Budding Vines

A lot of our drive to Kathy's is through vineyards. The light on the new growth was pretty and I always like to see fluffy white clouds. They have morphed into grey skies and rain. We seem to be back to winter after a brief spring, but I'm happy for all the rain we can get.

Someone at the brunch on Sunday said that there will be no 2020 vintages as many wineries, including the one where she works, had to drop all their grapes due to smoke taint. I noticed that there were a lot of newly planted vines and wondered if that was also a smoke related issue. Most of the new vines are replacing some venerable old ones. The old vines don't produce as many grapes, but a lot of wineries keep them for special vintages.

An article I read in the paper this morning informed us that scientists are speculating that burned trees are not providing shade and consequently snowmelt is happening faster. However, scientists are having trouble verifying this theory because all the gauges melted in the same fires that burnt the trees. It struck me as a masterpiece of stating the obvious. We are learning that fires leave behind them all kinds of devastation....

I put another picture taken from the car on our way home in extras. The light and the color were all wrong but we see the lady with the pink hair all the time. Looks like she has recruited a helper....

Last night was a night of interrupted sleep and weird dreams. I woke up with an ocular migraine. I have them from time to time but not usually in a darkened bedroom. I was looking forward to an afternoon to finish the top of Ruta's quilt but I wound up taking a nap instead.