Our Weekend Trek from Sonoma to San Jose

Spent the entire weekend with T's side of the wedding party. While we had a slew of errands on our agenda, it was also an opportunity for us to meet and get to know Jeannie's newer half, James. Happy to report, he's a good guy -- reaffirms my earlier hunch that Jeannie is a good judge of character. Now if we could just get him to leave the digital camera at home. Well, on Saturday, we headed up to Sonoma County to run a couple of errands for the wedding, including a visit with yet another wine country vendor. This particular florist, who came highly recommended, works from a large studio in a home that is gated and situated off a long stretch of a two lane country road in the sparse woodlands of the Russian River valley near Sebastopol. Like the photographer we interviewed a couple of weeks before in Petaluma, she too was a native of France and spoke with a hint of a French accent. There was a striking similarity in that both the photographer and the florist fit into a very narrow category which I will characterize as "French hippie bohemian artist expats raising their children in the wilds of the Sonoma countryside and earning a modest living commercializing a portion of their artistic talents." In both cases, it was clear that they were "artistes" with a rare mix of raw talent and a love of their craft. The portfolio of her floral arrangements was amazing. Later that day, we headed down to the City via the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped briefly at the very summit of the Marin headlands, on what was a picture perfect day in the Bay. Breathing in the crisp ocean air, we stood on the grassy ledge below Hawk Hill looking out onto the vast canvas of the bay with the intense bright orange of the bridge framing the trademark outlines of the San Francisco skyline. Sailboats dotted the deep blue-green waters beneath us. Sunbathers were out in force along Baker Beach. Cyclists whizzed past on the road behind us. Nearby German tourists snapped away on their cameras in audible awe of the scenery. This was definitely the highlight of the day (and possibly the entire weekend).