Napa Cellars Zinfandel 2006 - Review

Let me start by saying this is a great middle of the road Zinfandel!

I was looking for a fruity and spicy wine which was versatile and I believe this wine is it. The wine was the hit of our wine group last Friday evening. Everyone raved about it and we really enjoyed this wine a lot.

Here is what actually makes this wine: it is 86% Zinfandel and 14% petit sirah.

The tasting notes for the wine are:

The wine is dark purple and opaque in the glass. The nose is luscious and reveals intense, ripe berries, candied strawberry preserves and cinnamon spice. The palate follows with juicy, rounded fruit flavors that mingle with layers of warm, supple tannins leading to a long, plush finish.

Great on its own and perfect with barbeque, try pairing the wine with Baby Back Ribs or Gourmet Pulled-Pork Sandwiches garnished with sweet and spicy coleslaw.

RECOMMENDATION: Get this wine. At about $22 a bottle it is not inexpensive, but it is well worth the price.

The Passing of Summer: A Day of Mourning

Yesterday was the official start of Autumn--the Autumnal Equinox (at least here in the Northern Hemisphere--Oh to be in Australia right now!)

Yes on Sept 22, 2009 at 5:18 P.M. EDT the sun appeared to cross the equator from north into the south! Of course the sun really didn't move, it all has to do with the earth and rotation and inclination and all kinds of space-related stuff. It was the equinox though. Day and night were of near equal length across the globe.

I had already noticed that darkness has arrived to greet me in the morning as I set off to work! Now the calendar agrees with my perception of the changing seasons.

In honor of the passing of Summer yesterday, I wore black! I was in mourning. It gave my co-workers something to chuckle about.

I took part of the day to reflect on the Summer which had just passed and I felt it was an active, exciting, joyful summer of fun. I will definitely hold on to the memories of parties around the pool, vacationing in Florida and especially diving the Vandenberg, relaxing around the house, weeding the garden, mowing the lawn--which really looked good this year, training Makayla (she needs a lot more), celebrating anniversaries, and dining/partying/drinking/vacationing with friends.

Next summer will be awesome, too. If only it were longer so we could do more.

Now we are in birthday season, it kicked off yesterday as Mike changed decades. We have numerous birthdays between now and April which will keep us busy celebrating life as we progress through the season of darkness.

I guess it works out kinda nice that we celebrate the lives of each of our family members as we transition through Autumn to Winter and finally back to Spring. If keeps us thinking of life rather than dwelling on the darkness.

So it is off with the black and on with the orange and red--the colors of the leaves as they don their party costumes and prepare the world for one last celebration before the cold and snow arrives signalling the season of sleep.

(When am I going to close the pool??? Ugh--I hope the leaves hold off their partying a couple weeks. Who can I speak to about that?)

Grace: Your Grace is Enough, Because it Makes Life not Fair

Over the course of the past week, I have been hit with the idea of grace a number of times.

In church, Sunday, we sang a song which I really get into and which has the phrase--"Your grace is enough for me"

Chris Tomlin sings the song, but it is written by Matthew Maher. Some of the lyrics and the refrain are as follows:

Great is Your faithfulness oh God

You wrestle with the sinner's heart

You lead us by still waters and to mercy

And nothing can keep us apart

So remember Your people

Remember Your children

Remember Your promise Oh God

Your grace is enough

Your grace is enough

Your grace is enough for me

Here's the thing. Do we really believe this? Do we understand that grace really is enough?

Ephesians 2:8 from the Amplified Bible lays down the explanation this way:

For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment {and} made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;


I mean I was really struck by the idea of Grace--God's grace--not the stylized prayer we repeat at the beginning of a meal. But true God's grace.

What was so weird was that flying back from Denver last week, I was listening to another song on my Ipod with grace in it.

"Be My Escape" performed by Relient K--

I’m giving up on doing this alone now

Cause I’ve failed and I’m ready to be shown how

He’s told me the way and I’m trying to get there

And this life sentence that I’m serving

I admit that I’m every bit deserving

But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair

And that's really it isn't it? Grace makes life not fair!

We deserve death! But through grace, God provides us with life.

Some people work their whole lives and miss this important point--you cannot buy or work your way into heaven. It is through God's grace that He provides a place for you. We don't deserve it, we can't pay for it--yet it is ours.

We are free through God's grace, yet we still live as if we are in chains and are prisoners.

Be joyful--because grace makes us free and is more than enough. We can't earn it, because if we could earn it, we would cheapen it. It is God's gift to each of us--all we need do is accept it.

Your grace is enough because the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair!

Monday Musings - September 21, 2009

1. Sunny and cool weekends portend Autumn's arrival even before the calendar officially says it is here. Sad isn't it.

2. I looked up into the pre-dawn sky the other morning and was shocked to see the constellation Orion--a winter constellation. While Orion is one of my favorite constellations, I really look more forward to not seeing it in the Springtime rather that its inaugural appearance during the late summer.

3. Saturday morning, 9AM --- on the soccer field with Ethan. Smiling at Jax, and talking to Mike and Nicole. If it gets much better than that, I'm not sure what it could be.

4. Do you know what it is when there are two keeshonden staying at the house? A pair-o-kees!

5. So answer me this--If I am such a crazed fool for summer, why did I attend a pre-season NHL hockey game while I was in Denver last week? I can't even skate!

6. Sports is tougher on the fans than the players I am convinced. Chris was a wreck because Dallas couldn't beat NY last night. Me, I'm used to cheering for a loser--just look at the O's who are still trying to avoid a 100 loss season (they still need 3 wins of 13 remaining games) and got swept by the Red Sox this weekend. At least the Ravens won!

7. I am still undecided about travel returning from a conference, when the conference is over late. Should I fly back the same night and get back home sometime after 1AM, or spend the night and fly home leisurely on the next day? I don't like either option. What is choice C?

People you meet along the way

I've been at a conference this week in Denver. I was reminded, as I reestablished ties with some friends and many acquaintances that each person we meet and interacts with leaves a part of themselves with you.

Likewise, we leave a part of ourselves with each person we meet.

Sometimes we leave a good part. Something witty or intelligent. But I also know that I have left some pretty scathing parts of myself with those unfortunate enough to have crossed my path in a negative way.

I'm not proud of that. It just happens sometimes and I have to work hard not to allow my emotions to boil over.

OK maybe I got a bit exercised at one point during the conference. But fortunately I stopped short of delivering a scathing fire-breathing monologue. (Yes I have been known to do that on occasion)

I asked myself: is it worth it and will I achieve my intended result. When the answer to both was no, I dismounted my stallion of "righteous intent" and began to work more calmly within the system to make my point.

I think I left those in attendance with a better, rather than worse piece of myself.


Bob Doan
Elkridge, MD
Sent from My Blackberry

Monday Musings on Thursday - September, 17, 2009

Today, since I missed Monday--some musings about traveling

1. Traveling is at the same time fun, boring, exhausting, and hard. It all depends on where you are in the trip.

2. Being there is a lot better than getting there.

3. If the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, how long will it take me to get to the last step?

4. Some say it's not the destination, it is the journey. Yeah, just think about it, racing to the airport--to wait. Charging down the jet ramp to get to your seat--to wait. Getting to your destination and taking the bus to the car rental counter--to wait. Heading off in the rental car to the hotel and getting stuck in rush hour traffic--to wait. Maybe it's not a journey at all but an exercise in waiting.

5. Traveling alone is the pits. Turns out, I don't like eating out alone.

6. I miss my _____________ (fill in the blank with any of the following)
a. wife
b. dog
c. morning cup of coffee
d. newspaper
e. evening wine and cheese with the wife on the back deck
f. O's game because the sling box isn't set up right on my computer
g. speed-zone pace of life
h. 0530 racquetball game

7. I'm in Denver and the mountains are pretty--but they are a long way away.

8. Why do they always have conferences when the major league baseball teams are out of town?

9. Are the Avalanche playing tonight? Turns out they are! Maybe I'll do a hockey pre-season game. Yes--it is Hockey season almost! Who needs the NFL!!!!! With their uber-expensive tickets and poor fan support and TV time-outs?

I saw an Eagle

I had never before seen a Bald Eagle, our national symbol, in the wild. I wish I had been fast enough to get a picture of it.



Yet--during our vacation to Florida driving from the Merritt's Island National Wildlife Preserve I saw one perched proudly upon a tall pole.



It was big! And I was surprised at seeing the bird--even though I knew they lived in the area.



I almost didn't believe it and for some reason I was really excited.

It is really amazing what we can begin to see when we actually open our eyes and notice the world around us. I am one of the worst at blindly walking though life--and I know I miss a lot going on around me. Call it self-absorbed or something, but essentially I just block out the part of the world I am not, at that moment interested in.

I need to be more aware of what is going on around me.

Not to zone out. Maybe life will become more interesting.

Another Rainy Day? No, not Really!

I was surprised as I woke up this morning.

It was raining. It was raining hard--and constant.

I was wholly unprepared for the rain and what it meant for the traffic and the day.

I'm still suffering over the end of summer--and I came to the realization yesterday that I probably would not be spending any more time in the pool before I closed it for the winter since the temperatures had dropped so low.

So many people hate rain. But as i was discussing with Chris on the way to work this morning--I love rain and being rained on. I guess it comes from the sense of renewal that goes with the rain.

Even the Bible speaks of rain in this way--

“I will send rain for your land in its season, the autumn and the spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. I will provide pasture for your livestock and you will eat your fill.” (Deut 11:14-15 - NET Bible)

And we definitely are having the autumn rains right now.

Today, though, I also had a different and separate view of the rain. I saw it as tears falling upon our land. Tears of the martyrs of September 11th, 2001. Tears, reminding us that the fight against tyranny and chaos, and the forces of darkness is not complete, nor probably will it ever be complete.

We must constantly be on guard and against those forces that would drag us into darkness--and the rain, the tears of those who perished remind us, the ones who remain, that there is so much more to do until we can really live in peace.

So today wasn't just another rainy day. But a somber day of remembrance where we can rekindle the flames of patriotism and passion which so often become dim in our souls as we fight amongst ourselves about things like health care and the economy.

The Gator and the Dog

Ever notice how we sometimes under estimate the intelligence or capability of someone we are doing business with?

I was reading a story about a dog that was attacked by a gator in Georgia this summer--and I was reminded of a situation that happened many years ago. It was tragic, in the end.

We were living near Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, LA during the real early 1980's. The base was blessed with a wide open area and a couple of lakes which made for nice picnicking. I remember the kids used to like to throw hot dogs to the gators in the bayou--even thought they weren't supposed to and I would always yell at them for doing it.

One afternoon we were by one of the lakes and a man was throwing a stick into the water and his faithful dog was charging in to retrieve it. I heard someone tell the man that he shouldn't be doing that because there were gators in the lake. Well, of course he ignored the warnings and replied with something about his dog being faster than any gator--and he continued to throw the stick. We left the area because I was sure that something bad was going to happen, and I really didn't want the kids to witness something traumatic.

I read in the base newspaper the next week that the man's dog was in fact killed by a gator at the lake on the very day we were there. I was sad--and mad at the man for being really stupid.

Now we all know dogs are probably faster than gators--but in their own environment gators know how to maximize their abilities.

Do not under estimate people you are dealing with. Allow them to have intelligence, cunning, and even useful insight--else, like the dog, you may be on the short end of the stick.

The Wood Pile: An update

A funny thing happened yesterday after I published my blog item about the wood pile.

The wood pile got smaller!

Yup!

Something I never really imagined happened. Someone went by the house, grabbed some tools and started splitting the wood in the pile. So one of my piles of stuff got smaller.

Thanks Patrick!

How true it is--when we get those piles in our life we either are too proud to ask for help or forget to ask for help. And it is really cool when someone just helps--without being asked.

It is the same whether the pile in our life is wood, or cleaning, or vacuuming the house, or even just making dinner. When someone just shows up and helps out, without being asked, it is really heartwarming.

The piles--maybe they are an obstacle of some kind--just seem to sit there and grow in our minds. Sometimes it takes someone who doesn't carry around the same baggage to look at them and say: "It's not that big!" And then roll up their sleeves and dig in. Or start splitting!

I guess the upshot of this is, if we all work together we can accomplish a lot!