By Lina Broydo
“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is a proverbial phrase used to encourage optimism and a positive can-do attitude in the face of adversity or misfortune. Lemons suggest sourness or difficulty in life, so turning them into making a sweet lemonade creates something positive or desirable.
We are now facing one of the worse tragedies in our country – the Coronavirus Pandemic. And while the doctors, nurses, scientists, medical personnel, and first responders are working day and night to save close to (eventually) a million people’s lives, and turning lemons into lemonade with positive results and a hopeful outlook, let’s see what I can do while sitting helpless and cooped up in my home.
Eureka! I will rent a large SUV and zoom up north to gorgeous, fully blooming Napa Valley Wine Country, decorated with spring trees, delicate flowers and grapevines, where nature’s gifts of fabulous California wines are beginning to wake up. Yes, this will be a perfect place for me to inhale some fresh air and take a walk around the grounds.
I’ll create a list of chosen recipients to receive my gift of a bottle of California wine next Christmas. This will be my “Gratitude Gift” to some of the amazing doctors, nurses, and medical personnel at the El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, whose tremendous and tireless work during the Coronavirus Pandemic deserves my heartfelt and Cheers!-ful appreciation.
And while shopping for wine, which is now sold at a tremendous discount with no long pre-holiday lines, I will select a few boxes of fabulous chocolate-covered cherries available for sale at the architecturally stunning Castello di Amorosa winery in Napa Valley.
This will definitely be my 1-day trip to enjoy the blooming spring in the heart of Napa Valley’s Wine Country and a gratifying time next December in Mountain View in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Information
707-967-6272
Castello di Amorosa Napa Valley
CastellodiAmorosa.com
Wines sold only at the winery
Lina Broydo immigrated from Russia, then the Soviet Union, to Israel where she was educated and got married. After working at the University in Birmingham, England, she and her husband immigrated to the United States. She lives in Los Altos Hills, CA and writes about travel, art, style, entertainment, and sports. She hardly cooks or bakes, with no borsch or piroshky on her home cooking menu. Therefore, she makes reservations and enjoys dining out, mostly sushi.