This Past Week At My House

This past week I signed up to volunteer at a winery. I was scheduled to work during a wine festival in the Northern Neck of Virginia. It was a long drive to Heathsville, Virginia, but it was nice to get away and do something new and different. The wine festival took place on the grounds of the Historic Rice Hotel/Hughlett's Tavern. This building is the oldest surviving structure in Virginia's Northern Neck.

The wineries set up their cabana's behind the hotel/tavern. The winery I was volunteering with was Vault Field Vineyards.

They are part of the Chesapeake Wine Trail. I have visited all these wineries and love the wines at Vault Field Vineyards. So many wineries age their Chardonnay completely in stainless steel. I'm glad they still age their's in french oak. What a spectacular wine, along with their Conundrum, which is an interesting mix of several whites. Their 2008 reserve red is a wonderful, bold meritage of four different grapes. Vault Field Vineyards is an award winning winery, and it was fun to pour their wines for the day. We soon were very busy!

This past week we bought a new gas/infrared grill. The infrared part is suppose to cook the meats/vegetables more thoroughly than gas alone, while keeping everything moist. Bill had the job of putting it together.

We soon we had a brand-new grill. The first one we've had in over three years.

Our maiden grilling adventure was with lean, pork loin chops. We've never grilled pork before, but my sister Becky does it all the time, so I thought I'd give it a try. From grill to plate, they were hot and juicy!

I paired the chops with potato perogies, brussel sprouts and green beans. Delicious!

Have a great week!

This Past Week At My House....

This past week at my house was actually pretty quiet. Well, quiet for my family. However we did have time together at Julie and Tommy's house after church on Easter Sunday.

All four kids were together for the first time since Christmas.



Miss Cassidy was as cute as ever.



It's always nice when we get to see Susan. She is so busy that months will go by before we will see her again.




No ham dinner for us! We had a half-bushel of delicious crabs.



Susan bought her triplets with her...(you didn't expect complete normalcy did you??) She has been bottle feeding 3 kittens abandoned by the mother cat, since they were three days old. They are now one month old.

Who doesn't love kittens? (Yes, Cassidy changed her outfit).





Kitty wanted to play peek-a-boo with her mommy....



Julie made this cute cake from an idea she found on Pinterest. What is Easter without peeps?



Games were played, kittens were fed and held, and everyone had fun. Even Lily, the golden retriever, had her Easter dinner.



Have a great week!

The RV Went South...And So Did The Vacation...

The winter was over. Bill knew the time had come to take the Big Beast down South. Some nights, just before sleep came, the thought would simultaneously cause both hot sweats and cold chills. However, before he could drag IT down Interstate 95, he had to get IT ready to travel...and that doesn't mean just hitching IT up.

It should be easy enough...just wash IT down after a long winter.



Generally, dewinterizing IT, is not complicated. But IT made it a half-day ordeal when a pipe leaked for no known reason...(IT shuttered with pleasure at Bill's aggravation).



Squirting grease into the wheels made the driveway look like the floor of an ER after a major trauma victim. (IT trembled with glee).



But, the next morning IT was all hitched up and away they went. Just to knock Bill off his game, (or give him hope), IT pulled like a champ. There was no bucking, squealing, smoke, or broken axles. However, Bill knew deep in his heart that IT would require sweat labor before the vacation was over.

However, Bill was thankful It let him live during the drive South, and sleep was sweet that night. The next morning when Bill opened the door he saw the RV of his dreams...



It was his ideal camper...compact, riveted aluminum sides, and only one small window to caulk. Surely something this sweet would let him enjoy his vacations...

Each day Bill toiled away on the menacing, hulking beast that had become his worst nightmare. He knew that even with constant attention IT would still drain his bank account. Past history doesn't lie.....




His chair sat lonely at the beach...



While the little camper beside him smiled and sweetly charmed Bill with her softly curving body, and shiny, clean lines...



Lonely, Bill's chair sought out the company of another lonely chair on the beach.



The week slowly passed, with Bill spending much of his time on the ladder, caulking windows, sealing seams, and hoping that it would be enough to satisfy IT's appetite for Bill's misery...



Finally, it was time to pack up and go home. IT was closed up, double-checked, and triple-checked. As we drove down the highway, IT raced past us, mocking us with it's greased wheels and spanking new caulking.



And just for fun, IT blew the cap off of the freshwater tank...just to drive Bill insane one more time...:)