The end is near

This is a price list for bread at a bakery in the Ox Bow Market in Napa.  I thought the prices were a bit outrageous even for California. Must be good bread.






Lucy and Bob return today from their adventures. That means we move back into the guest cottage for one night before we hit the road for Salt Lake City and begin our trip back home. When we got here, Murphy the 100 lb Bernese Mountain Dog, wouldn't come within 50 ft of either of us. Right now he has his head in my lap and is bugging me to let him go outside. I guess that's progress. It's been a great three weeks here, we've enjoyed the area, and had fun with the animals and sharing them with Henry on his visit..

One thing different about this visit to California, as opposed to our earlier ones, is that we have been able to see people that we know from other visits, our past and our present life.  It has made us feel less isolated out here on the coast. Pickle ball has been great fun also, and we have met some very nice people in that group while we got a chance to improve our game.  We'll be keeping at it when we return to the frozen north. 



We have become quite adept at living in other peoples houses. Having done this several times now either as "house sitter" or on a home exchange, we've picked up a few skills in that area. It takes a while to get settled, and to find out where things are and what the various peculiarities are to each place but once we do, it becomes comfortable.  If there's something we think we can't live without, we go to the Dollar Store to supplement. That's usually in the kitchen and bath.  Though we are as careful as we can be, sometimes things get broken, and we try to replace what we can. This time it's a butter dish, a glass baking pan, and a couple of wine glasses.  Ceramic floors are unforgiving.  Hopefully we leave things in as good a shape as they were when we moved in. We do appreciate this opportunity to experience Sonoma county from a new perspective.

This trip was particularly fun because of the variety of activities on the property. The guests in the cottage were all interesting, and seemed to have enjoyable visits. Those who rated us on the various rental web sites gave us good marks.  The animals were fun, and even the chores gave us some sense of belonging here and put some structure to the day.