Tuesday, September 23, 2008

.....continued (as promised!!)

OK....so on the last post, I said...to be continued. Here is the continuation...such as it is. I may repeat myself....but what can I say....I'm sixty!!

We headed down to Osoyoos on Monday, Sept. 8, going down through Keremeos so we could hit a couple of wineries.....one wasn't open (that would be Orofino) but we went to Crowsnest and started our stash there. It has grown substantially over the years and now sports a restaurant, and B&B.
We arrived in Osoyoos at about 3pm having been preceded by our friends D&B who were going to spend a few days with us. This "travelling with another couple" thing was a new experience for us and really a lot of fun. They love wine almost as much as we do and so our sojourns to the various and sundry wineries throughout the South Okanagan and Naramata were full of lots of laughter, good conversation and of course wine tasting. We parted ways on Thursday around noon in Kelowna after sampling yet a few more wineries and having a wonderful lunch in Peachland at the Blind Angler. During our time together, apart from the wine stuff, we lazed on the patio, swam in the lake and our two hubbys got sucked into tubing behind a speedboat.....and we have some pictures to prove it!!! Unfortunately I was napping at the time but apparently the experience for them was quite exciting!!! We have decided to do this again next year if possible, so I am quite looking forward to it.

After they left, things were quite quiet, so we relaxed on the Friday and hit a couple of more wineries on the Saturday and then did nothing but veg on the Sunday...leaving on Monday morning to head home.

For those of you that care...we managed to visit 16 wineries. I know, I know....I was surprised as well, it just didn't seem that much. Throughout the trip we had been on the search for Malbec.....and on the Saturday we scored some at Inniskillen. It is a wine that is making a comeback in BC slowly. Argentinia has kind of adopted it as it's own....but it was at one time a popular wine in BC...then it went the way of Marachel Foch.....but thankfully some wineries are now making it on it's own....instead of using it in blends. Red Rooster makes one as does Quinta Ferriera and Inniskillen. There may be more, but those are the ones we found on this trip. The only one with some available was Inniskillen. So that's as much technical wine talk as I can manage.....I will list the wineries if anyone really wants to know...but trust me...there are still many more to see!!!

The whole visit was good in that there were people there that we had met last year and they will also be there next year....so we have now become "regulars" at the motel......I just love it!!!
The only downside was that we were not in our usual room and, although the room was the same layout as our usual one (it was next door) our door was right next to the door of the "party" room and every time we left the room, we were assailed by clouds of cigarette smoke from the myriad of people who congregated outside this one unit. They were also very noisy and "in your face" and drinking almost non-stop. It was a family group spread over three units. Hopefully next year, this won't be a problem as we went a week later this year than normal (due to the wedding) and next year it will be our normal time, which is the day after labour day. They (the "rowdies) left on the Sunday morning and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief......so we had one day of peace and quiet and clean air outside our unit. It took the housekeeping staff almost a full day to clean the units and air them out.....sigh.

So...all in all...it wasn't quite the relaxing week I had hoped for, but there were definitely many pluses to take away the pain of the minuses :-).

Now it's back to the grind...we have already had one concert and there is another in two weeks....so I'm now practicing regularly. We made 16 bottles of grape juice on Sunday (Concord, Ortega and Marchel Foch) and canned 20 jars of peaches on Monday....all at brother B's. Now I have a few things to make...like pesto and basil prepared for freezing, possibly some zucchini pickles....not sure....and I have some work to do in my workshop....Nutfolkery possibly???
DH has gone on a cooking, baking binge and made stew, shepherd's pie, tomato sauce (for freezing) apple pies (that was dual effort-he and me) and he is going to make apple cobbler tomorrow I think.

What I need.....is two weeks to do nothing but recover from the first two weeks of September!!!!

Slainte!!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The first two weeks of September......

It's been a chaotic, hectic, busy, wonderful, thrilling, emotionally draining, painful (as in dancing too much pain) and then relaxing, giggly, humorous and at times really annoying, but in the end fulfilling two weeks (Since September 1st).

Our sweet and lovable son got married to an equally sweet and lovable young lady on September 5 in Aldergrove. We headed down to Aldergrove on September 1st to help with last minute preparations and do a little babysitting and in general be there if needed before the wedding. It was a totally different experience than when our daughter got married five years ago. I'm not sure how it was different (other than the whole bride's parents/groom's parents thing), but it was a totally different dynamic.....which again shows the difference between the two siblings. Interesting to say the least......
The rehearsal, the rehearsal dinner (which we were hosting at Char's in Aldergrove...amazing food by the way!!), the wedding, and gift opening all went off without a hitch. A lot of fun was had by all.

...some high points.....

*The bride was beautiful and just glowed with happiness and the bridesmaids looked wonderful.

*The groom....well, what can I say, he's our son....but he was handsome and just as happy as his lady, I don't think the smile left his face all night!!

*The song jointly composed by the bride C and her friend A. for the groom and sung by A. during the signing of the register after the ceremony.

*The entrance of the bride and groom to the reception...beautifully choreographed with great music and a smoke machine ..... hilarious !!

*The groomsmen were handsome and debonair, and special mention to groomsman J for playing with our grandson whilst pictures were being taken.....M, the best man did a great speech, just perfect for the occasion....and speaking of our grandson....he looked absolutely adorable in his tuxedo, being escorted down the walkway by his grandfather, DH, who I might add looked amazingly hot in his pinstriped charcoal vested suit with lavender shirt and matching patterned tie....(whew.... I almost had to fan myself!!)

*Hearing my son make mention of my dear 97 year old aunt who couldn't be there and everyone applauding her

*Hearing our son sing to his bride accompanying himself on the guitar along with groomsman J on the Tjembe. I have never heard him sing by himself before and I was just blown away. It was beautiful and the bride was in tears!!

*The Mother/Son dance with J.......a wonderful experience...whatta guy!!!!

*Spending time with friends and relative whom we don't see as often as we'd like and catching up with news

*Having some down time during the week with a good friend who came to the motel to have a glass of wine and update the toe nail polish!!

*An unforgettable sight to me was to see my lovely 80 year old cousin up on the dance floor kicking up her heels with the younger people AND keeping up with them.....what a grand lady!!!

*The spontaneous choreographed moves to the song "Fever" by Peggy Lee....complete with snapping fingers of the groomsman and the groom leading up to the removal of the garter....what a hoot!!!

*Another special mention here of my grand-nephew Jeff from St. Albert who also spent time playing with and entertaining our grandson, keeping him occupied during the picture taking time (between ceremony and reception) when the wedding party left briefly for pictures elsewhere....and grandson was missing his daddy!!!

*The music was good, the food was good, the drinks were good.....in fact it was all good and a wonderful occasion!!

When we arrived back at the hotel....I was hurtin' .....but a couple of Tylenol w/codeine and a good night's sleep helped to ease things and we were able to head out to the gift opening in the later morning. After that we picked up Chauncey at the kennel and headed back home to Kamloops.....bagged and in pain (me anyways), but happy.

We basically spent Sunday the 7th relaxing and doing laundry and making a list of things to take to Osoyoos with us on our annual trip to wine country.....we were to leave on Monday the 8th.

To be continued.....

Slainte!!