Little Napa

The North Fork of Long Island boasts 40-something wineries on its 40 mile stretch, besides pumpkin farms and some veggie stands, vineyards rule the land here. So our lives are immersed in wine and grapes and salty sea air. Recently we had the opportunity to work a rush grape harvest, rush because a salty nor'easter was coming our way and when a storm hits here you gotta prepare for it! We had to get the grapes in before it hit because mold had taken hold and the grapes were headed downhill. My Dad was not pleased, he was waiting for their flavor to be of spiced apple, not Granny smith (or whatever). It was a grueling four twelve hour days, with 20-something workers handpicking and cleaning the chardonnay grapes. We were the only english speakers, and stood out a bit, but we are hard workers and love the outdoors so we got along fine. (I think word got around that i was the winemaker's daughter, so they weren't sure what to make of us... I hate that...) But, work is work and we'll take it- after all we have a new engine to pay for! The best part was Ziggy got to come with us, he had a blast exploring the acres of grapevines and eating sour grapes (boy did he stink). Everyone was highly amused by him, and we were proud of our good dog.

There is probably more to come in terms of grape picking and our new juniper inards are being ordered as I write (shiney and new) so things are moving along...October creeps up on us and tonight the first presidential debate will be shown. Strange times and the future awaits.

Life on the eastern shores

We have settled in somewhat to our new (temporary) home here on the North Fork of Long Island. We had a (way too short) stop off in New Jersey, for some much needed time with The Aguilars. Iggy and Grumpy are the best grandparents ever! We will have to head back soon, but for now we are finding our space here in Greenport. Its a beautiful little Harbor town on the tip of the North Fork. Our favorite spot is a short jaunt away on the LI sound. 67 steps is a lovely little beach that remains unusually uncrowded and maintains a wild rugged feel in the midst of homes 200 years old and human activity everywhere. Ziggy can't get enough and it takes quite a bit of coaxing to get him back on the leash to go home.
Its a nice break from working in the garden, building fences, pouring wine in the tasting room, and repairing papa Eric's slowly crumbling victorian home. In the evenings, we cook together and drink wine. Then we settle in for an evening of political commentary on TV. This is a crazy time as our country falls apart and people battle for the popularity contests that rage on the boobtube. We are scared to see what happens as this election winds up. Watching Palin happily distract voters with bullshit just like her predecessor Bush is disgusting, watching McCain flop around like a fish out of water desperate to dive into the pool of power called the Republican administration is frightening. Please may Obama win and may we begin to heal this injured country. Until then we will spend as much time at the ocean shores loving the beauty that the world still creates, and thankful that we have each other in love.
Dreaming of the day we set out on the road again, when the country has decided on sanity or suicide.

The Heartland

Hello All! We are past the mountains of the West, the desert, plains, Mississippi river, and endless miles of corn and soy fields. Seriously, five states worth of mono-cropping the hell out of the earth. New wind mill farms popping up all over Nebraska and southern South Dakota, though, really interesting to see and a breath of fresh air (no pun intended).
The Mississippi river was just like Mark Twain describes it, even the northern Iowa part, and we loved it (minus the mosquitoes and the flash rain storm) and can't wait to see the southern side. Onto the heartland (Indiana) where The Adang family fed and sheltered us for a week and Leah's sweet mama flew out to celebrate her birthday. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!) Daniel says: I have never felt so welcome and comfortable with someone else's family. Grandma's house was opened to us fully, including the refrigerator. She is an amazing Lady and the best family narrator I've ever met. (THANKS GRANDMA!) It was great to see everyone and we headed out with full hearts and bellies towards Ohio.
So with the 100 degree days and the nine thousand foot passes behind us, we roll through the first hundred miles of flat lands of Ohio. We pull off for gas and squeakety-squeak-clunkety-clunk-clunk goes the engine and then it sounds like Thor is bashing around in there with his hammer. Knowing that something horrible has just occurred, we kept our cool and assessed the situation. The diagnoses is grim. It turned out to be a thrown rod bearing, broken rod, and most likely a trashed case (laymens terms: we need a new engine). Not a good feeling as we are a state and a half from our destination. Went in the gas station and talked to the owner, who told us about a guy who works on VW beetles just a mile away. So we called him and he towed us to his shop, for free, and he called everyone he knew in Ohio that was associated at all with VWs (Thanks Bill!). An all day ordeal of trying to find an engine that was close enough for us to replace ours, ended with a call in to U-Haul for a truck and trailer to haul the damn thing to Jersey (Juniper carried us to Ohio, so we figured we could carry her to NY). Not exactly how we planned on making our entrance, but no worries, we got here and life is still grand... Juniper needs some work now, but we have all the time in the world and the east coast at our finger tips!