Braving the elements

Out into the drizzle this afternoon, to the nursery to buy a succulent arrangement. Myrtle Creek nursery has terrific Christmas decorations and I thought there might be some on sale. They had been cleaned out!! A few scraggly unmatched things were left. I was almost alone there because of the rain. It was a light drizzle - the kind of rain that Washingtonians ignore altogether, but Southern Californians view in a peculiar way. Most native Californians love the rain (it's different), light their fireplaces (even if it's 60 degrees), drag out the rain gear (umbrellas, raincoats, gloves and hats) and think of themselves as "braving the elements". After living in the Pacific Northwest for a couple of years where light rain falls almost everyday - you don't give it a thought. I rarely even used the umbrella when I lived in Olympia - too much trouble, too cumbersome, too dangerous (you could poke someone in the eye).

I stopped at Hanks hardware to see if they had Christmas stuff on sale. Their left-overs were even more pitiful than the nursery. On a folding table near the entrance was a HodgePodge pile of faucets, cheap tools, cupboard handles, everything in torn or absent packaging. The assortment reminded me of Kiev when Bob and I went there to the Ukrainian equivalent of a home improvement store.

Swordfish, green beans and mashed potatoes for dinner. For wine, we opened one of the bottles Rhonda sent for Christmas - a chenin blanc that was very much like a Riesling and almost effervescent. Delicious.

Earlier in the day I made a marinade for green olives: fresh tarragon, orange peel, garlic, fennel seeds and blood orange olive oil. I'll take this to Ina and Jerry's tomorrow - they already have far too much food.