The Red Barn

The party was off to a good start when our old friend Jerry, who  helped us move into our Berkeley house almost fifty years ago, gesticulating wildly,  accidentally let go of a glass of red wine which exploded all over the entry. When he did the same thing almost fifty years ago, we had a very ugly grey rug, which was considerably more difficult to clean up than off of our bare  floor here. The old incident has always been something of a joke between us, so we all agreed that it was only right that he do the honors here,  insuring our house is now properly baptized.

Cindy brought a punch bowl filled with Cosmopolitans, everyone brought bottles of wine and there was beer outside on the porch. All the neighbors who came on foot were able to find their way up our otherwise pitch black driveway with the aid of the Christmas lights OilMan strung along the fence. Cindy's daughter and son, home from college, talked with our 88 year old neighbor, Ellen, in her smart red jacket, and our Corvallis friends arrived after a 10 hour drive. Dana and Jim were here, chatting with David, our contractor and his wife. Rob, and his husband Jim, who live across the street, arrived in red shirts and Christmas bow ties. It was a nice party with a very nice group of people.

This morning, after a leisurely start (and a text from Dana--liver paté for breakfast ?) we set out for a delicious lunch of seafood cioppino at the Glen Ellen Inn and a visit to The Red Barn, an unusual gift shop with fresh produce, dried wreaths and flower arrangements and ristras of chiles and strings of garlic. I loved coming in from the wet cold day to the earthy smell, the beamed ceiling, and the warm pot bellied stove. 

Now we're about to pull out all the leftovers for our dinner.