Sunday, October 02, 2005

Too Shi-Shi for Me

Today we went to Santana Row in San Jose, which is where they have the local farmer's market. I love to visit all the different farmer's markets around the area - it's a great way to get fresh fruits and vegetables and support local growers. While it was very nice, Santana Row is a bit too shi-shi for me. It had lovely shops and beautiful landscaping, all of which screamed at me "Do Not Touch!". The shops did not seem accessible to me, even though I was free to walk right into any one of them I wanted. They even had several uniformed policeman patrolling the area.


It's not that I cannot appreciate beauty, but I grew up in the country and beauty to me means something totally different...







Instead of a concrete flower on a building pillar, I think that land that is not tampered with and built up to the point that we have people living on top of businesses is beautiful and rare these days. I love it when I'm in a place where I can see the sunset - buildings and shops do not get in the way. I enjoy being in a place where policeman are not needed in order to ensure safety and reduce theft. People are friendly and greet you with a smile and go out of their way to be kind and courteous.









On the bright side and totally unrelated note, we spotted this little red car and accompanying miniature bicycle sitting there amidst all the huge SUV's. It took up about half of a normal parking space and was the cutest thing I saw today. What was the miniature bike for, though? In case of car emergencies?

Stay tuned for next week's Farmer's Market Adventure.

8 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

farmer's markets are indeed the BEST!!! i love to poke around at the one in union square in manhattan. have you ever been to nyc? if you ever plan a visit, let me recommend it.

7:04 PM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

Sadly, I've never been to NYC - I'll make a note of your recommendation if I'm ever able to go. That's one place in the US I'd love to visit.

7:11 PM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

Julia - I do feel out of place here - I'm really a country girl at heart.

Justice - I totally agree. One of the things I always enjoyed and thought was beautiful as a kid was going to the lake or out in the woods. Especially in the morning when no one was up yet. Hearing no noise can be a beautiful thing also. :-P

2:37 PM  
Blogger tshsmom said...

As a country girl, I feel your pain. Morning silence is the BEST!

BTW, what's shi-shi?

5:28 PM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

TSHS - Shi-Shi just means "fancy" - I used it because it rhymed with "me". :-P

5:33 PM  
Blogger The Zombieslayer said...

I remember when San Jose actually had some farms.

Totally agree with your post. I'd rather have a flower than a concrete interpretation of it any day. This country needs to protect its open space while we still have it.

10:26 PM  
Blogger Notta Wallflower said...

ZS - I cannot tell where the farms would have been - everything is very built up. :-/

6:31 AM  
Blogger The Zombieslayer said...

Notta - You know the area of San Jose that's flat? (most of it). That was all farms. Of course by the time we moved in California in the 70s, they had already begun to swap farmland for city, but still, there were a lot of farms in that area at the time. Oh well, I guess you still have cows in some of the hills. :p

11:29 AM  

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