What to do in the Rain and We Lost Another One

Well, it's been raining off and on for the last 3 days. It pours rain, slow down and it stops, and the sun shines.  Murphy, the 100 lb Bernese Mountain dog that lives here, is not much of a water dog, so he  goes outside just long enough to get very wet, then comes in and gets dried off. He's a beautiful dog and has finally warmed up to us.

  The much needed rain has given us a chance to catch up with things, like movies! We saw "Gloria" the other night, which is a Chilean movie that won some award as Best Foreign Film.  Not great, but enjoyable, and good to go to a foreign flick. We saw "Nebraska" the next night, in Sebastopol, and really enjoyed it.   A very sweet movie with very good acting.  What was amazing was that we bumped into Christina there, my Zumba friend from Leelanau who is staying in Dillon Beach and we visited earlier.   So funny to bump into her!

Yesterday, we went wine tasting with these people we had met through our home exchange group, and in whose home we had stayed a few years ago.   They belong to wine clubs at Seghosia and Michel-Schlumberger,  both wonderful wineries!   Because they belong to the clubs, we got free tastings as well as some of the wines not normally listed.   Very fun, very fun day with them.

Today, we met some Newcomers who are nearby visiting their aunt (Al and Carol).   We met in Santa Rosa at the Santa Rosa Brewing Company, best known for their beers.  (clearly not their food!)   It was fun to be with them, we don't know them very well, but I think we will become friendlier.

newcomers in santa rosa!  (with their kids)

It's been really nice to be social out here, as there have been times we've come out for a while and barely knew anyone.   This has been different this time, and it's been great.   Playing pickleball with this group has really helped too.   It's been a really good time, and we are getting sad about leaving soon.

And oh dear, oh dear, we lost another chickie! We are not sure which one, we think it's one of the brown ones. It was one that slept in a tree next to the coop and wouldn't go in the coop at night.  It disappeared in the night, leaving behind a handful of feathers. It's hard to not be sad about it, we feel attached to them. Lucy told us that losing  them is inevitable with predators in around.  It was interesting that the other chicken that slept in the tree decided to join the rest of the flock in the coop tonight.

The weather in Michigan continues to be unbelievably awful, and we just don't want to face it again!

Sunday we will spend the day in Alameda, with a stop in Berkeley.  We will be celebrating Lindsey's parents 70th birthdays and staying around to watch the Academy awards. We miss Henry being out here this weekend.  His visits here were fun, as he loves all the things out here.  He's at such a great age for this place.

Hopefully we will get some better weather the next couple of days and get some more pickle ball in before we head back to Salt Lake and then the frozen north.
One thing we have done out here is spend some time planning our next trip which is in April.  This one will be to the Barcelona, the Spanish, Pyrenees, then Bordeaux, France.  We have most of our travel plans done now, just have to figure out a car on one leg.
Pat and Dan




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