Rice grows here too

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Today was warm and gorgeous, drawing people to sidewalk restaurants and coffee shops all over midtown. I couldn’t resist, so Zing and I went out too, but we drove to a place that was sure to be quiet. I’ve been meaning to check out the West Sacramento rice docks, and I figured no one would be there on the weekend. Not long ago I took a wrong turn and saw them — big white silo-things that said RICE. But I had to watch the road and was driving too fast to appreciate them. A lot of rice is grown around Sacramento. The fine print on my Trader Joe’s frozen brown rice  says it comes from the Sacramento Valley.

Today the industrial area along the Sacramento River was indeed quiet -- big rigs parked along the road, gates to warehouses locked up, no traffic, silence everywhere. We couldn’t get past the gate to the rice docks, but we did see the white silos and the river beyond. In a strange way it was fun.

Then we drove up and down a few streets, stopping at a dead end where a few cars were parked by the fence; there was a grassy strip and then a short, steep hill. You could only see the sky over it. It was a levee. Zing and I went up, and, yes, it was a canal where people sat fishing in small groups or alone, and farther on a placid green and blue marsh.

Love, 

k