weekly gratitude

thank you slippers for keeping my toes warm for the first time this season

The last few days have been entertaining.

Did I say entertaining? I meant draining. Because as it turns out my car, my quirky little 1990 MB 300CE (luxury automobile anyone? HA) has decided to snuff out for the last time. Oh, that things called the "Control Unit" for the "Ignition"? Shot to hell. And it looks like the smarties of the early 90's decided to only make that particular piece for that particular car and... That's it. So now it looks like it might be time to think about a new car.

I'm hoping for a Honda or a Toyota so that I can barter with Shamoo should I ever need work done on it - whiskey & baked goods for car repair... Sounds like a good deal to me.

The ordeal has brought to light things I am extremely thankful for however...

1. Thank you Caitlyn! Holy hell girl, thank you SO much! Saturday and Sunday and that whole "getting-to-and-from-work" deal? Totally made possible by her. Even though she lives almost 20 miles away ("away" here meaning that much closer to the winery where we work) she backtracked up to Portland to get my stranded behind all weekend. So grateful for friends that don't hesitate when you're in need!

2. Thank you for HARVEST! We are finally knee-deep in grapes at the winery and I know everyone is breathing that sigh of relief to see fruit coming in. I'd venture a guess that we're about 3/4 of the way done but there's still a bit more to crush. Yesterday I got to go down to the cellar as they were bringing in about 28 tons of fruit from the Prince Hill Vineyard and our Cellar Master Jerry gave me the rundown of those beginning steps in the winemaking process. It was so much fun to watch! Mad respect for those guys and gals in the cellar (affectionately known as "Cellar Rats" - affectionately people!). They make our jobs "upstairs" a hell of a lot easier (and our lives a whole lot tastier) with the wines they help make. And of course none of it would be possible to begin with were it not for Mother Nature cutting us a little break so we could get some clusters off the vines and into the presses!

3. Thank you Charles M. Schulz and Vince Guaraldi for It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! I've been listening to the audio to it since the beginning of this month and tonight as I type this I'm finally watching it in full (and ooooh, Theoooooo it's almost time for this!) which means I'm sitting on my couch, cuddled into a blanket, drinking from my spooky-boo jack-o-lantern mug and acting like a little fool dancing along to the piano.

Enjoy this clip (a couple of my favorites) and click here to watch the whole thing!



HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!