Half Moon Bay trip

Goat cheese from Harley Farm Goat Dairy. At left cranberry and walnuts top a chevre and brightly-colored edible flowers top one called “Van Goat” which has basil and sunflower seeds inside.

Recently we visited Half Moon Bay. We made our usual stops at all the thrift stores and craft-type stores. There were also a number of yard sales to stop at. One highlight of our visit was to hear a performance by New York-based classical guitarist Peter Fletcher.
The San Mateo County Library System had arranged to circulate several special programs to libraries around the county. Most are related to literary or cultural topics, with only a couple music programs: a mariachi program, a concert by a Latin jazz vocalist and Fletcher.
According to his press release he has been a featured performer at Carnegie Hall several times. His most recent performance there was in March.
At the performance we saw he played selections from “Music of the Baroque,” his 2008 CD release on Tower Hill records. It also included music by J.S. Bach, Erik Satie, Edvard Grieg, Russian composer Nikita Koshkin, Carlo Domeniconi, Andrew York and others.
Our favorite piece he played was “Sunburst” by Andrew York. For this piece he had to re-tune his guitar so that he could play a base line as well as a melody at the same time. Several other selections he performed were also done with alternative tuning on the guitar.
Fletcher began to study guitar at age 7 and made his formal debut at 15 with the Brasstown Concert Association in North Carolina. He continues studying with luminaries of the field: he was the youngest student to perform in a 1980 master class taught by José Torres and was a student of Andres Segovia. He has also studied with Christopher Parkening, Pepe Romero, David Russell and others.
We purchased several of his CD’s. They made nice background music to listen to in between our yard sale stops. More information about his recordings and schedule are at: http://www.peterfletcher.com/index.htm.
Of course we also were successful in our yard sale and thrift store finds. We have a few new to us used books, flower pots, an extra large decorative glass jar, an extra large vase, shelving for a closet, towels and more.
Eating out was fun too. We enjoyed several very good fish dinners during our trip. There is nothing like fresh caught ocean fish. Something we can only enjoy when visiting the coast.
One final place we visited was a little south of Half Moon Bay. It was the Harley Farm Goat Dairy in Pescadero. Their store is full of many kinds of goat cheese that they make there. Samples are offered for tasting also.
They are all very good and it was hard to decide which ones to purchase. We ended up getting a chevre with cranberries and walnuts on top and one called “Van Goat” topped with brightly-colored edible flowers which had basil and sunflower seeds inside.
They also offer tours and dinners. Information about the dairy is at: http://harleyfarms.com/Home.html.
All in all it was an enjoyable trip from the scenic drives to the shopping and the great concert.