Department Store Windows

When I was about 3 or 4 years old, my Gramma would take me "Downtown Honolulu" on the bus, and we would walk up and down the sidewalk looking at the animated Christmas displays in the store windows. It was so amazing to me to see Santa waving, elves ice-skating, reindeer noses blinking, Mrs. Santa baking cookies and Christmas tree lights twinkling.

This year, in Sacramento, some antique animated figures were reconditioned and are on display at 10th and K. They don't look much like the ones I remember, but the magic is still moving!

Walking Around Sacramento

I picked up a little book in Doubleday a few weeks ago that details hikes for families around the Sacramento area. So for the last two Sundays, Marty and I have begun exploring some of the trails.

Two weeks ago, we went to Beek's Byte in the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area and enjoyed the dirt trail around the end of the lake. Last weekend, we revisited Ancil Hoffman park. We used to take the kids there sometimes, for events sponsored by the Effie Yeaw Nature Center. This time we saw wild turkeys, a deer, ducks and a kayaker. There are lots more hikes, of varying lengths and difficulty, and we plan to explore them all over the summer, as much as we can. This weekend it's raining, so we'll probably hunker down with split pea soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Misty Moisty Morning

A and I went for a walk up on the levee late-morning and found a few more interesting things to photograph. Lately, it has been very foggy, although this morning the fog was mostly higher. There is a difference between "fog" and "tule fog". Tule fog rises from the ground and hides everything: trees, traffic lights, street lights, tail-lights, and rivers. Regular fog masquerades as "overcast". Thursday night, M and I went to the Celtic Thunder concert. On arrival, all was good. On exit, we couldn't even see the parking lot from the arena doors.

Because the fog layer is so thick, the daytime highs are in the mid-40s - at 2 p.m. today it was 43 degrees! Yesterday, the high was 46. The lows are in the upper 30s. It's cold for this time of year! To take the chill off, L and I plan to bake cookies after dinner tonight and have them for dessert with hot chocolate. (These are the cookies that were in the gift basket I won in the raffle at our staff's "Winter Wowzer" meeting/party on Friday. As advertised, they are "scandalously good!") I opened the cookie jar and shared it with the staff, so didn't bring even one cookie home!

Lunch at Mikuni Sushi

Marty and I had an errand to run week ago, so we timed it to end around lunchtime and ate at Taro's by Mikuni. Here's what his "plate" looked like. It took up the whole width of the table!

We often used to eat out on my day off, since it was a work day for everyone else and the kids were in school. It's been a while since we did that, and so these last few weeks have been a treat! My workweek now is Sunday - Thursday, so Friday, if we have something to do "out", we generally look for somewhere interesting to eat.

A few weeks ago, we ate at the Persian Garden, which was highly recommended by one of our librarians. She was known for her elegant presentations and gracious manner (she's now working for another library), and said the food was excellent and authentic. Marty and I stumbled on it by accident, and decided to give it a try. This is the kind of place we would take special guests to, or visit on a special occasion. The food was flavorful, plentiful, and reasonably priced.

This past Friday, we were planning to do Mexican, since we'd eaten at several Asian restaurants recently, so we were heading for Viento's, a couple of miles from where we live. Right next door, we saw a new restaurant, called Plan B Restaurant and Cafe, liked the menu, and stopped in. What a treat! It has a Scandinavian ambiance, French-style cooking, and reasonable prices. Marty had calamari, and I had a portobello burger with matchstick fries to die for!

SacTown Architecture

Lately, now that it's light when I go home from work, there have been some dramatic views of the buildings downtown with the late afternoon sun shining on them. Here are two photos I took this month. The pink one is the US Bank Building that shares the block and parking garage with the Central Library. I took it as I was waiting for Marty to pick me up after work. The photo on the right is the First Northern Bank building on the corner of 7th and J, where I catch the bus to go home.

These photos were taken with my cell phone; but even my digital camera could not do justice to the scenes. It's tough to photograph buildings in close quarters.

Little Plum Blossoms

This is what happens when you go away for a week: when I left Sacramento at the end of February, the daily temps were ranging from the low 30s to the low 60s. When I returned one week later, it was not only 15 degrees warmer generally, but all the blossoms had popped out! These are blossoming ornamental plum trees in the parking area of our townhome complex. The street side showcases white ornamental cherries, as does the area behind our unit. It's gorgeous! Folks are planting pansies and cyclamen, and the ornamental dogwoods ("orchid trees") are also in full blossom down the street.

There's something about all the color that comes after grey winter days that cheers the soul.