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Childhood spent on a 664-acre wheat farm in Kansas.
High school journalism, our teacher made me keep the class dictionary on my desk, not very sensitive, but I got the message and learned to spell.
College in the mid-west, Journalism and Theater, expected to be a playwright but I left for a paying job in the movies. Abandoned writing for film editing in Hollywood. Had a really, really good time.
I missed writing, so when I moved to Sonoma County I wrote about gardening for American Horticultural Magazine, American Cottage Gardener, Sunset Magazine, Hortus.
Had a much-needed spiritual breakdown and wrote for Catholic magazines,The Way of St. Francis.
Wasn't interested in wine at all until I took a job in Napa and had to commute every day from Petaluma.
When I started making that drive, the vineyards were naked, half hidden in fog. Beautiful, and compelling as a promise.
Even from the road I could see the grapes go from green to deep, deepest red and the color called in the harvesters, who worked from before I hit the road in the morning till long after I had driven home at night.
It was drive- by love and I began to pay attention to the complicated business that is the wine industry in Northern California.
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