The CornerStone

by sonomasojourn

I needed a diffuser. The cottage here is fine, but sometimes when I come in from outside I think it needs to smell a little fresher or spicier or something other than what it smells like (not that it smells bad). I look everywhere in town for a diffuser that doesn’t cost $100; I can’t find any in what I think is my price range and wonder what it is I’ve been missing with regard to price points and diffusers. (I’ve been spoiled by diffusers I’ve bought at TJMaxx and HomeGoods and other fine department stores, where $17 is expensive!) No matter. I drive 30 minutes to Corte Madera, halfway between Sonoma and San Francisco, to take a one-to-one course at the Apple Store on iMovie. If I get the time to practice what I learned, you’ll soon be seeing mini-movies here on the blog … except that maybe I need to upgrade my membership by a million dollars so I can post videos. I’ll figure that out later. At any rate, I hope to run into a TJMaxx or HomeGoods along the way, but I don’t … and I find myself taking a right turn into “CornerStone” on my way home from class. CornerStone is just pass the Fruit Basket — an open-market stand where you can buy lemons and avocados, fruits and vegetables of all types … bulk oatmeal, candy, rice, and nuts … and wine for $3 a bottle less than you can find it in town. CornerStone is collection of art galleries, shops, wineries and a gourmet café and market – set amidst nine acres of garden installations created by the world’s leading landscape architects, I’m about to find out. I stop into one of my favorite stores, Zipper, to look for diffusers — theirs start at $125, and I try to memorize the smell of the fragrance as I put down the bottle as quickly as I had picked it up to inhale. Really: $125 for a bottle with reeds that promise to aromatize the air for at least six months; is there a money-back guarantee? I do find a pearl ring on leather that is only $20 (it FITS my big fat fingers!!), and there is a night light that I buy: it’s a black box about 6″ x 7″ and it says ‘Love is all you need’. What I particularly love about it is that only the word ‘Love’ lights up when it’s plugged in … so I leave it plugged in all the time and am happy when I see ‘Love” lit up. I walk into the store next door to Zipper … there is a large selection of diffusers to choose from; most are substantially under $100! The woman who is on duty when I arrive is sitting at a round metal table in the corner of the store; she is cutting large heart shapes out of magazines and assembling them so that when she stitches up the center of them, they will unfold to a dimensional celebration of love for Valentine’s Day. We talk about the art she is creating, what I am looking for, why I am here in Sonoma and not in Boston. We talk about her new kitten and litter boxes in general and Smokey, who is on my CapitalOne card. How was Smokey’s trip out on the plane? (Uneventful, thank heaven.) How did she adjust to the new environment? (Seems to be doing okay.) Is she an indoor cat? (She doesn’t want to be, and I do let her out on the porch occasionally – but only if I’m with her.) Have you been through the gardens yet? Gardens? I didn’t know there were gardens here – I thought this was just a collection of stores. I tell her not yet — I’m about to do that. It’s not true, but as soon as I say the words, it becomes true. My catholic guilt and commitment to going beyond my comfort zone assert themselves and I walk out the door and to the left and down the flagstones leading me to the Sculpture Garden.

As soon as I step through the entrance to the Garden, I thank god that I ignored my laziness to enjoy these walk-through installations. Landscape architects and designers from around the world were given the freedom to create anything from traditional gardens to modern, conceptual installations and were provided a garden parcel of approximately 1,800 square feet, a few practical considerations – and the sole directive to “Invent, inform and create beautiful and thought provoking spaces”. And so they did – from “Garden Play” to “Small Tribute to Immigrant Workers”, from “Eucalyptus Soliloquy” to “Red Lantern”, it was an unexpected treasure to spend time amidst these artists’ interpretations under Sonoma’s brilliant blue skies.

Life is good. Especially since I write this wrapped in the fragrance of fresh cut tuberose … I admit I spent more on this diffuser than I usually do – but a lot less than $125. And besides which (how was it that that commercial went – L’Oreal, I think?)…

“I’m worth it!”

Lemons, apples, avocados…everything costs less here than in town! Yum!

“White Cloud” – sculpted cumulus clouds (swirls of wire mesh supported by posts) with thousands of clear cut crystals ‘catching the light from morning to moonlight’.