Pet Peeve

As many of you know, I have had (am having) issues with all of my heterosexual friends getting married and having children. I am not jealous in any way. Hello? I spend my days with 14 and 15 year old high school freshman. I get my fill of immature behavior. I have often threatened to write a book whose working title is something like:

"The Single (or Gay) Persons Guide When Their Friends Get Married and Have Children"

Topics would include:
1) How to not be a third wheel.
2) What not to say when you visit them in the hospital the day their first child is born.
3) How to avoid getting caught on the phone with your friend and having them put their soon to be talking (yeah, RIGHT!) child on the phone to "talk" to you.
4) Never attend a one year old child's birthday party. It's full of other married couples who have done nothing but spend every waking moment worrying about their precious baby. Write the check to the kid and stay the hell away.
5) Insist on being called by your name, never be called Uncle/Aunt So-and-So. You are a person, not a human gift giving/baby sitting machine.

There are many more tips that I can mention but you are probably wondering what the impetus for this posting was. It's Christmas time and that means that Christmas cards are flowing into my home at a rate of one or two per day.

Why do all my friends who have kids simply think that sticking in a photocard of their "adorable" child/children (and no picture of any adult in sight) with no personal greeting, suffices for a holiday card. I've learned absolutely NOTHING about what you did they did this year. All I can do is pull out the picture card from last year and see that Johnny/Judy can now hold a spoon and plaster food all over themselves. Come on people, put in a little more effort and care than that. Your actions (or non-actions as the case may be) are giving all you parents a bad name with your single/gay friends. Your lives are not to be lived only for your child. You, too, were independent, interesting and dynamic people at one point at an earlier point in your lives!

Someone's Birthday...

This past Sunday a group of 15 of us were picked up in two limos at the Diamond Heights Parking Lot for a day wine tasting in Napa. Armed with bagels, fruit and a fully stocked bar, the two limos were whisked up to the Napa Valley. First stop, Cakebread Winery. S. had arranged for our group to take an extended tour of the winery, the conclusion of which was an extensive wine tasting.

Our tour started with a walk through the grapevines. Being someone who is only now learning about wines (S has taught me now the ability to determine between families or reds and whites) I actually learned a great deal and put some of the words that I have learned in context. As you can see it was a fabulous day weatherwise.

The Cabernet Sauvignon vines have this unkept look because during the summer when the grapes are growing the leaves of the arching overhanging vines shade the fruit and traps heat underneath allowing the grapes to produce sugars for a longer time during the day.

This isn't a cucumber or zucchini, but actually will be a loofah someday when it is dried. The garden is on the Cakebread grounds and when cooking classes are held, the foods are taken directly from this plot.

The tanks at Cakebread Winery

Next stop, Peju Winery. This winery does not sell its wine commercially, only over the Internet, here in Napa or one can find it in top restaurants.

Peju's signature tower

We had our tasting in Peju's main tasting room which was the top floor of the tower.

Tasting at Peju

Here's a partial list of the wines we tasted at Peju.

I had tasted the wines at both Cakebread and Peju (come on I had to taste a wine that costs $125.....I mean the pragmatist in me was going "What the hell is so special about a wine to have it cost $125?") However, the little wine I had was making me loopy and so S cut me off. Peju was fantastic and we were off again. This time to the Merryvale Winery.

Merryvale

At the point in the day, I was enjoying the fresh air outside and dozing off due to my Asian gene deficiency.

The day ended with a stop at Domaine Carneros known for it's famous Tattinger label. Again, I took a pass on the tour and tasting.

The Napa Group in front of the Tattinger House.

The day ended with us riding the limo across the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. Happy Birthday S.

NOTE: I just spent two hours going through all the blog postings eliminating last names. I've replaced them with the first initial of the last name. On about five separate occasions this year, I have gotten some word of a person mentioned being googled and having my blog posting with their name show up. So, in the interest of people's privacy, I've taken surnames off of here. If you find one that I missed, please let me know. Thanks.