shoreline
Originally uploaded by FunCupcake.
I started sneezing as soon as I got back. I have horrible allergies, including to my dogs, but mostly it’s the pollen and grass, and the worst ones, some pretty severe food allergies. Santa Barbara, while beautiful, is the worst place for such conditions, cuz folks, things bloom all year here! It’s like 365 days of Spring, which, yay, means fabulous weather, but alas, lots of kleenex, claritin, flonase, swollen glands, and a puffy face!!! mmm. pretty! Though I prefer fresh air to air conditioning, my allergies were much more under control without pollen floating in the house 24 hours a day.
I needed to do (er, shall I say EAT) a few things right off the bat here in SB; it was imperative that I eat at the Hamburger Habit (not as good as I remember :(…) as well as Shintori Sushi, where the Sushi Chefs are Mexican, and they have funny mexi-sushi combo rolls! I also wanted to go to El Torito on the waterfront to enjoy a humongous happy hour fiesta platter of various deep-fryed appetizers and of course, a $3.00 margarita. Super Rica is next on my hit list (a little taqueria that Julia Child was known to frequent, even though it’s on Milpas, lending it a certain amount of Mexi street-cred.) Tonight, it’s Elsies, so I can be handed a beer by an angst-ridden artist/bartender on rollerskates! I’d love to dust off some of my records, we’ll see.
Slowly, my nerves are decompressing from the last several months of living in NYC… my first night back here, I kid you not, I could not sleep, it was TOO QUIET! I’ve been taking the dogs on lots of little walks during the day… we walk in almost absolute silence… what a contrast! No subways roaring underneath, no cabs honking, no sirens blaring, no jack hammers, no east coast accents yelling and definitely nobody pushing… there is sometimes a distant leaf blower several blocks away. And I can count on one hand the amount of people I encounter on these walks! A funny old man who wears a skipper cap (I always thought he was a woman actually until he talked to me yesterday and I realized he’s a little old man) and invariably, another person walking their smallish yappy dogs. Anyhow, I still feel stuck between two worlds, not quite here yet, not there anymore. For now, I’ll enjoy the best this place has to offer while I catch my breath.
