Ten.Six Hundred & Fifty-Nine

1. Early light.

2. He’s already up. Why?

3. He wants to go over the plans 10 times. I tell him he just has to come along for the ride. The real concern is how much xBox time he’s going to be able to squeeze out of the day.

4. The receptionist at the eye doctor is confusing to me. She can be brisk but kind, smiling and frowning. Maybe it’s her strong eyebrows.

5. What am I saying? I could totally live here.

6. “What’s the difference between a hill and a mountain? Are these hills or are they mountains?” “I don’t know the technical definition, but I think that those vines right there would be hillside fruit and the vines up there would be considered mountain fruit. But I really don’t know.” They ask if they can see the barrel room, I tell them, not today. Next time we come we’ll make sure Ms. Elizabeth is here to show us.

7. It didn’t take much work on their part to get from a $10 budget to a $20 budget. But it’s hard for me to refuse books. They each leave with two, I leave with one very large volume about California wines.

8. We make it Oxbow for ice cream. Land of Milk and Honey + Dad’s Cardamom. Everything is melting rapidly, even in the shade.

9. “I’d rather do this every day than play xBox.”

10. He tells me that it’s okay to like and want nice things. That it doesn’t make me a bad person. That being wealthy isn’t a bad thing. That if I can, I can live where I want.