greetings from San Francisco...

i returned from san francisco just a couple of days ago, and i think i am finally recovering.  honestly, i think i'm more in mourning because it came and went so fast! lol...san francisco is such an inspiring city, in so many ways, and each time i am there, a part of me feels very much at home.

i won't bore you all with a detailed recap, but i did want to share some photos of my time...these are images that will be stuck in my head for a while to come...i actually can't wait to start playing and working with my hands again!

i literally spent days in golden gate park...lol.  it was truly beautiful, with so many different 'rooms' and areas for varied uses by the citizens of the area.  the above photo was taken upon the entrance to the AIDS memorial grove that is hidden away inside the park.  this spot truly did take my breath away as i came down the stairs into the grove...it was a masterpiece of garden design and architecture.

the architecture throughout the city and outlying areas is pure heaven for a historic buff such as myself.  these were just some of the 'painted ladies' along haight street...coincidentally, this is also the same neck of the woods where many of the great artists and musicians of the 60's lived...janis joplin, the jefferson airplane, and the grateful dead.

the palace of fine arts at dusk was the perfect spring evening walk...the colors were unbelievably vivid.  i could have sat here and sketched columns and arches forever...

we also took a day trip to napa to visit some of the many wineries...the vistas and imagery were absolutely stunning, and every where i looked, i seemed to be gasping and snapping photos...lol.  i got so many ideas for projects and pieces...i had to remind myself sometimes to just stop and breath and take it all in.

the view of the pacific on the way down from mount tamalpais...it was raining pretty hard that day, but we decided to trek up anyway.  i'm so glad we did, because everything was so astoundingly lush and green once we began climbing to the top...the trees and the moss seemed truly alive.

on my last day, we strolled through the japanese tea gardens...it was so peaceful and felt so deceptively, genuinely 'japanese', it was hard not to believe you were actually in japan...lol.  i came home with a million ideas for small projects in my own garden...now, if only it would stop raining here in buffalo long enough so i can get out into the garden, that would be lovely!

i am so grateful that i was fortunate enough to travel, and do so safely, to a city that i love, to spend time with the friends i have grown to love...i have so many other images i want to share, so many inspiring snapshots, and i will do so, in time...til then, thanks for sharing in some of my travel memories!

Out with the cold, in with the woo...

its still snowing here, off and on from day to day, but its beginning to seem like the frozen grip of our icy seasonal temperatures is finally starting to ease and the mounds of snow are now melting...thankfully.  i love where i live, partly because i can enjoy the transformation that occurs with each change of season, but winter is the only one that cannot seem to pass quickly enough for me or my spirit!

i am heartened that spring is just a mere twenty days away...but it also helps to find little ways to help alleviate the spring fever that sets in right about this time each year.  for instance, i splurge a little more often (if i can get away with it) on fresh flowers or plants to place about the house.  this weekend, my wegman's had the most beautifully colored bunches of fresh Stock (Matthiolo incana) flowers.  i chose the pale blushy pink ones that you see above, and gathered them up with some delicate baby's breath.  they've been placed on the coffee table in the family room, and you can smell their romantic fragrance every time you walk into the room...(sigh).  it really does help to lift one's mood, to bend over and place your nose amongst such delicately perfumed blooms.  i mean, how can you not help but smile?

you know what else helps even the most horrible cases of spring fever?  getting out of town!  and this lucky girl gets to go here in just a few short weeks:

http://www.allposters.com/-sp/San-Francisco-Posters_i995008_.htm

san franciso is one of my favorite cities to be in...its just so groovy and laidback, and it totally appeals to the hippy in me (obviously).  so come late april, i'll be back there, touring Napa wineries, riding trolley cars, strolling the haight, climbing mt. tamalpais, and chilling at the wave organ.  there are a ton of 'need to see' places on my san francisco wish list, but i'm really looking for the unique, out of the way, only the locals and 'those in the know would know about' places...are there tiny little shops full of dresdens and millinery someplace nearby?  quiet little boutiques brimming with crafting treasures tucked into those hills?  perhaps a forgotten little antique place full of old photos and books near chinatown? 

i'm looking for input folks!  if you love san francisco as much as i, i would love to hear your favorite places to see, eat, shop, enjoy...leave me a comment below and help a girl out!  and, try to remember that all winters end, no matter how cold and icy!