The First Lizard

This past weekend I saw the first lizard of spring on a post on our back deck in Lake County.  It was a gorgeous day, and the lizard (a specimen of Sceloporus occidentalis occidentalis, or Pacific Fence Lizard) was clearly enjoying the radiant heat of the sun.  These lizards go dormant during the winter, and it’s certainly been a cold and wet one, so this may have been one of its first outings.  In some climates, the first robin of spring is a big deal, but in Lake County, I think the lizard tells the real story.

There were lots of lizards on the property last summer when we first visited the place.  The lizards (and were those cicadas I heard, vibrating in the trees?) were one of the many things that sold me on the property.  I immediately felt a deep connection to the setting, or terroir.  The shimmering heat, the endless rows of vineyard, the scrub covered mountains in all directions, the olive trees, the walnut orchards and the azure blue of Clear Lake (even when filled with algae) made me feel like I had landed in a Marcel Pagnol story. 

It’s funny how places actually seen or only imagined can exert such a powerful emotional pull.  A life long Francophile, when I visited France for the first time at age 17, it felt  like coming home.  Culturally and spiritually, Lake County is about as far away from France as Mars, but the landscape is so similar, I have to keep pinching myself to believe we actually have a home in that setting.

For those in need of a springtime French fix without the plane trip (or even the lovely drive to Lake County!), we have a wonderful evening planned on March 26, when SFGC presents a concert, and its annual gala fundraiser, titled “Americans in Paris.”  The program will include music by French composers and American composers influenced by France. The terrific jazz manouche, or gypsy swing band, the Hot Club of San Francisco, will join us in the concert.  It all takes place at the Herbst Theatre, which promises to be the hottest boite in town that night.