Yesterday afternoon I received an email I had been anticipating since late last Spring: a note from the executive producer of NBC-TV’s award-winning In Wine Country show alerting me about my TV appearance!

As you may recall from my previous posts, the show’s host, Mary Babbitt, discovered me on this very blog early in the year and, as a […]

With cool days and colder nights upon us here in California, ’tis the season for comfort foods and warm spicy drinks to keep our spirits cheerful. One of the holiday spices I tend to cheer for most is nutmeg, a spice quite universal in its appeal and one that is found in a great many holiday […]

I’ve known Kristina Irvin since the early ’90s, and boy is she a firecracker. She’s got more energy packed into her five-foot frame than anybody I have ever met, and she’s managed to accomplish quite a lot with that energy, including running two businesses and placing consistently high in many ultramarathons (100-mile mountain-trail footraces) over the years. […]

Continued from October 6th: A milestone birthday bash in the making, complete with pictures!
Saturday morning broke like your favorite wine glass in too-soapy hands. I crawled out of bed anyway and was breakfasting within the hour in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood with a foursome of friends. Andy and Cheryl, forks and knives blazing, were happily stoking for […]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!!! MOMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
Look, he’s crawling up my wall
Black and hairy, very small
Now he’s up above my head
Hanging by a little thread
Boris the Spider!
Bor-r-r-r-is the Spider!
– The Who, from “A Quick One”, December 1966
Seems about August and on into Halloween, I can grab my pack and set off to the nearby Diablo Range for a saunter and […]

A late October weekend found me and my sweetie galumphing merrily through the Giant Sequoia forests of Calaveras Big Trees just east of Arnold, California. The morning breeze was downright chilly, but ten minute’s walking time had us roasty-toasty as we marveled, slack-jawed with astonishment, at the myriad Fall colors of the North Grove.
I could […]

Continued from September 25th: A milestone birthday bash in the making…
With plans all set between us for a party weekend in Port Costa, California, Andy sent his invitations.
Hiking, Eating, Drinking, Birthday Festival, and Haunted Hotel Overnight Getaway in Port Costa
Saturday, September 22, 2007 - 10:00 AM
Warehouse Cafe
5 Canyon Lake Drive
Port Costa, CA
Wow, that event title […]

“What was the name of that gal that left early on Saturday? I promised to invite her to the PC bash.”
“I believe you refer to Wendy, Andy. Good hiker; we climbed White Mountain together in ‘04. What PC bash?”
“You know - that mondo weekend bash I’m planning. It’s going to be hiking on Saturday, dinner […]

Speculation has been rampant as to my whereabouts; certainly reports of my demise have been greatly exculpated. But after being away from this blog for a month, dear readers, I’m back here at the Winehiker Central keyboard and ready to once again launch my usual antics into the greater cosmos. If you’ve been missing me […]

If you like hiking and you’re living in or planning to visit Sonoma County, you should consider hooking up with Dave & Bill. This coming Sunday, in particular, is the day in which Dave & Bill host their annual picnic at Spring Lake Regional Park near Santa Rosa, California. Naturally there’s a hike involved. That […]