Unocchio visits friends

Once upon a time Unocchio and the lovely Carol Tonascia took a long, long trip to the outback country of Nevada ending up as guests of Ron Bommarito for a Friday night wedding dinner. The feast was held at the very cool vintage Bommarito residence in Eurika, Nevada.

Greeting us at the door was Jeeves the butler. There was running water but no electricity. Lights for the festival were oil lamps and candles.

As you stroll thru the pictures following,  Jeeves will gfve you a guided tour of the house....... all vintage, pituresque and charming. A person my age felt right at home here..... like a time trip into the past.

At the end of the tour wyou will find our charming host and hostess and finally a picture of us, just to let you know we were really there.

after a final visit to the outhouse we retired for the night to our motel down the street.

Back Yard Sunflower garden

I love the sunflowers .... all were volenteers this year .... more than likely planted by the birds last year.....sooooo
this year was a garden full of beautiful suflowers and lots of lovely birds coming back for the feast. I did not take pictures of the black birds and the other bullies which chased all the small birds during the first ripening of the seeds.... but I did get a few pictures of several feedings of the small birds.
Some of those pix are included here for your enjoyment.

Back Yard Sunflower garden

Sitting on the side of the hill

The first picture is Mike's house .... built almost entirely of redwood. The inside is very comfortable and has been recently remodeled.

And just so you don't think I was not even there and I'm making this up out of thin air .... there sits my van amoungst the other nice vehicles. Yup... I was really there. By the way.... that big oak tree behind my van is now history.... he has gone on to serve in another way...like fire wood. Why would we have that great tree removed? Poor thing was very sick... that huge trunk was mostly hollow.

Here is the hillside which may become the view from my painting deck. You will see some views from the top of the hill... some views from right over the fence.... and some views from the road beneath.
All the views are pretty fantastic when you are there in person

That white gate will be the one I use .... the cabin will sit directly behind it a bit.

In the Country

Most of the time we were somewhere in the country ... Mike's property is on a hilltop out of town and in the county. When you are rural folks everything that needs to be done means a trip.

When there is a trip happening I'm there with the camera..... we shoot out of the window of a moving car all the time..... you didn't think I would bail out the door every time a good shot came along, now did you?

Willy and I love barns ... so this blog is dedicated to my friend Wilson Bicket .... go check out his website

wilsonbickford.com

I might lean way out the window to get a good barn shot ... then again I might just sit comfortably by the air conditioner and shoot thru every window available ... you can see that a pole running past got into the picture on that last one.

There are more barns and old buildings around the neighborhood ... maybe I'll do another entry on this topic again.

We must look at these old relics now because each year see more and more of them disappear.

Remembering the Redwood Forest

A rose from Tiburon ...... roses are always a draw for me ..... can't seem to pass them by ..... the delicate pedals .... the shape ... the fragrance. This one is high on the hills of Marin County just north of San Francisco. I think it likes it there.

I had the opportunity to take a short drive thru part of the California Redwood Forest. There is something awesome about being in a forest of such majestic trees. They have been around for so long .... what stories they could tell. Sure is great that someone had the sense to preserve some of them for future generations to enjoy. these couple pictures do not even begin to impart the true feeling of being there ...... but I hope along with you vivid imagination you can project yourself into the wilds of the Redwood Forest.

At Mike and Phillip's

Last stop on the way out of town was at Mike and Phillip's house. Very kind hosts at their very fine house. Notice the breathtaking view... they are high on a hill almost at the top. Fantastic.... with open space right across from the front door..... and, of course, refreshing morning San Francisco fog.

On the Way Back

After leaving our hilltop groves I headed on South to Mike and Scotty's cookout in St Helena ... you'll see that one later. It was a great party. The sign in St Helena said "Santa Rosa 20 miles" so I knew the next stop would be Annie's house. It was late afternoon or early evening before I got away from the party. We were on a hill side in West St Helena and somehow the road to Santa Rosa made me think twice ... it seemed to me to be a "short cut" thru the woods and over the mountain ... I was not sure it would even be fully paved later on ...so I sought out some advice from a local. Sure enough, that wasn't the road I really wanted to take with my old tank. After some good advice from a kind gentleman I headed North on highway 29 to Calistoga ... about 7 miles. Now we had a road that claimed to be headed straight to Santa Rosa. It wasn't straight. This was really a back road that snaked thru 20 miles of mountain passes and canyons .... beautiful, interesting and slow. Maybe I did not make any friends on that part of the trip. It did take a little longer than anticipated but we made it ok. Annie was a little concerned with me driving thru the mountains in the dark and not arriving on time.

Vineyards in the early morning sun. Can we go anywhere in California without seeing vineyards?

This old oak tree has been proudly standing guard at the edge of the property for a long long time. Zoom in and take a look.

Somehow this oak died before it's time and was left standing out in the field. Grapes in the East.... veggies growing South and West. We are looking Southwest here. That is a huge field of veggies.

Unocchio goes to the beach

Going to the beach is always exciting... even if it is cold and foggy... who cares?
Now that's not to say I would jump in the ocean on a day like that but I did see others in the water. I did not hit the water.
There is something mystical about the fog hovering over the hills and mountains .... then on the beach side the waves are making the ocean music.... and then there is the smell of the salt air.... so what's not to like.... a visit to the ocean beach is a wonderful part of life.
Today the fog was a little cooler and hung around for a little longer but look over there in the north sky... it's blue...the fog is burning off so this afternoon will be sunny and warm... just right for the beachers.
This was only a part of my tour of the loop of West Marin County. What a great trip. There will be more for you on the blog in the coming days..... stay tuned.