Saturday Morning Flower Market!

Mimi, a school friend of mine, and I decided to spend one recent Saturday morning visiting the big downtown flower market. It's located in what couldn't be a more urban setting, since it consists of basically a parking lot surrounded by stores backing onto two huge airplane- hangar-sized warehouses. The warehouses, however, are filled with any number of beautiful stalls displaying hundreds of varieties, sizes, and colors of flowers and plants.

The early morning is reserved for professional florists with a wholesale badge, which are a hot commodity in the city and which we did not have. One of my other friends recently opened a flower shop in a small town south of the city; I wonder if she goes to the 5 am market! In any case, we wandered in after it was open to the public (trade business ends at 10 am). Since a picture can be worth a thousand words, I won't delay in sharing the rest of these with you. Needless to say, it was a beautiful and peaceful way to spend some lovely hours with my friend on a Saturday morning:

Orchids and ferns remind me of my high school years, spent in Singapore. Orchids are the Singaporean national flower, and they have one of the most beautiful orchid gardens in the world.

Our own SF Bay Area tends to be good for ferns because of the cool, foggy climate. I also enjoy growing indoor succulents and cactus, which are found naturally all over the west and southwest. Being at the flower market made me want my own garden. I'm so glad our new flat has a yard -- you can tell the family (I think mostly the Dad) gives it plenty of care and attention. I will post more pictures of home, but in the meantime, more of the astonishing beauty we found behind the cement walls of this downtown warehouse.

Each of us had a mission: I was buying flowers for our family to give my father for Father's Day, and Mimi was buying flowers for a mutual friend and colleague who is pregnant and whose waters broke early, forcing her to stay on hospital bedrest for nearly a month until her daughter is born (hopefully) safely. While finding the gift, my friend was unable to resist roses for herself before settling on a beautiful potted orchid for the hospital room!

Orchids used to be my absolute favorite flower, but B and I have a little cactus and succulent collection at home and they are quickly working their spiky little way into my heart. On a tangential note, I love my choice of vocation so far, but I have to admit that on beautiful days I do wish it took me outdoors more often. The flower market reminded me that all of this came from somewhere -- nurseries and farms up and down the state.

It is so grounding to smell and see all of these flowers and realize how close we are to growing things, even when we haven't seen any green leaves all day and are surrounded by buildings at work. I found some beautiful (but thorny! Ouch!) roses for Dad that I was commissioned to purchase on behalf of Mom via telephone, and some Dendrobium orchids on sale as well (couldn't resist). I also noticed a tiny little coffee shop anchoring the parking lot of the flower market, although we didn't try it so I can't recommend it one way or the other.


These cactuses are the citrus of the flower world: doesn't it cheer you up just to look at them? In all honesty, the prices were variable --some stalls were charging far more than I was willing to pay, and some seemed to be giving away flowers! Many of them are willing to negotiate, especially towards the end of the morning. I think the flower market is best suited to one of two things -- either you have a specific and unique type of flower in mind, because you are likely to find it (think black roses, miniature varieties of rare plants, organic purple cabbages masquerading as flowers), or you have a specific budget and are just looking for pretty flowers of any variety you can get. However, it's also a good place to cheer yourself up if you are ever feeling blue:

Or purple, or white, or really any color at all! Where do you go for beautiful flowers? How do you feel about cut flowers (do you love them, hate them, or buy them and feel guilty about them)? What about organically grown versus with pesticides? Do you grow your own? In any case, see you next week!

A Moment of Serenity

Today I went seeking some peace, quiet, and serenity. In the form of a cup of tea, some roses, and a bowl of blueberries, yogurt, and cinnamon bread that my dad brought home (at left). I was playing around with roses trying to figure out what to do with our wedding tables. I'm drinking decaffeinated Earl Grey. Mmmm. And of course, I am gazing at a very contented, bread-loafed cat. Tea and cats are pretty nearly synonymous with home, aren't they? I am very excited to start living with B in our new place (which we haven't found yet), but it certainly is strange to realize that the year is over and I'm moving again. Also, I'm going to miss having both my parents under one roof for the first time in 20 years (their work has kept them apart). It's so fun to call out, "Mom!" or "Dad!" and have them actually answer, no phone necessary. Of course, my little feline has been with me throughout medical school (we got her when I was 14).

This year, both the cat and I moved back to my parents' house (for the 3rd year of school), as did my dad (from Japan) and brother (from Las Vegas). My mom went from living by herself to living with all of us again! I moved back into the room I've lived in since we came back from South-east Asia in 2002, which used to be our home office when I was five and we had just bought the house. This room is the first room I ever typed on a keyboard in! Although it took all of us some adjusting and my brother decided he wanted his own place and moved out, he comes back on weekends to hang out and do laundry, and we do have some moments of peace now and again. And of course, since my parents are cooking, the meals are pretty gourmet. Yum. This is inspiring me. Maybe I'll make some gingerbread tonight for my nice mother and father (and brother, if he drops by).

I think we are actually ordering in sushi this evening, which is pretty special. My dad cleaned out our entire garage today so he could manage the people from Home Depot as they covered our garage walls in shelving units. It's going to be so tidy and neat to have storage for all of our seasonal items and things that would otherwise be stored in an attic (there isn't one at our house). He worked very hard all day, and I think as a celebration of our new, organized garage he is treating us to sushi! When we start eating, I'm pretty sure the poor cat will rouse herself and perform her sad-cat-without-sushi dance back and forth across the kitchen floor. My dad always takes pity on her (I captured this sweet shot of my parents sharing the papers in our living room).

But as I write, both the cat and I are at peace. And outside, the garden is blooming (the pink tree buds have opened)! I love spring. We have a postage-stamp size garden, but it has a rose tree, a cherry tree, a pear tree, a tiny lawn, abundant daisies, fresh mint, several jays, hummingbirds, raccoons (!) at night, and sometimes, neighboring cats. You can probably guess how our resident feline feels about that.

We do have a redwood fence that allows us some privacy, so we can have cookouts sometimes. My brother uses the barbeque frequently, and he's a very good cook. Our next-door-neighbor's flowering tree overflows from their yard and lends a nice backdrop to the grill.

One of these days I'll have to write more about the garden. It is a potentially enchanted place. With tasty barbeque chicken.