Rainy Day

The weather is certainly cooler up here in Mountain View compared to LA.

Today was the second rainstorm. I forgot how much I liked rain.

It rained a lot freshman year when I had a lot of places to go, so I didn't like it much then, and after that it probably rained few enough times to count with my fingers and have some left over.

But today, at quitting time, I stepped outside and was greeted by the cool atmosphere of rain. The air was chilly and moist, and there was something refreshing about walking to my car, under my umbrella, stepping on puddles in my heels. I had to drive home slowly, but I didn't really mind (the 2-mile commute probably didn't hurt my patience). And I spent the rest of the day warm inside because it was raining outside, watching TV shows on my computer and knitting (unfortunately, that wine bottle was already empty, but that would have been nice, or perhaps hot chocolate).

[1/3 sec, f/8, ISO 400, 60mm]

It was comfortable, but lonely. Kevin is still in sunny LA, and so rainy Mountain View doesn't quite feel like home.

~*~

Going Dutch

For Valentine's weekend, Adrian planned a trip to Solvang, which is this Swedish/Dutch community off 101 and surrounded by vineyards.

[1/400 sec, f9, ISO 200, 72mm]

It was a quaint little Christmas town by night.

[4 sec, f8, ISO 200, 28mm, cropped]

The night of Friday, February 13th we lost our wine tasting virginity.

[1/400 sec, f5, ISO 400, 38mm]

It was a relatively empty wine bar, so we bonded with the bartenders. One girl (Andrea, I believe her name was) actually graduated college, completed med school and her residence, and was lined up for a job. She took a vacation to California to go wine tasting and take a winery internship, during which time her hospital was destroyed in a hurricane, so she stayed! She taught us about the wine and various factors like weather and geography and grape types, etc. They wrote us a 10% coupon on a napkin to a French bistro up the street.

The next morning we walked around town,

[1/125 sec, f9, ISO 400, 28mm]

and got aebelskiver with raspberry jam & ice cream for breakfast, along with Swedish sausage and mustard.

[1/125 sec, f7.1, ISO 400, 28mm, w/flash]

At lunchtime we drove to El Capitan Ranch to go horseback riding; it was beautiful (though very difficult to photograph on horseback).

[1/1000 sec, f3.5, ISO 400, 28mm]

[1/250 sec, f11, ISO 200, 28mm]

My horse was a stubborn sweetheart named Mouse. She constantly tested whether or not I'd let her snack on the trail, and she was a chronic tailgater!

[1/400 sec, f3.5, ISO 100, 28mm]

Then we drove back to LA, away from beautiful rural California, back to the land of palm trees...

[1/320 sec, f8, ISO 200, 28mm]

~*~