Wine, women and wishful thinking

Whoo-eee! Just back from another one hour walk and talk with a girlfriend.  I was pretty proud of myself for thinking that I had managed to get in 2 one-hour walks and an hour bike ride within the last 5 days.  Then I checked my calendar and saw that my first gal-pal-power-walk-and-talk was 2 Saturdays ago.  Damn.  Ah well, it's a start.

What has been keeping me off the streets?  Besides keeping the house in order for showings, work, driving kids all around town, hockey parties and welcoming Irma and Leo back home?  A cold - that has almost run its course.  The day I was home nursing my stuffy nose and head, I dragged myself out to Leah's last basketball game of the season.  She had missed a few games as she had sprained her ankle last week (playing soccer with the boys at recess). Thankfully Carson was home that day - with my car - and was able to pick up Leah from school and take her to a walk-in clinic to confirm that the sprain wasn't too serious.

I was looking forward to watching Leah play. This is her first season and she is having lots of fun.  During the warm up I could see that her ankle was still bothering her.  She was in the starting line-up (on a team of grade 6 - 8 girls, Leah being one of the youngest players), and got the team's first basket. And made this foul shot ("Mom, you can't see the ball in this picture!"):

The coach took her out for most of the last quarter.  Despite her assurances that her ankle was fine, both the coach and I could see a pronounced limp to her gallops down the court.  Time for a rest and a chance for the other girls to play.  Guess who wasn't happy with that call?

The big girls have been busy with their part-time jobs - both of them thrilled with the disposable income at their - uh - disposal.  Carson is saving for a car and Ev just paid a deposit on a class trip.  It's interesting that all three of us are taking a crash course in money management right now. So far I haven't had to borrow money from them...

I spent an enjoyable evening last week at a local wine-tasting event.  The one down-side to that night was that the only pen I had on hand to take notes was a big fat sharpie. Usually I love to write with it, but the pairing was all wrong with the wine comment sheet we were given.  I'm still trying to decipher my notes:

Let's see - the 2008 Pisoni Teroldego had "a good spine of acidity". And that 2007 Cave de Montlouis Sec, a chemin blanc, was too young.  These of course were not my observations, but that of Tony Aspler, a noted wine journalist.  Tony was witty, gracious, informative and not the least bit snooty.  None of the wines we tasted were over $19.95.  Of course, these wines were chosen for their potential to improve their flavour (and value) after a few years of cellaring - that is putting away for a few years.   Those of us without custom made wine cellars (the woman seated beside me designed and built her home around her dream wine cellar) were given a crash course on how to turn a corner of a basement closet into the ideal place to store a few dozen bottles of wine.

Very inspiring for a gal who loves good wine and has some daughters she can line up as investors to share in the dividends a few years down the road.  Motherhood has its rewards.