A week of contrasts. An odd 48 hours. I am home in the middle of it and out in the morning. Come along y'all...
24 hours ago I was at a Napa resort on a beautiful - literally perfect - harvest Indian Summer evening with the moon up high. I think Sonoma calls itself Valley Of The Moon, but I can't imagine it being too much better than what I saw driving through the hill-n-dale of whitey Napa in mid-October.
Ahead of that, a stellar weekend in Portland OR (more to come on that.)
Next, I will be in rural Oklahoma. Flying into Tulsa in the morn for a visit with the sis, the nephew, the bro-in-law, and their doggies. I enjoy visiting them, but Enid OK is about as far from Napa as there is with areas that should share much. I mean, both are agricultural economies from top to bottom, and normally I would say the contrasts in the US can be reduced down to city-v-country, but these two places really sit at the opposite end of the scale.
Don't get me wrong...I love the mountains and seeing the vineyards by the light of the moon, but Enid OK is literally Silo City. I have never seen more grain elevators in my life. Nothing in Iowa was even close. Here it is harvest season, and I am hoping Enid is absolutely hopping with hopper cars taking trains of grain across the plain. The moon there is nice, but I also dig seeing a big thunder storm sweep its way up and over the plains. Ain't nothing like it.
I will miss the kitties, but these are short hops and I have been home in-between. That is better than the long hauls. I almost came home long enough only to get on a plain back to NYC, but I put that off a week or so. That is work travel, and that is a drag. Going to Oregon and Oklahoma is elective, and is to see friends and fam. I need to de-compress badly, and hope to do more with the sis' fam. I have some books along and will also try getting caught up here. Til then, may the waving grapes smell sweet fer yous too.