furtech | Oakhurst: December 2008

To see the rest of the pics, check out my Flicker photo set here.

I was graciously invited to attend Eric and Carol's Solstice Event Feast Thing. The dogs and I love going to Casa Coyote: hiking, chatting, eating. I jumped at the opportunity!

R0ndo romping: I love watching him run-- he has an energy conserving, flowing stride that is beautiful to see. Ignore the doofy expression...

The weather at the ranch was ideal: just after the rains and crisp and cool. We ate and ate: Eric and Carol have a ritual for cooking at the winter solstice that involves making dishes that they've never prepared, and served over many hours. Each dish is separated by walks, improvised activities (horse-shoe tossing in this case), and conversation. The result this time was six wonderful dishes, three of which were spectacular (a beef barley soup, unbelievable veal and a chocolate dessert so evil that it's name shall never be spoken).

Walks were fantastic. The area looks like something out of Lord of the Rings. I came back revived and ready to finish business. One odd thing I found were these little, spikey galls that were attached to white oak leaves. They looked like little bright red sea urchins:

spikeygalls