Vineyards

There is nothing more orderly than a vineyard, and nothing more picturesque than these Kunde Estate Vineyards marching up the hills in the Sonoma Valley. In the winter, the vines are dormant but the hills behind them are green. At this time of year it is the vines that  carpet the hills with color after the grasses have dried. In another month or so all these vines will turn red and gold. They change with the seasons, but their orderly rows never change.

The sharp eyed will note the palm tree at the bottom of the picture, similar to the Mexican palm I posted the other day, but  probably a different species which won't grow quite so ridiculously tall. In the older parts of town a lot of the houses still have a palm tree near them, planted by settlers who thought they were an exotic backdrop to family pictures  sent to impress east coast relatives. I have a picture of my grandmother and some of her Berkeley classmates sitting on some porch steps next to a palm tree. 

We have yet another species, a much shorter one, under our living room window which is currently blossoming *. We wait with interest to see what happens next. Like agaves, palm trees were plants that I didn't particularly like, but both have grown on me (well, not literally) because, well, they grow, they are fire resistant and there are a lot of different species to choose from. 

IN other news: the Pickett Fire, which is still burning on the other side of the hill from us is still burning, but being kept within containment lines held by Cal Fire hand crews. It is burning in steep terrain which is difficult to reach. It is now 25% contained after burning for 6 days. There is enough wind to blow to smoke away from us so our air quality is still pretty good. Officials are working to prevent runoff from toxic waste from getting into the water supply. 

I wonder if there will be any FEMA crews in hazmat suits to clear toxic waste now that Trump apparently thinks he can clean up ...wait, who knows what he thinks. He has put almost 200 FEMA staffers on leave who signed a letter suggesting that the cuts being made to FEMA would severely hamper clean-up and assistance efforts during hurricane and fire season. 

I'll stop there...