Its Valentine Day-Love Letters for California from the NY Times Today

Love Letters to California from the NY Times-Its Valentine Day

Happy Valentine Day to All. I also love California in spite of the housing costs, taxes and sometimes traffic. Here's a reprint of love letters from the NY Times today about the Golden State.  I also considered California my first home. 

My second home is Boac, Marinduque, Philippines, Chateau Du Mer. 

https://chateaudumer.blogspot.com/2022/02/home-is-not-place-but-in-heart.html

Here's the reprint from todays NY Times for your reading pleasure. 

"It’s Monday. On this Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating a special kind of love.

The Great Highway in San Francisco.Beth Coller for The New York Times

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re talking about love.

Not romantic love, but an equally real, possibly just-as-corny type of affection — for the state of California.

Dozens of you wrote to me about why you love Carmel-by-the-Sea, Atascadero, Napa, Laguna Beach or the Golden State as a whole. As is appropriate for this holiday, your proclamations were sweet, passionate and largely unconcerned with our state’s shortcomings.

You told me: California might be burning, drying up, wildly expensive and slipping into the sea, but you adore it all the same.

Honestly, me too. Enjoy.

“I tried to move away from San Francisco during the pandemic, back to my hometown Baltimore. I made it one year and three months before the City by the Bay called me back.

Every block of San Francisco holds some sort of beauty. Magical succulents, gorgeous hilltop views, colorful Victorians, and people, being themselves in whatever way they want to be. I have felt the most intense sense of belonging since I have returned. My heart will always be in San Francisco. I am in love with this city.” — Ali Moss, San Francisco

“Having grown up in Minnesota where winters are quite cold, I especially love winters here in Escondido. The clear blue sky, ridges of hills surrounding you and the warmth of the sun on your skin even with a cool 60 degree breeze. Add to that the sounds of all the birds and it is a magical morning. After 2 years of Covid, taking a deep breath is truly a pleasure I enjoy every day.” — Mark Vaughan, Escondido

the main story

In 1964, my family moved to Hacienda Heights, and for the most part, I have been a Cali Girl ever since. Hacienda Heights is almost the perfect place to live. We’re close to the beach and the mountains. On clear days, from the roof, we can see the snow-topped Big Bear. The freeway access is wonderful, although rush hour traffic has radically changed.

I took my first freeway drive on the 57 freeway the day it opened to the public. There were no cars, so our drivers ed teacher let us go 65 m.p.h. What a thrill!” — Mari Turner, Hacienda Heights

“The Golden State nourishes my soul/Her bounties both tactile and visual/

A state so bounteous with culture and spirit/ More than enough for just the residents in it/

Patchwork quilts of flax and pine/ Deserts, mountains, shimmering coastline/

California, mi amor, will you be mine?” — Masahana Kato, Los Angeles

“Though I am grateful to be studying in Europe this semester, I dread spending Valentine’s Day without you, my dearest Berkeley.

Continue reading the main story

If there is one thing that this distance has made me realize, it is that nowhere in the world can outshine your indisputable strangeness. From the dinosaur man of Sproul Plaza, to the street artists on Durant, to the contrast between the $8 lattes and $1 tacos, no two days in Berkeley can be the same.” — Jessica Blelloch, Madrid

Overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur.Jason Henry for The New York Times

“My Dearest California,

I tried to leave you once. It was decades ago, and you’d put me in a funk for the same reasons you drive others away — the traffic, the cost of housing, and, for me, missing my family and a hometown I still adore.

Continue reading the main story

So I got into my car and headed for the coast. But before I reached Big Sur I realized why I had to stay. Where else in the world could I get in the car and, in hours, arrive at the white beaches of Carmel? The cobalt blue waters of Lake Tahoe? The neon mustard on the Kelly green hills of Napa? Even though your scope and intensity can drive me completely mad, you’re the most gorgeous, complex state I know. I love your geography, your ambition and your open-minded, forward-thinking people, which I shall never take for granted.

California, we have been through much together these past few years — fires, drought, Covid. And yet, those unfortunate developments have only made me fear losing you and intensified my appreciation. As I gaze out my window at the beauty of bare oaks against a cornflower winter sky, you, my dear, are my home. Even when you break my heart, I will always love you.” — Lisa Wrenn, Walnut Creek

Note: The David B Katague clan have resided in the San Francisco Bay Area( Pinole) for more than 12 years, 5 years in the Central Valley (Modesto) and currently enjoying the beauty of the Sacramento Area since 2002.  I agree 100% of the sentiments listed above. Again Happy Valentine to All.

Meanwhile enjoy this photo of my orchids: