The Scariest or Best Walk Home…

The first night I arrived, Felix came home from his first full day of work and invited me up to have dinner at the winery with the two wine makers. I gladly welcomed the interaction. We ate dinner outside on the winery’s porch with a bottle of Rocky Gully 2010 Cabernet, pasta salad, and some of their own olive oil and bread. (“You have our own olive oil?” gasp) After dinner, there was still work to be done from the grapes that were brought in late and were being pressed.  Brian brought over a glass of their work. I tasted sauvignon blanc grape juice that was just brought it and just pressed – just pure grape juice – cloudy and browny yellow – so fruity, so aromatic, so fresh, so yummy!

I walked home in the dark – literally, no other lights around me except the stars above which lightly highlighted the outline of the trees and the tops of the vines against the illuminated night’s sky. All I could follow were the steps of the red gravel under my feet, trusting my instincts from when I walked the path earlier to measure a sense of distance, but all the while staring in disbelief at the wonder of the stars that were so expansive, so clear, as they dotted the pitch black sky like Lite-Brite. Something jumped in the grass right next to me and there were noises rattling when I passed an open shed that housed old tractors – kinda scary – but looking up at the stars and the Milky Way and everything we had read about the night before on our way home from Monkey Mia as we tried to learn about the reasons why certain constellations were backwards and others not visible, all I could do was gape with a smile on my face at its beauty. I’m still trying to learn and understand more about the stars in the Southern Hemisphere, but I am pretty sure I could tell that the cluster of stars that look like a cloud is actually a galaxy and I could point out Orion’s belt even though I had to turn around to see it as we were so much further south than in Monkey Mia. I eventually made it back to the house, rummaging through the lavender with my hands blindly out in front of me, hoping nothing would jump out at me.