Saturday, May 31, 2014

Fog! Hike! Weird Restaurant!


At Sir and Star
The weather turned foggy yesterday, and the fog persisted all day.  We bundled up went for a hike on the Jepson Trail in Tomales Bay State Park, which was almost deserted, unlike the scene on Memorial Day.  It was the kind of day that makes me wish I were back in Berkeley, where there are more diversions.

Later, my sister arrived from San Jose, and we went out to dinner at Sir and Star restaurant in Olema.  This was an eye-opener, like eating on an Addams Family set or B&B designed by Edgar Allan Poe, see photos below.  Food spotty, service spotty, although when the food was good it was really delicious.





Distant view of Heart's Desire Beach and Tomales Bay


Monkey Flower












View of Heart's Desire Beach











And then to Olema for a weird-restaurant experience:




The building is painted black


Inside













Sheets of brown wrapping paper in lieu of a tablecloth


My sister ondering the options.  That's dried seaweed hanging from the light fixture.


Locally produced sparkling wine: so-so


My favorite part--illuminated panels of canvas in the garden

Friday, May 30, 2014

More That's Artful and Beautiful at Marion's and a Rescue by Take-Out



Mercifully:  Take-out
"No more cooking!" I announced yesterday morning.  "There's got to be better way."  Jerry agreed.  We're burned out. 

Then I packed up a bag of fabric and toted it over to Marion's house  to meet up with my quilt group.  Six out of twelve showed up.  In the meantime, Jerry met up with an Entomology colleague, who came for a day-trip to explore bug habitats in the National Seashore.

In the course of the afternoon, Marion suggested a place to get take-out (Perry's Deli in Inverness Park), and later Jerry and I drove down to pick up two salmon dinners.  Delicious.  We can lug our frozen meat in Elisabeth's freezer back to Berkeley.

Dining table at Marion's, ready for lunch


A raspberry-almond tart for Deanna's birthday


Our stuff dumped at Marion's


Newly-dyed fabric


The yarn closet


Everywhere you look there's something artful and beautiful...




...even over the bathtub


...and the medicine cabinet


Shelf over the bed with Mexican wooden animals




Outdoor sculpture


A walk in the garden, with Tomales Bay in the background (right)


View of the house from the garden


Every room has a skylight (or three)

Nasturtiums with poppy







In Marion's garden studio, where she dyed fabric yesterday






Kiln for jewelry-making



The group helped me decide on a border for this quilt


Dull green with an narrow inner border of blue?  Or the blue as a binding?


Ann's latest quilt under construction

Hand appliqued


Marion holding up a scarf she's knitting


Marion, Ann, Rebecca, Karen, Deanna


Close-up of Karen's scarf, made by Ann

By 6:30, Jerry and I had made a run to Perry's Deli:



An evening walk up the end of the road


Devil!