Guardian Oak

Last night we combined resources from our tomato plants and our trip to the Medlock Ames farmer's market with our neighbor/landlords. We stepped through the back gate onto their patio where Mr. Nice (really!) had the "Big Green Egg" (a barbecue) fired up. Every time we spend time with them we wonder why we would ever think of looking for a place to buy.

Every evening that it is warm enough, we sit outside on the deck, have a glass of wine, watch the birds at the feeders, and contemplate the beautiful oak tree at the bottom of our driveway. Known as a "heritage oak" because it isn't a native California Live Oak (rather scrubby affairs by comparison), it is home to countless birds and squirrels. Unfortunately, we have yet to attract an owl to the owl box OilMan built and mounted on a post underneath it, but it's hard to imagine what owl wouldn't want to make it his home. This morning the sun was just striking it and I liked the mellow light.

We received a listing from our realtor with pictures of a house that looked quite promising, so we decided to drive by it after our walk with Ozzie this morning. We felt like pioneers driving down potholed streets, turning on country lanes, past picturesque old barns and the odd Mc Mansion, and finally into a gravel road which petered out at the closed gate of the house.

Since we couldn't tell much about the house, we turned our attention, to the view, which was spectacular, but revealed, in the distance, a bank of fog hovering at the coast. Perched at the top of a hill, the lot fell away fairly quickly to a collection of horse barns and paddocks leaving the house right in the middle of what is sometimes referred to as the "Peteluma Gap", or the saddle in the hills through which the wind whistles, pushing the fog ahead of it. As I sit in the farmhouse writing this, we are getting the tail end of the wind right straight up our driveway under the guardian oak.

Having satisfied ourselves that while this might have been the dream house and perhaps even the dream view, it was not the dream location, we have spent the afternoon relaxing (me) and planting yet more plants--this time a row of penstemon next to the barn (OilMan).

Mr. Nice came over to help OilMan drag our picnic table down the driveway and put it under the Guardian Oak. Coffee in the morning sun and lunch it its shade could be quite appealing as long as the morning fog holds off, Roy and LeRoy, the beagles next door accept the fact that we are not going to break into their pasture and wreak havoc, and the owl doesn't take up residence! Sometimes I tend to overly romanticize things. I hope I don't change my mind since the table weighs a ton.

Tonight we are taking #1 daughter and her family to a restaurant locally famous for its hand cured pork and its chef who was on some cooking show avidly watched by the grandsons. I think I'll have the bacon wrapped date appetizer...