It's raining. The weather's getting colder, and the vineyards are being shocked into reds and golds. Pickers in slickers (love the rhyme) have frantically pulled in the last of the harvest for what has ended up to be a very challenging year for growers. Too much fog in the early summer caused late ripening, too much heat in August dried up grapes on the vine, resulting in about a 20% lower crop overall. What will this mean to the 2010 vintage? We'll see ...
And did I mention it's raining? For a couple of days now. Fall has definitely arrived in Sonoma county and all we want to do is cozy up around the fireplace and watch baseball. BASEBALL?! Really? Yep, I've turned into a Giants fan can you believe it? And yesterday they won the right to show up at the World Series. I'm surprising myself by being so excited. I'm not a huge sports fan in general, but when the competition gets down to the nitty gritty, something inside me perks up, and I'm all over it.
When I was growing up in Los Angeles, I loved baseball and followed every single player on the L.A. Dodgers team. In 1959 I think (the same year they won the World Series against the Chicago White Sox), my dad, brother and I were at a game at the L.A. Coliseum, and my dad (or was it my brother?) caught a baseball (foul ball between home plate and first ... we had great seats then) and took it down to the dugout to have star pitcher Sandy Koufax and catcher Norm Sherry sign it. Dad gave the signed ball to my brother, but somehow over the course of life, I inherited it and it sits on the mantel over the very fireplace we're cozying up to today.
(Look at Sandy GO!)
Last weekend, Ted, Joanne (my sister) and I drove up to Oregon to see my dad (now 89 years old). Since both my dad's younger brother (my Uncle Al), and my mom recently died we've had concern about how he'd react to losing his lifelong partner, but wow ... we were all pleasantly surprised. He seemed GOOD. Better than we'd seen him for a long time. My mom's declining years were intensely stressful on him, and although he misses her, the release of all that stress has smoothed out his life so he can just relax and "be". My brother (bless his pea-pickin' heart), lives with him and makes sure he's fed and takes his meds. Dad's also got a dog, Billy Boy who smothers him with unconditional doggy love, and Dad's grandkids visit whenever they can. One of them, Tifa, the family's lovable wild child, is pregnant, so he's also looking forward to his second great grandchild. Although he complains alot about his ailments and forgetfulness and all the vagaries that come with age, life is pretty good for the old guy and we're grateful.
(left to right: Me, Ted, Tifa, Dad, Joanne, Larry, Leslie)
I love what Maira Kalman (illustrator/author: http://www.mairakalman.com/) once said that all she thinks about in life is "how to live and how to die." As I watch my elders pass through their last phases, and I dip my toe into the water's edge of my own Autumn years, thoughts of "how to live and how to die" become more amplified. As much as I want to plan it all out and control it and hold on tight, I remind myself that I can only prepare so much, then I have to trust in something greater than myself and let life unfold as it will, and have faith, and love myself and others as best I can, and do what my dad does ... enjoy what I can and let go of the steering wheel and let life "be".
Happy Autumn Everyone!
