One Fish, Two Fish....

....red fish , blue fish. The blue one is actually white, but they put the blue color in the water to protect them from predators. 

My neighbor Ann and I went to Salt and Stone, a restaurant in the Sonoma Valley right across the street from Kunde Winery. I never tire of the beautiful hilly Kunde vineyards just across the street. (We each had a glass of Kunde sauvignon blanc) And if that weren't visual entertainment enough, Salt and Stone has a wonderful outdoor patio with tables around a huge fish pond filled with enormous carp which are probably worth several hundred dollars each. The water lilies also provide some cover and are blooming beautifully right now.

We were joking with our waiter who was carefully stepping through the narrow space between our table and the edge of the pond. He said he'd had a couple of near misses. I wonder how many guests have fallen into that pond....

Over a wonderful lunch of crab cakes, salad with figs and an affogato we discussed a wide range of subjects including the fact that although we see each other often,  it has taken us ten years to organize a 'girls' lunch out'.

We were at a lovely backyard barbecue yesterday enjoying cocktails mixed by our hosts' son. I missed my chance to get a picture of several fathers floating on inflatable lounges in the pool, drinks in hand when I was distracted by the poke and barbecued chicken wings on offer for appetizers. Fire season  officially began for us after a couple of fairly worry free years when people began noticing the sun turning red and ashes drifting down.  Cell phones were pulled out while everyone consulted 'Watch Duty' a crowd sourced app that reports on fires throughout the state, their size , location, and percentage of containment. This one had been burning above Healdsburg, about 15miles north of us for a couple of days, and the firefighters were keeping it from burning toward the town of Healdsburg. Yesterday,  the heat combined with the tinder dry grass, low humidity and gusty wind caused it to flare up, burning southward and blowing the smoke over our neighborhood. 

The combination of all these ingredients is a trigger for everyone around here, and although I don't think anybody there felt they were in any kind of immediate danger, we were all remembering.... I took a picture of the red sun as we walked home through the smoky air. We could hear the tanker planes carrying fire retardant and water flying over.

It was cool and clear this morning as we drove to Kathy's which is in Windsor, just south of Healdsburg and as we sat outside at lunch today, but I can see the smoke this evening as the wind has picked up again. All a typical pattern designed to make everyone feel uneasy....