Mendota and Firebaugh

One of the reasons I enjoy visiting the small farming towns of California is that they provide interesting glimpses of both the past and the future.  On the one hand, it's easy to be reminded of bygone eras of local, family-owned grocery stores and department stores; hometown, non-chain restaurants; and old-fashioned farm festivals.  On the other hand, the multiple languages, the occasional graffiti, the decaying storefronts, are all reminders that the sentimental days of small town farming communities are past, replaced by agri-business and strip malls.  In the process we've made cantaloupes available year-round and comfortable work clothes affordable, but it worries me that we've lost something in the process of becoming so distanced from community and the earth.  

The pictures on this page were taken by a friend 

	Note the cocktail glasses carved in the front doors...

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