Two down, three to go

Loads of laundry, that is.

Eldest daughter is home from sleep-away camp. I missed her the most right before we picked her up. She, however, did not miss me as much as I missed her. I temper the bittersweetness of this by patting myself on the back and saying, "Good parenting, Leslie. She's independent." It did not take her long to tell us that she wants to go for a month next summer. Oy!

The drive to camp takes us north on Highway 29 from Napa to Calistoga and then into the mountains. Every time we drive this road I am in awe that we live so close to perfect beauty. People come from all over the world to experience the Napa Valley wine region and it's an easy 45 minutes from our home. Every time we go there I vow to visit more than twice a year and it just doesn't happen. Please come visit! I will take you to the Wine Country.

After we retrieved her, we had lunch with one of our daughter's bunk-mates and her family in the city of Napa at Taylor's Refresher, which is a diner with all organic food, very Californian. Then we walked next door to Copia, the American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts. It'd been a few years since we'd been and the Edible Garden has grown in nicely. The kids picked fresh blackberries (from a thornless bush, no less!) and explored. En route home we stopped by V. Sattui, the winery that Dave and I married at in 1993. We married Memorial Day weekend that year, in a torrential rainstorm. It was the first time it had rained on that date in 99 years. People told us that it's good luck if it rains on your wedding day. They also told us that it means you will have lots of children. I found that funny. I'm not so much laughing anymore.

As I type, I've got a very healthy dinner going in the kitchen. Steaks. Artichokes. Broccoli. Pasta. I'm not sure exactly how much protein Eldest Daughter consumed while she was away. I've already fed her my special brownies, the ones loaded with spinach you cannot taste. (Thank you The Sneaky Chef cookbook.) I guess I'll know soon enough if she reads this blog.

Last weekend I painstakingly painted her bathroom turquoise, otherwise known as Benjamin Moore's Spa Blue. She was thrilled to discover it done when she got home -- we had planned to do it together this summer. I'm glad she liked it because it's my impression that the amount of time she will spend in her bathroom will only increase over the years.

Tomorrow's a workday for me and I will be onsite at my client. I fully expect her to do what she did last year -- sleep 15 hours straight. She should be getting up as the clock approaches noon.