Sonoma Valley

The grapes are appearing as large clusters of caviar sized grapes. As we get into the hot weather they should ripen quickly. A row of leaves is always left above the clusters to protect the fruit from the hot sun. Pruning is an art and decisions about how to prune the vines are critical. The odds  favor hot weather, but any unseasonal moisture will cause mold unless the leaf canopy is removed. One year we had a couple of weeks of unseasonal damp fog so most of the leaf canopies were pruned off. Then we had a heat wave and all the grapes turned to raisins. Growing grapes and making wine is not for the faint of heart!

I ventured out to the city of Sonoma and another quilt shop this morning. It is a beautiful drive through the Sonoma valley and we haven't gone as far as Sonoma in months. The quilt shop didn't disappoint, but it was quite busy. Everyone was wearing a mask, but I didn't linger. I found a striped fabric. I hope it works...it's proving difficult to decide on something....

The whole street is resounding with the sound of tree trimming. Fire season is looming, the county is planning to do property inspections, and everyone is hustling to cut branches away from the house, cut grass away from trees, and clear a line of 'defensible space' around their properties. 

We just got a note from Ali, the engineer who is installing our  our solar battery and designing the wiring for the 'critical circuit' has just informed us that he is having heart surgery next week. I'm ashamed to say that my first thought was, 'Oh no! What next?'. He says it will be a two week recovery, so I don't think it will be open heart surgery, and I do hope whatever they do is successful and that he is back on his feet quickly.

Much patience, and many glasses of wine, seem to be required to get through these trying times....there is a veneer of 'normalcy' but things are anything but normal, especially for those of us older folk who will suffer far worse consequences if we are infected by some asymptomatic Covid positive teenager wandering amongst us....