Holidays on the Sonoma Coast

Retail is a world of never taking off on holidays. Yes, yes, we close on Thanksgiving and Christmas. But we are open the days before and after both. Which means we don't get to travel too far from the shop. We are blessed to have multiple invitations for holiday meals and get togethers every year. And we have to start coordinating several months in advance to make sure that one of us doesn't accept an invitation and forget to tell the other - we overbooked one year!!

This Thanksgiving, our great friends Penny and Gil have invited us to Sea Ranch to celebrate with their family. We are so excited and look forward to a fabulous meal at The Black Point Grill.

We've created a family away from home out here in California.

Weather Patterns

It's true, Bodega Bay is not always the sunniest locale. We've come to learn and appreciate the "seasons" here and even to anticipate them. We now know to have the sunny clear skies means we'll endure some serious wind conditions. And the with the fog comes a calm that can be down right eerie. We literally watch the fog roll in over the head and then roll back out again, sometimes repeatedly, till it finally takes over the entire town and moves several miles inland. We share our funky weather with San Francisco. You know the famous Twain quote about the coldest winter ever seen was a summer in San Franciso...that's almost as true for Bodega Bay.

We do get our fair share of those perfect days - light breeze, clear skies, 75 degrees - they happen in middle of winter between the major, electricity-ending storms that last a few days at a time. We get enough of them to know and remember they exist when we are socked in with a fog so heavy, the seawall three feet outside the door is hardly visible.

Ahhh, mother nature...you devil, you!

An Anniversary Celebration!

Last night Bob and I shared a beautiful meal with our good friends Eric, Matt and Pam. We are so lucky to have landed in a place with people like these three! We toasted 3 years on the Sonoma Coast and enjoyed a great bottle of wine and a not so great bottle of wine (it happens) and most of all, the company of great friends.

3 years time...

So we have been here 3 years and it feels as if we've always been a part of this community. It's time to start recording our life here and the journey we are creating. It took awhile to get into a groove and work out all the kinks. Working with your spouse is challenging, to say the least. We both needed to find our own spaces and figure out how to let go. Anyone who's ever been in retail can tell you the ups and downs are brutal - never knowing whose going to walk in the door (or not!), being buried under paperwork and figuring out how to staff the shop so you can take a day off. That's a whole other kind of blog, I suppose.

Back to our journey through this life in Bodega Bay. We're really getting to know the folks who live here. There's the Supper Club, the Book Club, the Business Man's Golf League, the Wine Tasting Group...don't think I'm forgetting anything. Each group is a world unto itself with some overlap of people and ideas, but mostly autonomous. I'll delve into each one going forward as we attend events and enjoy outings. We will be hosting Supper Club soon and there's always a funny story or two to share.

Another part of our lives involves getting out of Bodega Bay and discovering Northern California - at least the part we can get to and enjoy on overnight trips during our 24-48 hour midweek work breaks. We are so looking forward to a short trip to Mexico after Thanksgiving (a much needed break in the warm sunshine after a long, busy season). Bob is hoping for a 2 night trip somewhere close between now and then. Lake Shasta, maybe?

And then there are the customers and clients that frequent our establishment. Between the first timers discovering Gourmet au Bay has been here for 17 years and they just can't believe they have never stopped in and the friends who come in 2, 3, 4, 5 days a week just to say hello and have a glass of wine on the deck, we get to enjoy a lot of interesting conversation!

Between all this, we exist in our little downstairs apartment, soaking in an amazing view out the back sliding door, looking over the harbor toward the Bodega Headlands. Life is good and we are so glad we are taking the long way!

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