Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho

. . . a pirate's life for me . . . .

No, I didn't get electrocuted putting up the patio tree today. Thank you all for your concern. As it turned out, our rain didn't start until later in the afternoon, so the tree lighting and decorating was a dry (albeit chilly) affair. And just as I was finishing, Gran pulled up to wisk me away to our lunch outing.

I don't know if you recall or were even reading my blog last March, but Gran and I had lunch one day at the High Hand Nursery/Conservatory and then we visited a vintage fiber/quilt shop called the Tin Thimble in the same complex of shops. Well, we pretty much repeated that trip today, except the lunch menu was geared toward winter rather than spring. Yes, we repeated the homemade potato chips with artichoke/lemon dip--we shared a large order. So darn good! Sadly, on the drive there, I realized I had forgotten my camera and Gran left hers in the car, so we have no photos to show you, but the food was excellent. I had a half a chicken/brie/apple sandwich and Gran had a seasonal salad with persimmons and mandarins.

The view during lunch was interesting to say the least. Inside the conservatory, which is a large, glass-walled building, they had large wooden planter boxes planted with fir trees that were decorated for Christmas with red ornaments. Since we had a choice of looking out onto the nursery's sparse winter garden or inward at the Christmas trees, we chose to look at the trees; the drawback was that doing so meant looking at the other diners too.

You know how low slung pants are popular now? An older, overweight woman sitting at the table in front of us was wearing a pair of DKNY low waisted jeans that were at least one size too small for her. How do I know they were DKNY jeans? Because the tag was hanging out the back, along with her . . . . Well, you know how plumbers have a bad rep for working bent over with pants that don't quite cover all they should? Yep, I think this woman may have been a plumber too. Not something a person would want to look at while dining. You'd think it would have been chilly enough in that glass-walled building that she'd have FELT a breeze or something, but I guess not.

Luckily, Gran and I were a bit distracted when a pirate entered the restaurant and was seated at a table not far from us. Yep, a pirate. In full pirate dress--boots, hat with feather, brocade coat, etc. Of course, since he was indoors, he took the hat off and had one of those kerchief things wrapped around his head.

Somehow, and it might have been that Gran asked someone who worked at the restaurant, we found out he was just a customer. So, no, I guess he wasn't there as a singing telegram or anything else that would explain his dress; I guess he just likes to dress up when he takes himself out to lunch. Hey, it's California, remember?! We can be grateful he wasn't dressed in drag!

After lunch (and a nice cup of hot chocolate topped with REAL whipped cream), we ended our excursion at the Tin Thimble where we watched a class felting wool roving into Christmas stockings with lacy embellishments. We really, REALLY need to take a class there someday--they do the most interesting stuff! And I love the vintage goods they carry--I came home with a couple pieces of vintage lace trim for pillows. Merry Christmas to me! Well, that's ONE person on my list I've shopped for now!