Good morning y'all, I'm back!  (pause to allow cheers to subside)  Last night Shirley and I returned from our brief soiree to Paso Robles, relaxed and happy, and not at all ready to return.  We ate a lot, drank a lot more, and did a considerable amount of nothing.  In between we watched the Lakers beat the Celtics, yay (that's us in a bar at right, waiting for the game to start), did some poolside reading, and drove through a lot of vineyards.  We even did a bit of wine tasting, discovered some new grapes (Wild Horse negrette, who knew?) and took a tour of "the caves" at Eberle.

The high point might have been dinner last night at the Stonehouse at San Ysidero Ranch in Montecito, featuring a 2005 Rubicon paired with Steak Diane, preceded by an asparagus salad and followed with unbelievable spearmint ice cream (!), wrapped up by a wonderful cheese plate and some Warre's '70 port.  The meal of the world...

The low point was watching email pile up, and my todo list getting longer and longer...  I have look into this delegation stuff.  I was gone three days and it will take me three more days to catch up.

Sitting poolside, reading my Kindle*, looking out over a magnificant view of Paso Robles vineyards, I was struck by an exchange in A Good Year:

"This place does not suit my life
"No, it's your life that does not suit this place

So true.  I must find a way to hit <pause> from time to time...

And today is Father's Day!  Yay.  You may be sure I will be poolside once again, drinking a blue drink :)  And perhaps later I will retire to the blogitorium, as there is much to post...  stay tuned!

[ Update: Jordan has mastered making blue drinks - we call them "blue J's" :) and I had way too many, and am not qualified to post or indeed do anything.  Mostly I just toasted myself today in all senses.  And tomorrow I am leaving for Boston (!) for a few days...  so we'll see about posting, but please do stay tuned... ]

* The Girl Who Kicked Over the Hornet's Nest was excellent.  A perfect ending to a great series.  I cannot put my finger on why these books were so compelling, but they were...