Rain, Rain, Go away!

I know I know - it's been a month. I'm just trying to get settled in a little bit here. I'm not very fond of Santa Rosa (California). It just seems like another larger town to me.

Well, Jim had off 2 weeks because of rain, and then it was back to work for 60-70 hour weeks. Boy, is he tired when he gets home. However, he had off yesterday and today because of rain. Looks like he'll be off tomorrow and Saturday too. The weather for the weekend is predicted to be very nasty. Oddly enough, though we've had lots (make that tons) of rain and wind, we have yet to see lightning or hear thunder, something quite common in our 30 years of life in Florida.

Yesterday, we went looking for a "Mom and Pop" type pet store. That's about the only place I can usually find the food I like for Conrad. Neither Petco or PetSmart carry the Sunseed brand that he prefers. Anyway, before we left the pet shop, who by the way did not have what we were looking for, we asked the young lady there about a restaurant in town for breakfast. The one we inquired about, she said wasn't so great, but if we wanted the best breakfast on the California coast, and if we had time, we should go to a place called Howard's.

Well, of course we had all the time in the world. What do you do with yourself on a rainy day when you can't work, and you have nothing else to do at the moment? Where pray tell, we asked, is Howard's? She instructed us to drive just a few miles more towards the coast, and make a left turn onto Graton Rd. She said that it would take us into a little town called Occidental, where we would find Howard's.

What a CHARMING little town we found!! It's more like a village, on a road very appropriately named, Bohemian Highway. And yes, dagnabit! I forgot my camera. But then, we were only off to go to a pet shop and then to Michael's craft store. It's a beautiful little town hidden away in the woods. There are two gorgeous old churches there. WE WILL BE GOING BACK AGAIN! It looks to be a small village of about 400-500 people and it claims to be famous for its THREE Italian restaurants. Howards is not an Italian restaurant. It's a little cafè and bakery. the town couldn't be more than maybe a half mile long and that's it. They also have two hotels. I can't imagine how crowded it must be there in the summer months.

At any rate, we parked in front of Howard's and in we went. "HI! Have a seat anyplace you like!" was the first thing we heard. So we sat. Coffee was in front of us in a heartbeat and we ordered breakfast. Fresh herbed potatoes with onions and peppers, eggs, and rye for me. The potatoes were outstanding. I could have just sat there for the day eating them. Jim opted for French Toast with scrambled eggs and organic syrup. Gee, I thought all syrup was organic. Shows you how much I know about that stuff. I just like food, organic or not! The French toast was delicious. (yes, of course I had a taste)

While we sat waiting for our breakfast to arrive, we began reading a newspaper article that hung on the wall from 1969. The building where we were sitting was built by W.F. Taylor in 1879. It also said that he was a descendant of General Zachary Taylor. (yes, also 12th President of this country). Well, that got Jim excited enough to say that we HAVE to go back. He is also a descendant of Zachary Taylor! We must have pictures of the town to share with Jim's family.

After breakfast, we wandered through the little shops in the town, that are mostly transcendental, metaphysical type stuff and locally made crafts. It was so nice to look at something that didn't say "local crafts" with a "made in China" sticker on it. The people that make the items were right there, for the most part. Their items truly were locally created. How refreshing!

We headed on back to the coach after that with one short stop at the craft store. I'm getting into scrapping, stamping, and such - keeps me busy while Jim is at work. I've also discovered a fantastic online store too - Scrapbook Pal. Their prices on things are pretty darned good compared to the brick and mortar where I go. There is not a single Hobby Lobby in the state of California! The people out here don't have a clue what a great store they're missing out on!

Maybe since it looks like Jim isn't going to be able to work again tomorrow, we'll be able to take the camera and go back out to Occidental and get some pictures for me to post. And, yes, I'll do my best to post a little more often.

While you wait for the next post - if there is something you need to get online, won't you check out our alphabetical list of stores and shop through us, pretty please?