Yes, roses! Thousands of the beautiful, blowsy blooms everywhere we look - in the gardens at Filoli, on the lawns of Marin County, at the ends of the vine rows in Napa - red, yellow, coral, purple, pink. Roses were traditionally planted at the ends of vine rows to serve as the "canaries in the coal mine"; apparently they are botanically similar to grapevines, so if the roses begin to show signs of mildew or other disease, the vineyard manager knows to check up on his viniferous charges. That's fascinating and all... but the important thing is that the roses look magnificent against the perfect emerald green rows.
Saturday night was a reunion with old Wine Country friends - it seemed as if we had never left - great conversation and great vintages combined to make it a memorable evening. And everyone in the group seems to be at a crossroads in their life, as are we... interesting times.
Greg (our encyclopedic friend - who needs Google when we have Greg?) quoted a wonderful poem that's going to be our new motto:
"We're on the road to come what may
Over the hills and far away..."
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