Last weekend our dear friends Ben and Shar had a wine and cheese party at their home. It was delightful for many reasons, the most important being with friends and having the time to talk without little ones running about! Secondly, spending quality time with the love my life, all dressed up and handsome. One of our favorite things to do together, (since we first met almost 10 years ago!!) is to get dressed up and go out to eat. That hasn't been happening a lot lately with a new baby in the house, but here we are, Luke is 9 months old already, so our "dates" are coming back again! whoo-hoo!!
We began the night by enjoying some delicious appetizers that each couple had brought to share. It's so fun eating other people's food, new, tasty recipes.
Brian and Lyn, (Ben's parents) were visiting from England for the Christmas season. Brian led us in a great time of discussion about the various wines we were tasting. Ben had put all the bottles that we had brought, (each couple provided one bottle of wine) into sleeves to hide the label. It was then up to us to taste and explore each wine. Brian explained in such great detail the differences in each wine. It was amazing learning about this whole new world of wines. 
After tasting each wine we were to comment on it and give it a score from 0-100. At the end of the night the wine with the highest score was revealed. The wine we provided was from Canada, a fruity wine, and it was my favorite by far! Amazingly I didn't even know it was the one we had brought, but I knew I liked the taste very much, as did Jake. Thanks to Sam and Cheryl, (Jake's brother and his wife) that gave us that delicious wine knowing our tastes! It was a big hit because Brian was having a hard time distinguishing the grape. He mentioned that it was most likely because of the growing climate. Obviously the climate in Canada is quite harsh thus affecting the grape in it's growing period.
Often we would smell the wine and know before the first sip that it would be bitter or sweet. Although at times our noses fooled us and it ended up tasting much better then it smelled. Again, such an adventure for the senses.
The discussions were never ending about each grape, the storage of wine, the location, the growing climate, the ripeness, the cork, etc. Hugh Johnson writes: "The scope of the subject of wine is never ending, as indeed, so many other subjects lie within its boundaries. Without geography and topography it is incomprehensible; without history it is colorless; without taste it is meaningless; without travel it remains unreal. It embraces botany, chemistry, agriculture, carpentry, economics – any number of sciences whose names I do not even know. It leads you up paths of knowledge and by-ways of experience you would never glimpse without it."Here are our lovely host and hostess for the evening. Thank you Ben & Shar for giving us a night to remember.
The evening ended with these delectable cheeses. Needless to say, our mouths were happy!!
Some of my dear friends, Kara, Shar, Dawn and I. And the handsome chaps. Ike, (Clark's Dad), Jake, Adam, (Ben's brother from England), Brian, Ben, Clark, Chad. 
There is such beauty in the wine making process. From planting a vineyard and watching it grow, pruning out the dead branches, allowing the storms to come and strengthen the grapes, all the while hoping that the storms are not too ferocious as to totally destroy the crop. Hand picking the grapes, pressing them, storing them, allowing them to age. As I write it all sounds so familiar...
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love." John 15:1-9 Remaining in Him.
J.
This crib has quite the story! It was for sale at my neighbors garage sale, but I thought the price was too high. Apparently I wasn't the only one to think that, because at the end of the weekend it was still there and marked as FREE!!! So, later that night after Jake and I were in bed I said, "oh, shoot, we forgot to get that crib, it will surely be gone by morning." (Okay, so I said the "oh shoot, we forgot the to get the crib" part and not "it will surely be gone by morning," but it sounded like a good sentence)! Anywho....there goes my Darling, in his robe, down to our neighbors house and PUSHES the crib home! I'm telling you, if anyone would have seen him they would have definitely reported him!! When's the last time you saw a tall man, in a flannel robe, pushing a crib through YOUR neighborhood....AT NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's my little helper. He loves pulling the "
I had some of the best orange juice I've ever tasted, served in a chilled glass I might add. We ate cinnamon french toast, with fresh fruit, a lovely bacon and egg sandwich served on sun-dried tomato bread and of course, we had several cups of HOT coffee, (with flavored creamer)! I am eternally thankful when I get to a.) sit down, b.) eat food that was prepared for me and c.) drink HOT coffee, (as opposed to reheating it because someone needed something and I had to put my coffee cup down only to return to it 15 minutes later). 
Most of all, I am eternally thankful for the company in which I partook of all these wonderful things. I assure you, there is not a quiet SECOND with us, (not counting when our mouths are full). We laugh A LOT. Even on the way to breakfast I was laughing so hard my stomach was hurting. After breakfast, Jeane gave me one of the most thoughtful gifts. A beautiful book called, "A friendship book" in which 24 writers talk about what friendship means to them. Shakespeare, Bronte, Dickens...etc. She also framed a recent picture of Jake and I in an adorable shabby chic frame and lastly, she ordered personalized "calling cards" for me, note paper with my name on top and return address labels. They are BEAUTIFUL. 
Thank you Jeane, for being such a kindred spirit to me. Lets be friends forever....
Last month my dear friend Esther came for a visit from Holland. It was SO WONDERFUL to be together with her again, to sit and chat for hours at a time. I had the privilege of introducing her to Lancaster's Central Market, the oldest continually operating market space in America -- it has records that date to 1742!!! Needless to say, the history is quite amazing. We spend some time meandering through the ageless aisles, purchasing a few home baked goodies. 
Lastly, we stopped at my cousin 
Esther took this picture of Tyler....come on, how big is he getting??? So sweet!
