Who sneaks oatmeal into a movie?

I do. That's right. I snuck oatmeal, a banana, and apple slices into Marley and Me. My organic-loving, shake the dirt off and eat it from the ground, bark-eating friend Leslie would be so proud. Somewhere between 8pm and the end of the night, I was bound and determined to go to the gym and go to a movie. It was the last showing of Marley and Me and by the time I hit the stop button on the treadmill and stretched out, I had exactly 15 minutes to get home, take a shower, and get something to eat before I was so late the previews had ended. I had just knocked out 2.25 miles the gym at work and was drenced in sweat. I was starving...a late lunch doesn't do much for you 6 hours later when gatorade stops phasing the hunger pains. So, I heated up the oatmeal while I showered, threw on a hat and a hoodie, and tore off like I was on fire. It's things like this that reinforce that I might actually succeed at this working out thing. I was going to be damned to work that hard just to snarf down some popcorn and a day old pretzel with rock salt stuck to it. "That's not methamphetaine officer, it's rock salt!" I digress...

Besides steel cut oats and tear-jerking movies, I managed to snap picture #2 for day #2 in my 2009 in pictures gallery. I took a few actually; I couldn't resist. The landscape was beautiful all the way from Santa Rosa until just about Fairfield and then looming in the distance, you could see the dark clouds hanging over the Vaca hills like a scene out of Lord of the Rings. You know what I'm talking about...that part where the evil army is awakened from the muck and mire of MiddleEarth where clouds swallow the sun every day for breakfast. That's what we were driving towards.

But, before we got there; in transit, the weather was beautiful. Clear, sunny, crisp and I had my camera close. I drive back and forth to Santa Rosa at least a half a dozen times a year and I always pass a few sight that I swear I am going to photograph one of these days. I've been telling myself that for years. Today, I did it. There's this old rusted train that sits just off the side of the road somewhere in Napa County along Highway 12. I like old, rusty things. You just can't fake the colors that are brought out by years of rain and sun fading. The other scene that I pulled off to the side of the road was an American flag. It's a big flag and it's always there. It's set back in a clearing in between vineyards along Highway 116. I see it all the time and always appreciate it, but never really look at it. There's always so much else to be distracted by. The clydesdales across the road, the changing colors of the grapevines, the traffic whizzing by at 65 miles an hour on a two lane highway. With my rather large zoom lens and my trusty lookout Jen, I jumped out and snapped a few good pictures.



Today was a good day.