Bliss, continued…

On Saturday we woke up to the kind of weather that makes your heart sing ~ clear blue skies, mild temperatures, gentle breezes.   Spring has sprung kind of weather. 

Nicki and I left her house and headed to the Salinas farmer’s market to admire the handwoven baskets and totes but the African man that is usually there selling them decided to take this fine day off.  I don’t blame him.  Instead we stopped by the Russian baker’s booth and bought an apple tea cake to share for our breakfast.  Big chunks of juicy apple in a firm, not too sweet cake.  Heaven.  He also let us sample a bite of a tomato, spinach and feta blintz that was just out of this world.  More heaven.

We hopped back in our car and zipped over to the coast to one of my all-time favorite places to shop and browse.  Wisteria & Aptos Gardens.  Two purveyors in the same location.  They have taken an old home in Soquel and turned the house and other outer buildings into an Antique and home decor store and the outside is left to Aptos Gardens where you can buy all manner of plants, fountains, antique wrought iron bits and pieces.   Anything you might need to turn your own garden into a romantic, magical place. 

I bought the pretty blue and yellow tray pictured above, a glass candle holder/vase (I’m going to put a candle in mine) and a sweet little pot of Lily of the Valley. 

After Wisteria we drove up Soquel Avenue towards Santa Cruz and hit a few antique stores where I picked up a few more handkerchiefs (this handkerchief business is becoming an issue.  I think there might be an intervention in the works.  My family members all stop talking when I walk in the room and look really uncomfortable…).  All up and down Soquel Avenue there are a ton of antique stores.  If you live in the Bay Area it’s totally worth the drive over the hill to check them out.  I would start at the North end and work your way South, ending up at Wisteria/Aptos Gardens.  Then you can continue on and have lunch at Seascape Resort like we did.  This is the picture I took just sitting at our table. 

Honestly – it’s hard to concentrate on eating when you have this to gaze out upon.  But eat we did – heuvos rancheros and bloody marys.  After lunch it was back into the car and we tooled our way further South to Monterey and Pacific Grove. 

Pacific Grove is a very picturesque little town.  The last time I was there the shops were all closed but not this time.  We went to The Wooden Nickel where I bought a glass dome with a faded pink velvet flower in it. 

My credit card was starting to make pitiful, surrendering kind of noises so we called it a day and went back to Nicki’s for yet another fabulous dinner.  I’ll blog about that tomorrow.   You must check out Nicki’s blog to see her treasures and her pictures.  She is braver about taking pictures in shops than I am and she has some great pictures of Wisteria.