red oak winery

last night me and some co-workers went on a tasting and tour at the red oak winery in middleton, mA. we enjoyed a lovely sampling of red and white wines all made in french oak barrels right here in massachusetts! the grapes are grown in california and shipped out in refrigerator trucks. then the wine is made locally at the winery. the vintner, Frank Spadafora, gave us a really interesting description of how his wine is crafted using techniques similar to those of the wineries in bordeaux but using cali grapes rather than french ones.
i have already tried (and love) the merlot, cabernet sauvingon and red zinfandel. so i tasted 5 completely different wines last night (don't worry you only get a few sips of each):

• syrah-really good
• barbera-very interesting, peppery and spicy, never had anything like it
• vintner's reserve-a blend of several different red oak wines, dry and amazing (my fav!)
• sauvingon blanc-a very fruity bouquet and very tasty
• chardonnay-i'm not a big chardonnay fan to begin with so i wasn't a huge fan of this one

i think just about everyone went home with a few bottles for the holidays! i highly recommend checking out the red oak winery in middleton! www.redoakwine.com

welcome norah!

my dear friend marisa and her hubby rick welcomed their beautiful baby girl yesterday!

norah was born october 20th at 3:20am. i can't wait to meet her!

congrats to the new family!!

protest!

every night around 5-6pm foster exhibits a certain behavior which we refer to as "protest!"

"protest!" involves sitting in the kitchen on the mat and looking rather annoyed that dinner has not been served yet.

here's a classic shot of "protest!" that i just snapped a few minutes agodespite eating at exactly 6:30pm every night foster still loves a good ol' fashioned protest to remind mum and dad that he would be happy to eat at pretty much any time or RIGHT NOW! i would like to remind everyone that this dog gets PLENTY of food everyday and is not underfed! he eats at bfast, lunch and dinnertime and occasionally gets fun treats too!

i decided to break up "protest!" by trying to snap a pic of the two of us sitting on the mat. this was the best that i could dobig kiss!crazy puppy!

ok, back to playing with a hungry brown bear cub.........

a chilly autumn morning walk

we all went for a nice walk this morning at the westboro WMA (wildlife management area). it was a bit chilly but the foliage was pretty and foster had fun running around and sniffing stuff. such pretty colors
we had a visit from our neighbor's huskies on friday. they are big, furry and sweet.

jake and maya
gotta finish doing things around the house and get mentally prepared for ALCS game 7 tonight!!! GO SOX!!!!!!

anniversaries!

yesterday was dave's (and now mine!) sister and her hubby's 14th wedding anniversary! congrats jen and dj!
and today is my sister and her hubby's 9 year wedding anniversary!
yay kfc!

dave and i hope to be blessed with as many years of wedded bliss as you two couples! love you guys!

my first tummy ache

foster was a bit under the weather yesterday. i suspect it may be from eating a mushroom with bright yellow dust on it in our yard. he's been in a good mood but was having trouble keeping his food down. so far today he is feeling better. poor little puppy!

fall harvest

it was a beautiful day yesterday at shelburne farms and we picked all sorts of delicious apples. cortland, macoun, empire, red delicious, jonagold.....yummy!

i made an apple crisp last night for dessert and it was spectacular! (if i do say so myself)

this is how foster was sleeping last night for a bit

alright.....i guess i'll go back to watching the sox game. hopefully they can turn things around!