Out of the dust, sand and heat and back into greenery, trees and cool weather. Two nights with my cousin Jane Jones,( yes, our families were very original, Jones and Smith). She and her husband Peter live high on a hill in Corralites, which is part of Watsonville, CA. How wonderful to take showers, do our laundry and relax for two days with family. Interesting to hear stories from the other side of the coin and how they differ or piece together.

The beautiful ocean scenes, the Cypress trees with their magnificent sculptural shapes, the scenery along the hillside sporting miles of low lying plants producing magnificent colors, presented themselves as we drove along the coast. Hues of greens, purples, yellows, and pink blend together to carpet the hills and the dunes. Acres of farmland producing strawberries, cherries, oranges, artichokes, leeks, and countless other vegetables makes me jealous. It points out how short our growing season is in Vermont.

I also learned there is an art to picking strawberries, Peter said there is a area of Mexico where the pickers come from and they know just how to pick the strawberries being more proficient than other people. Peter said in the summer they would pick 5 to 1 when he worked the fields. Who knew?

Jane had recently viewed the Alice Neel exhibit at the De Young museum and the Guo Pei Exhibit at the Legion of Honor. She recommended them to us and so we went. Shap went to the Alice Neel exhibit while Olive and I walked in the Golden Gate park. Then I went to the Guo Pei exhibit. I do not have words that could possibly describe how fantastic these dresses are. The title to the exhibit is “Couture Fantasy” and it certainly was. Guo Pei is recognized as the premier couturier of China and there is little reason to doubt this after seeing the exhibit.

The exquisite designs, the embellishments with pearls, crystals, and abalone shells made into material, boggles the mind. But the painstaking stitches with threads of gold and silver interspersed with the most beautiful colors of silk threads create patterns in the material one cannot be believe it could be done. These dresses took up to 10,000 hours to make.

The fabric on some of the dresses are folded like pages of a book and then made to flow as if the folds are waves of water. Feathers, twig shapes from material, bold earrings and headdresses add to the style. The shoes are so bizarre you cannot imagine one could walk in them. And then there was the dress with puppets on strings, and another made for two people with two bodices and one large skirt. The fantasy of her imagination comes to life in each of these designs.

Her quote says it all.” Fantasy is the height of your spirit. It is the most important part of life because it fuels its meaning… If you have fantasy or an imaginative outlook, you will glow and inspire others.” Guo Pei.