Wine time

I have enjoyed reading your posts, here! Keep it up!:eek:nthego:
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Hey thanks Meanderer for the encouragement. I will :) And look at you, you found my little red fish hehehehehe Love it.

I wish I had a glass of wine right now. I have sat dumbfounded but not surprized by the result of our Canadian federal election outcome over the past couple days. I am not a fanatical political follower, I stay pretty much on the fringe. I feel history is about to repeat it's self where this second generation Trudeau is going to follow in the foot steps of his father and rape the western regions of Canada. Sigh. Already, there is rumblings of tax cuts, killing our tax free savings, higher taxes, reducing tax benefits OMG and spending. And then he plans to let in a whole team load of refugees in to further tax our system. Of course this affects the entire country not just us redneck westerners. But history has proven that when the belt is tightened the west will pay.... And all this while we are in a global, world wide recession. My heart is heavy. But life goes on. I by no means intend this post to be a debate, these are just my feelings.
 
Certainly not....and I don't like white; so red it is then.
A gentle merlot, or a more robust pilotage?
 
I like a good Pinot Noir with Italian food like eggplant parmesan and a good Pinot Grigio with fish. I had baked Cod the other night that was soaked in milk for awhile because it was so tender. Then the chef added white Wine, Dijon mustard, butter, flour, garlic salt, and pepper to the milk. Baked it and served it with a thin slice of lemon on top.
 
Oh My goodness, wine and chicken wings and fish, I am hungry now :)
I had a nice Malbec with my chicken wings.
Last nite we were working on our home brew kids, and currently have a Roso Fortissimo in the making, the sampling was delish. Bold, heavy with hints of oak and raspberry but not sweet. yum can't wait. We are also making a Carmenere which is a family fave. Most of my family are big fans of the heavier bold red wines.
 
OK Fishful I will now confess to you about my one and only wine making attempt. The recipe was from an old issue of "The Mother Earth News" , made it maybe 1972 (?).

It was actually Mead. Honey, water and yeast mixed up in a glass gallon jug. A hole was drilled through the cork and IV tubing that my nurse friend stole from the hospital went though the cork and into the liquid , while the other end was placed in a glass of water. It sat there until fermented. I don't remember much else except it didn't taste that great.

I felt superior however, to my boyfriends buddy who made "wine" by mixing grape juice and yeast in a jug then stretching a balloon over the top. When the balloon got big, it was done. It was truly vile.
 
lol Radish.
Wine making has so many fun stories. I recall as a kid my folks made it a lot, and they were just getting ready to transfer it from this crazy soft sided plastic camping jug thing that you port water to and from in. It was up on the freezer in the basement and they both stepped away from it for a few minutes for some reason, and when they returned it had rolled (yeast is active so I am certain that bubbling made it kind of roll) off the freezer and bust open, and spilled all over the basement floor. It was lousy cheap cherry wine and the entire house stunk for days.
 
I have a confession to make, I have found I am addicted to reading all the doggie rescue articles I can find. I seem to be a sucker for punishment. It absolutely breaks my heart some of the stories I come across. It makes my blood boil at how humans abuse animals. I know there are many cultures where dogs are considered pests, vermin, and generally just throw away animals. I also know other animals are equally abused out there. I just am drawn to the dog stories right now. Perhaps it's because I have been a dog owner all my life. I wish I could be again, I wish I could be "that amazing rescue person". However we put our last doggie to rest a couple years ago, and I made a promise to myself no more. We are rarely home, we travel, we ride the bike, we all work (5 of us), we just can't give any pet, a good pet life anymore. I think my next step has to be volunteering at an animal shelter. I truly miss dogs but am a realist my lifestyle is not a doggies life style. sigh. Just my thoughts for today.
 
When my late hubby retired he started to make wine - would buy the kit and start from there; it was a lot of fun for a few years then
it was too much for him so he started to have it make at the wine store. He would just have to go down and help bottle it when ready.
Now 20 years later I still have my wine made at the wine store.
 
I find wine very social, no matter where you get it, where you get it made, or even how you drink it.
If we happen upon a not so great batch of white wine, we will add a little grapefruit juice to our glass and drink spritzers all summer long.
Wine is very adaptable... wait maybe I just adapt to wine ;)
Wine time, is fine time.
 
Introverts and wine,
well ok I added the wine onto the end because I like it :)
I have proven time and time again that I am the ultimate introvert. Happily and proudly admitting I like my introvert style. I love my home, I like to hibernate (maybe with wine from time to time, ok now I sound like Dr. Seuss) I like to disappear within myself often. I have one failed marriage behind me and there are many many reasons for it's demise. But looking back I see we were a terrible match, the ex-husband was social and I was not. WOW like that.
I am happily married now to an equal to myself type of cave dweller and it's awesome. We both find our peace with ourselves and within each other.
It seems to be a trendy topic out there right now introverts and now how they are finding out more and more about people who have always been there, but because we like the quiet, have been overlooked....
We are not weird, shy, snobbish, awkward or hopeless. We do not need someone to rescue us, check up on us, worry that we are dying of loneliness because we have not social life. We are the social balance of society. Not everyone loves to be the life of the party. Some of us are happy to be silent observers. We are happy to just listen and watch. What few friends we have are our best friends and are people who do not get upset when we turn down invites or go off the grid for a few days.
Heck I bet if somebody announced an national Introverts day, none of us introverts would stand up and cheer or partake in the festivities, we would just happily watch our own party from the side lines in silence.
 
I'm also an introvert - content to be in my apt. with my cat(Tortie) reading, puzzles, computer, TV. I do belong to a Drama club, go to yoga
go out to a pub or restaurant with others from here ( a retirement residence). I have my own car so am fairly independent.
Feel sorry for those who don't like to be alone, have no hobbies, sit in the public areas here all day just to see other people.
I do see friends and family occasionally, keep in touch on f/b so am not really aloner just someone who likes to be alone sometimes.
 
tortiecat said:
I'm also an introvert - content to be in my apt. with my cat(Tortie) reading, puzzles, computer, TV. I do belong to a Drama club, go to yoga
go out to a pub or restaurant with others from here ( a retirement residence). I have my own car so am fairly independent.
Feel sorry for those who don't like to be alone, have no hobbies, sit in the public areas here all day just to see other people.
I do see friends and family occasionally, keep in touch on f/b so am not really aloner just someone who likes to be alone sometimes.
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You are right there, being an introvert isn't so bad, we do like our alone time. I find crowds too loud and somewhat stressful.
 
It is one thing to have a moment of acting like an asshole but when it is not in your nature and it has become a repeated thing, I believe it has to be addressed. My father who is approaching 80 has always been a rather "angry" person. He gets agitated regularly by the smallest of things. His latest turn though has become bothersome. (I may be the only family member who is not willing to brush this under the carpet) He has slipped into bouts of anger that is accompanied with crude swearing and loud anger. And no filter. I have attempted to confront him and ask that he keep the swearing in public down. And he got angry at me to the point of yelling back and forth. I too can be combative but not often. He twisted my words around and tried to play victim and plead some junk about him being sensitive to the situation that pushed him over the edge. I was not too interested because he did zero to avoid the situation, he just attacked and cursed like a drunken sailor. I am not uber sensitive or self righteous about cursing. I am however worried that this may be more indicative of early signs of dementia. I have addressed it 2 times with my mother and she says she will address it with their doctor. My mother however is the shy, shrinking violet and this may never get looked into. I guess my next visit to my own Doctor I will inquire about signs I should be looking out for and how to manage his crudeness. This is not normal behavior for this man.

Sigh, I guess I should have a wine.
 
My father went through that stage his last year. Mostly dealing with strangers and especially physicians. We apologized. Doctors took it in stride. I think it's not uncommon.

Sorry you are going through this. Don't know what to tell you.
 
I have lost all faith in one of the best actors out there.... Leonardo Dicaprio. While filming The Revenant here and in the general area of this fine city he experienced what we fondly know to be a "Chinook". He was shocked, he said this about what he deemed "climate change"..... “It’s terrifying, and it’s what people are talking about all over the world. And it’s simply just going to get worse.” This just saddens me to see famous people make fools of themselves. Leo experienced a very common and popular weather phenomenon that we have had round these parts for over a century at least. These are also known as Snow Eater Winds. They come from the west coast bringing warmth and moisture. These winds hit the west side of the Rocky Mountains and loose all their moisture in the form of rain and more often snow, then blow up over the mountains and swirl down upon the east side of the mountains, still holding the warm air. We have seen our weather change as much as 20 degrees (increase that is) in times of Chinooks. This kind of weather condition happens in other places around the world as well, another city that I know of is Denver Colorado.

Leo you are another failed attempt at supporting the fear train. Do some research, ask questions, learn some facts before you go off spouting drivel, it makes you look real bad.

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/c...g-sign-of-climate-change-in-calgary-a-chinook
 
ahh again it's been awhile.
Life has just been coasting along and a gentle hum for a little while. We have made more wine and have a lovely healthy stock now. But since joining the gym I am consuming much less than before, but aged wine is fine with me.

We are currently the hub of news in our fair province these past couple of days, the northern city of Fort Mac. is ablaze over 10,000 hectares are burning, evacuations of thousands and hot dry windy weather with lightning striking randomly proves to challenge man kind.
Us personally (my family) are on edge as one of our own was deployed last night. As a fire chief, he got the call to take a crew and equipment and make the 10 hour drive to help battle mother nature. Safe travels brother of ours and keep your team safe as well.

This brings me to the real angst of this post... humans.... My brother in law is a fire fighter he has spent his entire working career helping and saving others. His job knows no race, religion or gender, he saves lives. A human is a human he does not pass judgement and for that we should be grateful.

In the news, and social media world believe it or not, there are assholes out there who are actually calling this fire Karma. Karma?! for what, for who. Fort Mac yes is the hub city that was developed and fed by the Oil sands. The people of Fort Mac live there so they can earn a living, provide for their family and contribute to society. These are people, average people, working class people. Just plain old people. The do not deserve to lose their homes to such devastation at all! This is not Karma, you tell the mother of a child with a severe heart condition that this fire serves her right as she tries to evacuate on her own with out the help of medical staff. You tell the children who will not ever see their home, their toys, their schools and quite possibly their best friends again, that this is Karma. Go ahead, and what kind of human does that make you. Heartless in my eyes. This is not the time to make such a political statement against the Oil Sands, this is a time to put your crap aside and act like humans. These people are lost. They have lost absolutely everything, something many of us will never ever feel in our lives. We need to act as kind caring and compassionate humans. Take a page from the 2 Native American Bands just north of Fort Mac. They announced they have not got much, but they can take in about 1000 people and will provide as much food, water and shelter as they can spare. There is true humanity. Alberta runs rampant with it, we have seen it before when Slave Lake was burning, we saw it when Calgary was flooding. To all these humans God Bless you and to you others who think this is time for your heartless and idiotic comments... stand down and walk away, nobody wants to hear you.
 
No rant today, humanity is amazing.
Today our news is filled with the amazingness of humans.
This fire I speak of has exceeded 85,000 hectares and is still burning out of control. 40% of Fort Mac. Has been burned to the ground. Firemen from the larger cities in Alberta have come in to sustain and protect what remains of the city.
This fire ripped through the center of the city sending residents both south and north, splitting families up as the entire city was evacuated.
Those who went south went to other towns and cities. Those who went north went to oil field camps.
Today those who went north are being escorted in a mass evacuation convoy through their city and out the south side where they will disperse to other safe places.
The great thing in all this is all across the province people are opening their arms to these poor lost souls. There are even airplanes loaded with people and their pets just getting them into somewhere safe. Universities are housing evacuees, our local SPCA put out a call for pet kennels requesting 800 and received over 1000. People in private homes have opened their doors to the evacuees, hotels are allowing people to come in with their pets.
2 young women were seen evacuating on horseback along side the horse trailer their mother drove which was full with 2 other horses. They had to go slow and ride the shoulder to keep out of traffic. IT was a hell of a feat as the horses and riders were flanked by flames. Fortunately along came another evacuee with a horse trailer half full and was able to load up the horses and take the young ladies along and follow mom and get horses and humans to safety.
There are calls all across the province for donations, support etc and Albertans have stepped up. I am so proud of my Province. There is more ahead and we will be there for them.
 

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