Delta Queen

i am in love with the california delta.

right here, snaking out of sacramento and through what is lovingly called a "thousand miles of waterways" we have the largest estuary on the pacific coast. one of a few inverted river deltas in the world. five rivers including the sacramento and san joaquin rivers converge to create a lush world of water and levees and agriculture.

this area haunts me. i have a watery soul; maybe i was a river queen in a previous life, or a huck finnish vagabond on a wooden raft sleeping on forgotten islands amid vines and brambles. when i come to the delta i feel the diversity and beauty and strangeness of california's landscape, how many different places and souls and stories are here. suddenly i feel like i am in the south and at any moment an old rusty paddlewheel steamboat will come a-rollin up the river.

in the delta, everything is old and rusty and wooden. 

there are weather-beaten bait shacks with peeling old signs. 

there are lemon trees and creeping vines growing in empty plots between aged buildings.

there are pigeons roosting in open windows, junkyards guarded by billygoats, oranges plopping to the ground.

and everywhere signs of verdant life. for better or for worse, long ago workers struggled to build levees here and create one of the most fertile agricultural areas in the world where farmers grow walnuts, pears, sugarbeets, asparagus, grapes, corn, alfalfa, rice, and tomatoes in the rich peat soil.  

but mostly what i love are the tiny historic towns and a slow way of life that hearkens to older, gentler times. 

everything surrounded by ancient live oaks, guarded by swooping herons and hawks in the treetops.

i stopped to ask directions of a handsome fisherman in rubber boots. he had a well worn face and kindly told me, "it's very easy to get turned around here." and then proceeded to give me perfect directions through the delta, but when it came to the antioch bridge, well after that i'd better stop and ask someone else. this waterland was his territory, it was clear.

the winding levee roads take you back and forth across the rivers, turning right and left, crossing bridges, flying along down levees edged by wildflower-strewn embankments, surrounded by water, toward the sun and away, until you have no idea which direction is which.

where was i headed, you might ask?

my best-friend-from-high-school, kim, who lives in discovery bay, threw a big party for her little guy's first birthday.

and guess which aunty showed up almost two hours late?! sorry blake! this is what i walked in on....

but at least i finally got to see her new home and to try one of kim's scrumptious cupcakes! she has gotten very crafty in her mothering years; everything at the party was star-themed, and she made the white-chocolate stars on top from scratch. 

oldies but goodies! no matter how much time passes and how different we are, we will always love each other and have a ball together.

i left with enough time to meander back through the delta at sunset.

(everyone thinks i'm crazy to take this route but it really doesn't take much longer and it is soooo much more scenic!)

a kayaker even went peacefully by.

the guys across the river were out on their boat-decks and saw me taking pictures and i didn't even mind.

this next beautiful old building is in the sleepy town of isleton, home of the hugest crawdad fest this side of the mississippi. (sounds a little too disgusting for me, but i still like the vibe)

 i met tammy newell, the Delta Gourmet, who runs this adorable little thrift store and makes the most gorgeous willow garden furniture. 

she also eagerly gives out samples of her handmade organic and locally inspired treats. i got to taste some jalapeno herbed spread on celery sticks and a bitter chocolate cookie edged in pistachio nuts. she also gave me a raspberry chocolate brownie for the road and a cup of her homemade organic iced tea.

bridges everywhere criss cross the delta. sometimes they are up for boats to pass through. boats of all kind travel the delta as well; i saw speedboats and houseboats and rickety little wooden rowboats, my favorite. fisherman packing up their gear, fishermen arriving in rusty trucks with fresh bait to catch the sunset nibblers. i saw fish jumping out in the water and raptors diving from telephone poles all the way down to the water's edge.

this house is for sale!

maybe i can have a lighthouse look-out after all :)

farewell to these marshy lands and labyrinthine channels, presided over by the ghosts of old steamboats, not to mention miners and chinese laborers and native tribes who all struggled for life and land and freedom. 

i feel old and ghostly myself traipsing your meandering shores.

and lit up by an ethereal pink february light.

my digs:

embroidered tunic: this shop on etsy

green dress underneath (i liked the strip of orange at the hem): gift from anne!

blue leggings: this shop on etsy

mocs: thrifted a couple years back

necklaces: from a peddler a few years ago