Nativity in the vineyard.

Not much to say really.  This photograph says it all; nativity scene, a Napa vineyard, Christmas Eve.
Thank you to a neighbour for their effort in ensuring that Christmas-walkies are very special for me and Vinodog 2.
Happy Christmas Eve to all!

Hello little sunshiny flower.

It's been a rather damp, not too cold, autumn so far here in Vinoland. Winter, still officially more than a week away, is as yet forecast to be not much different. Ho hum! I would like a little frosty weather to make things around here seem a little more Christmassy.
Although I may long for white, frosty beginnings to my December mornings, the appearance of a little ray of floral sunshine is not lost on the cold-hearted Vinogirl. Here is Vinoland's first narcissus of this 2010 season. Enjoy!

Wakey, wakey!

At the side of the vineyard, nestled amid the coils of a hosepipe, Vinoland's first narcissus casts it's golden smile about the dormant vines and the now almost bare oak trees. No doubt unceremoniously relocated in the summer months by an overly enthusiastic squirrel, this lone harbinger of the 2010 growing season has succeeded in reminding me that the wintry world I see through my window is merely slumbering. Like the dozing wine tucked-up in oak barrels in the cellar below where I sit, this narcissus, whilst appearing to be doing nothing in particular, has deftly awakened in me a certain joie de vivre. The imminent arrival of a new calendar year signals to me the beginning of yet another joyous cycle of life out in the vineyard.
Many thanks to a little yellow flower.