Valentine's Day Weekend

Russ and I aren't too big on "commercial holidays" like Valentine's Day, but this year, by accident really, we decided to have a weekend on the Central Coast which coincided with Valentine's Day.  It was a wonderful two days, except for the fact that our Motel 6-ish hotel was $200 a night because of the holiday weekend, I assume. We went on two great runs: Johnson Ranch and Ontario Ridge. After lunch, on our second day we went to visit the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. While we were walking around, we both thought we heard sheep, which seemed a little strange, considering that, although the area is rural, it is still bordered by the grounds of Cuesta College on one side and a golf course on the other. As we were leaving, we decided to drive around the county campground that is a part of the county park where the gardens are, and there were the sheep, grazing on a hill. Their "shepherd, a retired Cal Poly professor was there, moving the fencing around their grazing area. I asked if his charges were "SLO County lawnmowers," and started what ended up being a very interesting conversation.

 This little guy, who the professor caught specially 

for me to pet, was born just last night. Have I mentioned that I LOVE lambs???

There was such an interesting story behind the sheep being there. The professor is helping retain and restore the vegetation and therefore the soil, around the golf course. We had such an interesting conversation about land management. He made me want to learn more about caring for the soil and the whole terrior thing. He was so knowledgable that I asked him his name, thinking he must have been pretty influential in agricultural circles, having taught at Cal Poly for thirty years. He was...and a bit controversial too, since he obviously doesn't agree with current agribusiness practices. I Googled him, and found out that Harris Ranch lobbyists hated him when he was teaching--in other words, he's heroic in my book....Oh, and I think he's friends with Michael Pollan, too which I also think is cool. I love Michael Pollen's quote:"Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much."

 The first day, we had lunch at the Sidecar Cafe in San Luis Obispo, and it was awesome: pork belly tacos, arugula salad with pomegranite, goat cheese and pumpkin seeds, and pozole.  That evening, we headed for Pismo Beach to eat at Ember, Kai's favorite restaurant, and ran into bumper to bumper traffic. Realizing, we were heading into "Valentine's Day craziness," we turned around and ended up ordering sushi, which was just OK, but we had a wonderful wine with it, Cunundrum 2019 Red Wine,   which is a California blend. On Sunday, after a morning run//hike up Ontario Ridge, we went the the High Street Market and Deli for "breakfast." My "Fraky's Breaky" breakfast sandwich seemed to have nearly an entire avocado in it. Enough said.

Pink is Still the Best

I bought some angora yarn from Little Knits a while back, as in maybe ten years ago or more. It was a really good deal and very pretty yarn, but it just sat in my knitting basket making me feel a little guilty. After finishing my last cowl, I got the bright idea to knit one with some of my pink angora.This is called Forest Park Cowl.  I knit it for a friend who likes pastels a lot, and I think she'll like it. The only problem is that the forecast says we'll be having temps in the mid 70s this week. I feel like our winter weather window has closed!

So, I'm not excited about the fact that it's already getting so warm in February, but I do love how my garden is beginning to look. I have johnny-jump-ups popping up everywhere.

I'm like the Johnny Appleseed of johnny-jump-ups. Every year, I'll spread the seed pods all over the yard, and now they just self sow. I've done the same thing with little white chrysanthemums, which are pretty much like weeds, so I shouldn't get so excited about growing them, but it's fun to have the yard start to get so colorful.