Labor Day weekend: What happened to the rest of summer?

Labor Day used to signal the end of summer, then school started. But our son and his classmates have been in school for weeks, and we’re hunkered down at work, focused on fall.

Our friend Dennis Barry and his wife borrowed our sailboat a few weeks ago to circumnavigate Lake Tahoe with some other locals of the Gold Country Yacht Club at Scott’s Flat, while we were getting our son off to school. Dennis is one of the original founders of SYRCL before it gained “wild & scenic” status for the Yuba River in the late ’90s, and he’s a big sailing enthusiast.

This weekend we’re looking forward to a “mini-vacation,” with some sailing, swimming and cookouts. We’re going to get together with Mark Johnson of Foothill Flowers, who’s going to bring over some of Jim Gates’ Ribeye steaks, along with some wine from his business partner, “Dave the Wine Merchant.”

Our interest in major-league baseball is waning, thanks to the San Francisco Giants’ losing season, but we’ll watch some baseball — and football — together on a cool, new “ultra-HD” TV I got to replace the old tube television we had. I kept it for sentimental sake; we had it for 15 years.

Next week, we’re excited to attend “In Conversation with Alice Waters” at The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley. Waters founded Berkeley’s famed Chez Panisse restaurant, and will join the restaurant’s former “forager,” Alan Tangren of Tess’ cooking school, in a food and wine tasting. Beth Ruyak of Capital Public Radio will moderate Waters’ “conversation.” InConcert Sierra’s season also kicks off this month, with Artistic Director Ken Hardin conducting a full orchestra for the fifth straight year.

I hope you have a happy Labor Day weekend, celebrating with friends and family.

Author: jeffpelline

Jeff Pelline is a veteran editor and award-winning journalist - in print and online. He is publisher of Sierra FoodWineArt magazine and its website SierraCulture.com. Jeff covered business and technology for The San Francisco Chronicle for years, was a founding editor and Editor of CNET News, and was Editor of The Union, a 145-year-old newspaper in Grass Valley. Jeff has a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and a master's from Northwestern University. His hobbies include sailing and trout fishing. View all posts by jeffpelline