Top Ten Reasons to Love Sonoma

There are way more than ten reasons, but these are the very top reasons that come to mind. 1.) It’s not Napa. Sonoma is larger, arguably has more great wineries, but is a world away from the glitz and glamor of its trendier cousin. Sonoma is more Wild West than it is Hollywood. You still find wineries here where the tasting room is someone’s shed. And the winemaker hops...

School DAZE Part Deux

Into my second week of my second class (Beginning Photoshop) at CCSF (Community College of San Francisco) and I’m finally hitting my stride on this Photoshop stuff. The first two classes, I stumbled out of each FIVE HOUR CLASS (twice a week!) eyes glazed, mouth dry and brain fogged. All we’d done is go through the menus and walked through the various features. As of last...

A Paeon to Pants

Those of you who know me know I hate shopping. I’m dragged kicking and screaming out shopping once a year WHETHER I NEED IT OR NOT! One of the reasons I hate shopping is that clothing manufacturers do not design clothes for my figure. A figure that I think is a fairly typical woman’s figure. As opposed to the figure of a 14 year old boy with breasts. Yes, I have what my...

WE’RE GOING TO THE OLYMPICS!!!!!!!

Only a few weeks ago, I put together my “Bucket List” of things to do before I kick it. Some of the goals were doable, some were probably just pipe dreams. Like “Go to the Olympics”. Then yesterday, Andy announced that his partner in Taiwan was being hosted to the Olympics by UPS and was given the opportunity to invite two other people. They chose us! That...

And He Dined with Jesus, the Easter Bunn...

Taking my semi-regular power walk in Sonoma this weekend, I had a chance to check out some of the sights off the square that I usually drive past. One of the things that caught my eye was the historical plaque on The Blue Wing Inn, one of the oldest buildings in Sonoma. The plaque says the adobe building was built by the industrious General Vallejo in 1840 “for the accommodation...

The Tree We Moved: Update

In spite all of our bumbling and ignorance and “Green Acres” naivite about country living, one of the things I’m most proud of with our Sonoma project has been the fact that we seem to be leaving the land better than we found it. Part of that is respecting what’s there and embracing it (No lawns, fussy flowers and formal gardens! Just unrestrained plantings and...