This may be my last post about the Suisun Valley for awhile, they have changed my work assignment.  I no longer work at the charming old-fashioned country school in the valley.  I no longer drive past the grape vines and sunflowers.  I miss them all.

Above are some pics I took during my last week there.  Fall is settling into the Suisun Valley.  The grapes have been harvested.  Soon the grape leaves will turn vibrant fall colors, then flutter to the ground.

The sunflowers are beginning to fade and their heads are bowing under the weight of the ripening seeds.

There is a chill in the air, and a cooler breeze blowing.

I had lunch at Vezer Family Winery in their courtyard one of my last days there and was treated to - not one - but two barn owls perched in the tree above me!  One seemed slightly smaller than the other.  He was gone the next day, or perched somewhere out of my sight.  One of the people at Vezer told me that at one time there were owlets in the nest above.  One night they had a big function in the garden and apparently all the noise and people frightened the owls and the baby owls fell out of the nest and were running around on the ground, unable to fly yet, and ran under the deck.  The next day they caught them and took them to the wildlife center.  Unfortunately, they did not survive.

There are three horses that live in the field bordering the Suisun Valley School.  It always made me smile to see them as I drove in to work.  I mean, how many schools are lucky enough to have a field of horses next to them?

As I drove to the freeway one day after work I passed by Stonedene and slowed down and took a couple of pictures from my car.  Stonedene is an amazing old home built in 1861 by architect Julia Morgan, famous for her work on Hearst Castle!  I would imagine she had to be one of the first women architects in the San Francisco area.  Stonedene is located on Suisun Valley Road across the street from Solano Community College.  It’s built in the Gothic Revival Style.  I didn’t have time to drive up and take pics of the home.  But I love the picture I took of the creepy looking gate and the fabulous stone wall. When I was in high school I was hired by the family that lived there at the time to stay and help babysit their three children, along with their au pair, Mary, when the parents went out of town on antique buying trips for business.

I have always been fascinated by Stonedene, it was a treat getting to stay there as a teenager, and I would dearly love to see the inside again, now that I am a grown up!

If you would enjoy seeing more of my pictures of the Suisun Valley, please visit my flickr photostream at:

http://flickr.com/photos/lauralovesart/sets/72157607257906216/

On Mankas Corner Road I saw this fence and gate.  It’s beautiful with it’s wrought iron work and the climbing red roses!  Enjoy!

Confession:  I didn’t see this today…

For more pictures of the Suisun Valley, please see my photostream:

http://flickr.com/photos/lauralovesart/sets/72157607257906216/

I saw an amazing field of sunflowers in bloom!  Truly I don’t know when I’ve seen anything so spectacular.  The photos don’t even come close to doing it justice! You really should click on them to see them full size or go to my flickr photostream at:

http://flickr.com/photos/lauralovesart/sets/72157607257906216/

I had been watching this field for awhile.  I kept wondering what was growing so tall - that wasn’t corn.  I really had no clue, until it started blooming.  The sunflower field is on Mankas Corner Road, about a block down from Vezer Family Winery, Suisun Valley, California.

Driving by it everyday fills me with wonder!