Bleak

After a glorious day yesterday, we were greeted by a thick cold fog this morning, making it more difficult than usual to get out of bed, especially as it was an early start to get to Kathy's by nine.

The vineyards have all been pruned and are standing dormant. I've always loved the old vines which are generally head pruned and have so much character even, or maybe especially, at this time of year. The trees standing bare against the sky are somewhat softened by the low lying ground fog, but the large bird was clearly having trouble getting its bearings in the brisk wind. I thought it was a vulture, but John didn't think so because it didn't have a bald head. But then again, it was pretty difficult to see its head as it flapped madly across the scene.

We had planned to take Spike with us to Kathy's. He's happy to wait in the car and there are some nice places to walk there, but it looked so dismal this morning and he looked so happy on our new quilt that we decided to leave him in a warm house rather than a cold car. 

I've resurrected an old knitting project that was abandoned because of some forgotten problem and found a new pattern  am modifying an old pattern.I remember Justine in the yarn store telling me that the yarn was being discontinued so what I have is all I'll get. I hope it's enough. I'm not very good at estimating yardage.

Our tortilla night last night was a great success. My YouTube studies stood me in good stead and by making smaller tortillas and not pressing them as thin, I had much better luck transferring them from my hand to the hot grill. Jim made three kinds of salsa and marinated both chicken and beef, barbecuing  them on our grill.  Dana made a delicious salad and helped with the rolling and pressing and cooking. Peter came up from Petaluma and he and Dana both looked at the not a Peloton and made some suggestions about adjusting it. This morning Kathy gave me a lot of exercises that I can do instead of riding the bike.

Another young man from All Access Pest Control came today to set some traps in the attic, and check the ones under the house. He said two of them had been sprung but hadn't caught the little devils so he rebaited them and moved them to different locations. He called Ian, the boss, who said he is working on coming back next week to 'pre clean the attic'. 

A quote I read somewhere seems especially appropriate on this holiday:
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

-Martin Luther King Jr.