Me: Ah! I keep getting bitten!
David: I am sorry it’s not me.
Me: What, getting bit by mosquitoes?
David: No, biting you.
(pause)
Me: I am so putting that on the blog tomorrow.

We finally watched the Dixie Chick documentary Shut Up & Sing— it was fantastic (although I definitely liked it more than David)! What a fabulous group of sassy, interesting, intelligent, and talented women. I was so touched by their camaraderie, as well as their deep love and respect for each other. They just blew me away! It’s so refreshing seeing superstars as regular people and people you could see hanging out with (in my dreams, right?!). If you are at all a fan of their music or if you want the inside scoop on the 2003 “incident,” rent it!

“My friends from high school married their high school boyfriends, moved into houses in the same ZIP codes where their parents live… But I, I could never follow… No I, I could never follow…”

Oh, how I can relate to those lyrics. From New Jersey to California with no regrets.

I don’t think of myself as a country music fan, but I also didn’t realize that their new album isn’t all that country… so, I’ve decided that I am going to put my money where my mouth is and buy their cd . I want to support them!

We walked into the Picasso exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and everything looked so familiar. I had seen and hated that Matt Weber piece before… I recognized that sculpture… and suddenly it dawned on me… It was the same Picasso exhibit that I has seen in New York at the Whitney Museum in November.

Only I would unwittingly go to the same exhibit on both coasts. (Btw, it was so worth it.)

Anyhow, we loved SFMOMA! There were two fantastic temporary exhibits: photographs by Henry Wessel and the SECA Victory Gardens by Amy Franceschini. Amy’s work focused on shaping agricultural and food policy and encouraging people to grow gardens for their food supply (learn more here). I am so excited about this! I had never heard of Victory Gardens before:

“Victory gardens were vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens planted at private residences in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom during World Wars I and II to reduce pressure on the public food supply. In addition to aiding the war effort, these gardens were considered civil morale boosters in that gardeners could feel empowered by their labor and rewarded by the produce grown.” (link)

How cool is that?! In the exhibition they showed historical photographs of the fields in front of City Hall transformed into gardens. What a shame these practices (and ideology) have fallen by the wayside! I am so hopeful for a resurgence.

One of David and my longstanding goals is to grow our own food and, as vegetarians, we feel we could maybe just pull it off. I really, really can’t wait for us to own land. Before we redo the bathrooms or refinish the floors, we are going to sew our garden…

So we never made it to the barrel tasting. We got wrapped up in other activities: sushi at Ume, milkshakes at Taylor’s Refresher, wine tasting at Grgich Hills and the reserve tasting at Chateau St. Jean, many dips in the pool, giant mixed drinks with foot long straws at the local Mexican restaurant, hightailing it around the Sonoma and Napa valleys and San Francisco, fabulous tapas at Andalu, lounging at the beach, walking along the Golden Gate Bridge, catching the ocean at sunset, and seeing the Picasso exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

A jam-packed four days. We had a blast!

We miss you, Laura!
A couple more photos are on Flickr (more coming soon).

We had a great time.
More about our long weekend coming soon.

Every few weeks I select a new wallpaper image from National Geographic for my computer’s desktop. Over the past few years, I’ve enjoyed visits to tropical rainforests, desert landscapes, open air markets, etc… I love their images. I’ve just discovered that hundreds of stunning National Geographic posters are for sale! They are pricy, but the photos are stunning. Here are several of my favorites (click on each to learn more).

Laura will be here in a few hours. Tomorrow we are barrel tasting! ($10 to taste at 100 wineries — we are so there!)

Yesterday I visited the organic culinary gardens at the Kendall Jackson winery. (I was probably the only person there who didn’t enter the tasting room. And, yes, it was before noon.) They have a number of different garden plots organized in a variety of ways: by product (such as heirloom tomatoes or herbs), region (South America, Asia, etc.), and color (reds, whites…). Many of the beds were newly planted, with seeds just sprouting and plants just beginning to grow. I love that initial stage of the garden, with everything lined up and orderly before the weeds set in.

I like that the KJ gardens are working gardens not just cultivated for display purposes. The plots are farmed organically using integrative pest management techniques. Local upscale restaurants purchase produce from the gardens and cooks on site utilize the produce as well. While I was there, a cook in her crisp white uniform come out and grabbed a branch of bay leaves off of this enormous tree that was at least 20 feet tall! How cool is that?!

Yesterday I wandered around the plots looking for photographic inspiration and to also gather ideas for when we have a garden again. Incidentally, this weekend we picked up organic seeds to start a container herb garden; maybe I’ll get to planting after Laura’s visit. My favorite parts of the KJ gardens are the herbs, which largely grow year-round, and I love the citrus trees: lemon, lime, grapefruit, and orange. To me, that is by far one of the biggest perks of living in California. I adore citrus.