not much progress

wine country

It's so gloomy outside. The complete opposite than this sunset photo of our riverbottom..... One minute it's black stormy and blowing and 10 minutes later the sun comes out for a few.  Very confusing.  Our farm is not pretty in the winter.  I just wish we could breath the fresh air of the summer with the windows in the house wide open.  We live in Yamhill County.  It formally was hicksville to Portlanders....Now it's "wine country".  Our family farm has increased in appraised value with the discovery of our fertile soil for grapes, but now we just have to pay more taxes on the same run down property. Unfortunately one day our inheritance taxes will be more because of this "wine country" title of distinction.  Another little perk about being discovered is now we get the cyclists....they've discovered our road is a short cut from one hwy....to another.  Every Thursday and Sunday, with my summer breeze, I also hear them whiz by.  I don't get smiles or waves when I'm out in the yard.  It's funny.  They just turn and observe.  Little do they know I once lived in Portland and Seattle.  I opted for the farm life.  I chose quiet over chaos.  I chose piles of scrap and land to roam over shoulder to shoulder bus rides and transients sleeping in the doorways.  I now wake up to coyotes barking rather than passer by-ers barfing in the street.  What a deal.  I can walk barefoot in my yard without worries of finding a hyperdermic (sp?)needle with my toes.  Only thing I worry about is the thistles.  So even though today as I'm looking outside at the farm and it's lack of beauty in this stormy weather.....I still know that our little farm is far more beautiful now than the black reflective streets of the big city.  I'm content to observe the glow of the big city from afar.