Living Creatively During a Pandemic

With cooler weather, we can no longer socialize on the porch and patio, so we have turned to creative endeavors.

As the “pandemic era” Amazon packages started to arrive, ABN could not let all that packing paper go to waste. Out came the paint and glitter, 

and Christmas wrapping paper evolved.

And there was a bit of "upcycling."

Captain has been busy in his shop.

It is almost finished!

And then there is this,

As a fixer engineer, Captain comes up with creative ways to fix problems; the problem, frozen fig tree branches. Hopefully the solution is foam pipe insulation.

Last, but not least, with the help of another local sewer, 10 purses are en route to the Sew Powerful headquarters.

These purses will be distributed to 6th grade girls in Zambia after they finish their health hygiene class. Filled with feminine hygiene supplies, the goal is to encourage the girls to attend classes during their menses. Not missing a week of classes each month will give them a better opportunity to pass the exam that allows them to attend high school. If you have a sewing machine,  ABN would love to tell you more (she kept two purses for examples)  or you can visit the Sew Powerful website.

Taking a break from creating, we made the difficult decision to visit Captain’s mom during Christmas. This may seem a bit of hypocrisy, as we have been staunch supporters of the CDC’s COVID recommendations. We had a COVID test 5 days prior (which apparently was lost, but now found during shipping and results promised by Christmas Eve,) and we have pretty much isolated for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes one has to weigh the risk with the benefits. The major risk is to Mom and she certainly thinks our visit is worth the risk. And who can say “no” to their mom. 

 Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas.  May you find peace in the chaos of 2020.

Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list. 

Living Richly During a Pandemic

 

Doctor appointments, weeding, dental check-ups, cleaning the RV, removing spent flowers, maintenance on the RV, cataract surgery, pruning, sorting mail, mulching leaves; pandemic life has not been much different than any other time we return from a couple of months of traveling.

Sadly we were not able to safely host Tipsy Tuesday. But with the pleasant fall weather, we were able to catch-up with our local friends by inviting a few folks at a time for a socially distanced, bring your own dinner/lunch and support the local restaurants evening; we supplied the wine.  (Credit goes to our friends, Linda and John for that idea.) 

Social distancing on the patio and porch, we hosted 2-3 times a week in October and November. 

And we had travelers stop by!  Again, we kept our socializing outside.

Juanita and Greg stayed a couple of nights in our driveway as they were traveling from their home in Maryland to Texas. 

Heading home to Southern California, Ginny and Scott stopped by for a visit. As we sat on the porch, they shared stories from their 9-month, tour of the country in their 17ft. Casita. 

As always, when we are away from the garden in the summer, we come home to quite a mess.

This is how it looked when we left in August.

This is how we found it on our return in October.

The garden is ABN’s happy place and she was quite content to spend time getting it back in order. We saw our last monarch butterfly on Halloween; so ABN decided she could remove the zinnias, Mexican sunflowers and coreopsis. (We don’t usually have our guests work for a parking space, but ABN was grateful Juanita insisted on helping.)

Cuttings were taken from the geraniums, roses, lantana, lavender and succulents. Tender plants were moved into the greenhouse.

All is ready for a long winter’s sleep.

 

Okay, the blooms need to be removed so energy will go to the plant, but this is so hard to do!

Now that the garden has been put to bed, it is no longer warm enough to gather outside and it’s not safe to gather inside, how can we live richly during this pandemic winter? Fortunately Captain has a shop, ABN has a craft studio and we have plenty of wine! Seriously, we do have some plans for making the most of this time of isolation which we will share in future posts.

As we continue to live richly during the pandemic, we realize not everyone is as fortunate. We will wear our masks to do our part in supporting the health care providers working 12 hours a day wearing layers of PPEs. We will practice social distancing so our neighbor children can return to school. We will shop locally to help our community remain open. We will order take-out from our local restaurants so when the pandemic is over we will have a place to go and celebrate.

 Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list. 

Embracing the Change

 

With COVID-19 and the potential for wildfires, we had no doubt the plans for our Summer 2020 Adventure would change. Those changes led us to discover new areas and new experiences.

Our return trek from the California Sierra Foothills across Nevada and western Utah, mostly on America’s Loneliest Highway, was uneventful. Once on I-70 East the drive became much more interesting.

Entering Colorado we parked The Wanderer in an orchard at The Peachfork Orchards Winery, a Harvest Host stay near Palisade.

We had a most engaging conversation with Phil, the owner, wine maker and fruit grower who happens to be from a small Kentucky town about 100 miles from our home. In addition to peaches, he grows grapes, apples and pears which he sells throughout the area and beyond.

The drive through Colorado was stunning!

It just happened that we were there at the peak of fall color.

We also saw the damage from the Grizzly Creek wildfire in August.

A little change in our plans to visit friends led us to White Star Campground nestled in the aspens and evergreen forest near Twin Lakes.

Look closely and you can see The Wanderer.

We were happy to, once again, get into our hiking boots and hike about 5 miles along the Interlaken Trail.

Finally we arrived at the beautiful mountain home of our friends, Steve and Adele

where we parked The Wanderer for a few days.

Words can’t describe and photos don’t do justice to the beauty, but here is a glimpse of their little piece of utopia.

Their solar array provides all their electricity needs.

Passive solar heats their new greenhouse.

Nearby Arkansas River

Surrounded by mountains on every side, hiking trails abound. Considering that we are flatlanders living at near sea level, Steve and Adele were considerate to take us on trails they considered to be relatively flat.

Road leading to the Continental Divide Trail Head

The best part of our travel adventures are the new friends we make along the way. We met Steve and Adele in Arizona in the winter of 2018.

We have stayed in touch and have gotten together as often as our paths can cross. We consider them to be among our dearest friends.

Getting away from the smoke was very much welcomed. Apparently the “shortness of breath” we experienced was due to elevation gain and not the first signs of COVID!

Spending time with wonderful friends in an imposing place was the perfect finale to our Summer 2020 Adventure!

Heading east, mostly on I-70 through western Colorado, Kansas and Missouri was a bit quite boring but we did have a refreshing respite at Cousin Joy and Shannon’s home in Lindsborg, Kansas. 

Thanks to Joy and Shannon, Coronado Heights is now checked off our bucket list!

Summer Adventure 2020 has come to an end.  For us, adventures that lead us to new experiences and to friends and family with whom we can share good wine is "living richly." 

 

Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list.

 

 

Smoke, Smoke, More Smoke and Wine

 

Why, of all the places we could be, are we in smoky California?

 

 

In the background you can see the cooling towers from the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear power plant.  (This is probably interesting only if you have been in the nuclear energy field 

El Dorado County Fairgrounds

In one word, wine.

 We can hear many of you (yes, Mom, we hear you). We know there are places other than California (that are not burning) where we can taste wine. But, for us, it’s about the hunt. It’s about finding the wines that best satisfy our palates at a price we can afford. We haven’t found any better full bodied, fruit forward, smooth wines that please us as much as what we have found in California (however Eastern Washington has recently gotten our attention.) We love the small, boutique wineries where each vintage is a surprise, depending on the weather and other factors. The casual tasting rooms fit our personalities and our lifestyle.

Driving through the rolling hills covered with vineyards sets the tone; somewhat reminiscent of Tuscany.

It wasn’t our plan, but over the past 12 years we have kind of created our own wine trail through the North Coast, Central Valley and Sierra Foothills regions. We understand the superior quality of the grapes is due to the cool temperatures at night and heat of the day. Our favorite time to visit is during crush when the grapes are beautiful

and everyone is excited about harvesting, barrel tastings and new releases. Needless to say, it was much more subdued this year. Due to the wildfire near Healdsburg , we were disappointed we could not visit our favorites in the Dry Creek region. However, the change in our schedule led us to return to Lodi and we wondered why it took 7 years for us to revisit.

The tasting rooms were very conscientious in keeping visitors safe. At all wineries we were instructed to wear masks until we were seated at tables placed a safe distance apart.

We only tasted where we could stay outdoors. The hosts all wore face coverings and kept the required 6-ft distance from guests.

 

Most used the “flight” system limiting the time hosts spent at tables.

 

With a few exceptions, most tasting rooms required a reservation to limit capacity and to provide contact tracing information.

Typically we would visit 3-4 wineries a day but, knowing our judgment could become impaired, we decided it would be best to do only one and chose appointments early in the day when it would be less busy.

Unfortunately some of our favorites wineries have closed, but we discovered some new favorites. Also, we have noticed a slight change in our palates, so our “wine trail” continues to evolve.

Getting our vote for the most cautious tasting room during COVID is Terra D’Oro in Amador County where we had the required reservation. Upon arrival we were greeted by a security person checking to see if we had a reservation before we could proceed to park. Checking in at the tasting room we were required to sign a liability waiver, given a welcome pack

and led to our table.

This year’s vote for the best ambiance goes to Lewis Grace in El Dorado County.

 

View from the patio at Lewis Grace Winery

Best newly discovered for our palates goes to Klinker Brick in Lodi.

Old Ghost Old Vine Zinfandel

Borjoin in Amador County continues to be our favorite all-around winery. (Outstanding zinfandels and Petite Syrahs!)

It's not what you might think; they were small tastings.

And the best surprise was our friend Bill’s Barberra, produced under his new label, William Gunn.

We knew it would be good, but didn’t expect the “WOW!”  His chardonnay is excellent and we can't wait to see what his blend "The Boss" will be like in six months to a year. 

 The smoke and COVID did not keep us from finding some very good wines. But was the aggravation worth it? We’ll let you know when our shipment arrives at our home in late October.

 The Wanderer is pointed east with “home” on the radar.

 

Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list.