I’m trying to take different roads as I go for my morning walks around Michelle’s place. I’ve seen horses, cows, goats and dogs. Everyone seems to have at least one or more dogs who bark like crazy if anybody walks down the road. Because of the long distances between houses and the closest stores being miles away, locals only get around by driving, I have not yet seen anybody else out walking. I’m sure to them going for a walk is nowhere near as interesting as it is for me, someone who lives in the suburbs most of the time.
I had to pick up a few things from the store today, so on the way I explored, stopping at a couple of free little libraries, finding a beautiful egg stand that had very reasonably priced eggs, six dollars for a dozen, which is pretty much what I pay at the store. If I hadn’t just bought a dozen eggs I definitely would have purchased some.
I passed signs for half a dozen different wineries and decided to stop at Sierra Vista, which I found out is the second oldest winery in the county. I thought the views at Lava Cap Winery were amazing, but at Sierra Vista they are even more stunning. When you are sitting in the oak-tree shaded garden looking out over the vineyards you can see the Sierras in the distance, hence the name! This was another winery with inexpensive tasting fees and tasty, affordable wine. You could choose six different wines to try from a list of 14. Three of the six wines that I tasted were fantastic – a Rosé, a Viognier and an old vine Zinfandel. I am normally not a big Zin person, but this one was wonderful. I limited myself to just buying one bottle, but, I may go back another day to taste and buy some more. The chef was testing out a new appetizer menu and all of us who were wine tasting got to sample the goodies. I had a delicious bruschetta with a creamy burrata topped with blackberry and pine nuts, which turned out to have not only a unique taste but was scrumptious. I am really enjoying the wine country out here, it is relaxed, and the views are much more beautiful than anything I’ve seen in Sonoma or Napa. Someone was saying that they used to have bumper stickers that said ‘El Dorado is for wine, Napa is for auto parts!’ 😆
It’s a few degrees warmer today. I’m writing this while sitting out on the shaded deck at about 5 PM as a light breeze blows, it’s just perfect. I’ve spent the last couple of days researching for the job interviews that I have coming up, getting work done for my JNE interviews and reports, doing some gap year guide posting and reading a book about getting published. I like having a variety of things to do, and I’m glad that it’s not so much that I’m spending lots of hours every day on it. I average about six hours a day in the different work-related tasks I’ve been doing, and that feels like a good amount for me.
I’m listening to a fascinating audiobook called Do Nothing, about how Americans work too much and are actually less productive and a lot less happier because of it. While I’ve heard about the history our country’s workaholism before, I didn’t know much about how people used to work before the Industrial Revolution. According to the author, they often alternated periods of intense work, for example during harvest time, with stretches of time with very little work to do, giving them plenty of time to rest, recuperate and be at leisure. Of course then it was a lot more physical work just to make food and do other daily tasks. Now, she argues, even our leisure is something that’s considered work as we track everything that we do – the steps we take, the time we spend on our phones, the food we eat, etc. I am guilty of checking my daily step count, wanting to make sure I get my 10,000 steps in. I like to tell myself it’s just to make sure that I am moving enough, but I find myself getting annoyed if I don’t happen to have my phone on me when I’m moving around a lot, knowing that those steps are not “counting“. You would think at this point in my life I would have a pretty good idea of whether I’ve been moving enough or not. I definitely feel it in my body if I’m sitting too much, and for several years now taking a morning walk is just as necessary as brushing my teeth before I get started on the main part of my day.