It’s the beginning of the month again and time to recap the most popular posts of last month. Posts are sorted by traffic and number of comments. If you missed any of them last month, here’s your chance to discover them. To read one of the posts in full, just click on the title.- The Rules of the RoadPosted on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 in blogging – Comments: (22)I’ve been thinking about the poet Geoffrey Chaucer lately. (Especially since I misquoted him in this post and was immediately corrected by reader Tali.) In Canterbury Tales he writes that, in April, with new life bursting all around, “Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimage.” I think scholars, many of whom call Chaucer the Father of English Literature, have determined that what the narrative poet was trying to say was: “It’s Spring!
- Talk to the Blog! Cause the Facebook Ain’t Listening.Posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 in blogging – Comments: (17)My recent post on Buck Owens just highlighted an issue I’m having with my blog readers. I Twittered about that Buck Owens post and the Tweet connected automatically to my Facebook page. Almost immediately dozens of readers showed up — most from metropolitan areas — and, according to my Secret Squirrel traffic detecting software, stayed on that post long enough to read the whole thing.
- Still Thinking RoadtripsPosted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 in musings – Comments: (14)Once I get behind the wheel of Old Paint, it seems it’s hard for me to take my foot off the gas. So I’m already thinking about what my next roadtrip will be. Several things are going to govern the choice of my next destination:
- Day One: Stolen Water and the Flowers of Bel-Air
Posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 in farming – Comments: (10)The first leg on our roadtrip to see the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano involved driving down the length of California’s Central Valley. You probably don’t know the Central Valley, even if you’ve travelled to California. Maybe not even if you live in California. The Central Valley is the Rodney Dangerfield of California. People sight-see down the Pacific Coast. Or they rush over to see the Sierra Nevadas and other mountain ranges that mark California’s eastern border.- Mr. Faberge, Meet Amelia May
Posted on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 in artisans – Comments: (9)My friends’ baby, little Amelia May, who you will remember as the World’s Most Beautiful Baby, will never become a semi-literate, junk food eating Reality Show wannabee. We’ve decided the world of options are open to her, but most likely she’ll be the first female head of NASA and a Nobel Prize winner.
- Day One: Stolen Water and the Flowers of Bel-Air
- Where We Meet Nixon Near the Kitchy Cathedral on the Way to Buck’s PlacePosted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 in politics – Comments: (9)Today, we left San Juan Capistrano and headed up toward Northern California to the right. I mean WAY to the Right. Since our motel was actually in San Clemente, and we had eaten dinner at Richard Nixon’s favorite restaurant, we thought we should swing by the Nixon Presidential Library and Birthplace. But on the way we’d be passing the Crystal Cathedral of Dr.
- Another British Benchmark for Two Terrier WinePosted on Sunday, March 15th, 2009 in British husband – Comments: (8)I told you in this post how we are at a place of delicate balance in our wine-making efforts. It generally takes at least three years for young vines to start producing usable grapes. But a late rainy season when we planted meant our grapes, which we harvested in what was technically their third year, were really only two and a half years old.
- Rediscovering Buck OwensPosted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 in learnin’ – Comments: (7)If you were like me, you knew Buck Owens, if you knew of him at all, as the toothy guy from that sappy old show Hee-Haw. I say, “if you were like me”, because I’m not like that any more. I have a new appreciation for Buck Owens. And in our upcoming roadtrip to San Juan Capistrano, we’ll be dropping by Bakersfield to pay him homage.
- RFD-TV: Sonoma EditionPosted on Saturday, March 14th, 2009 in farming – Comments: (7)Lately, I’ve discovered a great cable channel called RFD-TV, which bills itself as “Rural America’s Most Important Network”. I guess so. It features a whole raft of horse programs such as live coverage of rodeos and the great Parelli Natural Horsemanship (kind of a “do it yourself Horse Whispering”). I find myself fascinated by the Louisiana Ag Report (which has nothing I can take away to farming in Sonoma, but is still oddly compelling).
- The Good, The Bad and Richard NixonPosted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 in musings – Comments: (6)Day Two of our roadtrip was a day of wild extremes, one near disaster, a fast save and a quick sidetrip down a different historical path than the one we’d planned. But that’s the thing about roadtrips. You better plan that something will not go according to plan.We started the day surrounded with the trappings of wealth. First at the Hotel Bel-Air, then at the Getty, which is nothing if not the greatest modern example of the kind of monument you can build as your legacy if you have billions.
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Just wanted to say HI. I found your blog a few days ago on Technorati and have been reading it over the past few days.