Aurora II

...a reference to the aurora borealis in the sculpture by Catherine Daley in the garden at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts next to the Saturday farmers' market. There was a light frost in the night and a heavier one predicted for tonight so winter has arrived at least at night. It was sunny and somewhat warm in the sun by the time we got to the market, but still cold in the shade. 

The farmer with the tomatoes and peppers was worried that he wouldn't get all his plants covered in time to save them. I put a couple of pictures of his beautiful displays in extras.  Dana was helping her friend Leigh, the one she went to Mexico with, so we discussed knee replacements (she's had two) and cat scans that can look at cholesterol (she had none). John got granola, cookies and monkey bread, a kind of pull apart pastry from the bakery lady while I purchased paté and calabrian sausages  from a guy dressed as a traffic cone. I also spotted a woman elaborately decked out as a lady pirate waiting for her coffee at the coffee stand. It takes them forever to hand pour every cup of coffee, but nobody seems to mind. I never get any because juggling a cup of hot coffee along with all our purchases becomes complicated. We got apples and pears from the man who specializes in heritage fruits and a late summer bouquet of almost black sunflowers, some onions and lettuce from the man whose wife grows the flowers and makes the bouquets. Dragging everything back to the car we collected Spike and took him on the sculpture walk. 

Spike didn't really care about the sculptures but enjoyed the sniffs. I liked the sculptures and a gentle walk in the sun,  and was touched by the cast concrete white stars randomly scattered under the olive trees in memory of those who died in the 2017 Tubbs fire which damaged the Luther Burbank Center and the Sutter Hospital next door. My feet were getting cold so we went back to the car thinking to return at night sometime as there were all kinds of lights in the trees and  on the ground.

Home to eat our monkey bread and another coffee and then off to the Beltane Ranch (second extra) to pick up some wine. We chatted with Alexis there, apologising for not making it to the pick-up party last weekend because our dog was sick. She said she knew all about that since her dog was just diagnosed with lymphoma. The prognosis is good, but she said she was having trouble getting  her head around having to give her dog chemotherapy. I said I understood all about that because our dog had had to have surgery to have his eyes removed and I couldn't really get my head around that. We walked around the flower garden in front of the house, still blooming with late blossoming salvias, zinnias and asters. By this time it had warmed up considerably and it was so pleasant to wander around in the sun enjoying the peace and the view overlooking the Sonoma Valley.

Now the late afternoon sun is slanting through the door and I do believe it is time for a glass of the wine we just picked up. It has been a thoroughly pleasant day.