Thankfulness

Our traditions are a shared experience. It's remarkable how similar they are from family to family, from generation to generation, region to region. And for this stability and institutional opportunity we should truly be grateful.

A Family Thanksgiving 1882

1945
1957

2006

2007

None of these pictures are of my family - or your family - but they may as well be. When the fourth Thursday in November comes, we're fortunate if we are able to gather in similar ways.

A friend sent this quote over and I wanted to find a way to share it with you.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

--Melody Beattie

I am grateful to have you in my life. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Place for All Those Corks!

If you love wine, you have corks. Maybe you throw them away because you don't have anything to do with them. No plans to make a wine cork wreath, you crafty thing?

I've been known to throw them in that basket in my guest/wine bathroom. (I know, I know...the themed powder room is a weird feature of my main level.)
I also have this vase full of them in the living room.
I'd love to see pictures of what you do with your corks. Have you found anything fun to do with them? Are you able to dispose of them without guilt?

At wine tastings and parties, I end up surreptitiously tossing them in my bag to take home with me, because I don't want them thrown in the trash. I'm not really collecting, per se, I just don't feel comfortable tossing 'em.

So - I was THRILLED to run across some ideas (via Twitter) this morning.
The Wine Expedition site features some responsible destinations for those biodegradable and recyclable corks. Check it out.

Wine Killed My Laptop

I have so much more to share from the fabulous wine-soaked girls' weekend at the shore, but I'm recovering from technical difficulties.

Friday night, during an impromptu dance party, someone (probably me...er...actually, it was most definitely me) knocked a full glass of the lovely Sunfish Syrah right onto the keyboard of my beloved Compaq.I really believed it would survive, figuring I'd sopped up most of the spill immediately.

Alas, I am easily distracted, especially by classic songs from Off the Wall and early 90s gems from Bel Biv Devoe. So, off I went to keep dancing with the girls and my trusty pal died all alone.

This week has been spent recovering data, reinstalling software, and basically running a little orientation for my fancy new HP.
The good news is that the replacement is faster, more powerful, has a Webcam - how modern! - and a much bigger screen.

With glass in hand, I say "Onward!"

Perfect Location for the Girls' Weekend

We're in St. Michael's Maryland for a Bachelorette celebration for our beloved Heather Patterson.

You probably know her...the most adorable little preppy in our circle. Cute, cute, cute! And smart! And...getting married in Florida two weeks from tomorrow. (Sorry guys.)

Wait until you see the pictures of the house! It's the perfect location for the celebration. (Keep your pants on...they're posted below. I wouldn't hold out on you for long.)

I just rolled in as a few of the early arrivals stroll around St. Michael's shopping after a Ladies-Who-Lunch-ish spa outing. Left all my cares behind and arrived to find THIS!!!

Like dutiful gals, we're claiming different adorable bedrooms.
No mystery why I chose this one.

Across the hall we've got the bunk room - which will probably hereafter be known as the awesome room.
Check out this view! And there are kayaks for us. Yippeee!
And...all the best provisions for a girly celebration.
Here is the view behind me when I'm writing (have assignments to finish, of course...so maybe I didn't leave ALL my cares behind). Perhaps I should figure out a way to turn around and enjoy this.

It's about 3:30 pm now. Right now you can use your imagination, but mark my words: in a couple of hours we'll be sitting here, drinking wine and watching the sunset.
More pictures to follow.

Dragon's Teeth

You've been asking if I'd posted all the Maui pics...so I'll take the hint. There are tons more...plus all the Italy pictures. I'll try to get them all up eventually.

On our second day on Maui, Nana and I started exploring with our trusty guide book. One early destination were the "Dragon's Teeth."
It was harder to find than we thought. Over in Kapalua with a path along the Ritz golf course. You'd think that would be easy to find.
So we braved being beaned by errant golf balls on a beautiful but windy day.
This was early in our adventures, so Nana was a little nervous, thinking she wouldn't be able to get down to the teeth. I assured her that I could carry her down and carry her back. She seemed unconvinced, but walked all the way down with me - and back!
These pictures are off the end of the little peninsula. Gorgeous caves, big waves, and breathtaking views. Still very windy, but worth the scrabbling over volcanic rock.




Here are some of the Dragon's Teeth themselves.
I was so proud of Nana and impressed by her trust (mind you...this was BEFORE the injury). Here is how the formation of the Dragon's Teeth is explained on one tourism site:

Dragon’s Teeth is a good example of what can happen when forces of nature collide. As the lava from the West Mau‘i Volcano poured into the ocean, fierce wind and waves forced it back and it cooled into a formation that resembles great black teeth. Makalua-puna Point was created from one of the last lava flows on Maui. However, the lava is a little different from the rest of the lava on Maui - it is much lighter, denser, and fine-grained. The wind sweeping over the point caused the lava to harden in an upward fashion.

Another site has more pictures.

A Visit to the Winery at La Grange

It was a perfect day for a visit to a local winery. Fantastic weather, our favorite folks available to join us....and we'd recently met winemaker Chris Pearmund and confirmed that he could use our wine boxes and crates (Reduce! REUSE! Recycle!).

So a few wine consultants headed out to Haymarket on a conservation mission - and to drink some Virginia wine! We were packed in so tight with our collection of cardboard that by the end we had stacks on our laps and were sharing seats.


Gerald at the Winery at La Grange seemed grateful, but surprised by the size of the delivery.

We gathered round to taste 11 wines and selected our picnic foods, which was of prime importance. It was time for lunch.
Melanie poured the wines, told us about them, and kept smiling and pouring despite our silliness and the focus on the lunch choices. As is often the case with Virginia wines, the whites were best. We particularly enjoyed the Pinot Gris and the Chardonnay.

None of the regular reds hit the spot for any of us, but they did have a delicious Port-style wine (named Snort, to get around the appelation requirements) that was super yummy. We grabbed a couple of bottles of the Snort, a Pinot Gris, and went out back to the picnic tables to nosh and laugh.

We were grateful we'd brought a designated driver. Though...he probably preferred the drive out when we were all squished in with - and the sound was muffled by - the boxes.

Jenny & Geoff Loved their Custom Label Wines!

Don't they look gorgeous and deliriously happy? Just wait until they taste that Cava. It's fantastic bubbly.

The brilliant and generous Brigette hit a homerun once again. At the shower she gave the happy couple a three-month membership to our fab wine club. It's reported that they love that, too!

For their wedding gift, Brigette ordered a case of wine personalized with the engagement photo. They said that the custom-label wine was one of their favorite wedding gifts.