I Love My Job!

For those of you who have lately wondered how I am doing down/over/up here in California, the answer is I love my job! I have been enjoying a sunny warm fall replete with bike rides, wine consumption, decadent cuisine, fascinating people, French language practice, bike mechanic education, sweaty bodies and bike-greasy hands as well as graceful dresses and cocktail hours. In short, I am busy with something or other during almost all minutes of the day and night, and I am loving it! I love that I am never bored with this job, as it constantly demands different things from me each moment. I feel so lucky to be this happy and content with my occupation.

Wine country, I have noticed, is a universe unto itself and at the epicenter hang the grapes. All else follows suit behind them. People care about the weather as a function of how it affects the grapes. Highway traffic depends on what's happening with the grapes. The economic success of cafes and hotels and gas stations depends on what's happening with the grapes. The grapes take center stage here in wine country, and everybody is watching them. And soon enough, we'll all be tasting them too!

There is a constant buzz and hubbub energizing things here in the greater Sonoma and Napa County region. It feels to me like a sense of anticipation as harvest season comes closer and closer. It's like a holiday that is approaching, except nobody knows exactly what day it will arrive. A local vineyard owner and winemaker explained to me this week that harvest always feels to her like Christmas. There is the same sense of excitement, anticipation and uncertainty. It is a season filled with a flurry of activity and work and pleasure. I can see it is getting harder and harder for her to subdue her itchiness to end the waiting and let the harvest begin. I myself am so curious to see how this year's grapes are going to turn out. It has been such a cool summer that I wonder if they are even going to ripen in time before the frost comes. So much is at stake for wine growers here, I can't imagine the stress and worry they endure as the waiting continues.

And as for my biggest anticipation?

Well, Ben is coming to town in T-minus 9 days and counting!!!

Wooohooooo!