We were up bright and early this morning so we could have breakfast before a long hard day of wine tasting. Breakfast was at Baker and Cook, very near our Airbnb. All three of us had the same thing – cinnamon french toast with apples, walnuts and pure maple syrup. The portions were generous, but I managed to finish mine!

Our wine tour was with Platypus Wine Tours; there were 10 customers on the bus, along with our guide, Luis. We visited three wineries, Roche, Mayo, and Bennett Valley Cellars, where the winemaker met us and gave us a private tour and tasting. We bought more than enough wine at each stop to have our tasting fees refunded – I think that’s a good investment, right?

Dinner this evening was at The Red Grape just off Sonoma Plaza. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get in, since their reservations and waitlist had closed early this afternoon, but there was plenty of room when we got there just before 8pm. I wanted something sweet afterwards, so we stopped at La Michoacana and I got a guava paleta (frozen fruit bar).

It was a very nice way to spend Friday. Shabbat Shalom!

We drove to Sonoma (actually Boyes Hot Springs) this afternoon for a short stay surrounding a wine tasting tour tomorrow. We’re staying at a very nice Airbnb, Casita Nopal. Our host pointed us at a wonderful Mexican restaurant nearby, El Molino Central, which provided us a delicious dinner to take back to the Airbnb and enjoy with the wine our host put in the room.

After dinner, we drove into Sonoma and had ice cream at Sweet Scoops Homemade Ice Cream on the Plaza. It was excellent, but it was too dark to take a photo (that, and my hands were busy with the ice cream).

Tomorrow, we must rise early and prepare for a day of wineries. Life is rough sometimes.

It’s Day Two of our friend’s visit, and we did the Silicon Valley standards.

First, we went to the Winchester Mystery House – the tour was pretty much as I remember it from past visits – no need to stand 6 feet apart, masks optional, corny jokes included.

Then we crossed the street to show off Santana Row and get a snack; I was hoping to find something in the Farmers’ Market, but we settled for Smitten Ice Cream. Darn!

After that, we made a quick visit to Apple Park to see the Visitor Center and Apple Store; I had forgotten that the visitors’ entrance was off Homestead, so I made some unnecessarily daring maneuvers to avoid going into an employee-only entrance to the complex. Fortunately, the Sheriff’s deputy across the street wasn’t interested in correcting my ways. We left with wallets intact…for now.

This evening was my first meeting as Chair of the Shir Hadash Ritual Committee. We had much to talk about and decisions to make; it was a full two hours, but we got a lot done. The Cantor suggested I post the minutes as tonight’s blog entry, but I decided to save that for a day when I really have nothing to write about!

Our friend arrived today – it was her first air trip since last February, and our first time at SJC since then, too. We didn’t actually go into the terminal – she met us at curbside – but it’s a step closer to our upcoming trip.

We spent the rest of the day talking and eating.

Tomorrow, we’ll show her some actual touristic locations – Diane wants to go to the Winchester Mystery House, but I’m holding out for the Visitor Center and store at Apple Park.

It was a busy Monday.

The High Holy Days are nearly here, so I had to finish overhauling the programs I use to send invitations to congregants who are getting honors – not only did I have to undo some of the emergency changes I made last year, but I also had to adapt yet more programs to use openpyxl instead of xlrd.

I also had a dental appointment – it was supposed to be a routine cleaning, but I had a tooth which had felt funny (not painful, just weird) for a week, so I asked them to look at it. The crown on the tooth had fractured, so now I have an appointment to get a new crown next week – and a crown-sized hole in my wallet.

And I had a Toastmasters meeting this evening, where I was General Evaluator. At least it was a role that doesn’t require a lot of preparation.

After the meeting, I went out for a quick walk, but I only got as far as the driveway before going in and grabbing my camera in hopes of getting a decent picture of the sunset sky.