Wining during the first days in Los Osos...

It's been a heckuva month! The Goddess of Wine and JD have successfully moved to the Central Coast! For those of you who have been following the hashtag #movingtotheCentralCoastsoon, it's been quite a ride.

We packed and packed and packed, with help from dear friends Xochitl and Mari, who packed up my kitchen and linen cabinet, respectively, as well as taking "treasures" to a local veterans' charity. And Mari, thanks again for the lovely bubbly and pizza break in the middle of the day. It helped. Big time. In fact, I think I'll never pack sober again.

The cake

Because we wanted to make sure to see all the folks who decided they needed to see us off, we threw a going-away party 2 days before the move, with the caveat that "If you want to eat, bring something to share, if you want to drink, bring something to share". We have the BEST friends! Everyone brought great stuff to share. Lots of lovely wines and snacks. Around 50 folks showed up and partied. Thanks again to Joe and Delia for the table and chairs, and to Shawn and Debra for staying late and helping to clean up. What a great send off!

The movers

Sunday, we did laundry and packed some more. MeatHead Movers showed up pretty much on time Monday morning (they ran into traffic coming down from Camarillo, go figure), and worked their butts off loading our stuff. With my car packed full of wine, bedding, and plants, I left for Los Osos at 6 PM. JD did a final walk-through, loaded the last items into his truck and hit the road about 30 minutes later.

Driving into the gorgeous sunset, we met up around 8:45 PM in Buellton. Yes, at Pea Soup Anderson's. During a quick supper, JD told me he had received some phone calls on the road regarding his father, who had been taken to the hospital. The ER doctor called him to advise him that Jim had pneumonia and was refusing treatment. With heavy hearts, we got back on the road and drove to the new house.

The next day, the movers arrived around noon, but in the meantime, JD was receiving more calls about his dad, and he went to the hospital while I dealt with the movers. It was a long day, during which JD made arrangements with the folks from Central Coast Hospice to get Jim moved back to his residence.

The back bay

Wednesday, we did manage to get a great couple of sandwiches at the Back Bay Cafe, and just kind of sat still until JD went over to his dad's place to make sure he was comfortable. JD and his cousin stayed there for hours, reminiscing and keeping Jim company. Sometime around 9:30 PM, after being home for just a few mouthfuls of wine, JD got the news that his father was gone. So back he went to the board and care to take care of the final details. Many thanks to Central Coast Hospice and the Neptune Society for their support and care. The rest of the week was all about unpacking and trying to figure out where to put everything, while JD also had to remove his dad's belongings from the board and care.

We gave ourselves a date night on Saturday, dining at one of our favorite places in Morro Bay, The Galley on the Embarcadero. I love sitting at the intimate bar there; we've met the nicest people - most of whom are locals.

The fog monster

Sunday was a quiet day. Monday was busy, busy, and then we treated ourselves to a drive back to Santa Ynez for an "Industry Night" tasting at Carr Winery. What fun! So good to see our #sbcwine friends while tasting lovely wines and delicious snacks. We stopped in at The Good Life to see Lisa and Alfred, and were joined by our Solvang friends, Jim and Sue.

The best part, of course, was that instead of the long slog back to LA, we had an easy drive back to LO. Tonight we'll celebrate our 26th wedding anniversary at Windows on the Water in Morro Bay.

So, not too much about wine this time, but the wine stories will be returning. Thanks for following us this year. Hope you'll stay with us as we learn more about our new town.

Cheers!