Weekend Wandering...

This weekend I went for a drive and ended up in Sacramento at my dear friends "quirky" apartment (her words, not mine!).  Since the day was more sunny than rainy, we made the in town stops as soon as possible (Hobby Lobby!  Chick-fil-a!)  and then headed up into the Sierra Foothills and Placer County to see what we could see.  

Our first stop was at the Courthouse in Auburn.  A fine, majestic piece of architecture that has been refurbished in a befitting manner.  In the right light, it has a golden glow to it.  Of course, I was on the wrong side of the sun, but it's still impressive. There's a small museum inside that we wandered about, before heading for the wine trails.

We managed to make stops at four wineries, but only tasted wine at three. One of the wineries smelled of something "off" and so it was a quick in-and-out stop.  We found out later they had a skunk in the roof of the hillside cave.  Oops!

Mt Vernon

Vina Castellano

View from FawnRidge (Have you been "fawndled" today?)

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset over Dona Dal Cielo

The next day found us up and out to Thunder Valley for a look at the breakfast buffet (pass...) where we instead had a delightful meal at the cafe' instead.  We christened the nav system in the new car "Trixie" as she correctly gave us directions to the "tricky" to find Lone Buffalo winery.  There's no way we would have found the place without her.  The owners of the Lone Buffalo recommended us to the Pescatore Vineyard who recommended we stop at the Wise Villa Winery, where we met Rolando and his horse J.T., of Cuba originally, although you could tell by his "hey y'all" that he had spent a portion of his life in the south...

Between Pescatore & Wise Villa, we ran across the Gold Hill Cemetery.  I'm always willing to stop at an old cemetery, just to wander around and check out the dates and names.  This is a small cemetery and old.  But clearly, still maintained.  One of the more unique headstones was covered in broken marble.  And this resin angel is standing guard over another's love. 

The drive home in the rain was uneventful, I think mostly due to the fact that folks were home watching the football games. 

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Weekend Round up

I wish I had a picture.  Maybe I'll find one by the time I am done with this post. 
A very productive weekend, at least for me personally.  I was able to move several of my projects forward quite a bit:

• Secret Santa 2012 -  don't you wish I had your name??
• Solid Sock - Lisette a grey sock with a simple cable and a delicate cuff.  It's been in my queue for some time now.
• Cookies - upcoming post on the Cappuccino Chocolate Bites
• Cupcakes -  a co-worker of Mark's is leaving the company, and they requested "something chocolate".  Well, it's something all right - a Swiss chocolate cupcake, dotted with mini chocolate chips, filled with milk chocolate mousse, a splash of dark chocolate ganache, and a squiggle of white chocolate to "pretty it up". They aren't pretty, but omg on the chocolate overload.   And I have homemade chocolate mousse for dessert tonight - YUM! 
• Living Room Fix Up - finalized the plans for the entertainment center we are having built.  Just need to take down my three tiny tinsel trees.
• Dining Room / Kitchen Fix up- decisions mostly made, just need to communicate with the contractor.  We aren't remodeling, just refreshing.  The laminate floor is really starting to peel in there, so it's next on the to-do list.  And as long as you are doing the floor, you might as well do the walls, the ceiling, and oh, don't forget, resurface the cabinets, maybe some new lights.... 
• Eliptical - I'm at 63% this month (5 days out of 8), and hoping to get a much higher percentage before the end of the month.  I'm adding a minute a day until I get to 60 minutes, but I started at 15 minutes on the 1st. 
• Massage Therapy - I feel so much better.  Not necessarily relaxed, but better, like things are working better, as long as I don't do something stoopid like spend too much time with a mouse in my hand.  Mark on the other hand, was a puddle of goo after his session on Saturday.
• Resume Updated - never hurts to have something current available.
• Art Journal - resting, waiting for the next layers.

How was your weekend?

Not related to anything, but it's what's on my windowsill today...

How I spent my weekend

In pictures....

As much time as possible...

From our very own trees

Making Cupcakes (not from our trees)

And maybe a few words...

We have never picked as many cherries from our two trees as we did this year.  We ended up making 23 jars of jam, as well as having enough to eat in our lunch and freeze some for future tasties. 

You may know I have a critter problem.  Comes with living in the woods.  Most of the time, I can live with it, however, when the ding dang squirrels start eating rose buds, tomatoes, and anything else I plant on the deck, I start trapping.  We've also got a resident 'coon family who wanders around the neighborhood tipping trash cans and generally being a nuisance.  Mark actually played tag with a raccoon who was adamant about being on the deck Friday night.

This weekend, before we managed to get out and pick the cherries, I noticed a fat squirrel hanging out in the tops of the trees enjoying the fruit.  I have no problem with the animals getting the high hanging fruit, but I get upset when they strip a tree in a little under 24 hours.  So I set up the squirrel trap and headed up to the roof line (their highway) to put it in place.  I noticed the branches of the cherry tree were wobbling pretty good and there was a patch of grey fur.  Come here, little squirrel...You know you want some tasty peanut butter... And then I see the mask of a raccoon!  I know raccoons can climb trees (knock him out john!), but this is a delicate cherry tree and the branches will break under his weight.  Now, there's a 'coon sized trap waiting...

When it's Peach Pickin' time in CA....

Then it's jam making time for me.

This weekend Mark went with me to the Farmer's Market in Santa Cruz.  Well, really, it's a flea market with a selection of farm stands included, and the primary reason we go is to hit the farm stands.  I have impulse issues - when I see all the pretty colors and the yumminess that is summer fruits and veggies, I forget how much the two of us actually eat and end up buying enough for a compost pile as well.  So Mark's job was to keep me in check - don't overbuy, just enough for the coming week.  I know I have an issue (potential!), and this system works for us - most of the time.  Until a certain someone, overcome with the sweet perfume of ripe peaches in a warm tent on a summer weekend, decides that yes, we can deal with over 50 #'s of fruit for a steal of a deal... And let me point out, that certain someone wasn't me. 

So, 50#'s of peaches (not cling-free!), 25#'s of sugar, 8 pkgs of pectin, a little lemon juice, 9 hours, 4 aching feet, small knife nicks and sweat later, and we have 80(!) jars of peach jam, peach pie jam, and probably some peach syrup.  80 jars of jam = 5 gallons of jammy goodness.  I think you know what's coming in your Christmas package.

And silly me, I still haven't learned my lesson.  I'm going to Sur La Table some time this week and see if they have one of these or these in stock.  If they do, we'll be repeating the process again next weekend.  Sigh.

Besides the peaches, I also did two jars of refrigerator B&B pickles, a half-gallon of sugar-free strawberry ice cream, and installed new shelving units in the laundry room.  The house is still a mess but smells of peaches, so it's all good.

80 Jars of Peachy Keen Sunshine

What a weekend....

Saturday:  Brooks & Dunn Last Rodeo Tour

Sunday:  Sonoma County Wine Tour

Geyser Peak:

2005 Alexander Valley Meritage
2005 Ascentia Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley
2005 Kuimelis Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley

2007 Block Collection Merlot, J & J Fay Ranch

2005 Merlot, Alexander Valley

Clos du Bois:

2005 Clos du Bois Briarcrest Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Clos du Bois Reserve Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast

Francis Ford Coppola Winery:

2007 Director's Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvingon

Trentadue Winery:

2005 La Storia Meritage

Dry Creek Vineyard:

2005 Endeavour Cabernet Sauvignon