CaliforniaGirlinOz (now just California Girl)

 At last, we are seeing gorgeous, lush grass and brilliant sunshine.  There is one more small storm on the way, but next week we are expecting actually hot weather.  After all the gloom and rain, bring it on! We made a trip to Amador County to pick up some wine at Jeff Runquist Winery...superb, as always.  It was a lovely day, too. Driving back, this iconic sculpture in Napa was a nice welcome back to our own wine-growing areas, Napa and Sonoma.   Today was a perfect day day for a couple of miles of wandering through the Regional Park in Glen Ellen, where the tiny Baby Blue Eyes (Nemesia) are clustering along the little streamlets in the park.  Some years the tiny radiating lines are blue, hence the name, but this year the lines are nearly invisible.   But there are huge clusters of them scattered along the paths...such harbingers of spring. Lovely day in the park But beware these treacherous little guys:  Leaves of Three, Let Them Be.  Yep, ...

We headed to Novato to meet Greg and Aveah for lunch at Perry's, our first time to eat there.  What a lovely drive!  The greens are nearly technicolor, the wild mustard is startlingly yellow, and the trees are springing into blossom. With all the rain this winter, the grass is lush, and there are still lowland areas with water still visible along pastures. We must enjoy this while it lasts, because it's going to get HOT, HOT, HOT all too soon! The hills are greening up, as well as the pastures in the valley.  And along Hwy 37, there is still quite a bit of standing water here and there, along the huge pastures. I think there is a Perry's in San Francisco, too...kind of a sports bar/restaurant combination.  The food was very tasty.  Of course, I forgot to take a photo of the four of us.  Next time, for sure. The blossoms are dense and intense...right up until the Spring winds send them flying! And back north to Sonoma, where the intense yellow of the mustard...

 A real bluebird day today, though actual Spring is still a few weeks away.  We headed into Sonoma to visit the Community Garden, and I was taken by this tasting room we saw on the way there.  Three Fat Guys!   The Sonoma Community Gardens have a similar allotment system to the one you see a lot in the UK.  Still a bit early for people to be planting their little plots, but judging by the few clumps of daffodils, it won't be long!  This garden hosts special events during the growing season, offers produce for sale in the summer, and has special areas for children to enjoy.  A lovely little plus for the community. Warm and sunny today, but a few days of rain coming up before Sonoma County starts to heat up for real!

 Here we are, back in California for the long haul.  What a time to come back!  Since I'm changing how I relate to the Internet, and what news sources I follow, and abandoning Facebook, this seems like an easy place to ease back in.  If you'd like to follow along on my journey, welcome aboard. I'm 84 years old now, which is kind of a shocker.  Lots of lifestyle changes, so if you followed my California Girl in Oz blog you will probably notice some of these changes.  I don't drive as much as I used to, and almost never at night.  I'm still knitting like a fool, and wanting to get back to quilting soon. On the knitting front, I've been working on a scarf, a sweater and some cute knitted baby toys.  Here's a sample of the first three...note that one of them doesn't have its face yet.  I decided that using yarn for the features was a bit too out of scale, so I'm going to use embroidery floss for the next one to compare.  Feels like the lips ...

It's time to think how I'll interact with my blog, now that life is back to "normal" mostly, at least here in Australia.  Maybe I'll just check in here every month or so, to share what's been happening. First up, how about the fact that I was FINALLY able to get to a shop that sells buttons, so the cardigan I knitted in California in April could finally be finished.  I had planned to find more interesting buttons, but the supply was limited and I ended up with plain black -- not the worst choice: This is the Timely cardigan, from Truly Myrtle on Ravelry.  Found the gorgeous yarn at Stitches West, on one of our last outings before the lockdown took place in California. Last week Ross needed a new O-ring for the front hub of his mountain bike, so we went in search of a parts store that could supply it.  While he inspected the offerings at the parts store I wandered around the parking lot and came across some interesting vehicles - a black Bentley pick-up...