, in a building that houses an interesting combination of art and commerical enterprises.

We walked back to our car through a residential neighborhood. I always enjoy peeking at the way other people live, and fantasizing what my life would be like if I lived there, too. I spotted one house, mostly hidden behind a wooden fence and arched gate, with a perfect second story writer's retreat. I'm sure that I would become a prolific writer in such an inspiring environment, but life in Los Olivos might be too quiet. The town does meet some of my basic needs--a little art, a local coffee shop and a small market within walking distance. But on the negative side my public library requirement wouldn't be satisfied by a local library only open for three hours on Saturday, and then there would be all those annoying wine-tasting tourists to contend with.

Well, time to head back to reality.

1 comment:

Sherrie Petersen said...

I can't BELIEVE you were up here and you didn't call me!! Don't do that again!!