Geyserville Community Column - December 2010

A Glance Back in Time

November brought us such amazing fall colors, for this is the time that acres of vines display reds, oranges and yellow ochre leaves viewed against various hued mountains and hills. It is a wonderful time to get out your cameras or paint brushes or just take in the extraordinary beauty of mother nature who paints a gorgeous picture every day.

This year was rather cool and in doing our final harvest it was discovered much of our tomato crop stayed green. I googled what to do with green tomatoes and discovered they can be made into a delicious chutney.  Mummy’s Kitchen is offering this delicacy as a sauce for the Egyptian Sesame Chicken they are serving.

By now many have experienced their traditional turkey dinner and it is time to face the end ot  the year holiday season. All the lovely leaves are falling and soon bare vines will be reaching out their gnarled  and twisted branches against a backdrop of neat rows in fields and hills as green replaces the golden grasses that divide their unique forms. Our ever changing landscape.

There will have been a tree lighting in the Visitors Plaza on Geyserville Avenue on the first Saturday after Thanksgiving...Santa Claus will have been there to the delight of local children as well as singing carolers from the town, with all others welcome. Geyserville merchants will be lighting up their places of business then too and it should be quite a festive time. 

In addition to the frivolity barrels placed strategically will give townsfolk a chance to offer presents to those less able to have toys or food in these hard times. There  will also be collections for our soldiers in Afghanistan.

December Events
DEC. 4th — Terroirs wine tasting room will have an event called Red Velvet where you can meet Santa Claus and listen to a rocking band called Rush Hour. This is a benefit for the Healdsburg Animal Shelter.

DEC. 11th — Isis Oasis Theatre will have a Winter Solstice Harp Concert at 8 p.m. $20 at the door, You can have dinner before hand at Mummy’s Kitchen on the pavilion  from 5 p.m. till the show begins. This trio of harpists called Triskela play an eclectic mix of traditional world music along with original works. Diana Stork, well known in the harp world, along with Shawna Speteri and Portia Diwa will be playing the harp, singing , and using other instruments in this very special celebration of the light returning.

Many of the wine tasting rooms on Geyserville Ave. will have special events during this holiday time.
 
DEC. 18 &19 — There will be a festive wine tasting at Meekers, the tasting room that occupies an old bank complete with vault now filled with wine. No doubt the whole town will be flowing with local wine, and the lights of the season twinkling merrily.

Shopping in Geyserville
If you are shopping for a gift for a wine enthusiast you can certainly find something unique at one of the five tasting rooms on the quaint block that constitutes the small town of Geyserville. These very friendly and inviting places are offering not only wine but some clever wine related gift items.

There are other tasting rooms still in Geyserville but more outlying, like Pedroncelli and the new Francis Ford Coppola winery now complete with a shop, and a swimming pool (which will not be open during winter).

There is the historical Bosworth Hardware Store that is filled to the brim with not only hardware but gifts  galore. It’s thrilling to walk the 100-year-old wood floor to view the array of merchandise that you will not see anywhere else — perfect for women who have cowboy type guys in their lives and vice versa; and there are grandma grabbers with terrific things for little kids.

You can browse within the two relatively new vintage shops on opposite  ends of the town. This is another opportunity to find treasures of the past that will delight you, so different from a trip to a department store.

Finally, there is the Isis Bazaar for those who love ancient Egypt. This shop is on the grounds of Isis Oasis Retreat Center, which is presenting a special holiday package for those who would like to have an alternative relaxing staycation from Cnristmas through New Year’s with meaningful activities each day and ending in a costume party.
   
Come explore Geyserville for fun and shopping before the year ends!