RosatoDi

A Christmas Carol

2012-01-26T12:42:00.001-05:00

Ticket & Program

So over the Christmas holiday we were able to attend a production of 'A Christmas Carol'. One of Jim's co-worker's mentioned that his daughter was in it. Which, by the by, she was wonderful in.

This production was put on by the Virginia Stage Company at the Wells Theatre in downtown Norfolk. It's a wonderful theater just across from the MacArther Mall. Lovely architecture. I could have wandered around just checking it out.

It's interesting to see something you've watched on TV numerous times. Actors want to make each part their own, which I understand. However, sometimes the timing is a bit off and can make the line you're trying to make your own sound very odd.

Wells Theater Ceiling

And a note to anyone attending a play, when the lights dim and the play begins....

Turn off your FREAKING cell phone!

Not only is it rude to the people around you, it's rude and distracting to the actors.

I didn't pay to hear your obnoxious ring tone go on and on while you dig through your luggage size purse to find your phone. Yes, that was directed to the obnoxious woman sitting behind us who did this. Even the people she was with commented on it.

I had to hold in the laugh when I heard, "Really? You couldn't turn off your freaking phone?"

Other than that it was truly enjoyable and I believe something we will do again!

Are You Ready For The ZA?

2011-12-26T14:06:00.000-05:00

We all know that the day will come when the Zombies will attack. Are you prepared?

What do you mean what is this ZA that I speak of? Have you been living under a rock? The ZA stands for the Zombie Apocalypse, please read the link to get a better understanding.

Better yet start watching The Walking Dead. You'll understand once you have seen a few episodes of this.

Many will scoff, but I'm one to be prepared for any eventuality. As you can see we got 9mm and 223. Must keep your ammo options open.

As you can see here it does say to stay alert. A very important thing when facing off with a bunch of hungry undeads.

Sorry if it's a bit blurry, but I was giggling quite a bit when I took this photo.

Luckily for you there is a Zombie 101 on the back of each of the boxes. And since I do care for your welfare, I will share. ;-)

Zombie 101

Creepy Arms: They will try to distract you by waving their arms all over. STAY FOCUSED!

Bloody Clothes: They've been snacking on your neighbors all day. Their table manners disappeared when they were infected.

Dragging Feet: Their movement is painfully slow and their feet never really leave the ground. Use this to your advantage - set some trip lines around your yard.

Head: This is the only part that's worth aiming for. Destroy their brain before they try to eat yours!!

This Zombie 101 comes to you from Hornady Manufacturing. Big shout out to them. Thank goodness there are some people out there thinking ahead. :-D

Hope this helps you all when the ZA occurs. I know we'll be safely shooting the zombies in our neighborhood.

A Furry Family Wish

2011-12-25T15:05:00.002-05:00

Tis the season to be jolly. And from the looks of this photo our pets were tired out from making merry.

From our family to yours, we wish you the merriest of Christmases!

Ingleside Vineyard Fall Barrel Tasting

2011-11-15T22:17:00.003-05:00

On Saturday we went to Ingleside Vineyard for their fall barrel tasting with some friends. They had never been to Ingleside and we jumped at the chance to share a winery that we love! It was a lovely day for it.

We were able to take a tour, the first one of the day, and I was able to get this photo of some of the barrels. They are actually for sale! Something I've never actually seen here before. I realize that they do that, but had never seen it. So that was kind of neat.

At the end of the tour we were able to taste from barrels. The winemaker, Bill Swain, was there with the wine thief to let us sample from the barrel and talk about them. We were able to try a 2008 and 2009 Petit Verdot. We preferred the 2009 over the 2008.

The other two barrels were Merlot and Syrah. And for the life of me I can't remember what year they were. I'm going to take a stab at it and say 2009. And yes you read that right. Four barrels!

After the barrel tasting we were led on to do a tasting of some of Ingleside's fine wines.

I thought this shot of my tasting of the 2007 Petit Verdot was nice. One of my personal favorite wines at Ingleside. Mood lighting and all it was a wonderful tasting.

And of course I had to get this shot of our wonderful pour-er, Melanie.

We had a blast! And our friends left with a case of wine. It was a great day of wine, food and friends.

Veteran's Day

2011-11-11T22:34:00.006-05:00

To all of those who have or are serving in the military...

We thank you!

Your sacrifices have NOT gone unnoticed. You are appreciated for all that you do.

And for all the military spouses out there?

Your support is most appreciated.

The Glass House Winery

2011-11-05T17:34:00.003-04:00

The final stop for the day was the Glass House Winery. Luckily for us they stayed open until much later.

We were greeted by this sweet little pooch once we all got out of our cars. Later we came to find out this little mascot's name is Dogbert. That seems like an odd name for any dog (and yes I get the Dilbert reference) let alone a female dog.

I did have to get a quick shot of the way we came in to the winery before we lost the light.

We were able to try 6 different wines and got a chocolate sample.

Bring on the wines!

2010 Viognier. 100% Viognier. You might ask why I add this, well some places don't do 100% of the varietal so I like to make note of it. It was a mix of stainless steel and barrel. Dry. I got apricot notes, but there was an odd bite on the end.

2009 Wineworks Viognier. This was a Michael Schapps wine. They had run out of one of their wines and were using one of his. Many wineries will do this. It is 75% Viognier and 25% Vidal Blanc. Done in stainless steel but oddly enough tasted oaky to me.

Vino Signoro. Traminette is in this one and it's 3% residual sugar. I got apricot in the nose and in the taste. I could see this as a porch wine, but it's too sweet for me.

2010 21st. 50% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot and 20% Cab Sauvignon. The notes say it's a tribute to the 21st amendment. I got to say that gave me a bit of a giggle. I got black cherry in the notes, but tasted the oak on the back of the throat. It was aged in American and neutral oak. The smell was not something I enjoyed. But it does taste better than it smells. However I think, yet again, it's the Cabernet Franc that's throwing me. *sigh*

2010 C-Villian. A clever name considering how close they are to Charlottesville. It's a Chambourcin, Merlot and Cabernet Franc blend. It has a lovely deep color and is smooth.

2010 Meglio del Sesso. This is a Norton, Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin blend. It is aged with 82% ground chocolate for two months. Again with the Cabernet Franc!

What do they do with that chocolate you might ask? They turn it into fantastically yummy chocolates that they sell in the shop. And you get to taste one when you try the last wine. I really LOVED the salted caramel!

Not a bad note to end on. I will make one note on this place. They try too hard. Sometimes less is more. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

Pollak Vineyards

2011-11-05T15:44:00.004-04:00

We made it to Pollak Vineyards with time to spare before they closed for the day.

We were greeted after standing at the bar for just a short period of time. We had one employee pour for us, which was nice.

So bring on the wines!

2010 Viognier. This had peach notes. Was light but had a bit of spice on the end. Viognier is another grape that grows well in Virginia, so most wineries will have one. I'm not the biggest fan of this one either.

2010 Pinot Gris. This had a mineral/gravel kind of taste to it. I really didn't get anything in the nose. And it had a bit of a bubbly feel to it. Not at all pleasant.

2010 Durant White. This is 60% Chardonnay, 30% Viognier, and 10% Pinot Gris. They do a post fermentation blend. In other words, they blend it after each varietal has fermented. It had peach notes to it and a clean finish. Not bad.

Bring on the reds!

2009 Durant Red. This was a 50/50 blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot. There we go again. It had smokey notes to it. Dry but tasted over oaked and had that bubbly feeling on the tongue. Not good. I'm really not enjoying the Cabernet Franc and Merlot mixes that are out there.

2009 Merlot. This spent 14 months in the barrel and 9 months in the bottle. It still needs to age, which is a sad statement. I did get a black cherry smell to it and it was dry.

2009 Cabernet Franc. This also spent 14 months in the barrel and 9 months in the bottle. I did get a pepper smell and the slight taste of cassis. I still haven't found that Cabernet Franc to wow me.

2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. This one made me smile. It had cherry notes to it and a fruity flare. It also had a very nice finish.

2008 Meritage. This is 44% Cabernet Franc, 43% Merlot and 13% Petit Verdot. They took their best barrels at 12 months, blended them and then rebarreled them. I got black current and black cherry in the nose. A very bold red.

2009 Petit Verdot. This was light in color. Which saddens me since this varietal is normally dark and lovely. I got black berries and plum notes from it. It had an earthy, but charred finish to it.

I noted that many of the wines had unfined and unfiltered. What does unfined mean? I asked. Basically it's a chemical process to 'de-cloud' the wine. I have a feeling that is the reason that some of these tasted off to me.

Veritas Vineyard

2011-11-05T14:02:00.005-04:00

After a quick stop at Jak N Jil's for a late lunch and a bit of sobering up, we headed out to Veritas Vineyard.

The drive is beautiful and it was perfect fall weather. Nice, crisp and slightly chilly!

There was a wedding party there doing pictures when we arrived, but we were still greeted warmly and had no issues getting a tasting. We had a lovely young lady who stayed with us the entire tasting. A major change from the other wineries we've been to.

2010 Chardonnay "Saddleback". Modled at the 'old world' style from Chablis, France they fermented 100% Chardonnay in stainless steel tanks and matured in primarily neutral oak barrels for 4 months. I got apple and pear on the nose and a taste of apple and kiwi.

White Star. This is a blend of 80% Viognier, Traminette, Chardonnay and Vidal Blanc. It had floral notes and a nice fruity kick. Recommended to me as a summer wine. I can see that and will definitely be taking a bottle home with me!

2010 Rose. Oh how I adore Rose! It's Cabernet Franc and Merlot that were in contact with their skin for 24 hours, giving it a lovely color. It had a wonderful strawberry nose and a vanilla/strawberry finish that I found delightful. Yet another wine to take home! I get so tickled when I can find a good Rose. Normally I do Rose's for the summer, but I don't think this one will be around for December!

Bring on the reds!

2010 Cabernet Franc. This is 80% Cabernet Franc and 20% Merlot. It was smokey to the nose and had a black pepper taste. Okay for a Cabernet Franc. Yet again I'm not a fan, but through no fault of the winery.

2010 Claret. This is 45% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Franc and 10% Petit Verdot. It was earthy, dry and smooth. Very nice.

Red Star. This is a white wine drinker's red. Light, soft and slightly sweet. A blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Chambourcin. I'm noticing they used a lot of Cabernet Franc for blending.

On to dessert wines!

2009 Petit Manseng. This is 10% residual sugar. So yeah, it's sweet! I got a pineapple/mango taste. A nice dessert wine, but nothing I'm taking home tonight.

2009 Othello. This is not normally on the tasting list, but luckily for us there was a bottle open. This is a blend of 61% Touriga Nacional and 39% Tannat. It's fortified with brandy and then aged for 2 years in oak. I got plum on the nose. It was sweet and smooth. 10% residual sugar. 17% alcohol. Definitely a sipping after dinner wine.

So far, this is my favorite winery. Open and inviting and knowledgeable staff. We would have stayed longer, but it was getting closer to 5 and we wanted to try to get one or two more wineries in.

Burnley Vineyards

2011-11-05T13:24:00.003-04:00

Our next stop, just a hop, skip and a jump from Barboursville was Burnley Vineyards.

I had to get a shot of Cooper, the beautiful German Shepherd, the winery mascot. LOL He greeted everyone once he came in and then laid down behind the bar.

Bring on the white wines!

Barrel Fermented Chardonnay. This was fermented in oak barrels and then stored in oak barrels for 4 months. The barrels were stirred ever 2 weeks. Once again I got this off the tasting notes. We did have a person, but she was trying to deal with 2-3 different groups at different stages of the tasting. This had a weird taste to it and a bite. I'm guessing it was due to the fact that it's so young.

Chardonnay. This was fermented in stainless stell and then aged in medium oak barrels for 5 months. I got no real taste from this. Looking at my notes, in order to be nice, I've done some editing.

On to the reds!

Rivanna Sunset. This is made from the Chambourcin grape. They did it in the blush style so it would have a pink tint. It's 4% residual sugar made me think of it as more of a dessert wine than something to serve with a meal. But different strokes for different folks.

Dog Gone Red. This had the CUTEST label on it! Cooper the dog was featured. If I couldn't find anything that I liked I was going to take this home with me! It was his debut wine. Gotta love that! It was a semi-dry and could be served room temperature or chilled. It might be really nice chilled. I, of course, found it a bit sweet for my taste.

Rivanna Red. This was a blend of Chambourcin, Norton and Cabernet Savignon. The wine is done in a Beaujolais style, which means it's supposed to be light bodied. And it was, but it tasted kind of sour to me. A big turn off for me.

Zinfandel. I love red zins! 100% Zinfandel! It was a bit softer than I expected, but nice. It is young and they do tell you that. They say it will age 3-5 years. And I agree. I know I truly belly ached about this at Barboursville, but I think this one has true potential!!

Cabernet Sauvignon. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. This was unfiltered, which makes the wine a bit heavier. It had a bold fruity smell, but tasted green. They do suggest aging it for several years. Uh oh. Am I going to have to start a rant on this one as well? I'm sure it will be better in a few years, but I can't get past the green. One more and you're getting a rant Burnley!

Norton. This grape was developed in Richmond, VA around 1820 and was commercially available in 1830. Yep I'm copying notes! It was the main grape in early Virginia wines. It was the heaviest and richest of all the red wines. Nice.

On to dessert wines!

Rubix. This is a port style dessert wine made from the Norton grape. So it is sweet, but also smooth. I thought it was okay, but don't think I'll bring home any. It could either be served well chilled or at room temperature. Good to know!

Moon Mist. This is made with White Muscat and Orange Muscat. Best served well chilled with a sweet but tart dessert. I can see this. It is sweet with a nectarine finish. I'm not big on dessert wines, but this was nice.

Peach Fuzz. This is a blend of grape juice and peach juice which are then cold fermented and cold filtered. Then more peach juice is added to sweeten the wine before bottling. Light and refreshing. I think it'd be great for the summer time. Or to add to a mimosa!

Aurora. A sweet red wine that they added chocolate and raspberries. It smells like a raspberry tootsie pop. It's not as sweet as it smells and has a slight raspberry finish. Awesome idea, but I don't know that I'd get this one. It would definitely have to be served well chilled.

Spicy Rivanna. This is the Rivanna Red with they added natural flavorings of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice, anise, orange peel, lemon peel and residual sugar. They suggest to serve it well chilled or steaming hot like tea. I tried it hot. You can definitely smell the spices. It's like mulled wine in a bottle. Which is what they were trying for.

Barboursville Vineyard

2011-11-05T10:33:00.006-04:00

The next stop on day of wineries was Barboursville Vineyard. You could tell that by the title right?

Of course I had to get a picture of Barboursville. Something I try to do when we get to each winery. Doesn't always happen, but I do try my best.

And I had to snap this one. It almost looks the cows are in the vineyards. This gave me the giggles every time I think about it.

This tasting was done in an almost assembly line kind of way. You moved down from each section white to reds and then on to dessert. You didn't have the same pourer either. So you got a mix of people pouring wine for you. I'm not sure how I felt about that. I kind of like having one person walk you through your wines.

And I had to get a shot of the Barboursville ruins. Thomas Jefferson designed this building.

Again I got most of my information from the tasting sheet than the pourer. Which seems sad, but when you have SO many wines it's hard to remember everything. So this will be a mix of their notes, if I didn't care for the wine, and my impressions.

The first wine was the 2010 Sauvignon Blanc. I love Sauvignon Blanc! And this was no exception. We left with a bottle of this. It was crisp and had hints of citrus on the palate.

2010 Pinot Grigio. Jim is a big fan of Pinot Grigio, so I had to share a sip with him. I did get the touches of apple, pear and pineapple and it had a nice crisp finish to it.

2010 Chardonnay. This is done in a cold fermentation in stainless steel. It was clean and crisp with a quick finish.

2010 Chardonnay Reserve. I did not actually try this one. My friend Ruth did. It's barrel fermented and aged for 8 months. Ruth said it had a light smokiness to it and a quick finish.

2009 Viognier Reserve. I passed on this one. Not a big Viognier fan.

2010 Rose. I'm a HUGE Rose fan. This one was done in 38% Nebbiolo, 26% Sangiovese, 21% Barbera and 15% Cabernet Franc. It was a very pale pink. The claim is that it finishes smooth and it's dry but fleshy. Seriously who writes this stuff? I found it to be dry but light. Nothing to make me want to take a bottle home.

2010 Riesling. This was done in a long and cold fermentation. Off-dry and well balanced. It was dry but slightly sweet. And harsh! Not to my liking.

All in all the whites were nice. I left with two bottles of the white. On to the reds!

2009 Sangiovese Reserve. I felt so so on this one. It was nice. Dry, but light. I really don't have much to say about this. Which is kind of sad.

2008 Babera Reserve. This is made with the Barbera grape. It's described as elegantly earthy, with raspberry, chocolate and plum tones. I did get earthy tones, but I'm not sure how elegant that can be, and the plum notes. It had nice tannins and was dry.

2008 Nebbiolo Reserve. The tasting notes claim this to be a true example of the beauty and power of the most acclaimed varietal in Italian viticulture. Okay whoever wrote up these tasting notes was truly trying to impress and wax poetic. The notes (in my dumbed down version) say there are notes of tar, smoke, blackberry and tobacco. While it's full bodied and has a lasting finish. It will improve with age and turn into a true gem. When this is in the notes I tend to worry. While it was nice and dry and I did get the smokiness... In my opinion selling it as something that will be better with age tells me you're trying to get rid of it and had no patience in waiting for it to age a bit more.

2009 Merlot. While they say there is a limited oak aging, they never say how long. It was soft on the tannins with a small bite. And of course dry.

2009 Cabernet Sauvignon. Twelve months of oak aging process producing a well balanced structure with supple and refined tannins. I'm not so sure about that. I found it to have a bite and it dried out my mouth. Yes you read that right!

2008 Cabernet Franc Reserve. Twelve months of barrel aging. Did they hear my earlier complaint? I did get currant in the nose and it was smooth and dry. I'm not a Cabernet Franc fan. Yet I will try them, because this is a grape that does extraordinarily well in Virginia. Maybe some day I'll find one that converts me, but not today.

2008 Merlot Reserve. 100% Merlot. I did find it to have nice tannins. It had a silky/creamy finish to it. Very nice. But again they claim while it's approachable in youth it will age well for 5-8 years. Really? If you don't think it's at its peak why is it out? I know some people like to put things up to let the wine reach it's potential. But what if it sucks now? We have only your word it will be better. Sorry pet peeve of mine.

2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. Reserve implies that this wine is the best of that vintage. Again it claims rich and polished tannins that allow extended cellaring. To me? It tasted green. And I like Cabernet Sauvignon. *sigh* A big disappointment. Nothing even came through to me to hint at a wonderful wine some where down the line.

2007 Octagon. This is one of their signature wines. It's a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot that is aged 15 months in new French barriques. That's a fancy way of saying small barrels. Trust me I had to Google it. And apparently it is also meant for long term cellaring. It was dry and a bit smoky, which is nice. However, it had a bit of a bite that kind of threw me. Sadly not a bottle to make it home with me.

The reds seemed light to me. And it seemed that most were meant for cellaring instead of immediate consumption. I like to open my wines up and share them with friends to get them hooked on the wineries. Sadly none of these came home with me.

On to the dessert wines!

Cabernet Blanc. A blush style wine with delicate color. Had I read that note before tasting I would have passed. Blush? Ugh! It said semi-sweet with a crisp fruity taste. It definitely had a wonderful fruity smell, but the taste just wasn't there.

Rosato. I tried this one for the name alone! However, their notes irked me. The call this a dessert style rose. Rose's with that little mark above the e? Those aren't supposed to be sweet!!! ARGH! That being said it was kind of nice. It had a strawberry smell to it. Not unpleasant. And was sweet at the front of your mouth, but tart in the back. I found this one kind of fun. I would definitely give it a second chance.

2006 Malvaxia Reserve. Got a bit of education with the notes on this one. Hooray! I love to learn about wine. This is created in the traditional Passito process. I didn't know what this was, but it goes on to explain. The grapes of Malvaxia are carefully hand selected and set aside to rest and air dry for up to 120 days before pressing and fermentation. Six months of a slow and cool fermentation followed by extended barrel aging. I got notes of tropical fruit and an explosion of sweetness.

A lot of wines to try. The notes are somewhat informative. Beautiful venue. I just wish for a bit more I guess.

Horton Vineyards

2011-11-05T09:07:00.004-04:00

Our first stop for the day was Horton Vineyards.

You drive up to what looks like a Swiss Chalet past part of their vineyard.

They have 47 wines available for tasting and you can choose up to 12 of them. That's a LOT of wine to try! But it does give you a wide variety of different things to try.

I had to get a shot of the view from the door. Seeing as how it's the first of November, most of the leaves are brown. Not the prettiest of photos, but I felt that it was a nice view. Much prettier in early fall or during the summer, I'm sure.

The first wine I tried was the 2010 Rkatsiteli. This is a dry Georgian/Russian variety. The tasting notes say there are zesty orange peel aromas, citrus flavors and a long finish. I really didn't get that though. I just thought it was slightly sweet. And I really didn't smell anything on it. Sad.

2008 Rkatsiteli Reserve. I was surprised that they have a vintage this old still. I did enjoy this one. It was nice and dry. Very refreshing. A nice summer wine. There weren't really any tasting notes on this one. It was merely listed as a 20th Anniversary wine, which could explain the age of this wine. Definitely something I would walk away with. And I did!

2008 Petit Manseng. The notes say a pina colado nose. Says it's rich with creamy flavors followed by a clean and firm acidic backbone. I could get the pina colado nose. There was a slight sweetness to it and it did feel creamy.

Route 33 Red. They call this a one of a kind blend of Mourvedre and Tannat, saying it is floral and rich with berry flavors and finishes long and smooth. This had a slight sweetness to it. I wasn't all that impressed. And I really didn't have any impression on the nose.

2008 Stone Castle Red. I really didn't get any of what the notes say. It was slightly drier than the wine before it, but not really that impressive. The notes say deep garnet color, roasted nuts, herb, spice and backed berry aromas. A round supple entry leading to a dryish medium body with dark berry flavors. Who writes this? I got none of it.

2008 Cotes d Orange. The New World offering of a traditional Rhone Style blend using Mourvedre, Tannat and Pinotage. The most information I think I've gotten on a wine and it's all from the notes. It was nice and dry. Nice, but not one that I took home.

2010 Malbec. What can I say? These are hard to find so a bottle was definitely going home with us. I'm not even adding the tasting notes, because they seem (sorry) just plain silly to me. Dry and a nice finish. I was happy with it, even though I don't have info on it.

2003 Syrah. More information! Hooray! This 12% Tannat, 6% Petit Verdot, and 5% Pinotage which adds complexity and smokiness. It had a nice red color, but I didn't get any red fruit or black cranberries. It was nice and dry, but left something funny on the back of my throat. Sadly I didn't care for this one. And I like Syrah. Another older wine, which surprised me. Or maybe not considering that odd feeling/taste it left on the back of my throat.

2008 Pinotage. This is a dry South African Red. This is one I've never had before so I don't know exactly what this is in comparison. They say this combines the finesse of Pinot Noir and the intensity of Cinsault. I'll just take their word for it. I found it to be dry and a bit oaky, but that's okay.

2002 Tannat. This is a dry Madiran red loaded with intense raspberry and blackberry aromas. It has a huge mouth feel caused by a complex tannin structure and a long dry finish. I really have to agree with this. It was dry and had heavy tannins. VERY nice.

DIO 1999. This is a dry Portuguese red. The notes say dried dark cherries, damson plums and mocha aromas underlie the smokey, roasted flavors in the marriage of Touriga and oak. I did get the mocha aroma, but that was it. It was dry, but I got a tang to it that I found unpleasant.

2005 Vinatge Port. Touted as the only port made in Virginia. It is 57% Norton, 15% Touriga Nacional and 28%. It's sweet and smooth.

Courage. This is another one of the 20th Anniversary wines. A nice port. I thought it was even smoother than the first port, this could be due to age as well.

All the information I got was from the tasting notes. While the staff was friendly, they didn't seem knowledgeable about the wines. I go to interact with the staff and learn, this didn't really happen here which is sad.

Jim put it well this morning. They've become more of a wine manufacturer than wine grower.

Day of Wineries

2011-11-05T09:04:00.002-04:00

So we were able to spend the day going to wineries with our friends Ruth and Jeff.

Instead of one big blog I'm breaking into wineries.

It was a fun, but long day and we managed to cover six wineries in one day. Whew! It made for a long day!

A Weekend Discovery

2011-11-03T08:44:00.005-04:00

I know I've been lax on the blog. There's no excuse other than I've been lazy. So prepare for random posts!

So during October, I believe it was the weekend of the seventh, Jim and I were taking a Sunday drive when we came across the Military Aviation Museum out near Pungo. We decided that it was time to go and check it out. We're crazy like that sometimes.

All of these photos were taken with my iPhone. Seriously, I must start bringing my camera with me! Had to get a photo of the 'Fighter Factory'. Many planes are in here.

As luck would have it there was an event going on that very day. So we decided to check it out. They were having the WWI Bi-Planes and Tri-Planes Airshow. Planes, as you can see, were not the only thing there. They had re-en actors there and cars. And of course numerous planes.

I HAD to get a shot of this sexy little Jag. So pretty!!

This is inside the Fighter Factory. My phone could not do it justice. It's much wider.

All the planes in here are flyable. I think that's probably one of the coolest things about it. That they are all functional. Doesn't matter if they're replicas or not.

Jim laughingly called it the hangar of sex. Guess you have to really be into planes to get that one. LOL

The rest of these are photos of just a few of the planes that were there. I'm not the one who knows about this stuff. That's Jim's department, but he's been really busy as of late.

This is an amphibious car. First vehicle we actually came across during our time there.

And yes it does as the name implies. It goes in the water!

I had to get a picture of this remote control plane. October is breast cancer awareness month. Save the ta-tas!!!

And what better way to end this blog than with a picture of my sweetie with his favorite plane, the Corsair. Man I'm jealous of that plane.

If you're ever in the area, I definitely recommend checking it out. You can learn a lot.

General's Ridge

2011-08-12T20:26:00.008-04:00

So on the 5th of this month we went to the Northern Neck in Virginia and tried out some wineries.

Our destination of choice was General's Ridge Vineyard. Originally General's Ridge started out as a B & B with a fabulous view of the vineyards. The grapes were sold to other wineries up until recently.

After driving up through the vineyard you come to the lovely tasting room.

It's warm and inviting. A lovely place to sit while sipping a glass of one of their wines while catching up with friends. They also have a lovely menu of appetizer type snacks. My only regret is that we arrived so late that we didn't get to try the tempting treats listed on the menu.

The staff is helpful and ever so knowledgeable.

Shout out to Gary for the awesome tasting!

We tried eight different wines!

Which really tickled me. Since they just opened this year!

The GRV White, which has a touch of sweetness to it. But I could so see it as a summer wine for many people.

The Chardonnay, which was nice since it was 50% steel and 50% neutral French Oak. Which pleased me because I don't care for oaky Chardonnays, because I always feel like a hamster chewing on a wood chip.

The GRV Viognier, which we both enjoyed. Which is really saying something because we don't really care for Viogniers. We ended up taking 2 bottles of this home. I know you're shocked right?

The GRV Rose, which I felt was a bit too sweet for my taste. But still I can see this as a really nice summer sipping wine.

The GRV Red that was quite nice. It's a beautiful blend of Chambourcin and Merlot. We had to have 2 bottles of this as well.

The Westmoreland Red, which has Cabernet Franc in it. I'm not a big fan of Cabernet Franc, but that's okay as I'm sure other's can truly appreciate it.

The Merlot was truly nice. And I'm not really a Merlot person. And no it's not because of the stupid movie Sideways. Merlot tends to give me a headache for some reason. That didn't stop us from taking home 2 bottles though!

And last but not least was the Pinot Noir. It's quite young, so I'm not sure I can make too much of a judgement about it.

All in all we were very pleased with our experience. And I had to take a close up of the bar. I love how it's made of old doors and wine barrels.

I would DEFINITELY recommend wines from here. And if you're ever in the area, do make sure to stop by and do a tasting. I think you'll be pleased.

Vault Field Vineyards

2011-08-11T08:35:00.003-04:00

So on Friday we decided to head to the Northern Neck to hit some of our favorite wineries.

Our first stop was Vault Field Vineyards (as the title implies). At the moment they only have 3 wines to try, but they were all good. It saddens me when there's not more on the tasting list, but it's also a good thing. It means that the wines are selling. So that is good.

They are gearing up for bottling very soon, so I had to get a shot of all the barrels and prep work that was going on.

We were lucky, because while we were there we got to try the Conundrum before it was bottled. I believe we were told that it was going to be filtered one more time before bottling. Both of us agreed that it is quite good and can't wait for it's release.

Of course we got to see our favorite artist, Phil McKenney, because he was pouring the wine. All in all it was a GREAT experience.

New Family Member!

2011-06-19T15:59:00.003-04:00

Hi! My name is Darby. And let me tell you that I think this is the GREATEST day of my life.

As of today I found my forever family. And I really think I can get the hang of this. I'm enjoying all the room I have now and you should see my big back yard! I love the bed and the couch is awesome! When my new parents noticed me shivering, they found me a perfect sized blanket. Now I can doze while we watch True Grit.

I really don't want to sleep though, because I'm afraid this is just one amazing dream. But they keep saying it's okay and they will be there when I wake up. Maybe I'll just rest my eyes a bit.

We were able to bring Darby home today! They say she's a chihuahua short hair mix. I don't know that I see it, but it's in her record. She's a darling one year old. A bit timid, but I'm sure with time she will get over that. She has a few minor issues that we will be clearing up soon, but other than that she's perfectly fine.

She loves cuddles and hugs. She's gobbling up the attention. I know she enjoys laying on the couch and the bed is intriguing. There are tons of sniffs for to investigate. The cats are unimpressed and she has no true interest in them other than the occasional sniff.

You can tell that she's just so happy to be here. And that makes me love her all the more.

In Memory of Kaiser

2011-06-17T19:43:00.004-04:00

On June 1st our 14 year old dog, Kaiser, passed away. It's the hardest decision that a pet owner can make, but we promised ourselves that if his quality of life was not what it should be then we would do what we had to. An excruciating decision.

A few days later we got a sympathy card from our vet's office with a poem enclosed. It was very true and really struck home for me. So as a tribute to my companion, friend, protector and furry child I will share some photos and the poem. You may want to get a hanky handy. I'm just warning you.

If you never met Kaiser, then you truly missed out. Although he was leery of men, he was an extremely lovable boy. He smiled often and loved to hug. Oh and he was truly a ladies man.

The Last Battle

If it should be that I grow frail and weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then will you do what must be done,
For this — the last bat tle — can’t be won.

You will be sad I under stand,
But don’t let grief then stay your hand,
For on this day, more than the rest,
Your love and friendship must stand the test.
We have had so many happy years,
You wouldn’t want me to suffer so.
When the time comes, please, let me go.
Take me to where to my needs they’ll tend,

Only, stay with me till the end
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.
I know in time you will agree
It is a kind ness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffer ing I have been saved.
Don’t grieve that it must be you
Who has to decide this thing to do;
We’ve been so close — we two — these years,
Don’t let your heart hold any tears.
– Author unknown

And we did.

Goodbye most beloved boy!

A Wish From Us To You...

2011-05-08T15:49:00.001-04:00

We would like to send out best wishes to all the mom's out there.

Happy Mother's Day!

Release Date

2011-03-12T20:50:00.003-05:00

So Friday night Apple released their new iPad 2.

Jim has been wanting an iPad since they were first released.

However, we normally wait for the second generation of electronic gadgets to come out before we'll purchase them. That way the bugs/problems (if any) have been worked out. We also normally wait for the newness to wear off so that we can actually get our hands on them.

This was not the case for this product. I actually went to the mall to wait in line 2.5 hours before they were even releasing it. Here's the photo I took from my place in line. Turn left and go about a block or so more and you'll get to the store. 2.5 hours before the release and I was a little over 2 blocks away from the store. There were about 120 people ahead of me in line.

So 4.5 hours later I walk out of the mall with the iPad 2 and a smart cover in my possession. It wasn't exactly what Jim wanted, but I did get what he felt he needed. And that's good enough for me.

I will NEVER do something like that again. Things were organized, Apple handed out waters and candy, one restaurant was taking orders and delivering food and everyone was friendly enough. Thankfully I'd thought ahead and brought a book. Even saw someone from one of my groups that I hadn't seen in a while. She was kind enough to loan me a child so I could save my place in line while I ran to the bathroom.

The next day we went to the mall again and I mapped out the line for Jim and showed him where I was. He was very grateful that I had done this for him. He even took me out once I got home for dinner and drinks. Yay!

Santa's Little Helpers?

2010-12-21T19:10:00.002-05:00

Have you ever wondered how does Santa know if you've been good or bad throughout the year?

I mean the man can't be everywhere at once.

Can he?

I think I've finally figured this one out though. I think he has animals all over the world keeping tabs on the Naughty and the Nice.

Like this little guy.

He was outside my sliding glass door for about twenty minutes. Peering inside to see how the other half lives.

Didn't even flinch when I walked by the door. And he could have cared less when I walked up to the door to take his photo.

Brazen little guy. The one thing that did scare him? My dog in a desperate need to go outside. But then again I think there's a good reason to fear a dog.

Although I not so sure that he's the best of spies. I mean I did notice him. Guess he'll have to be retired. LOL

He sure was cute though.

Fine Already!

2010-12-12T07:02:00.002-05:00

So apparently the thought of me not having a tree up this year has put many a friend in a tizzy. My bff actually went out and bought me a tree for this year. So to put your minds at ease I'm posting a picture of my tree. And yes there are now presents under this tree.

Bah Humbug!

2010-12-05T09:22:00.002-05:00

I think I've become Scrooge. As everyone else is putting up their trees I've been sort of avoiding the holiday.

I'm not putting up a Christmas tree this year, so here's my nod to the holiday. I got trees painted on my toes.

I'll be sending out my Christmas cards and presents, but will not be decking my halls. Here's wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Ingleside Vineyard's Harvest Celebration

2010-10-18T13:33:00.003-04:00

So this past Saturday I went to Ingleside for their Harvest Celebration.

There were vendor's selling things from jewelry to melted wine bottle spoon rests to dog treats to items made with alpaca fur. (Is that how it's worded? Fur not wool?)

And of course there was wine tastings. And wine for sale. By the bottle or the glass. I opted for a tasting and glass or two while my buddy Melanie and I caught up.

They also had grape stomping. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a picture or three of my friend, Neil, stomping the grapes. They had an Italian opera playing in the back ground and Neil decided to sing along with it. I was nearly doubled over in laughter.

And no I did not stomp grapes. It was a little too chilly for me. The good thing was that at least the bugs weren't really hanging around. There was no way I was sticking my bare feet in that cold gloppy mess.

I may be blond, but I'm not crazy. lol

On occasion you tend to be in the right place at the right time. I was lucky enough to be around when the wine maker let a few of us try the Petit Manseng. It was really sweet. I was tickled to be around when he offered it up. And those who know me, know I would never pass up that kind of opportunity.

And how could I not get a picture of Beth with Ghirardelli from Camillo Valley. He was the sweetest thing. And their fur is SO soft! And they have some wonderful items they make up for sale.

All in all I think it was a pretty good day.

Rainy Days Are Meant For...

2010-09-27T19:27:00.004-04:00

Vegging!
And what better way to show that than by posting some of these really cool photos of vegetable or fruit art?

I love listening to the pitter patter of the rain. The day is made for sitting on the couch and watching a movie or reading a book. Drinking a glass of wine and doing nothing else.

We really haven't had a lot of rainy days, so I think I'll just sit back and enjoy this one.

Maybe even take a nap in the middle of the day.

How decadent!

I hope you've enjoyed the cute photos.

Fall Again

2010-09-26T08:27:00.003-04:00

It's fall again. The leaves will change, the air will get brisker and kids are finally back in school. LOL

I hope you all enjoy the cooler weather. I know I will as soon as it happens.

And yes I realize this photo is an old one, but I will not be leafing this year and no self respecting person blogging about fall would NOT include at least one picture of the leaves. So at least I have some self respect. LOL

Glimpse of Carl Flemer

2010-09-19T10:37:00.005-04:00

Today's glimpse is of Mr. Carl Flemer.

Not only has Mr. Flemer written two books (Four Centuries of Little Known Washington Parish History and Birthplace of the Nation: A Story Worth Telling) but he also started up Ingleside Vineyards. One of my favorite wineries!

We were able to catch up with him at his book signing at Ingleside back in December of last year.

I used to work at Ingleside and remember carrying wine out to Mr. Carl's car on many occasions. He couldn't remember my name, which is fine, but he did remember my face.

And that's just a glimpse of Mr. Carl Flemer.

A Glimpse of Phil

2010-09-03T15:49:00.002-04:00

Today I thought I'd do a glimpse of my buddy, Phil McKenney. It's a long overdue glimpse, for sure.

Phil is an artist. I own a number of his works, but he also works at Vault Field Vineyards. I snapped this photo of him hard at work. Most of my friends have learned to ignore me when I have my camera out. It's probably a good rule of thumb. I met Phil a few years ago when we both worked at Ingleside Vineyards.

I could sit for hours and listen to him talk. He's got tons of stories that are very interesting. He's met interesting people and one of the things I love the most is our conversations about older movies. We share a common fondness for the Duke. And if you have no clue who this is, then there's no hope for you. Got educate yourself!

I also loved the cartoons he would sketch out for me on the whiteboard in the kitchen. There were many a time we didn't work together and would leave funny cartoons for each other. Of course his were better illustrated than mine. But he is an artist.

Recently he was on a morning program that airs in Richmond. If you're interested, you can click here and go to a video clip of it. I still swear he could have a talk show and I'd be sure to tune in whatever the time. He can talk about anything, but I think one of the things he can really talk up is baseball.

And that's just a tiny glimpse of Phil.

17 Years Ago

2010-08-13T18:47:00.002-04:00

We became a couple. That's right 17 years ago on this very day Jim and I were married. Yes, we were married on a Friday the 13th.

Can you tell we aren't very superstitious?

As you can see from the picture, Jim sent me roses. How many you may ask. 18! He couldn't order 17, so I had to promise to stick around for another year. That was an EASY thing to promise!

We've had our ups and downs, just like all couples, but I would trade it for anything in the world.

I've been with Jim over half my life and look forward to spending the rest of my life with him.

Happy Anniversary Jim!

Food Quest: Passions

2010-08-05T12:22:00.011-04:00

So on Monday the 2nd my brother, Tim, and I went to Passions in Chesapeake and did their Cooking Class. They do this something like every other Monday. Basically it's like sitting at the chef's table and watching what goes on in the kitchen. The head chef walks you through each course and how he makes it. It's pretty fun.

The first course was classic Caprese with Balsamic Reduction. They make their own mozzarella. And they have a garden behind the restaurant that they got the tomatoes from.

They paired this with a 2009 Gouguenheim Malbec from Argentina. Which complimented this course very well.

The second course was White Truffle Risotto with Asparagus Tips. There's not much I can say about this. It was a bit cheesier than I would have liked, but the asparagus was nice and crisp. Just the way I like it.

They paired this with a 2008 Kung Fu Girl Riesling from Washington state.

The third course was Chicken Francais over Smoked Apple Wood Bacon-Potato Hash. I really liked this course. Of course, they had me at bacon. The only thing I didn't care for was the capers that were in the sauce. Easily remedied though because you could take the capers out of the sauce.

They paired this with a 2008 Santa Barbara Winery Sauvignon Blanc. I wasn't all that impressed with it. It wasn't as crisp as I like my Sauvignon Blancs to be.

The fourth course was Bananas Foster. I don't care for bananas, but I really loved the sauce over it.

They paired this with Mumm Napa Brut.

I know at the end of the Food Quests I normally put the pros and cons of the restaurant, but this time I don't think I will. I'll just leave it at how I enjoyed the food and the experience.

Heart of Virginia Wine Trail

2010-08-03T20:19:00.008-04:00

So my brother Tim and I decided to do the Heart of Virginia Wine Trail on Sunday. There are only four so it's easy to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Our first stop was James River Cellar Winery. We did enjoy this winery. It has a lovely patio and some nice wines. They had a nice gift shop as well and we were finally able to find matching tee shirts in our sizes.

We even bought two of the Vino Frappes. One was red and one was white as you can see. They even sold the mixes in their gift shop. So of course we bought some. The wine tasting itself wasn't that informative.

So we sat out on their patio sipping the vino frappes. We switched halfway so the other person could try the other drink. However, I liked the white better.

The next stop on our trail was Grayhaven.

Most of the wines here are done in a South American style. Not something I'm majorly in to. The winemaker actually did the tasting. I think I would have learned a LOT more if it wasn't for the girl at the bar who thought she was a wine expert and a photography expert. I would have paid good money for her to shut up! Better to keep your mouth shut and have people think you're a fool. Than to open it and remove all doubt.

However I would have loved to hear the winemaker talk more. Loved the accent! Plus I think I could have learned lots more.

Our next stop on the trail was Cooper Vineyard. I was actually surprised at how small it was.

We had to wait to do a tasting here as well. The tasting room is quite small and really can't hold many people. So while we waited I got a close up pictures of the grapes on the vine.

They're putting nets over their vines because the grapes are ripening and they want to keep the birds and other animals away from them.

The wines are nice and we did walk away with a number of the wines.

The last stop on our trail was Lake Anna Winery. We were able to taste their wines before they closed for the day. I didn't really learn ANYTHING about their wines. And sadly, I wasn't that impressed with them.

Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail

2010-08-03T19:25:00.006-04:00

So Saturday my brother and I decided to do theChesapeake Bay Wine Trail. I have been to a number of them before, but my brother (who's only in town for a short time) has not.

We started out atIngleside Vineyards. I'm very used to them and their wines. Especially since I used to work there. lol

Couldn't leave without a picture of their courtyard though. And some wine, of course.

Next we went to Oak Crest Vineyards. I forgot to take a picture there. Which is sad, because it is a lovely spot. And I was able to catch up with my friend, Sharon. Which made me really happy. We left this winery with a number of bottles as well. Good thing I've got a big trunk!

Our next stop on the trail was The Hague Winery. This is a fairly new winery. I had never been to it. We almost missed it because the sign is not that noticeable. I was a bit concerned as we pulled up to the barn that houses their tasting rooms. But the wines were okay if not a bit young. We only left with a bottle of their dessert wines.

Our next destination was Vault Field Vineyards. Yet another new winery for me. However, there was something familiar to me at the winery. And that was my buddy Phil McKenney. I had worked with Phil years ago at Ingleside. The wines were nice and we left with quite a few bottles. And it figures as soon as we got there a bunch of people came in at the same time. Figure the odds. It was great seeing Phil again!

We then headed out towards Athena Vineyards. I had been here before and was glad for the return. This trail took quite a bit longer than normal because I knew a lot of the people and we chatted quite a bit. Such things do happen when you used to work at one of the wineries on the trail. We left with a number of bottles.

The last stop on our winery trail was White Fences Vineyard. It's pretty easy to find since they have giant corkscrews at the entrance. Their tasting room is small. And we did have to wait a while to get our tasting, but when you have a small tasting room and only one person working then that's what will happen. Sadly I was unimpressed with any of the wines. My brother did, but I'm not sure if he liked the wine or the girl pouring the wine.

A Glimpse of Bella

2010-08-03T18:54:00.005-04:00

This is the first in my series that I've named 'Glimpses'. It'll be a quick glimpse at someone who's in some way caught my attention. Here's hoping that it's been caught in a good way and not a bad one. LOL

And my first 'glimpse'? Which will be a short one. It's of Bella!

Bella was my favorite barista at Java Cup Cafe! I say was because she no longer works there. She always has a smile and a ready greeting. And was quick with a suggestion for your drink. I always trusted her with my drink order. I could tell her if I was in the mood for tea or coffee and how decadent I was feeling. She would whip me something up immediately.

You wouldn't know it immediately, but she's 17. She may be young but in many ways she acts much wiser than her years. Sometimes I forget she's so young.

I'll miss her as a barista, but I still have her as a friend and I'm glad.

A New Series

2010-07-20T14:50:00.004-04:00

My friend Denise has a wonderful blog, One Lucky Girl, and she has a really cool series that she's started called Strong Women. I'm going to borrow from her idea and put my own twist on it. I'll be doing it on people in my life. Men and women. Children and adults. Just glimpses of them really, but I think I can do this.

Hopefully this will work out. It will get me out there and using my camera again. Which is the main reason for this.

So here's hoping this experiment works out for me.

Food Quest: Waterman's Surfside Grill

2010-06-20T21:26:00.003-04:00

So today we decided to wander the beach this morning. We decided to stop for breakfast along the beach, which turned into brunch due to the time. So we stopped at Waterman's Surfside Grill, because it had a number of people on the patio and we figured we could probably get breakfast there. For once we were a bit more adventurous and tried something new. We both got the Lump Crab Omelet. Which was wonderful! They used lots of crab and it wasn't imitation crab either. Their home fries were done properly (crispy on the outside and warm and tender on the inside). You'd think that home fries would be an easy thing, but many restaurants screw it up. And the sticky buns that they make are really good too. In fact we could have probably ordered some of those and coffee and have been fine. But I'm glad we didn't.

Pros:

fantastic food

staff works hard

fresh food

nice view

kid friendly

did I mention great food?

Cons:

VERY busy (so be patient)

Food Quest: 11th Street Tap House Bar & Grill

2010-06-09T15:08:00.006-04:00

So over the weekend we went to the beach and came across 11th Street Tap House Bar & Grill and decided to give it a try. We had been walking the board walk and decided that stopping for a bite to eat was a good idea. This was the view that we had from our table. We could have sat on the patio, there's access to the patio from the beach, but I wanted to be in the A/C.

We decided to share an appetizer and got the Surfer Muscle. It was muscles steamed in Ale and garlic, finished with leeks, shallot and a blue cheese cream sauce. Toast points were included.

It was so yummy that I wish I'd had my own order of them so I didn't have to share!

We both had a glass of beer with it, which was very good. I had something that I was told was local while Jim had a Yuengling. I wish I remembered the name of the beer because it went very nicely with the muscles.

For our main course we decided to share a pizza. I think our theme for the meal was sharing. So we ordered the Knarly Pizza. It had diced chicken tossed in their house made BBQ sauce, diced red onion and tons of mozzarella. Very yummy and cheezy!

Pros:

Nice atmosphere

Good Food

Cons:

Staff was sluggish (Hard to get their attention)

Not really child friendly

St. Louis Trip Day Two

2010-06-06T20:11:00.007-04:00

So our second day of our baseball vacation we had an evening game, but we went early in order to see batting practice. This is a fantastic baseball town. We got there an hour early, but it seemed like we were running late. lol

Sadly I was surrounded by close quarter people and it was EXTREMELY hot and humid. But our neighbors were pretty cool! I have learned that I prefer aisle seats.

We didn't catch the Cardinals batting practice, but we did manage to see the Reds swing a bit. And of course we could see into the Cardinals dug out from where we were sitting behind home plate. Awesome!!

Of course we HAD to get some shots of the stadium with the Arch in the background. It's just not a trip to St. Louis without at least acknowledging the Arch.

Apparently they were doing a nod to the D.A.R.E program and had a number of vehicles from different areas. Jim and I liked the PT Cruiser that they had painted to look like an old police car. We did see a vehicle from Alton, which is close to where we grew up, and had to cheer for it.

Had to get a picture of Fred Bird pleading to be put on the roster. It was SO funny! And of course we got to actually see them talk with the Umpires.

I know it might seem a bit odd that I have a picture of Ryan headed to bat, but he's wearing my lucky number so I had to have it.

We bought jerseys for this game. This was after visiting my mom and seeing some high school friends for lunch. I got Ryan (13) and Jim got Musial (6). I got 13 because that's my number. Jim got 6 because... Well click on the links and read to find out about this legend. It was a great time. Even if the Cardinals did lose this round.

St. Louis Trip Day One

2010-06-06T13:20:00.012-04:00

So over the Memorial Day weekend we decided to do a little baseball trip. The plan was to fly into St. Louis on Monday, catch two Cardinal games and then fly out on Wednesday. Well that was the plan.

We were fortunate enough to purchase a new vehicle before our trip and decided to give my Saturn to Jim's mom. So instead we left Sunday afternoon and drove straight through (well we did stop for a two hour nap) to her house. Jim drove the whole thing! He so rocks.

So after a brief visit with Jim's mom and driving down memory lane checking out our old places. Lots has changed in our old town. We took pictures, but I won't bore them with them. If you went to school with Jim or I and haven't been to B-town in years, just email me and I can send them to you.

So with 2 hours of sleep under our belt we went to Busch Stadium for the first of our 2 Cardinal games. And no I have no idea how we managed it, but some how we did. The first two pictures are of us, of course, in our Cardinal red shirts. The next two are random shots from our seats.

We were along first base line about two rows back. Jim took most of the photos. I loved them. Especially the one of the guy talking to the people in the seats. He actually was giving the kids bubble gum. Gotta love how nice they are out here! And Jim didn't really use the zoom to focus in on them. That's how close we were!

Love the one of the little boy holding on to the ball. He was hoping for an autograph or two. Sadly he didn't get one, but the picture was just so Americana. Don't you think? Of course I got a picture of Ludwick. And no I didn't really zoom in on him.

The game started around three, but there was a rain delay. Like the dingbats we are, we sat out in the rain. As my darling sweetie said, 'We didn't drive 16 hours to be chased off by a little rain.' Gotta love the man! Of course so we were drenched and freezing.

Of course there is the obligatory photo of Albert Pujols. And the gentleman in the yellow shirt was our beer man. He was fantastic! Smart too! Wore knee pads so he never blocked your view of the game. I wish more beer vendors would think of that. And came back at regular intervals. Gone long enough for you to finish your beer, but not so long that you went to go find your own.

Of course the Cardinals won against the Reds. The score?
12-4! What a great way to end an extremely long day for us. So we had to take a photo of Fred Bird celebrating and the scoreboard.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

2010-05-28T18:43:00.005-04:00

So on Sunday we decided to attend a Nationals game. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and we still had the rental vehicle. So we figured, why not?

We had fantastic seats! I've never sat this close before. We really had to keep a heads up for any foul balls. And there were quite a few.

Jim had the camera and took the pictures that I've posted. I had to do a few from our seats. Plus the one that the Nationals photographer took.

The Nationals won by a single home run in the tenth inning.

Food Quest: Sandfiddler Cafe

2010-05-21T17:03:00.003-04:00

So today I went to Sandfiddler Cafe with my buddy Greta and her little boy. She had taken me there before, but I hadn't blogged about it. It's a small restaurant, but the food is good and the service is quite nice.

Last time we had the turkey sandwiches. It had turkey, apple slices, provolone and apple butter. All served on a chewy bagel. It was fantastic! We both had potato chips. And I don't mean the crispy kind. They were slices of potatoes, fried. Yum! Her son had pancakes.

This time she had the harvest salad with balsamic dressing. It had walnuts, chicken and strawberries on a bed of lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots. It looked fantastic. I had the fried chicken salad with honey mustard dressing on it. Her son had pancakes again. We shared an order of potato chips as well.

The good thing about this is it's kid friendly. They supply crayons and coloring sheets for kids. Which makes it nice so you can have a conversation without constant interruption, if you're lucky.

Pros:

Great food

Kid friendly

Nice atmosphere

Good service

Cons:

Location (it can be hard to find)

Space (it fills up quickly at lunch time)

Food Quest: Texas de Brazil

2010-05-16T17:16:00.003-04:00

Or maybe a more appropriate title would be, A Carnivores Delight!

I actually got this idea from another blog, Navy Wife, Navy Life. Watch Me Sink Or Swim. and thought it was a really neat idea. So I'm jumping on this band wagon.

So yesterday we went to Texas de Brazil. It's a Brazilian steakhouse in Richmond, but there are others out there. So yeah, it's a chain. Sadly I didn't have the camera on me, so there are no photos.

We've been here before and truly enjoy it. They have lamb, chicken, pork and beef. The servers come around with skewers of meat, so all you have to do is say yes. Their salad bar is also very good! I had fillet mignon, bacon wrapped chicken, lamb chops, leg of lamb, garlic sirloin and bacon wrapped fillet mignon. My other half had the same, plus a few of the other sirloins that were going around. All was very tasty, but the red meat was the best by far.

We also had wine with dinner. We had a Goulart Reserva Malbec/Cabernet 2007 blend. Didn't realize it was a blend when we ordered. Or I would have gone with the other wine that was 100% Malbec. It's from the Mendoza-Argentina area. Malbec goes very well with red meat. Since we couldn't finish the bottle off they did package it so we could take it home.

For dessert we had coffee and pie. I had the pecan pie warmed up and my sweetie had a coconut chess pie warmed and served with ice cream. It must have been good, because he didn't even offer me a taste.

Pros:

Fantastic food!

Great atmosphere

Fabulous service

Wonderful Wine List

Attentive Staff

Did I mention fantastic food?

Cons:

Lighting

Location

I feel the need to explain my pros and cons. The atmosphere is wonderful. You'd feel fine going in jeans and a shirt, your Sunday best or formal wear. We saw some couples in there prom finery. And the staff is quite attentive, but NOT in a stalker sort of way. The only problems I have are as follows. The lights are very low, which I realize creates a mood, but I'd like to be able to read the wine menu. And I don't like the drive it took us to get there. Over an hour, but at the same time it was so worth it. And in the midst of a mall area, so the GPS doesn't take you exactly to it's location. Also I don't think this is a child friendly place. More geared to the adults.

A Stroll On The Beach

2010-05-11T09:49:00.003-04:00

So over the weekend we decided to go for a walk on the beach. We had no idea that they were doing Monsters on the Beach. We had no idea that they were doing monster trucks. I was thinking more along the lines of sand sculptures. Who knew!

Thankfully my phone has a camera on it so we could snap a photo or two of Grave Digger, which is just down the road a piece. Yes I'm being quite vague here. Plus the Johnsonville Monster Grill and a monster fire truck.

I don't remember the name of the last one, but I know it was a biggie. There were a number of people there for a Sunday morning. Had I known this was going on I would have brought the camera. But like I said we were only going for a walk and had no idea. Thank goodness for the wonders of technology.

Home Again!

2010-03-11T12:41:00.003-05:00

So I went away for the weekend. Just a quick weekend trip to be with my loving spouse. And this is what I come home to.

Once they realized it was not me and not the pet sitter (Thanks again Greta) they started chatting me up through the window. And I had to take a few of these because my little stripey cat moved around A LOT.

You'd have thought I'd been gone for weeks instead of the few days that I was gone. I needed a crow bar to get them away.

-Michelle

What Is This White Stuff?

2010-02-15T15:57:00.004-05:00

So this month we actually got snow. And I don't mean just a dusting of it either. This does not happen all that often in my area. So people do tend to freak.

This area just is not prepared. We don't have that many snow plows. And salt for the roads? Forget about it. Sigh!

The cats were a bit bewildered by it. While Kaiser enjoyed exploring it, as long as he could get back inside quickly.

Pumpkin really wanted to go check out that stuff,

but mean old mom wouldn't let him.

He'll just have to be content with staring out and dreaming.

Of course it's all gone now. But it was really pretty while it lasted. And the kids across the street built a really cool snow fort while it lasted.

Have You Ever Wondered...

2010-01-25T17:59:00.003-05:00

How your wine gets in the bottle? We were lucky enough to stop by our favorite winery, Ingleside, and get to see the bottling in progress. And yes they were kind enough to let me video it.

Our New Year's Eve

2010-01-02T14:00:00.006-05:00

So for our New Year's Eve celebration we decided to make a tri tip roast for dinner this time around. I know my picture isn't the best. My batteries were low and I couldn't use my flash. We got the idea from a friend who makes them and found a recipe on the web.
We served it with Ingleside's Special Reserev Petit Verdot. Which is so good!

So good in fact that our buddy, Greta, drank it. And she's not a big wine drinker.

We barely made it to midnight. And switched from the Three Stooges marathon to watch the ball drop.

A side note: In my opinion I think Dick Clark needs to step away from the limelight. I'd like to remember you in a better light than the one I saw. He screwed up the count down for goodness sake.

2009-12-23T15:36:00.002-05:00

So as most of the East Coast was hit with snow over this past weekend, all we got was rain. And lots of it. These pictures are in a Norfolk neighborhood. I didn't realize that I was going to need a boat for the winter.

Ingleside Vineyards Book Signing

2009-12-21T22:23:00.004-05:00

So on December 5th Mr. Carl Flemer signed copies of his books, Four Centuries of Little Known Washington Parish History and Birthplace of the Nation: A Story Worth Telling, at Ingleside Vineyards. The only place that you can get these books, it would seem is at Ingleside.

So Jim and I jumped at the chance to have the author, of two books we have enjoyed, sign our book.

Yet again I forgot my camera. Luckily Amy Otis had a camera on hand and was taking pictures. I only wished she'd have warned me because I'm a wreck. Ah well you can't have it all.

Amy was quite handy with that camera of hers. She managed to get Doug Flemer, Carl Flemer and Bill Swain for a photo op. If you are interested in who these fine gentlemen are then please click here.

We did enjoy our visit to Ingleside, even if it is a 2.5 hour drive one way. We got a chance to sit down with Bill Swain, the winemaker, and chat. He is, after all, my favorite winemaker. No bias here I swear. We got to see some old friends. And, of course, purchase some wonderful wines.

And I end this blog with one more photo of Mr. Flemer enjoying a glass of Ingleside's Reserve Petit Verdot. A new favorite in our household.

The Season Has Begun

2009-12-04T11:55:00.002-05:00

I know we are inundated with Christmas before December gets here. I think I've actually been trying to ignore it this year for some reason. But now I can't, because my brother-in-law has done this.

Good job Phillip!

-Michelle

Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T14:53:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. It seems like only yesterday we had just bought our home and moved in. And here were are a year later. Where does the time go?

So many things have happened this past year and there are so many things to be thankful for.

Of course I'm thankful for my hubby, my home, my family and my health. And I'm truly thankful for my friends. I couldn't do a post without a picture so I thought I'd put my 'babies' up on the blog.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. And know there are many things to be thankful for. I hope you can find at least one.

-Michelle

Powerless

2009-11-13T07:22:00.002-05:00

If you haven't been watching the news or you don't live in VA, then you may not know what's going on. Let me share.

We have been without power since 6 last night. But the recording from our power carrier says we will have power back by 10 tonight. Let's hope it's sooner as my computer battery is now at half life and it still needs to charge my phone a little more.

Leafing!

2009-10-25T18:40:00.005-04:00

So today Jim and I went to the Shenandoah National Park and went leafing. Now some of you might wonder what leafing is. Well it's slang in areas that get beautiful fall foliage for the people who go out to ogle the leaves, like us.

The first shot is of Jim's side mirror. He wanted to get a shot of the leaves behind us. I thought it was really kind of neat.

We took turns passing the camera back and forth. So it's a mix of Jim's work and mine. Which was kind of fun. Because after a while of looking at what seems like the same thing over and over you need a new prospective.

I know the red leaves is a shot Jim took.

We go leafing just about every year. If time allows and all. This year I think we got there a little late, but the weather and schedules really weren't all that cooperative.

And sometimes the colors don't come out as vibrant as we thought they would. They seemed to fade as the sun got higher. We call the tree a fire tree, because it looked almost like the leaves were flames.

And I know this odd plant is my work. We don't always photograph the leaves. That's what makes it fun. We look through the pictures later to see what we did. And if we don't like it we can delete it. That's the beauty of digital photography.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did taking them.

Ship Manuevers

2009-08-05T10:46:00.002-04:00

Came across this while goofing around in YouTube. I love how you can hear the guy say 'I want to ride on that'.

He's taping this from the flight deck of the Eisenhower. That should tell you it's a MUCH bigger ship.

All I gotta say is I hope everyone was hanging on when they made that turn.

No matter what ship you're on it's always impressive to watch other Navy vessels in action.

I've added this one so you can see the difference in sizes and how quickly they can turn.

Wine Tasting

2009-07-27T11:19:00.010-04:00

Last night we were able to attend a wine tasting with our wine group, the N2S2V2. And I'm not telling you what it stands for. A normally 2.5 hour trip took us 3.5 hours. 64 was a parking lot! I'm sorry that I suggested taking the route. And the trip home wasn't much better.

Jim took the

pictures this time around and I think he got some good ones. The first one is Lillian and Sue.

He got a lot of very good candid ones. I only used a few though.

The next one is of Melanie.

By the end of the evening we were all acting silly. Omar tried to give the bear a sip of his wine. To loosen him up. And Debbie let Jim know what she thought of all his picture taking. And of course I had to pretend to be afraid of the bear. Which was really hard, because I was laughing so hard.

Spanish Summer Wine Dinner At Cobalt

2009-06-26T09:20:00.010-04:00

So last night I was able to attend a wine dinner at Cobalt in Virginia Beach with some friends from SOS.

The first course was called ensaldas. Which I'm guessing means salad. It's all new to me so I will be translating as best I can. Please bear with me on this.

It was lobster and crab salad with adobo grilled asparagus. They served Legado Del Conde Albarino 2008 from Rias Baixas, Spain. Which is a very nice white wine.

I really enjoyed this course. Asparagus is a favorite of mine. The flavors blended so well together. But it's so hard to find a wine to go with asparagus. This wine however was a wonderful pairing. Even people who prefer reds enjoyed this one.

The second course was called pescados which translates to fish. It was grilled swordfish with mango and strawberry salsa and sweet potato fries. They served Muga Rosado Tempranillo Rose 2008 from Rioja, Spain.

Normally I'm a huge fan of Rose wines. However with this one I was not impressed. I actually left the glass full after only three sips. It was a bit sweet and that's just not something I wanted from a Rose.

The dish was pretty good. The sweet potato fries were very thin. But the flavors went nicely together. I rather liked the fruit salsa. And I don't eat strawberries very often since they are persona non grata in our household due to allergies.

The third course was called mariscos, which translates to seafood. It was Spanish rice with chicken, crawfish and Chorizo. They served Bodegas Paso A Paso Tino Tempranillo 2007 from La Mancha, Spain.

I had never had this combination before. It had a really nice spice to it and I admit I cleaned my plate on this one. And I don't really do crawfish. But when you don't have to clean it or prep it, well then it's quite yummy!

The wine was good, but I didn't finish the glass off. I don't recall what it was about this wine, but I'm not sure if I liked this one or not.

Next was the intermezzo, which I took as an intermission. At this time we just had Tinto de Verano and Hank Foiles of Country Vintners Wine Distributors came around to talk with everyone. He had been giving talks about each wine and the parings as they came out. It was very educational, but we did spend a lot of time chatting and catching up with.

Tinto de Verano is a wine-based drink similar to sangria and is very popular in Spain. It's much simpler though. It's usually made up of 1 part red wine and 1 part La Casera, a soda similar to Sprite only less sweet. It can be replicated using a mixture of Sprite and seltzer

or club soda. It literally translates to red wine of summer. And I really enjoyed it.

So I had to get a picture of our wine steward, Arden Allen. She sat down with the chef and Hank Foiles to choose the wines that we had tonight. Plus she speaks Spanish. Just a nice little tidbit to throw in there.

The next course was called carne which translates to meat. It was grilled flat

iron steak with mushroom ceviche and chipotle mashed potatoes. They served it with Atalaya Almansa Monastrell 2007 from Ribera Del Duero, Spain.

I truly enjoyed this course. And the wine was very nice. All of the flavors combined so well. It was like a symphony in your mouth. Especially when you followed it up with a sip of the wine.

They did make it possible for you to purchase wine that you enjoyed at the end of the evening. Sadly I didn't, but I have the names of all the wines. So I can always search for them later. But some of my group did decide to leave with a bottle or two.

Sadly I forgot to take pictures of the last two courses. And I could just shoot myself for forgetting. But it was such a sensory delight that I forgot about my camera and enjoyed the meal.

The final course was called dolces, which translates to I believe means sweet. I could be wrong though. They served cinnamon and lemon creme Catalina with Lustau East India Solera Palomino nv from Jerez, Spain.

The best way I can describe this delight to the taste buds, was it was sort of like creme brulee only it was a light lemony flavor. I hope I don't offend Chef Alvin Williams with that description.

I was lucky enough to get my picture taken with the chef. I know I look awful, but when I asked for a photo of him he sat down and said okay. Which was cool. It was also his birthday.

And of course I couldn't leave without a picture of the group. So we had Arden take a picture. So Erin, Amy and Andrea I had a fantastic night! Thanks for inviting me along.

Afterwards we went to the Melting Pot, just a short walk from Cobalt, to have coffee and dessert.

Duty Day

2009-06-22T22:44:00.003-04:00

So once again I took Jim dinner while he had duty. Among a bunch of other things. As I was getting ready to leave there was a storm that passed through. So Jim and I waited under the tent on the quarter deck.

As we waited we happened to see this. It's a single tugboat pulling, what we think, is a trencher. I hope I got that right. But I thought it was cool and decided to snap some pictures with my phone.

A Day In Our Backyard

2009-06-22T22:40:00.002-04:00

Over one of the weekends this month Jim and I noticed the squirrel on the back porch railing. Daring little bugger was staring at us.

I guess he'd just finished eating from the squirrel feed.

It didn't even bother him when I got up and walked to the door. I didn't open it, but he did stay still for the photos. I'm not exactly saying he's a camera hog, but the pictures do speak for themselves.

Just Another Duty Day

2009-06-06T13:41:00.002-04:00

Normally, when Jim has duty I bring him dinner. If he's really lucky then he gets lunch and dinner. Apparently most spouses don't do this. Don't know why.

That is if I'm not covered in Poison Ivy or look like an alligator bag.

Today was such a day. Finally I feel like a human being and can go out in public without worry of being hunted down, for the gator skin. ;-)

So I took Jim lunch and this is what we saw while we were headed inside the ship.

I was intrigued by all the sailboats that were out on the water. Which made me wonder. What is going on? Is there a sailboat race?

I did find out that there's a Pirate Festival in Hampton and an American Indian type festival.

Just had to share. It's an interesting perspective.

Home Improvements

2009-06-02T16:25:00.007-04:00

So when we first moved into the house back in September, this was what our driveway looked like. It was awful. We were told that the city would not allow the driveway extension that we requested.

I thought it sounded more like a load of bull, but there wasn't much I could do. It was terrible. Muddy when it rained. And there was NO curb cutout. So it was tearing up the car.

So we decided we were going to do something about it. I called around. Got some estimates. And finally found someone who made me feel confidant.

And the second to last week of May Concrete Works came to my house to take care of all of this.

There were only two men who did this entire job. Bob and Curtis were fantastic. They started on a Tuesday and finished up on

a Saturday. If the concrete place hadn't added to much of a certain chemical to the concrete they would have been done by Friday. It took the concrete a while to dry.

We've recommended them to quite a number of people.

And of course no tale of construction is complete with the after picture. I hope they get tons more business. They were professional and very courteous.

Our driveway is much larger now. Hooray! We can park our small boat and three to four vehicles, depending on the size. And best of all? The curb has been cut and it will never tear up our vehicles again!

They said it couldn't be done, but I say that's a bunch of bull!

-Michelle

Think Green

2009-04-24T08:49:00.002-04:00

So Earth Day has come and gone. All week I've seen different stations who have been promoting 'green' and having their 'stars' tell us all what they do to help the environment. Insert the eye roll here.

Which irritates me in a way. You only see those type of commercials the week before and the week of Earth Day. Then it's back to business as usual. Sad really. What about the rest of the year?

Which got me to thinking. I know I've weakened the nation by doing this. ;-) Do I 'do my part for the environment'?

Well last weekend Norfolk had an electronic recycle day. So instead of throwing our 20 year old TV, that had finally bit the dust, in the trash we saved it and took it to the recycling area. Keeping it out of a landfill. Yeah us. But what else. One thing does not save the world! I do recycle things and put out the recycle bin, when I remember, on recycle days. I use my reusable shopping bags instead of plastic. If I forget them for some reason I keep the plastic and return them to Wal-Mart in exchange for a reusable bag. I also buy organic and local, when I can. Does that count?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not some tree hugger, but I'm not out to destroy the world.

Now world domination, that's something else entirely. ;-)

-Michelle

The Universe Is Against Me!

2009-04-20T13:31:00.002-04:00

The baseball season is upon us. Yeah! I've purchased Extra Innings from Cox so that we can watch the Cardinals play.

They had a game against Chicago Saturday afternoon. We were all set to watch, but it was not to be. Apparently the game was on FOX in that area so we didn't get it. Why am I paying for Extra Innings again? Greedy FOX! What about fans that don't live in the area?

Another game was to be played Sunday evening. Again we were all set to enjoy the game. I'd hurried home from a previous engagement and was really ready for some baseball. It was rained out.

That is why I say the Universe is against me!

The next game is Tuesday, so we'll see if the fates are against me or not.

Being First

2009-04-14T20:48:00.003-04:00

Being first requires a couple of things. First and foremost, you have to be in a position to be first. Second, you need the talent and the drive to take advantage of that position. Being in the position without the talent and drive just means the next guy in that position will be the first and you will be forgotten.

Last night, both of these conditions were satisfied for our favorite major league baseball player. Jody Gerut was the first person to hit a home run in NYC's City Park, home of the New York Metropolitans, aka the Mets. Clearly he demonstrated he had the talent and drive to take advantage of the circumstances he found himself in.

Not only did Mr. Gerut (We haven't met, so we're not on a first name basis.) hit the first home run in City Park history, he is also the first person to lead off a game in a new ballpark with a home run. In Elias Sports Bureau terms, that makes him immortal. Someone may repeat the feat, but he will always be first. The subject of mid-game trivia questions everywhere. A surefire way to make sure your name is never forgotten.

Pretty cool if you ask me.

Mr. Gerut also showed his class (we expect such classy acts from someone from Illinois) by donating the bat he used to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

What a great way to start the season. And now we have MLB Extra Innings, so we can watch the San Diego Padres, when my beloved Cardinals are not on of course.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

2009-04-13T09:11:00.002-04:00

It's that time of year again. So in honor of it, I just had to post this. I never realized the many different versions of this song. So I chose the version done by Gretchen Wilson.

My hopes for this year are to see a few Tides games, possibly a Nationals game and to see the Cards do well. Please God please! Okay enough of that. Enjoy the baseball season everyone!

-Michelle

If You Don't Teach Your Cat About Catnip

2009-04-10T21:05:00.003-04:00

Who will?

In Memory Of A Great Man

2009-03-09T11:06:00.006-04:00

I just found out that Jacques Recht, a wonderful and knowledgeable man, just passed away.

Jim and I were lucky enough to meet this man and form a friendship through our wine group. It was always interesting to hear his thoughts on wines and he was always willing to sit and chat with you about the many different things about wine.

Jacques, a Belgian oenologist, was sailing around the world on a catamaran he had built when he ventured into the Chesapeake Bay and had a chance meeting in 1980 with Carl Flemer, the owner of a large commercial nursery and vineyards on the Northern Neck. As it happened, Flemer was in need of a winemaker to launch his Ingleside Vineyards. Jacques agreed to give him a hand, at least for a few weeks. Thos few weeks turned into 25 years, during which Recht moved from Ingleside's winemaker to wine making guru for the entire state. He has been a consultant to numerous wineries, including Oasis, Oakencroft and Tarara. For the past several years he has been the winemaker for a small winery, Athena Vineyards, which is near Wicomico Church on the Northern Neck.

Our sympathy and hear felt wishes go out to Lillian, his lovely wife, and all his family. He will be greatly missed. Farewell Jacques, you will be missed.

-Michelle

Good Friends, Good Wine, And Good Food.

2009-03-01T20:34:00.003-05:00

Normally our weekends are a time for Jim to just relax. And we really don't do much of anything. This weekend, however, was a bit different.

So Saturday we drove the 2.5 hours to Ingleside Vineyards. Of course we did do a tasting. Hey they have new things for tasting. Plus we stayed and chatted with our friends and drank a glass or two of Rosato. We were actually on a mission to get a case of Rosato di Sangiovese, but that wasn't our only reason we were there.

No we were also there for a meeting with our wine group. Something we had not done since we left the area. And it felt like coming home. We fell into the same old jokes with some of our friends and many people acted as if we'd been gone for a short amount of time. Not the nearly twelve months that we had been gone.

The first picture is of our friends, Bill and Linda. Just two of my favorite people.

The wine tasting with our group was seven red wines. The theme, there's always a theme, was big bold reds. It's been a while since I've had a lot of reds. I'm a bit out of practice.

Jim, being the smarty pants he is, told the group he was just there to drink. So he took no notes on the wines. I quite frankly am out of practice and really couldn't pick out the subtleties of the wines.

After the wine tasting we broke into two different groups. Some went to The Moorings while others went to Good Eats.

Linda, Neil, Phil, Andrea, Debbie, Melanie, Linda, Jim and I all went to Good Eats. We had three bottles of wine at the table.

Jim and I both had the blackened prime rib. Which was wonderful!

We spent a few hours there. The staff was wonderful. The food fantastic! The company even better.

The Great Michelle...

2009-02-06T21:45:00.003-05:00

Has done it again! That's right I predicted a boy and so it came to be.

Our friends Sarah and Jameson, well more Sarah than Jameson, had a baby boy on the fifth. Congrats you two!

My sources tell me William Clark weighed in at 7.5 pounds and was 21 inches long. And that Mommy and baby are doing fine.

See Jameson, I told you it would be a boy. Silly thing! How could you ever doubt me?

I expect baby pictures people!

Movie Theater Etiquette

2009-01-26T21:47:00.003-05:00

So over the weekend Jim and I went to see two movies. A real record for us. Lately there has been nothing out there that we want to see. But I digress. We normally go to afternoon matinees because there usually aren't a lot of people there. And we really don't like crowds.

Saturday afternoon we saw Defiance with Daniel Craig (a.k.a. the new James Bond) and Liev Schreiber (a.k.a. Cotton Weary from the Scream series). I admit I had to look up the last guy. He has a familiar face, but I couldn't place him.

Sunday we saw Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood. Apparently this is the last movie that Mr. Eastwood is going to star in.

The first movie was good, but it did drag on a bit. The only problem was the three old people who talked to each other during the movie. They'd ask each other questions, loudly. And in the previews there was a Marine commercial (I can't think of a better term for it.) they felt the need to be disrespectful. I wanted to get up and smack the trio. Show a bit of respect! Especially since you are in a movie theater right outside of the base. At the end of the movie, during the credits, they felt the need to complain that it was dark. Of course it was dark! The movie was still rolling. And of course one woman complained that the movie was a bit violent. Well duh! It was set during World War II. What did you expect? Flowers and puppies?

I NEVER want to hear older people complain that the younger generation has no manners.

What they did was unforgivable. It's one thing to whisper to the person next to you once or twice. It's totally another to state things in a voice loud enough to be heard four rows away.

There's a special place in hell for people who talk in movie theaters during the movie. I don't mind if they talk during the previews, but come on. Show a bit of class. I paid good money to see this show. Not hear you yak.

Ugh!

And if you're looking for a good movie to see I definitely recommend Gran Torino.

Ingleside's Champagne Decadence

2009-01-10T15:07:00.012-05:00

Last night Ingleside Vineyard's had a Champagne Decadence event. I attended this event alone due to the fact that my sweet husband was out doing his job. Sadly my pictures are not of the best quality because I took these with my iPhone (Which still rocks!) instead of a camera. And the lighting was a bit dim to ensure the proper mood for the event. My photography professor would be so ashamed. But hey I made a 2.5 hour trek on a Friday night. I won't even start on how the traffic was. At least I was able to get myself put together. And get there within a reasonable amount of time. The event started out with a glass of wine as you signed in. Either Chesapeake Cabernet/Merlot or Chesapeake Chardonnay. I chose the Cab/Merlot, since it is a favorite of mine. And they put your name on a little tag so that you wouldn't loose your glass. Very nicely done. Doug Flemer then welcomed everyone and off we went to where the magic begins.

Once we arrived we were given a wonderful education in the making of Champagne. Or as they call it in Ingleside, Sparkling Wine. They call it sparkling wine to avoid confusion with wines from the Champagne region in France. It was very detailed and informative. Sadly I can't remember everything. There were a lot of people there. I tend to get distracted. Always tend to keep my ears open when I don't have the hubby around. And there were a number of people who felt the need to chat during the presentation. They showed what the yeast looked like during the fermentation process and the racks that they sit in. We also learned that it's very labor intensive. Each bottle is handled more than forty times and it takes more than four years from grape harvest until the first glass is enjoyed. No wonder the price for sparkling wine is a bit more. A lot of hard work and love go into it.
We then went on to the barrel room to taste some of this bubbly happiness. We tried three different types. Bad me I don't remember their names and I didn't take notes. As I recall one was natural, one had liquor in the dosage and I'm not sure about the other. I liked the natural the best. Each one had a different aroma and taste. Very educational and fun. The racks are barely visible in the first photo, but I had to take the picture. I got a pretty good shot of Andrea as well. She's always on the move, so most of my photos of her turn out blurry. Which sucks. She helped serve the sparking wines as well as some of the goodies that they served.

I was able to get a shot of Amy Otis, the events coordinator. She's thought up some really good events. And she has even more planned for 2009. She also took many pictures at the event and has promised to email them to me. So if and when I get them I will post them here. Hers should be so much better. She had a nice camera, unlike me. So to all my Ingleside friends please remind Amy to email those photos from the event. I'd appreciate it. Every event that we've attended that she's been in charge of so far have been great. If you're ever curious as to what event is coming up at Ingleside you just need to click on the events tab on their website, which Amy is also in charge of, and they will list it. I highly recommend calling in advance for reservations to the events. Just in case it's a limited number for the event. Like this one was. I lucked out and called in plenty of time to reserve my spot.

No Champagne Event would be complete without a picture of the winemaker, Bill Swain, pouring a glass of the sparkling wine. This one had a pink tinge to it. It was served at the end of the evening with a nice toast to everyone who had worked so hard to put this event together. Bill's wife, Maria, is the assistant winemaker. She's actually the one who does all the work on the sparkling wine. It's hard work, but she does seem to enjoy it. And all of us enjoy the fruits of her labors.

The caterers are in the next photo. Barb and Gary did a fantastic job! Everything was extremely tasty. The food was separated into four different 'regions'. All of which have some very good wines that come out of them. They were Spain, Italy, France and California. As well as the wonderful food, they had sparkling wine and another wine. Something different for each 'region'.

France had mini quiche lorraine, brie cheese and stuffed mushrooms. The mushrooms were my favorite, but I'm a big fungus fan. They also served the Chesapeake Cabernet/Merlot. A very nice drinking wine.

Italy had ravioli with white wine sauce, Gorgonzola cheese, antipasto and prosciutto pinwheels. I really enjoyed the ravioli and prosciutto wheels. They served Sangiovese at this station. Which goes oh so very well with Italian.

Spain had tuna and goat cheese empanadas, manchego cheese, and calamari frito with safron aoli. I really enjoyed Spain. It could be that was because Maria was there. She passionate not only about the wines, but food as well. And she's a good one to ask questions about wine. The calamare was done very well. Just right so it did not become rubbery. The wine served there was the Rosato di Sangiovese. One of my absolute favorites. It goes very well with just about everything. But I like to drink it just by itself.

California had sturgeon and salmon caviar, shrimp salad and fresh shucked oysters. Phil, in the last photo, actually shucked the oysters that evening. Cleans up quite nicely doesn't he? I tried the oysters for the very first time with a little cocktail sauce on it. I was egged on by Phil. Let me just say I've experienced it once. I don't need to do it again. A Chardonnay was served here. And Bill Swain was at this station. So it was another good spot to be in if you wanted to pick the wine maker's brain. Which I, of course, did.

It was a wonderful event. Kudos to all that worked on it. It was something that I hope they do again. I would go for sure. I look forward to the other events that will occur this year.

-Michelle

Goodbye 2008 Welcome New Year

2008-12-31T13:12:00.004-05:00

Since this will probably be the last posting I do on the blog for this year I thought I'd bring a good chunk of our family to bid 2008 a fond farewell.

From Pumpkin, Princess, Kaiser, Kyla, Commander Poo Poo, and the two humans allowed to share their space, we hope you all have a happy new year!

-Michelle

P.S. The photos are fresh. I just took them yesterday with my iPhone. ;-)

The Gift That Keeps Giving

2008-12-24T17:08:00.006-05:00

My hubby rocks! I don't care what any of you say. He's a sweetie! Normally getting a gift for me is a bit of a headache. He has a a bit of a time figuring out what to do for me. Give the guy a break he has to do birthday and Christmas within less than a week of each other. And who hasn't at some point in time had a hard time finding a gift for the one they love? Plus I don't really ask for a lot. I try not to be demanding.

Well this year he out did himself. He bought me the iPhone G3! That's right the phone! You're jealous aren't you? I know you are. This is the phone that all Mac geeks and AT& T customers want and have wanted since it came out in June of 2007.

He'll grouse saying that he had to take me along to get it. But I was needed to get it set up. You have to get it activated at a Apple store.

Yes we braved a mall 2 days before Christmas. I think we are insane! It was re instilled in my why I get my shopping done by the first of December, at the latest.

But I did get the phone I wanted. Merry Christmas to me! Like I said, my hubby rocks!

Funny Things You Find

2008-12-17T19:40:00.002-05:00

So I was reading my buddy's site. Too cool John! And came upon this site. I laughed so hard that my animals looked at me like I was nuts. Proof that there are people out there that are stranger than me.

-Michelle

Christmas Carols

2008-12-16T19:49:00.002-05:00

'Tis the season to be jolly.

Since before Thanksgiving there's been a radio station that's been playing Christmas music 24/7. I guess they've been trying to get everyone in the Holiday spirit a little early.

It got me to thinking. Your music tastes change as you grow.

One of my favorite Christmas carols as a young child was 'Joy To The World'. Could be the influence of the Lutheran school I attended as a youngster. But what child can't start smiling at the boisterous chorus? Of course I liked the normal fun Christmas songs, but that song really sticks out for me.

As a teenager I was in our church choir. I remember trading off midnight services and morning services with some of the other choirs that the church had. Sadly that choir is no longer in existence. The choir director has passed on. But one of my favorites to sing was 'Silent Night'. Sometimes we even sang it in German. And for some reason even singing 'Stille Nacht' gave me chills.

As an adult I'm not as active in the church thing. I still love the same songs that I did as a child and teenager. They still give me shivers. Though I've noticed as of late that 'Santa Baby' seems to catch me every time I turn on the radio. I always thought it was sung by Cyndi Lauper, but apparently it was sung by Madonna. Also 'I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas'. Something about the song makes me smile.

So what's you're favorite Christmas song? Religious or secular.

-Michelle

Oops! They Did It Again.

2008-11-15T08:21:00.002-05:00

So once again Jim's ship has come to the rescue. For those who're keeping score that would be two in four days. This one was on the news. My neighbor, John, actually told me about it. So cool! Sadly it was only on the five o'clock news so I didn't get to see it.

Way to go Gonzalez!

That is all. Carry on!

-Michelle

The Great Prediction

2008-11-14T09:26:00.003-05:00

Okay this is probably not what you think when you read the title.

When I went to the Ingleside Fall Barrel Tasting I did the ring test on my friend Sarah. For those of you who have no idea what the ring test is, please let me explain.

You put a gold wedding band on a string and hold it over a pregnant woman's belly. You do need to have a bit of a bump in order to perform said test. If the ring swings back and forth it will be a boy. If it goes in a circle it will be a girl.

Many say it's an old wives tale, but I've done this with a number of friends and have only been wrong once. I've predicted something like 7 or 8 pregnancies and only been wrong once. And apparently it's more prevalent in the Midwest.

My prediction? A boy! Jameson says it'll be a girl. Silly boy when will you realize the power of the ring? Insert maniacal laughter here. We'll see who's right in January.

My last prediction? A boy also. He was born in March. Don't bet against me. Insert my giant grin here!

Here's hoping for a healthy baby to Sarah and Jameson.

-Michelle

A Sailor's Life

2008-11-10T07:39:00.002-05:00

So many ask me what Jim's doing. And a lot of times I can't tell them. Either I don't know or I am not at liberty to say. Such was the case at the barrel tasting that I attended on Saturday. We have a lot of friends that were disappointed Jim wasn't there. So while I was being carefree and frivolous, my hubby was out doing this. It makes a girl really proud.

Here's one of the few times I can share what Jim's been doing. He emailed me last night to tell me the ship was going to be in the paper. And I just had to share with everyone. I'll be emailing the article to a few people as well.

It's nice to see a positive article for once.

Ingleside's Fall Barrel Tasting

2008-11-09T18:32:00.003-05:00

So Saturday was Ingleside's Fall Barrel Tasting. Jim was not home so I was seriously contemplating not going this time around. The drive was a serious consideration for me. I wasn't sure I wanted to do the 2.5 hour drive by myself. Plus I didn't want to be by myself.

But after a quick call to the winery I discovered many of my friends would be there. So I gassed up the car, grabbed a cool drink and headed out. And am I ever so glad I did!

The drive was gorgeous! The fall foliage was beautiful. Traffic was light and the temperature was lovely. So I did not arrive a grouchy person due to traffic. And I was able to catch up with a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time. Always something to put a smile on your face.

A barrel tasting is a wonderful event to attend. You get to try wines directly from the barrel and normally you'll meet the winemaker himself. At Ingleside the wine maker, Bill Swain, and assistant wine maker, Maria Swain, were manning the barrels. They are a husband and wife team. Every barrel tasting is different. I was delighted with their selection this time. They did varietals from 2007 that were off the beaten track. They did Chaumborcin, Touriga, Tannat and Malbec. Something that you might not normally find. So you got something new to try. And they were all reds. My favorites were the Touriga and Malbec.

Afterwards I went to the Riverboat in Colonial Beach with my friends for a late dinner. I was smart and brought my camera. Unfortunately I left it in the car for most of the day. Oops! And I missed out on some very nice photo opportunities. But I thought I'd share this photo of our buddies Linda, Andrea and Melanie. And these fine ladies all work at Ingleside. And are tons of fun. Linda didn't work the barrel tasting. Instead she and I were tasting. It was great fun!

It's The Great Pumpkins

2008-11-05T09:41:00.007-05:00

Okay so I'm a bit late on this. Things got a bit hectic and I got side tracked. Such is life. So for those of you who mentioned that you wanted to see the pumpkins, here they are.

Everyone who knows us knows that we always carve jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. And this year was no different.

As you can see Jim carved the relatively same pattern that he does every year. The Black Pearl. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to post the picture. His is the only pumpkin that survived to be displayed on Halloween eve. Even if I did have to use some toothpicks to help it stay alive. Sadly we had someone smash our pumpkin after the trick or treaters were done. Jim says that kids will be kids, but that's for another story.

I did one called Fraidy Cat. I wasn't really in the mood to carve jack-o-lanterns this year. And this was the easiest pattern to do. Sadly it didn't last to seen Halloween Eve. And we actually carved our pumpkins the night before Halloween. Isn't that sad? I thought a cat pumpkin was very appropriate for the year I've had. Luckily I got photos before my pumpkin bit the dust the next day.

Kyla and Pumpkin were both interested in the jack-o-lanterns when I lit them up for the photos. In fact each picture took a little longer than normal because I had some very curious kitties that kept getting in the way.

And yest this year we only did two pumpkins. Maybe next year we'll do more.

I R Monster

2008-10-24T10:29:00.004-04:00

With Halloween just a few days away I couldn't not post this picture of our little buddy, Colten. I mean Halloween is my favorite time of year. And Colten is one of my favorite little guys. I'm not leaving you out Noah or JD. You're my favorites too! Anyway, Colten always wants to have his picture taken. Can you tell he's an only child?

So when he told his Aunt Shell to take his picture, I told him that he needed to throw his hands in the air and roar for me. Which he did with no problem. He can be such a little ham at times. We had to put the hood up so you could see the horns and read the front of the shirt. Of course I emailed his mommy the photo and hopefully she can pass it on to his daddy.

I call him 'monster', but really he's not. I just had to share this picture of him. Sometimes he can be a little devil. But then again can't we all at times? Some of us more than others.

Fine Art

2008-10-21T05:30:00.004-04:00

So when we went to Ingleside on Saturday, not only did we see many of our good friends, drink wonderful wine, purchase said wine and have an all around good time. We also were able to purchase a piece of artwork from our buddy, Phil McKenney.

I highly recommend that you check out his site. You can just click on his name and it should take you directly to his website. He's a very talented man. And I'm not just saying that because he's a buddy of mine. I just like to shamelessly plug certain people. :-) This is the 'Dead Man's Hand' and he did this one in colored pencils if I remember correctly. I had admired it for a long time before we decided to purchase it from Phil. It came framed and matted and I can't wait to hang it in our game room.

Now Phil just needs to come visit us so he can see where we've placed his artwork. Hint. Hint.

Harvest Celebration

2008-10-21T04:57:00.005-04:00

So Saturday Jim and I were able to go back to Ingleside Vineyards. Hooray! They were having their Harvest Celebration. So we did get to see our wonderful friends from Ingleside. And I missed you guys terribly! And BTW those who did not work or show for this event were missed as well.

There were so many things to do there. And I mean besides drink the wonderful wine. Which is one of my main reasons for going there. Besides seeing my buddies, of course. There was a band and dancing demonstrations (something that was new, the demo I mean), food vendors and craft vendors, plus alpacas. We didn't pet the alpacas, because Jim said they looked like filthy animals. Insert giggling here. They did the wine tasting and you could buy wine by the glass or bottle. We bought a bottle of the Rosato for immediate consumption. I saw Justin from the boat and Saturday was the last boat of the season. They did the grape stomp like last year. Only this time you put your feet print on tee shirts. I didn't do this, but now I'm kind of wishing I did. And they also had hay rides into the vineyards with the vineyard manager, Floyd. It had been titled 'Tour de Floyd'. I thought it was a riot! And I learned a few new things.

Afterwards we went to dinner with our friends and had a really good time. It took a bit of work to close down, but it normally does and man were they hopping that day. We ended up buying a case of wine to take home with us. Hey what can I say? The holidays are coming up. And didn't get home until nearly one in the morning. But it was oh so very worth it.

It was a lot like coming home. We missed the place terribly. Especially the people. Some things were the same, but there were changes. New faces were mixed in with the familiar. And there were some old faces that were gone. A sad statement, but that's life.

Of course the question that seemed to keep popping up was when was I coming back to work. :-) Boy that makes a person feel missed. When they can invent a transporter so I don't have to drive 2.5 hours to get to Ingleside then I'll be back to work.

Another thing that was nice to see was some of the wines were sold out. In an economy that is supposedly going down hill, it's really good to see that a winery is sold out of some of it's higher end wines. Although I will miss the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon Reserves. And I'd really wanted a bottle of their Sparkling Wine. But I'm sure they'll have more Sparkling Wine by Thanksgiving. Hint! Hint Maria!

What The Cats Did Today

2008-10-07T18:29:00.002-04:00

It's good to know that my paper shopping bags do have some use to them. Other than carrying my groceries that is. Hey I forgot my canvas bags when I went today.

-Michelle

And that jingling you hear is the bell on their collars.

I R Helping

2008-10-05T21:10:00.004-04:00

So while Jim's away the cats will play. Okay so that was really corny, but I liked it. And admit it, it made you smile. Maybe even chuckle.

So while Jim's gone for a few days with the ship (You know playing sailor and all.) I worked on the house more. I'm wondering if it will ever end. Pumpkin decided he would help as best he could.

His idea of helping? Attacking those nasty crumbled up papers in case they decided to band together and start a riot.

It was funny to watch him jumping and rustling through the papers. And he was in heaven when I set out a huge wardrobe box for him to play in. I almost didn't have the heart to break them down. Almost.

So you may be wondering what Kyla was doing during this time.

Don't let the photo fool you. She jumped and played in the papers and boxes. Pouncing on Pumpkin whenever possible. She's a spaz! But as soon as she saw the camera come out she started acting like she was a little lady.

Nobody's fooled sweetie.

I finally caught her on the couch. And figured it was only fair to post a picture of her as well. Don't want to play favorites or anything.

In fact that's where she is now, looking over my shoulder. I think she's reading this as I type. Reminds me a bit of a vulture. Oh that's creepy! Do I need to worry that she's part vulture and is waiting to pick me apart in my sleep?

Empty Nest

2008-09-26T17:43:00.005-04:00

Michelle has already posted about this on Insanity Plea, but I'll post the story again here.

Last Friday night the house was still, like a tomb. It was the same Saturday morning. Later that morning Michelle and I left the house, mainly to get away from the stunning silence, to get a pair of new work boots for me and a cat toy to place with Odie's remains. We took Kaiser along. We even took him into several Petsmart's. (He did very well, I might add. The only time he growled was when strange dogs approached us. He's still very gunshy of dogs getting too close after his experience in Dahlgren.)

In one Petsmart, I asked Michelle if she wanted to look at cats. I had to talk her into it, but it was my feeling that the house would feel empty until a cat inhabited it again. Petsmart didn't really sell cats, they provided the local SPCA with a place to showcase their animals for adoption. That was fine with me, and I think Michelle. I'd rather have a mature cat than a kitten running roughshod all over the place.

One orange-haired kitty got our immediate attention. He's the only one that noticed us that morning. He looked at Kaiser and was thoroughly unimpressed. A cat that could put Kaiser in his proper context had to be a good thing.

We got an employee to let us in and pet the orange-haired cat, appropriately named "Pumpkin." Michelle took an immediate shine to Pumpkin. Unfortunately, the SPCA volunteer wasn't in the store, so we had to come back later. A second trip was a no-brainer at that point, even though we had to travel to Virginia Beach to do it.

Later that day, we returned to Petsmart. Michelle filled out the adoption paperwork. I'm not sure what is more extensive mortgage paperwork, the SF-86 form for a security clearance, or the SPCA's paperwork to adopt a cat. Filling any of these out feels like a visit to the proctologist. A proctologist with cold hands and long thick fingers.

While we were there filling out the paperwork for Pumpkin, there was a mother and daughter there looking for a cat. I overheard one of the volunteers tell the daughter about a gray tabby named "Kyla." Kyla had been at the Petsmart since April. Pumpkin, by contrast, had been there less than a week. The volunteer got a laser pointer out to entice some of the cats to play for the mother and daughter. I noticed that Kyla was under a shelf, hiding, but she wanted to play. I could see there was more to her personality than she felt comfortable showing there. She was just scared to. Pumpkin did play a little, but he was irritated by some of the more obnoxious kittens.

Well, to make a long story less long, I told Michelle that when she went to pick up Pumpkin on Monday to go ahead and get Kyla too, if Kyla was still available. Luckily she was.

So Pumpkin came home on Monday. The house definitely started to feel right. Pumpkin appreciates the house's low windows and wide window sills. He's an early riser, a day napper, and a night walker. He looks very striking in his green collar. He likes to play on occasion. He has ambushed Kyla, and likes boxes. He is a bit older. He's four years old, and I get the impression he hasn't quite come to terms that this is his new home. Like I said, it was about a week from his old family until he joined ours. He's definitely a cool customer. He takes everything in stride.

Kyla came home on Tuesday, after a paperwork SNAFU that no one at the SPCA is willing to take responsibility for. They say she's three years old, but I find that hard to believe. She's got the attention span and claw control of a cat of a younger age. I would place her age closer to two years old. She is a bit of a spaz. She isn't impressed with the house's windows. She is impressed with our couches. She likes to sit behind you and read over your shoulder. She likes to play, a lot. She looks very lady-like in her pink collar, until she assumes her normal and decidedly unlady-like posture.

The house feels full again.

NOTE: And Kyla is definitely a 'daddy's girl'. She immediately bonded with Jim and I'm second choice in this situation. -Michelle

Good bye old friend

2008-09-20T06:29:00.005-04:00

The first indication that something was wrong was silence. At 9:00P.M. every night Odie would meow, demanding to be fed. Thursday night it was 10:00P.M. before we heard a peep, and when he did remind us of his nightly meal, it wasn't as insistent as it normally was.

That night we slept in our bedroom in the new house for the first time. Odie didn't.

We didn't think much of either. We thought our lack of a schedule disrupted his. We thought that after a night of sleeping in the new room, he'd realize that's where we were going to be from now on.

In the morning, Michelle was worried because he slept with his head against his water dish. He never did that before. I thought Michelle was being paranoid. Later that morning, I thought I saw him breathing erratically. Michelle thought I was being paranoid. We ran some errands that morning. After an hour out and about, we returned. It had become obvious by then that Odie's breathing had become laborious.

Michelle called our vet. We managed to get him in before noon. The vet kept Odie for the day. He said several times that Odie's condition, whatever it was, was serious. Michelle called the vet at 3:00P.M. The vet told her he thought Odie had bronchitis, but he thought there may be an underlying condition. She was told that he had to be picked up at 5:00P.M., and that the vet would write a referral to a 24 hour animal hospital, should we want to take him. Odie's condition then seemed to be on the upswing. His breathing wasn't as labored, and we were told he was talking to the assistants at the vet clinic.

At 5:00P.M. we returned to the vet's office to find out Odie's condition had worsened. Taking him to the 24 hour animal hospital no longer seemed like an option, it was a necessity. The vet was talking about cardiomyopathy causing there to be fluid in Odie's lungs. We gathered Odie's things and went immediately. Odie, I could tell by his muted meows, didn't like being moved so much.

We waited at the animal hospital for over an hour to speak with their vet. They took digital x-rays and could see things with better clarity than or normal vet. The condition was far worse than our vet could tell with his x-ray machine. Cardiomyopathy was indeed the diagnosis, what type exactly would have taken a echocardiogram to determine. The walls of Odie's heart had thickened. His heart had enlarged and had become valentine-shaped. There was fluid throughout his lungs. The assistant brought us a list of things they were going to do to get Odie to make it through the night, maybe. The list was extensive, covering a full page. Even then there were no guarantees. In fact, the read we got from the vet was that it was a long shot. The treatment the first vet gave for bronchitis actually worsened his condition. (There is no way our vet could have known based on the information he had at the time.) The vet talked about DNRs and if we'd like to be called if his condition worsened throughout the night. No one was talking about long-term treatment or care. The focus was only on finding a way for Odie to survive until morning.

It was the thought of Odie dying alone in an oxygen cage that was too much. He died with us there, comforting him.

When we bought this house, Michelle told Odie it was our forever home and that he would never have to move again. She "sold" him on the house's low windows and wide window ledge's, perfect for a catnap in the sun. Odie got to enjoy those windows for too short of a time, but he did enjoy them.

Odie and I had an antagonistic relationship most of his life, but that had changed a lot since I went on shore duty. Over the last three years, I had become his second-choice for pets. This is a major step up. For a long time, I wasn't even a choice. Since we moved, there were a couple of times where I was his first-choice.

Odie had his 15 minutes of fame in the mid-90s. He was featured in the Marmaduke comic strip's "Dog Gone Funny" section. We have the stip around here somewhere, in a box no doubt. It was his desire for affection that gained him fame. He loved giving "kisses." By that I mean, he would put his nose up to your mouth, about an inch away, and he would not go away until you made kissing noises. It was funny enough for Marmaduke's creator Brad Anderson to feature him one Sunday a decade ago.

Odie demanded affection. Kisses, head-butts, you name it. Woe be unto the book that got in between you and Odie. Odie would chew the corners of a book if he thought it was taking too much time away from him. That is if you could even read it with him head-butting the book until you stopped what you were doing and paid attention to him.

Odie was also a hunter. One of the fastest cats I have ever seen, when it suited him. He's got mice and birds to his credit. He seemed to enjoy the hunt and would often stalk through the house just looking for a cricket or a moth or some other unfortunate creature to cross his path.

Most of all, I'll remember his purr. He purred often and loudly. He couldn't help it. He purred when touched.

He purred at the end.

Edit:

I made a mistake. Odie was not featured in Marmaduke. Rather he was featured in Larry Wright's Carlyle's Cat Hall of Fame, part of the strip Kit 'n Carlyle, in 1998. The date on the strip is 11-23. I have a copy which I will scan and post later.

A Tropical What?

2008-09-10T17:01:00.002-04:00

So over the past weekend Jim and I traveled back to Virginia to check on our new place. Tropical Storm Hanna was coming to the area and we wanted to make sure the roof didn't leak and that no damage, however minor, occurred. Hey we're homeowners now. Plus we had a few things we wanted to take down there.

We arrived at midnight tired and bit cranky with a doped up dog in the back seat of the truck. Yes, I medicated Kaiser for the trip. You deal with an aging 60+ pound dog in the back of your car for 9 to 10 hours and we'll see how you hold up. I bless the person who made cat and dog Valium every time we need to take a trip. Odie, our cat, is very vocal. But I digress. Our arrival did not go unnoticed in our neighborhood. If I didn't know what it felt like to be watched before, then this weekend changed all of that.

We had brought a small TV in the hopes of catching the local news to see if Hanna had been upgraded. I never realized how much I missed WAVY TV10. There's a huge difference between local and national news. The local weatherman informed viewers that Hanna would be very much like a summer thunderstorm and to just be cautious out there. While the weather person on the Today show freaked out. Proclaiming that it was horrible and just look at those waves. Argh! Run for the hills. Amateurs!

So what did Jim and I do when the tropical storm did hit. We were in Lowe's buying area rugs for our new home. You know it's not that bad when people are at a hardware store not for provisions to board up their home, but for things for their weekend projects. Man I love this area!

We also managed to hand all of our blinds before moving in completely. Some had to be custom cut. Ugh! And our A/C broke on our second day. Luckily my best friend, Greta, was around today to let the repairman in to fix it. You rock Greta! We also were able to see Steve before he left on deployment. Plus we swung by another friend's house to make sure he didn't have any damage since he was still in Rhode Island. His house was fine.

All in all a productive weekend. And the movers were scheduled to come on Monday, but that's a story for another time.

-Michelle

P.S. Kaiser loves the house. And we met our next door neighbor, who has been to Ingleside. And likes wine! Hooray! We look forward to living in this neighborhood.

Odd Occurence

2008-08-31T20:29:00.006-04:00

This is something I meant to post last month. But I forgot to download the pictures for the longest time. We've been ordering a few things here and there for the new home. Bits and pieces really.

One evening the UPS guy pulled up and Jim wanted to know what I'd ordered. We were waiting for something from FedEx. I replied nothing.

Imagine our surprise when only seconds later the FedEx guy pulls up nose to nose with the UPS guy. They stood outside our house and chatted for a few minutes before delivering packages to us. It was so funny that we had to run and get the camera.

On a side note we did get our package and a gift from a family member. Hence the two different delivery services.

-Michelle

Lazy Friday

2008-08-31T20:08:00.006-04:00

So Friday, the 29th, was really a kind of lazy day for our household. I took my mother in law to Easton's Beach in the morning for a brief stroll on the beach. She always likes to see the ocean where ever we are.

First we stopped at Starbucks so I could get some much needed caffeine. And of course a few goodies.

We didn't stay too long since I did have a little one with me and she was bound and determined that she was going to march into the ocean. And I was bound and determined not to let her. We had a battle of wills. Needless to say I won since I was bigger.

Linda did find a piece of sea glass while she was walking with me. Lucky! So another green piece has been added to the collection.

We got home and not long after that Jim was home for the day. Hooray! That meant we could do something together.

We decided on The Mooring for lunch. We went their for our anniversary and really enjoyed it. We got a table out on the patio since it was a gorgeous day.

Jim had a burger. I had the Ahi tuna steak sandwich. And Linda had the Lobster Croissant. We started out with the seafood donuts, which are basically seafood hush puppies and very yummy. And a corn and scallop risotto.

Greta, you can stop gagging now. It was good. Not as good as the tomato one we had last time, but still it was very tasty.

After that we crossed the bridge in search of a bocce ball set. That's something we've wanted all summer, but couldn't seem to find. Once we found that we went home and grilled. And had a rousing game of bocce ball.

All in all I think it was a pretty good day.

-Michelle

How The Better Half Lived

2008-08-28T21:26:00.005-04:00

Today my mother-in-law and I went to Beechwood. Well after the little girl I babysit went home and we had lunch with Jim and Ruth. Beechwood is one of the many mansions here in Newport. Newport was the place to summer for the upper crust.

I've done this tour before, but was delighted to discover that they don't have the same person constantly giving the tour. It's done by actors who treat you like guests who have stepped back in time and they portray the family. When I took my parents we were given the tour by the youngest Astor's daughter. And heard some of the family kind of gossip things.

This time we were given the tour by the gentleman portraying a bachelor cousin. It was interesting in its own right and I heard some different things on each tour. So I thought it was cool. I think a mansion tour is definitely something that should be done here. Linda was surprised at how small it seemed. We may try to do another tour just for size comparison. I've heard the Breakers are the largest.

Afterwards we went to Cold Fusion for some gelato. Another thing that I thought would be interesting for Linda to get to try while here. Hey while on vacation I think you should always try new things. She had Passion Fruit and Caramel in a waffle cone. I had the Raspberry Cranberry Hibiscus in a sugar cone. I think I definitely like their fruit flavors better than the chocolates.

-Michelle

Full House

2008-08-28T21:07:00.003-04:00

No I'm not talking poker and I'm definitely not talking about the old TV show that gave the Olsen twins their start. Admit it you all watched that show.

Yesterday Jim's mom flew in for a visit. She'll be here over the weekend. But it doesn't end there. Our friends Ruth and John were getting ready to move out and needed a place to crash. Their movers got there late, so John's travel time was messed up and he needed a place for him and the spud to crash. Ruth had already asked to stay for a couple nights so she was golden. So being that they are like family to us we offered them our place.

So how many people can you fit in a three bedroom single story home?

Five adults, one toddler, one cat, one dog and two cockatiels.

Thank goodness that we have two bathrooms! I only wish I had taken a picture of everyone in the front room last night. Especially since I poured John and Ruth each a glass of Ingleside Pinot Grigio.

Nothing soothes your frayed nerves like a nice glass of wine. And getting ready to move and all that it entails can definitely be nerve wracking. Especially with that ten hour drive to Virginia to look forward to.

See you in Virginia John! We'll take good care of Ruth while she's here.

-Michelle

Home Ownership

2008-08-26T09:11:00.005-04:00

As you may or may not know I've been without a computer for a bit. Jim and I now share a laptop, which makes for some interesting moments. So I really haven't been doing much on the blogs.

And I do have something to share! As of the 18th we became home owners!! For the first time EVER! Hooray! We never purchased a home before because we weren't sure of where we'd be since Jim's military. But we've been calling Norfolk home for so long that we decided to put down roots.

It was a long drawn out and painful process for us. Much harder than I sure it really should be. Let me tell you about our pain filled house hunting expedition. I won't name names because that might seem mean of me. Even though I have been known to be quite hateful at times. I'm trying to be a better person. And I believe karma will come back and bite them in the butt later. :-)

We chose a bank close by instead of our Internet bank because we wanted human interaction and lots of help since this was our first time buying a home. People would be helpful right? Wrong! We would have been better off with the Internet bank. Apparently this branch has a LOT of issues. Our first loan officer is no longer with that bank and apparently he didn't file much of our paperwork. We think he was fired, but aren't positive. I was constantly bothering them asking if there was anything we needed to do and was told no. We were pre-approved and went house hunting. Finally we found a house. I'm not even going in to that!

Two weeks before closing they hand me a stack of paperwork (I'm not exaggerating here it was 35 plus pages) and tell me to fill this out and send me on my merry. No instructions or explanations. WTF! We went in Saturday for some help. Jim stormed out very irate. He was ready to call it quits with this bank. We found out the rate hadn't even been locked in like we'd been told. After I got things straightened out or so I thought we FedExed everything to the processor in Florida.

So I called Monday morning saying if they needed anything to let me know before noon so Jim could get to work on getting things. I get a call back at nearly 4 telling me things are missing. Things that they told me on Saturday I didn't need. And then they had the audacity to lie to me and say that they told me on Saturday they needed it. I went there immediately with what I could.

I asked them to please be sure to get everything to my closing agent before the end of business day on Friday. We are now one week away from closing on this house. And this person (I'm trying really hard not to call names here) had the nerve to say that they would as long as we turned everything in on time. I stared at her in shock for a moment and then responded that as long as they didn't spring anything new on us they would get all their stuff. Ugh! She was lucky I was holding a small child at the time or I might have slugged her.

Things did not run smoothly to say the least, but it finally happened and we're home owners. Thank God!

-Michelle

Some pigs are more equal than others...

2008-08-10T09:07:00.004-04:00

I'm guessing by now that the majority of our readers (yes both of you) have heard about the mayor in Maryland that had his home raided by the Prince George's County Sheriff's Department. If you haven't I'll summarize the story, while picking out the points I think are odd or important.

It starts in Arizona where a pot-smuggling ring had hatched a scheme to smuggle some 400lbs of pot over state lines. The idea was that in AZ the smuggler would address large quantities of pot to someone not involved in the plot and then on the other end another smuggler would intercept the shipment.

So the Prince George's County Police Department (PG County has a PD and a Sheriff's Department) gets intel that a shipment of 32 lbs of pot is on its way to an address in PG County. These geniuses don't bother to investigate and track the shipment from afar. No that might make sense. Instead they intercept the shipment and deliver it to the third party not involved with the scheme. They also got a knock and announce warrant to go into the home after the pot had been delivered. (Interestingly, Maryland didn't have no-knock warrants until 2005 and the PGPD has said that they don't believe the state has no-knock warrants. Makes you wonder why these people are still employed if they deny the existence of a law passed by the Maryland legislature.)

The big day comes. The undercover officer posing as the delivery man attempts to make the delivery. The Mayor's mother-in-law refuses the shipment, so the undercover officer leaves it on the porch. Let me repeat that, the person at home refused the shipment, so the officer left 32lbs of pot on a doorstep. The Mayor was apparently out for a walk. He says that he walks by the police officers and even waves to them. It is important to note that the police were all in plain clothes and probably unmarked cars as well. This comes into play later. It also is unclear whether or not the Mayor recognized them as police officers, but he did no there were people sitting outside of his house. My guess is that the Mayor isn't an idiot. He probably knew they were cops. You don't have carloads of people just sitting along the road in parked cars ordinarily.

The Mayor gets home from his walk, notices the package on the porch, picks it up and goes inside. He then goes upstairs to change for an appearance later in the day. That's when the SWAT team goes in. Remember they're in plain clothes and armed. The Mayor's mother-in-law sees them and screams. Hey, wouldn't you? Armed men, not in any discernible uniform, running towards your home? Yeah, I'd probably scream.

The police say that scream ruined their element of surprise, so they had to go in "hard." That is to say they had to go in without knocking and "take down" everyone in the house. Let's review this shall we? They had a knock and announce warrant, but they were concerned about the element of surprise being lost. What surprise is there when you knock on the door and say "police we have a search warrant"? At least, if you knock and announce the people inside may hear you say that you're the police. In this case armed men were storming the house, void of uniforms and identification.

(Sure, they probably had a badge displayed, but when someone has a gun out where are your eyes going to go? Are you looking at the threat, i.e. the gun, or searching for a badge? You're looking at the threat. This has been shown in police shootings where the police shoot a gunman's hand, not trying to shoot the gun out of their hand, but because their eyes are focused on the gun.)

The SWAT team went into the house, one of the Mayor's two Labrador Retrievers barked at the officers and was shot and killed on the spot. The other Lab ran into a back room and was chased down and shot by the SWAT team. The reasoning was that the dogs posed a threat to the officers going in. A full team of men with guns and concealable body armor, yet they were threatened by a dog that was running away from them, sure they were. (It seems that anytime there is a raid these days the dogs get it, even though the Supreme Court has said the police need to use a lesser levels of force to allay the threat posed by dogs, and that shooting dogs with no cause is an unnecessary deprivation of property.)

The Mayor and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and questioned. Eventually, they were released when it became obvious they weren't part of this nefarious plot.

The story gets weirder from there. The PG Police and Sheriff's Deputies say that they didn't know who was in the home. They didn't notify the city's police department that they were about to conduct a narcotics raid in their city. They do claim that the knew the layout of the house and that there were two dogs in the house.

This brings to mind some serious questions. Like, why didn't they know whose house it was? How did they get the layout of the house? If they looked through city or county records wouldn't the owner's name be available? Wouldn't a simple check of the phone book revealed a name?

At this point, I'm forced to conclude someone in the PGPD was out to make a name for him or herself. He or she has a 32 lbs shipment of pot going to a local politician. Making that bust would make someone's career. I believe they didn't tell the city PD about the raid because they didn't want to alert the Mayor. They got buck fever and blew the investigation trying to get the politician. After all, they had to outsource the raid to the PGSD in order to execute it on that day. The PGPD SWAT team was busy with other enforcement actions.

Oh and the PGPD Chief has refused to apologize for his department's actions. He has said that the Mayor has been "victimized" by the drug dealers. Funny. If the police had not intervened the shipment of drugs would have never made it to his door and his dogs would still be alive.

As it stands now the Feds are looking into the case. They'll try to determine if the Mayor's rights were violated under US Code Title 42 Section 1983. That's how they got conviction of the officers who beat Rodney King.

Now to the pigs part. It seems that police can shoot our dogs with little or no consequences. However, if you so much as shout an obscenity at a police dog or make a face at a police dog you may be charged with animal cruelty. Yeah, I'm not kidding, sadly.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/feb/25/28-year-old-man-charged-cruelty-animals/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,278701,00.html

Resources:

http://www.examiner.com/a-1525303~Mayor_exonerated_in_plot_to_smuggle_pot__police_say.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/05/AR2008080502664.html
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-mayor0807,0,4563211.story
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/07/mayor.warrant/index.html
http://cfc.wjla.com/external.cfm?p=calvo080708
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080702161.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,399882,00.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/08/AR2008080802690.html

Crash

2008-08-01T19:39:00.003-04:00

Michelle's hard drive has crashed. She has lost some pictures, some documents and some iTunes songs. I have ordered another one and a new operating system for her computer. It will be some time, perhaps a week, before it's back up and running.

That leaves me in charge of posting.

We're in trouble folks.

A Day With The Ponies

2008-07-27T21:32:00.004-04:00

So today we took my mom and dad to a Polo match. Most people think Polo and they think snobs. It's not though! It's really quite fun. It was a nice sunny day with a nice breeze. This is a picture of my parents. They've been kind enough to let me photo them for my class assignments. The Polo match this time was regional teams. It was Pearls vs. Newport team. It was a charity game for the fight against breast cancer. We got great seats. Right next to the scoreboard and were able to back our car up the the site. Hooray!

There were tons of children out, most of whom were not being corralled by their parents, and dogs. This dog came from across the polo field in search of a ball to play with. He found it in some kids who were playing catch. Jim took this photo. Good job! The owners were no where to be seen, which worried me for quite some time. And when they did finally show up I wanted to smack them because they were like 'oh you shouldn't do that'.

The light colored horse was one of my mom's favorites. This was the best shot that I got of it. Action shots can be a bit tricky. The pink shirts are the Pearls and the red shirts are Newport. The Pearls eked out a win at the very end. They won by one and we think that the Newport team let them.

And of course I can't complete this post without at least one photo of my sweet baboo. At least I chose the clean one.

-Michelle

24

2008-07-24T15:55:00.010-04:00

That's roughly how long we traveled this past weekend to get to Virginia. And that's round trip. Normally it takes about 20. New York City really gobbled up our travel this time with construction and congestion. Ugh! And that doesn't include all the back and forth driving we did.

Our friend, Floyd, told us about a different way to go that might be a little less congested. So we'll try that next time. Hopefully it'll keep Jim's blood pressure from rising. Thanks Floyd!

We went down for our home inspection which we scheduled to coincide with Ingleside's Wine Maker's Library. Ingleside was our original reason for going and we almost didn't make it. Insert me fuming here.

Our home inspection took 4 hours. No there was nothing wrong with the house. I know this was on your mind because it's the first question everyone asks when they hear this. Our inspector just liked to talk. A LOT! And didn't seem to catch the hint that he needed to stop joking and telling so many stories. Ugh! And I had scheduled it earlier in the day so that we would be able to make the Ingleside event.

This is a partial view of the entryway to the tasting room. It's changed a bit since I've worked there. That's the way of the world though. I think it looks nice. We got to the event 45 minutes before the end. To say I was peeved would be an understatement. But we got to see our friends and drink wine, so all was good. We were able to try the 2007 Chardonnay and Rosato before they were released. I must say that the Rosato is my favorite. It rocks! We were also able to try 3 vintages of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Yum! And of course there were tasty goodies there too. It was an excellent way to end a very tedious day. Good food, good wine and good friends. We got to see nearly all of our friends while we were there. It felt as if we had never left.

I was also able to get some of my homework done for my photography class. This assignment was letters. And you couldn't get them from a sign. They had to be shapes you found in every day things. Hopefully you can figure out the letters below.

Our professor said it would be really easy and that once you started looking you would find tons of letters. I guess I'm bad at hide and seek, because I didn't find as many as some of my classmates. Of course I wasn't going to take pictures while I was driving either. Safety first!

Finally this is a picture of our buddies Neil and Linda. That's right Linda, if you email me asking why I haven't posted you get your picture posted. I have lots more pictures of Ingleside friends, but I wanted to get this posted before I get another gentle nudge from Linda. =) Look Linda! Now you're famous! -Michelle

What Does Michelle Do With Her Monday and Wednesday Afternoons?

2008-07-14T18:28:00.007-04:00

I know this is a question that has been on most people's minds. I mean who wouldn't want to know? I'm interesting. Right? Okay stop laughing now!

So let me put you all out of your misery. I've been taking a Digital Photography class. Yes I'm in school again.
So instead of writing anything of substance I'll bore you with my photos. I've already babbled about it in the other blog, but there are so many pictures to share. So I decided to spread it out.

So a few of these are 'action' photos while the rest are still life photos. I'm enjoying the course and hope you'll enjoy the photos. I have to chose 10 for my final project.

Just A Small Gathering

2008-07-13T07:44:00.004-04:00

So yesterday we had a "few" friends over for what started as a black and tan party. Have you ever noticed how a few can all be a totally different number to you than to someone else? =) More on that in a bit.

This all started about a month or so ago when we went along with Karen to take Jake to the airport. Hope I didn't lose anyone there. We stopped at Dave & Busters for lunch and fun. While eating we started discussing black and tans. Much to our shame we can not pour these things to save our lives. Jake informed us that he could teach us and promised to once he got back. We promised we'd wait as Karen knew how to do it too.

Okay back to the present. So we decided Friday, spur of the moment, that we should get together and do that black and tan party. Yes I know time has gone by a bit, but hey life is hectic! Originally it was going to be maybe 5 people. We said what the heck let's do this in the afternoon and barbecue. The weather will be great. Good excuse to eat charred meat and drink beer.

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but by the end of the day we'd had a total of something like 10 people. When we realized how many people were coming Jim and I had to laugh. How did the small black and tan party suddenly explode? Not that we minded, but we were just curious.

We had lots of fun though. Have learned how to pour black and tans. Thanks Jake! We also learned that the house can accommodate 10 people comfortably. Or should I say 10 and 1/2? Theo was there too. What's a party without my favorite brewer? Kaiser warmed up to everyone by the end of the gathering and was in heaven with all the pets he was getting. He even got a burger. Lucky dog! And was good with Theo, who by the way is walking now. Odie showed up as Theo was making his departure. Sorry Theo. And loved all the pets he got. Even the birds enjoyed it, as Jake likes birds and gave them lots of attention.

All in all a good time was had. What I really have to say is...

You like us! You really, really like us!

I'll ignore the fact that we were offering beer and food to bribe you to come over. =)

-Michelle

The Dangers of the Fire Swamp

2008-07-03T18:49:00.003-04:00

As we returned to our adopted home town of Norfolk, Virginia this morning we couldn't help but note the smell of smoke thick in the air. For those of you not paying attention to the news in Southeastern VA and Northeastern NC, the Great Dismal Swamp is on fire.

That's right, a swamp is on FIRE!

Well, not the swamp really, it's the peat underground. It's burning much like a coal mine fire. The fire is underground. Often times the first sign the firefighters have that there is fire near by is when a tree falls on or near them.

We're told the last time the Great Dismal Swamp was on fire, in the 1920s, it took three years to extinguish.

What is needed is a "rain event." Something that can soak the ground quickly with 12 inches or more of rain in a short time. Meteorologists call such events by two names: hurricanes and tropical storms.

The good news is that about every five years the Tidewater area gets a hurricane or tropical storm. The last hurricane/tropical storm that hit this area was Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, which I wisely weathered on the beach in Key West. Anyway, the good news is that the area is due for a hurricane/tropical storm.

The bad news is that the area is due for a hurricane/tropical storm.

-Jim