Post-Valentine post

I began my three-day weekend by waking up earlier than usual on a Saturday. The cause? I had Altar Guild responsibilities that Saturday. I wasn't in the schedule, but all new members, three of us, had to meet with the head of the group to learn how to dress the altar for a baptism. Fortunately, we had one that Sunday. It took us about 2 hours (1 hour is the normal prep time for regular Sunday) to polish, wash, and prep the altar.

By the time I got home, I joined my husband for a cereal breakfast (twas past 12 noon). Then it was my weekly duty to drive mom to her weekly errands. When all have been checked on her list, it was time to run my errands.

Foremost in our list was to get another bird. My female parakeet named Scully died on Friday. We arrived to find her lifeless body in the bottom of their cage. It was most distressing to come home and find your pet dead and you don't know why. And especially if it's original mate Mulder also dropped dead a few months ago. Also, without warning. And after the new Mulder - yes we named the replacement Mulder as well - and she are getting alone quite nicely too. But we made that the last thing on our to-do list because we we coudn't get a bird and take her along for the ride while we run all our errands now, can we?

Since it's springlike here, we thought that now is the time to buy a flowering tree for the front yard, one that would give minimal shade and have showy flowers. We were thinking of Albizia (or silk tree) and jacaranda and also acacia. The past weekends we have been driving around town looking for such trees, and we couldn't find then.

We went to this Berkeley nursery that we knew carried a lot of inventory, but also closed early. We went there first and found that all of our choices are in their inventory. We brought the small car so we couldn't take the tree just yet. Also, hubs and I were having second thoughts as to which one we really need to take home. We only have room for one tree. A wonderful dilemma isn't it. So we drove off without any tree in our trunk or overhead, but we knew where to get it next time.

We went to get another bird at Pet Smart. We tried to go to this local guy who has a BIRDS FOR SALE sign outside his house, but his parakeets are still very young and he's not willing to part with them. In a month or two, I think we can add to our brood courtesy of this guy.

We named our new female parakeet LOVE because, well, it's Valentine's right? And as expected Mulder and Love weren't exactly having a lovey dovey time, yet.

Sunday didn't turn out as planned. Tentatively, I planned to take my mother out after church. But we woke up late that we had to skip church. And mother wasn't in the mood to go out. The sky was blue and the sun was out. The weeds in our garden were growing profusely, so it was a no brainer what to do that Sunday. We worked the garden, pulling weeds, and pulling some more weeds. Despite spending about 4 hours in the garden, there is so much more to do, so much more weeds to pull.

It is Valentine's Day after all and that fact wasn't forgotten so after a quick trip to Home Depot and bumping into one of our friends who informed us that she's about to lose her house (so sad, another face to the thousands who lost their homes to foreclosure), we decided to treat ourselves and get a Subway sandwich and a bottle of vino. Yes, we have plenty of wine in the house, but husband said we don't have any that's for everyday use.

So for dinner we had Subway sandwich and a glass of wine while watching some romantic movie on tv. That's how married couples celebrate the day (or just us since we are penny pinchers).

On Monday, President's Day here in America and a federal holiday, we set our sights on a relaxing day. And relaxing for us means drive around town. Our target destination is Sonoma County where we wanted to go and do some tasting at Korbel Winery, makers of champagne and brandy. This wasn't our first time, but the first time was so long ago it seems and the day was bright and sunny and a perfect one for wine tasting.

Along the way, we passed by Martinelli Winery. And on the spur of the moment decided to backtrack and do a wine tasting there too. I didn't realize that this is NOT the same company that produces apple cider. Their wines are good too, I think I liked two of them, both reds. But we didn't purchase anything because the bottles are quite above our price range at about 20-40 per.

The drive makes me relax, so does my husband and the spectacular scenery of mustard blooms covering the vineyards is something I look forward to this time each year. We arrived in Korbel just in time for the free tour to begin. On our first visit, we came in later and so the tour was over. This time, we decided to take in the free tour, which was conducted by a very knowledgeable and engaging fella who took us to the old distellery/winery and old cellar. When the tour was over we were ushered in to the tasting room. In Korbel tasting is free. In other wineries, you have to pay between 5 to 15 dollars per tasting session. In Korbel it's free, or did I just mention that.

I made the mistake of tasting with my stomach empty and I felt the kick of champagne after the first drink. We tasted about 5 different kinds and thankfully there was some chocolate covered butter cookies out and I had about 5 of them to go with my champagnes.

It's not a must to buy something after wine tasting, especially if you didn't like any of the wines you sampled, but if the tasting is free and you liked the wine or whatever it is, then go ahead and buy. We however still have about 5 bottles of Korbel in the house, but didn't want to go empty handed so we bought a small brandy, which would be good for flavoring some of husbands dishes.

Since this is sort of a vacation for us, we took the long way home. And ended up in downtown Guerneville. Our hungry stomach led us to this hole in the wall, mom and pops whose name wasn't in the marquee. We had fish and chips and an order or nachos with jalapenos. While this is a down to earth roadside eatery, the fish was surprisingly fabulous and the fish and chips was not as greasy as the others. I was going to Yelp about this but I really don't know it's name. It is located on Main Street across from Safeway and it's popular for its ice cream and sundaes. I also had a taste of their organic brewed coffee, which was really good.

Our day didn't end there as we stopped by my friend who offered to make us chai and samosa. I couldn't take in any more food. My head was pounding and I was not feeling any better even after the meal. So we didn't stay long at friend's house.

We ended the day by skipping dinner, and watching Olympic games on tv.