Day After Thanksgiving in Wine Country

Yesterday Tom and I went to visit a couple of wineries in the Willamette Valley. We visited Vercingetorix (VX), Brick House Winery and WillaKenzie.

While we really enjoyed all three for different reasons, Brick House Winery is now a new favorite place to visit. This winery really has a brick house and a funky little tasting room with several rooms to explore as you enjoy the wine tastings being offered. The people are so passionate about the wines and will happily answer any question and share about each wine as if they made it themselves.

My new favorite wine would be the Brick House Gamay Noir. While I enjoyed the Pinot Noir's that were also being tasted I wanted to return and taste the Gamay one more time (after making a two bottle purchase) and have another taste. Next year I'm getting my own glass and I'm going to two tastes of Gamay right away! http://www.brickhousewines.com/gamay.html.

The day was spent driving to a few Willamette Valley wineries and enjoying the scenery of Washington County and all the farms along the way before heading back home.

So, next time Brick House wines are on a dinner menu...give it a try...you might like what they have to offer!

THANKSGIVING 2007

For the second year in a row we decided to spend Thanksgiving at home by ourselves and cooking a minimal amount of food - a couple of favorite side dishes along with the non-traditional dessert of Peach Buckle.


We started the day with a 15 mile bike ride which included a stop at Starbucks for a pick-me-up before heading back home for the remainder of the day.


Jenni joined us this evening for a light dinner and a game of Yahtzee before heading home to ready her house for the arrival of her two college aged kids...photos of our day -


Decaf enjoying the afternoon sun on the back of the easy chair with a hard cushion...

Riley lounging on the other chair...

Tom & Decaf Lounging in the Living Room...

Self-Portrait....

Tom's 50th Birthday Celebration

Tom turned 50 on November 10th and I planned for us and a special group of friends to do a Wine Blending 101 at Urban Wineworks in Portland.
http://www.urbanwineworks.com/

Mary & I arrived early to set up food for the celebration - here we are enjoying a flight of Bishop Creek Cellar wines....the Pinot Gris and Vintner's Blend are both very good!

The Wine Blending "kits" are set up for each person.

Hanging out with friends before the "party" begins.

The gang is all ready to learn how to blend.

This is Leigh our wine blending expert...she is bottling our special blends
from the barrels at the shop...we blended 3 Walla Walla wines
(Cabernet Sauvignon from Abeja, Cabernet Franc and Syrah from Three Rivers).

In the end, everyone went home with a bottle of their personal blend.

Strange but true news from KOIN.COM

Couple Almost Killed By Falling Cow

MANSON, Wash. - A Chelan County fire chief says a couple was lucky they weren't killed by a cow that fell off a cliff and smashed their minivan.

District 5 Chief Arnold Baker says they missed being killed by a matter of inches Sunday as they drove on Highway 150 near Manson.

The 600-pound cow fell about 200 feet and landed on the hood of the minivan carrying Charles Everson Jr. and his wife Linda of Westland, Mich., who were in the area celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary. They were checked at Lake Chelan Community Hospital as a precaution.

The van was heavily damaged, including a broken windshield.

Charles Everson says he kept repeating, "I don't believe this. I don't believe this."

The year-old cow had been reported missing by a breeder. It was euthanized at the scene.

Mr. Decaf

What?

I'm trying to get some heat here!

TRICK OR TREAT

Tom was royalty last night...The Prince of Darkness

Naperville Trip

On October 26 Tom and I flew to Chicago to spend the weekend in Naperville with Marcia & Teddy. Tom asked if I would be willing to be listed as a driver for the rental car and I agreed with a bit of anxiety. I ended up driving from the rental car agency near O'Hare to Naperville on very busy expressways which also included a couple of toll stops. The first toll was easy to navigate, but the second...well, I totally missed that one! I asked Tom if I was to take the exit to the toll and he said no...so full speed ahead! Then we passed the toll and realized that I probably should have taken the last exit. Oh well - we'll see how long it takes the State of Illinois to get that 80 cents from us.


We had a good visit...jam packed with activity on Saturday & Sunday. The purpose of this very brief trip was to celebrate Marcia's birthday (which was yesterday, Oct 31).


However, Sunday was the big day...

We had the opportunity to hear Teddy play the organ at the church that employs him - Wheatland Salem United Methodist Church (http://www.wheatlandsalem.org/). Then afterwards we sped along the Expressway to Arlington Heights to drop Teddy off at his Irish Dance Workshop - which he does EVERY Sunday after his church gig. While he was dancing we were having our "Second Breakfast" before heading to the Barnes & Noble next door. The two hours we were waiting went by quickly and we went to pick Ted up from his workshop. On this particular Sunday he skipped out of his regular troupe practice (which lasts until mid-afternoon) and we all went back to Naperville in the afternoon.


Sunday evening, for Marcia's birthday dinner, we decided to try out a place called Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House. The server informed us that they are known for their crab cakes and frog legs. So, Tom, Mr. Adventurous, decided to try out those frog legs. Oh my...when the entrees were being served his came out on a fairly good sized oval plate with all these little legs just sitting there...pairs of legs with no bodies...it was quite a sight. There had to be at least a dozen of them if not more. We all had a sample of them - they are okay. Nothing special and yes, they taste a little like chicken. Chicken that lived in water. http://www.hugosfrogbar.com/

It's been over a year since Dan passed away and the house feels different without his presence there...but he had a strong spirit and that is still evident through his family.

Tom relaxing in the Living Room after a day of walking around Naperville.

Here are Teddy, Marcia and I standing near Dan's grave.