Some Stuff I Saw

My mom fractured a vertebra lifting a bag of groceries, because that's how her fragile little bones react to stress. So Lola and I packed up the car and drove down to Santa Barbara for a week to help her out. As always, SB was lovely and fun to visit. Also a little quirky. Here is some stuff I saw.

One day I saw an old guy walking out of this house dressed in full yacht captain's regalia. I was very sad I didn't have my camera with me at the time. The whole scene reminded me of that crazy guy at the beginning of "Mary Poppins"--the one who keeps shooting off the cannon from his roof.

My mom has a green thumb. She is also artistic. Sadly, she did not pass these qualities on to me. She made this tiny garden out of an old wooden Pepsi box.

Pretty much everything in Santa Barbara is beautiful. This is some office building around the corner from my mom's house. We walked past the grocery store without ever knowing it was a grocery store. It looked more like the entrance to Zorro's villa.

The streets are lined with these lovely jacaranda trees. Heavenly!

This shop caught my eye--I'm not sure why. I asked Lola if she wanted to go in, and she said, "Are you kidding?" We didn't stay long.

Littlerock, California. No offense meant, if you happen to come from Littlerock, but it's on the road to/from Nowhere (except Utah). I've always wanted to stop here, but daltonboy never would, because he doesn't appreciate high adventure. Since I was making the rules this trip, we stopped.

They seemed to be a bit short on gnomes, actually. On the other hand, it looked like they had bought out China. Lola got a Superman lunch pail. At Village of Gnomes. That ought to be a conversation piece.

Speaking of conversation pieces . . . you can't read the card on the display, but this little tableau is on sale--down from $1050. You can pick it up for a mere $650. Daltonboy (always the wet blanket) texted me to say he wasn't interested, because he always wanted his first caveman to be dragging the woman by the hair. A man of principle. Email me for directions to Village of Gnomes. I don't think any of the stuff is going anywhere--it was all covered with a thick layer of dust.

So that's my trip. My aunt came down to relieve us and we're back home again, safe and sound. Hopefully my mom will be able to start radiation this coming week and get her back fixed soon. If not, maybe we'll go back in July, when it's warm enough to go to the beach!