Practicing for vacation

Columbia Winery, Woodinville

Saturday was a day of non-stop chores around the house: I cleaned the kitchen, including all the dirty knick-knacks on the top shelf.  John pulled off the greasy range hood and I sprayed it with icky 409. Then we fired up the ghastly "self-cleaning" oven for the yearly blast--  the manual advises you to take pet birds outside to avoid the fumes. You get the picture. Ugh. 

While the fans were roaring and the oven cooking away at 700 degrees, John ran errands around town and I escaped outside to cut off the dried-up perennials. No wonder I woke up so groggy on Sunday morning I thought it was already September.  Maybe it was the chemicals, or just wishful thinking because our California vacation is a few weeks away.

So we needed a little outing on Sunday, and drove up Woodinville to visit Columbia and St. Michelle wineries.  Good practice for the Napa Valley, where this is a familiar sight: John at the cash register buying wine and/or food. 

In this case, two flat bread pizzas-- nothing like lunch in the sunshine to put you in the vacation mood.

Then a short stop at Chateau St. Michelle, just across the road from Columbia Winery.

The immense trout were still swimming around in the pond. Always a relaxing sight. Maybe this is the same one who bit Amanda's finger when she was 7 years old?