I had a smooth, quiet ride down to San Luis Obispo. I left with plenty of time since my brother had warned of "Carmageddon" after the Thanksgiving holiday. The only time there was traffic was at our favorite rest stop in Bradley - every parking place was full, and at least 20 cars were parked along the "no parking" strip so I figured they couldn't tow/fine us all, so I pulled over. Once in SLO, I had a nice lunch at House of Bread - a Panini with chicken, pesto, provolone, and artichoke hearts. Yum!
I had decided on a spray of Fuschia. I remember being a kid and going out on Nona Linda's balcony, the rich baskets blooming with pinks and greens. A three-hour session, mostly in silence, while I thought about my Mom, my brother, and mostly my Dad.
After my session, I hung out for a few minutes and then walked over to meet my friend at Giuseppe's—it seemed appropriate to get Italian food. My goodness, SLO has more restaurants than Santa Barbara! I couldn't decide between the spaghetti carbonara and the wood-fired pizza, and would you know it, the special was a carbonara pizza. It was so ridiculously rich that the next day, I had a slice for breakfast, and then Chip and I feasted for dinner.
The drive home was also good, and quiet - I do love California at this time of year - the quality of light, the duskiness over the grape vines in the valley, and the first view of the ocean when coming back to Santa Cruz.
Poppy survived despite me being gone for a night, and June was happy to have me home, as well as Chip, maybe because I brought scrumptious leftovers. It was a good sojourn and I feel I did what was right, I did my rites, and I feel at peace.
