Balloon over Napa.

I've been back in Vinoland a week already.  The time has flown by.  My first morning back I was interrupted, whilst unpacking, by a hot air balloon that floated over the southern end of Vinoland...you're not on Merseyside anymore Vinogirl.  Sigh!
All my spare time has been spent in the vineyard catching up on a fortnight's worth of shoot-stuffing and trunk-suckering.  Fruit set looks good so far, especially in the Pinot grigio.  The Cabernet Sauvignon is perhaps only 70% through flowering, but everything looks like it's going according to plan.  2013 is looking like it maybe another excellent vintage. 

Up, up and away.

The past two mornings, whilst driving to work, I have been treated to the sight of cheerful, corpulent, multi-coloured balloons high above the valley floor.  Gondolas brimming with visitors, envelopes swollen with hot air, they glide silently along until the ride is over and they alight at a predetermined destination or, in some unfortunate cases, in a vineyard on top of vines where they are really not welcome.  I took this photograph on an early morning flight in a friend's Luscombe in June.  We were careful not to get too close to the balloons.  I love them, others do not, but what would the postcard manufacturers and fridge magnet makers do without them?