January 3rd - I feel violated.....

Today is recycle day in my community - and like a good do-bee

I was sure to put my bin out last night so I wouldn't forget.  As the evening progressed I came across a few more recyclables, so this morning I started the car and then headed to the bin to drop them off.

Except when I opened the cover, I didn't recognize my trash......there were Snapple tea bottles, cardboard from club crackers, and a whole lot of other stuff that I know I didn't eat.  Someone had decided to help themselves to my bin.

And I gotta tell you, it troubles me that someone decided to take advantage of my bin rather than use their own.....in fact, I find it creepy that someone was in my trash.  What if there's a gun or a body part dumped in there and the police come and take me away......what if someone counts all the liquor and wine bottles and decides I'm an alcoholic (in my defense, I was purging over the holidays and a lot of those bottles were almost empty and got dumped).......what if my personal mail ends up being posted on Facebook?

You get the idea.......

So, am I overreacting to someone just trying to keep the world a bit cleaner by throwing things away - or am I right to be disturbed by this invasion of my privacy?

Weekend Wine - D'Arenberg The Stump Jump 2008

I bought enough "new" wine on Friday that I ought to be able to get back in the swing of blogging weekend wine...its just that for the last couple of months I've been drinking my standard go-to wines - Sexy Wine Bomb and Vicious Red - when I'm not drinking beer (alternating between Raging Bitch and Yuengling Light).
But tonight I wanted to start the new year out with something a bit special - but it had to be something that would work with swedish meatballs. So, I grabbed a bottle of Stump Jump 2008.  I really like Australian shiraz as an inexpensive everyday wine, and this stuff is a step up from the ordinary being a blend of Grenache, Shiraz, and Mourvedre.

It was also listed as one of Wine Spectators top 100 best value wines for 2010, which made the price go up from 9.99 to 12.99 at my local store, sigh.

But they were right to give it a 90 point rating - it is really, really good. Its got plenty of fruit so that you can drink it by itself, but there's enough other things going on that its worth sipping rather than gulping.  Even an untrained palate like mine can find the pepper and dark fruit in it.  Let me give you the official word -

"90 points, a Best Value designation and one the Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2009: "Ripe and open-textured, this is impressive for the way it packs in the cherry, blackberry and raspberry flavors and doesn't take the foot off the gas pedal until the mineral-inflected finish has played through. Drink now through 2018. 5,000 cases imported." And, according to Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar: "Deep ruby. Black cherry, plum and pepper on the nose. Supple and sweet, with rich dark berry and candied plum flavors and a hint of black pepper. Finishes with very soft tannins and a lingering note of licorice. This wine offers serious complexity and depth for the money."

I think this one would please even the friends who say they don't like red wine....and I think I'll go pick up another bottle in case any of you folks decide to drop by.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

January 1st - Happy New Year

I was able to stay up till midnight thanks to a phone calll from my friend Carol (from Thailand) and three shots of double expresso Van Gogh vodka.  So, when the page turned to a new decade, I was soaking in my hottub with a nice glass of wine watching the neighborhood fireworks display.  Of course it was not an officially sanctioned activity - fireworks are illegal here - but I live in a rather secluded redneck corner of the city, and I imagine all the local police were busy with their alcohol checkpoints and such.

They certainly gave us plenty of notice - as I was coming back from a marvelous winetasting/lunch with Stephanie and her friends well before dark, I saw a big lighted sign announcing delays due to a DUI checkpoint ahead.  Ironically, the sign was posted in a place that gave you the option of turning off the main road....so I wonder if they planned to "screen" their drunks and only take those who couldn't read English and thus avoid being stopped.

I hope I don't sound as if I'm against the idea of getting drunk drivers off the road.  The world has changed since I was young and reckless and drove when I shouldn't - the streets are more crowded and so being stupid is more likely to hurt innocent people.  I totally agree that there should be strong penalties against driving while intoxicated and repeat offenders should lose their license.

But I think the way to reduce the risk is to have police officers stationed in nightclub parking lots checking patrons as they prepare to drive off.....not set up an easily avoidable roadblock.

OK - enough on that subject.......what I really wanted to blog about was goals for the new year.  I went back through my old blogs (note to self - tag these things better) and here is what I found for the end of 2009.

"I am not one to be good about remembering.  It seems as if my desire to move past and forget the bad times of my past have taken many of the good memories along with them.  I've blogged before about how sometimes when people tell stories that involve me - I feel as if they are talking about someone else entirely - I don't remember a bit of it.
II need to try harder to embrace the special moments of my life and write them on my soul....and I want to make good memories for the people around me as well. As time passes and situations change, those memories help us get through the tough times.
So it's a bit early - but I think perhaps that is my New Years resolution - to work as hard at remembering as I have at forgetting.......and to make as many special moments as I can."

2010 was a wonderful year for me in many ways........I found myself making progress with my home and my career and I reconnected with some old friends.  My human and fur family are all healthy and happy, and I have a new daughterinlaw who is quite delightful.

And I did make lots of special moments....just a few off the top of my head

California - meeting Haley and learning why she loves her home so much - Santa Cruz truly is unique and special.
More California - having Lisa take me out to a delightful old mining town that was wine tasting nirvana.
And even more California - a customized San Francisco/Sausalito tour from Susan followed by a women's college hoops game (she even gave me a tshirt so I could root properly).

Showing my part of the world to Amy and Bob.........doing my best to stay away with the couple that doesn't sleep......and managing well enough that they invited me to come visit :)

The snowpocalypse that I only saw live on TV (I was cruising in California)....but came home to some pretty impressive mountains of the white stuff.  One of the things I found most amusing is that in 2009 I'd blogged about having to shovel more snow at one time than ever before in my life.......and that's still true -  but only because my friends took care of clearing out after the big one.

The wonderful cruise that I took to the Eastern Caribbean with my friends Mike and Dorothy and Sandy and Judy and Simon and Jasmine and new friends.....its the first time I'd ever gone with a group that I knew in advance and it was quite awesome......I hope I get to do it again soon.

Lake Tahoe and Yosemite - two places on my must see list made possible by Carols desire for a roadtrip.....it was an awesome experience made better by  being shared.....and the ultimate was when Lisa met us in Merced and we had girls night......I still smile thinking about it.

My son's wedding was gorgeous......it was awesome to see how many friends he'd made and how much he is loved by so many.

Seeing Santa George and his daughter again.....it had been many years since our New York adventure....but they both looked great and it was clear that he'd found himself - that he was meant to be Santa - not just because of the beard and the twinkling eyes, but because of the way he  brings joy to those around him.

There are lots more memories of 2010 - but I'm still not so good at remembering and it's almost 10 am here and I really do want to get up and out and about today enjoying the realtively mild weather while it lasts.

Hope all of you had a wonderful new years eve and that this year makes all your dreams come true.