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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

When in California …..

It just seems natural that you must visit a winery even though we come from a big wine-producing state ourselves. My aunt and uncle live in Napa and they took us to one of the grander wineries I’ve ever seen – Castello di Amorosa. It is in an authentic castle built specifically to house the winery. This building was a labor of love that took several years to complete with bricks and rock and fixtures shipped from Europe. I cannot begin to imagine how much it cost. Much of the winery is underground in a labyrinth of tunnels and arched rooms. I had to fight off my claustrophobic tendencies in order to enjoy the tour. Thank goodness we had a guide. I’m quite sure I could not have found my way out on my own. At the end of the tour, we were treated to tastings and we did take home a little bit of California wine to enjoy in the future.

Every castle needs a moat
And the moat needs ducks
The farm yard for goats
Ken likes goats
Gold-crowned Sparrow in a rosemary hedge
And a castle needs some gargoyles. Ken thinks we should consider them for our house too.
A castle needs a drawbridge and an iron gate
So many interesting touches
And terrific views
Lovely flowers
And murals!
This great hall can be rented out for parties.
The murals were very interesting.
Two brothers did the mural painting but one quit early so his brother painted over his signature.
Such tidy grounds
More great flowers
A mixture of high tech industrial wine making with traditional looking castle
Many hallways like this one
Often lined with oak barrels full of wine
A place to taste wine out of a barrel
Lots of animals on the grounds.
Chickens in the vineyard

Tiny Wildflowers

We have been away for two weeks on a road trip to California. There are many, many photos from that trip to edit and I have yet to get started. Lots of images of dogs playing in the surf. Prepare yourself. But for the moment I thought I’d share a few flower photos.

When we left, most of the ground on our hillside was covered with snow. Now it’s all gone. The ash-covered dirt is ready for spring and in some places it is already covered with a fresh blush of new green grasses. And if I look closely I can find tiny wildflowers. Some of them seem to be flourishing after last year’s fire. It’s a relief to see color on our landscape again.

Lomatium – maybe gormanii. Salt and pepper
Fritillaria pudica, Yellow bells
More yellow bells
A clump of tiny seedlings. I wonder what they will be?
Claytonia lanceolata. Spring beauty
Currant emerging from roots of a burned shrub
Lewisia rediviva. Bitterroot. I found more of this than usual. It must respond positively to fire.
Balsamroot just emerging from the ground.
Balsamroot

Bluebird Morning

The Western Bluebirds returned last month. They were a couple weeks earlier than usual. We still welcomed them with open arms. This one is perched on the neighbor’s nest box above our house. They have been checking out our boxes also. Hopefully a few pairs will settle in for the season.

Last Night’s Moonrise

Not many sights prettier than the full moon rising.

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Yesterday’s Walk

We took the dogs up a steep hill on the game range near Twisp. It was sunny and cold. We could walk mostly on dirt although the dogs enjoyed little snow patches. Luna especially likes them. She does better in cold weather and isn’t looking forward to the end of winter. And she seems to not care to have her photo made. I had hoped to find sagebrush buttercups but it is not the warmest hillside in the valley. We did find other green shoots and soon there will be more. Probably not this week with nightly low temperatures forecast to be in the teens. Brrrrr.

Sawtooth Mountains in the distance
Sky is practicing for her cover girl and calendar photos
Where’s Luna?
Mary Ann tells Sky not to hit her with that stick again!
Quincy helps
Bitterroot leaves looking like sea anemones.
Bitterroot growing right out of a lichen covered rock!
A Red-tailed Hawk watched us and scolded.
This might be the leaves of yellow bells
Quincy and Frida
What do you mean? Why do we have to go back to the car? We’re not done here.