Sorry I Haven’t Written

Goodness, what a month! I jetted off to California on the first and had a great time with my former college roommate and her husband, who live at the end of the BART line in Walnut Creek. When I returned, that strange and horrific hurricane had dropped enough rain that I needed to bail out my car. Yes, bail as in a leaky boat. My internet also had completely conked out. After five hours on the phone and at least four more of troubleshooting, I am now purchasing WiFi by the week while I look for another internet provider. It’s not optimal.

Ah, the Golden Gate–shot from the Presidio.

Meanwhile, I had delightful guests on two consecutive weekends: my niece, who was in town working on an article on Virginia wines, and my cousin and her husband, who are generally hosting me, came up to tour the Textile Museum, Washingtoniana collection and (drum roll) Dumbarton Oaks, my favorite place in Washington (search Dumbarton Oaks on the blog and you’ll see it gets an article a year, at least).

At the Japanese Tea Garden, a little spike buck peers from the trees.

The California trip was really nice. I am normally in charge of transport and destinations while on vacation and this time, I wasn’t! I was retrieved from the airport in San Francisco and driven down to Half Moon Bay and a tour of beaches that included Miramar, where the observatory is. We also experienced a great deal of California traffic. In the ensuing days, we saw the Japanese Tea Garden and the Botanic Garden (do my friends know I like gardens, ya think?).

The Japanese Tea Garden pagoda as we approached…

Then we went to the Legion of Honor, established after the Great War. It has a large collection of Rodin Sculptures and paintings that run the spectrum from De La Tour to Whistler and more modern painters.

Through the arch for a LOT of Rodin’s sculptures…

There was also a Holocaust memorial. I found this very powerful, and only photographed it from the back.

This memorial was emotional and evocative for me.

Close by the Legion of Honor was a coast path from which you could see the Marin Headlands and San Francisco Bay. It was lovely.

The Marin headlands. Gorgeous, huh?

Later in the week, we went to Amador County in California gold country and visited two wineries. At Vino Noceto, we got a tour of the grapes and the winery from the owner, who let us sample the grapes and also very generously gave us some barrel tastings.

Noceto uses both stainless steel and oak barrels to age. I bought a pino grigio, a rosato, and their specialty, sangiovese, as well as a barbera. I hope to be back on line and visiting you all regularly again soon. But for now, I’m off to Orkney Springs, Virginia for a photographic workshop. Cheers!

Swimming toward full internet access, we hope…