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| Chris and Jax After Breakfast |
This is Chris and Jax relaxing after the festivities.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Birthday Morning Breakfast
This is Chris and Jax relaxing after the festivities.
Boy in the Window
He was sitting there in the window of a store in downtown Ellicott City. Off the beaten path--but there he was: blond hair, 4 years old or so with a precocious grin on his face accompanied by his dog--a cute black and white border collie.
The building was old, painted white with green shutters and some gardens in front of it and so I was able to watch his antics from a short distance away. I surmised that his parent--probably mother, was inside shopping and he, like me, was bored with the entire shopping experience. I have no idea how long he had been shopping, but I had been on the expedition for only about 15 minutes and we were fortifying ourselves with coffee, but the entirety of the shopping "event" was yet in front of me.
I was with two of my grandsons, Ethan and Jax, but I could relate to the young boy in the window who was amusing himself lost in his own world of imagination oblivious to the passers-by who noticed him.
I was standing in a garden drinking my too-hot coffee while the rest of the group finished up inside. I was thinking I was gonna need a restroom in a couple minutes if I really drank all of the coffee. It was early autumn and the air was brisk, but not yet cold. The roses in the garden retained their full bloom--reds and yellows graced the walk in front of the buildings cast off to the side of the parking lot.
Then the boy saw me watching him. He hid his face, playfully and then peaked back to see if I was still observing his antics.
I stared unabashedly at him and smiled allowing him to see that I was not being judgemental nor disapproving of his activity. Recognizing this, he resumed his play and ignored me. Which was fine. I was losing myself in my own thoughts and he was the catalyst transporting my mind to another place and time.
Ethan strolled out of the coffee shop right at that moment and we began conversing about the day and the flowers and the cold. Ethan too, was already bored with the idea of hours of shopping ahead of us. I soon forgot about the boy and his dog--except--
I wished that it was me playing in the corner of a store window uncaring of the world around me and lost in my own imagination. And you know what? I remember doing almost that exact same thing in a downtown Ithaca, NY shoe store when I was four (without the dog). And for a moment, I could even smell again the strong odor of the stains used to color shoes coming from the back room of the store.
The building was old, painted white with green shutters and some gardens in front of it and so I was able to watch his antics from a short distance away. I surmised that his parent--probably mother, was inside shopping and he, like me, was bored with the entire shopping experience. I have no idea how long he had been shopping, but I had been on the expedition for only about 15 minutes and we were fortifying ourselves with coffee, but the entirety of the shopping "event" was yet in front of me.
I was with two of my grandsons, Ethan and Jax, but I could relate to the young boy in the window who was amusing himself lost in his own world of imagination oblivious to the passers-by who noticed him.
I was standing in a garden drinking my too-hot coffee while the rest of the group finished up inside. I was thinking I was gonna need a restroom in a couple minutes if I really drank all of the coffee. It was early autumn and the air was brisk, but not yet cold. The roses in the garden retained their full bloom--reds and yellows graced the walk in front of the buildings cast off to the side of the parking lot.
Then the boy saw me watching him. He hid his face, playfully and then peaked back to see if I was still observing his antics.
I stared unabashedly at him and smiled allowing him to see that I was not being judgemental nor disapproving of his activity. Recognizing this, he resumed his play and ignored me. Which was fine. I was losing myself in my own thoughts and he was the catalyst transporting my mind to another place and time.
Ethan strolled out of the coffee shop right at that moment and we began conversing about the day and the flowers and the cold. Ethan too, was already bored with the idea of hours of shopping ahead of us. I soon forgot about the boy and his dog--except--
I wished that it was me playing in the corner of a store window uncaring of the world around me and lost in my own imagination. And you know what? I remember doing almost that exact same thing in a downtown Ithaca, NY shoe store when I was four (without the dog). And for a moment, I could even smell again the strong odor of the stains used to color shoes coming from the back room of the store.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Flowers of Christmas
Technically, I guess it isn't a flowering plant at all--but we all consider the poinsettia to be one of those Christmas icons that homes are just not complete without.
This year we ran across an especially beautiful one and just has to have it. It has a variegated pink bracts.
And it is beautiful sitting on the table. It compliments our large traditional red poinsettia very well.
They are both beautiful, but like roses there is a small problem. Roses have thorns and I am allergic it seems to poinsettias. So I find out this year.
Too bad--I love the way they look and the color they add to the house during the bleak mid-winter is stunning. So I will suffer and remain drugged on antihistamines to function and enjoy the season. I'm also told that copious quantities of wine are good to make me forget my stuffy nose.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Mid-Week Saturday
What a great idea it turned out to be.
Chris and I took Wednesday off to have a medical procedure done and were able to spend the entire day together--almost alone at home after about mid-morning.
We napped, baked cookies, bought gifts on E-bay and other internet sites and generally just chilled recovering from the activity of the morning.
A big thank-you to Patrick for taking such great care of his parents--including getting here before 6:30 AM to drive us to the Medical Center.
In the end, it was like having a Saturday in the middle of the week. I got to spend time with my dog, too.
Mid-week Saturdays break the week into smaller two-day sections and really help make it all palatable. It has been a welcome break amid a hectic season--even though it was a medical related break. Who says all medical stuff is bad.
OK--it usually is bad.
This time it worked out.
A mid-week break amid a season of intense activity. I highly recommend it.
Chris and I took Wednesday off to have a medical procedure done and were able to spend the entire day together--almost alone at home after about mid-morning.
We napped, baked cookies, bought gifts on E-bay and other internet sites and generally just chilled recovering from the activity of the morning.
A big thank-you to Patrick for taking such great care of his parents--including getting here before 6:30 AM to drive us to the Medical Center.
In the end, it was like having a Saturday in the middle of the week. I got to spend time with my dog, too.
Mid-week Saturdays break the week into smaller two-day sections and really help make it all palatable. It has been a welcome break amid a hectic season--even though it was a medical related break. Who says all medical stuff is bad.
OK--it usually is bad.
This time it worked out.
A mid-week break amid a season of intense activity. I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Christmas Morning Memories
I had a funny thought yesterday morning as I was making the bed.
The memory of being a boy age 10 or so on Christmas morning flashed through my head.
Standing at the top of the stairs in such excitement and anticipation that I could hardly bear the wait. My brother and sisters there with me--OK, maybe my brother wasn't since he would have been only about 21 months old and I think he got to sleep in the warmer area of the house.
We had attended the candlelight service at church the night before and then dutifully left cookies, milk and an obligatory carrot for the reindeer on a plate beside the Christmas Tree.
I had barely slept. Visions of sugar plums were definitely dancing--but not in my head. They were in my room keeping me up all night. I was awake with exhaustion and high on the drug of excitement.
It was dark outside--I do not even recall the time, but I'm sure it was no later than 6AM because we had been furtively sending messages to each other for a while while hoping to innocuously wake the parents to allow the day to officially begin.
But the excitement and the anticipation of that time was incredible--knowing that in moments Mom and Dad would open the stairwell door and we would be blinded by the "brighter than the sun" movie light us as we ran, fell or otherwise made our way down the stairs and into the room with the tree and the assembled gifts.
Fast forward a few decades and I remember Christmas mornings with my kids--and seeing that same excitement in them. The joy, the excitement and the inappropriate actions of children who just do not know how to deal with these intense emotions.
Our family has grown from our core five, to now eleven. And the sounds of Christmas and the kids and the dogs fills the house with the sweet cacophony of family.
Christmas has changed for us, even with the increase in our family size. We now sleep in late on Christmas morning. We enjoy breakfast and mimosas. We stare at the gift adorned tree while waiting for everyone to arrive in an attempt to recreate those many Christmases past.
Christmas has changed for us, even with the increase in our family size. We now sleep in late on Christmas morning. We enjoy breakfast and mimosas. We stare at the gift adorned tree while waiting for everyone to arrive in an attempt to recreate those many Christmases past.
I love spending time with Chris on Christmas morning in the quiet of our house surrounded by Makayla, Louis, and Riordin giving her that special gift that I spent at least 15 minutes on the Internet picking out.
But remembering how it used to be--in that time long, long ago and in a place far, far away; warms my memories and makes my heart long for those Christmases past. I know now that they were tough times, but thanks to loving parents I was totally oblivious to how tough they were and the miracle of Christmas was alive in my heart and unencumbered with the myriad details that now are part of making the celebration a success.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Consensus Blending - Fun at the Winery
What great fun. A day at our favorite winery with new friends.
There is an annual event at Keswick Vineyards called Consensus Blending where we get to spend a day sampling a set of wines and then, as a group, by table, developing the best blend possible. You can read last year's account at Consensus.
The event is conducted in the Barrel Room of the winery, where it tends to be a bit cool, as one might expect. But it provides us a day to get back to the winery and sample wines and make our best blend of wine from the wines provided.
But in now the second year of our experience, we have met the greatest people and had an incredible amount of fun. Everyone is a lot of fun to be with and we all share a passion: wine.
As Stephen, the winemaker says, the trick is not to blend a wine that you will like--but it is to blend a wine that someone will want to buy.
This year we had four wines to consider for blending. A Cabernet-sauvignon, a touriga, a syrah, and a chambourcin. We were limited in that the final blend could not contain more than 25 percent of the touriga or the cabernet sauvignon. It could contain 25 percent of each--just not more than 25 percent of either. We could use as much of the chambourcin and the syrah as we felt necessary.
Something I have learned over the past two years--one percent makes a big difference. I never thought it would be like that, but looking at the standings board, the top two wines are very similar and tasted very different. The scores are along the side and our wine was wine J. The two on the bottom were both 100 percent chambourcin and the winemaker added them into the judging as control wines.
And so last year our wine came in second place. This year, I really wanted to win. I don't know why, but I just felt we had a good wine last year and I knew I had learned so much more about wine this past year. And our table did win. It was a great team effort in which everyone participated.
What do the winners get? Our wine will be bottled and sold by the winery as the 2009 Consensus Blend.
And I will buy a few cases of it because I know it is good.
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| The Barrel Room and the Consensus Blending |
What great fun. A day at our favorite winery with new friends.
There is an annual event at Keswick Vineyards called Consensus Blending where we get to spend a day sampling a set of wines and then, as a group, by table, developing the best blend possible. You can read last year's account at Consensus.
The event is conducted in the Barrel Room of the winery, where it tends to be a bit cool, as one might expect. But it provides us a day to get back to the winery and sample wines and make our best blend of wine from the wines provided.
But in now the second year of our experience, we have met the greatest people and had an incredible amount of fun. Everyone is a lot of fun to be with and we all share a passion: wine.
 |
| Assessing the Blend |
This year we had four wines to consider for blending. A Cabernet-sauvignon, a touriga, a syrah, and a chambourcin. We were limited in that the final blend could not contain more than 25 percent of the touriga or the cabernet sauvignon. It could contain 25 percent of each--just not more than 25 percent of either. We could use as much of the chambourcin and the syrah as we felt necessary.
 |
| We Realized We Won |
The first task was to assess the four wines. That is always the greatest fun because as soon as you taste one varietal I begin to think about what it would need to be a spectacular wine. And this is the chance I get to actually do this in practice.
Additionally, it is critical to assess the palette of the other people at the table. By their comments on the varietals, you can begin to determine whose palette is most like the majority of people and so that person becomes weather vane for the blends. I know that I am not a good person to build a wine to because I like a specific group red wines, but I think I can assess a wine that others will like. It is always good though to have a couple other people to provide confirmation.
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| Standings Board |
Our table was blessed with six people who knew wines and understood that we needed to develop a complete wine--a nice nose, a good finish, a deep rich dark color and a well balanced taste: not too tannin in nature but not a fruit bomb either.
I won't go into all of the details about how we did it--because fundamentally, we were really lucky because we decided on our basic blend after our second blend and then it was just tweaking the blend from there. We eliminated the syrah after the fourth blend because it just didn't add anything that improved the blend. We were quite happy to work with just the chambourcin, touriga, and cabernet sauvignon.
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| The Winners Chris & Shannon Andrews Barbara & Bob Gitschier, Chris & Bob Doan, and the winemaker Stephen Barnard |
And so last year our wine came in second place. This year, I really wanted to win. I don't know why, but I just felt we had a good wine last year and I knew I had learned so much more about wine this past year. And our table did win. It was a great team effort in which everyone participated.
What do the winners get? Our wine will be bottled and sold by the winery as the 2009 Consensus Blend.
And I will buy a few cases of it because I know it is good.
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