Rambling on.....

I finished pruning the vineyard last Wednesday! I feel a great sense of acomplishment and relief, now I can rest a bit until the vines start growing again in the spring. My dad came down that day and helped me finish and we celebrated with a glass of Blanc du Bois 2005 from my personal stash. I grew the grapes, picked the grapes and made the wine. Delicious. We had a very nice visit.

My Uncle is in the hospital in Dallas with cancer. He found out 3 weeks ago and now he can't walk, cancer is wrapped around his spine. Everytime he's given a MRI or body scan, more cancer is found, its fast moving. Lucy and I have been to visit a couple times. He has smoked for more than 50 years. He's weak and in alot of pain. Going thru chemo and radiation. It doesn't look good. I wish I could encourage them to incorporate some natural therapy into their plan, they are in their 70's and not hip to those ideas. Uncle Bill and Auntie are the folks my brother and I spent a couple weeks in the summer with, my Aunt was a school teacher and had summers off, we did ceramics and they took us water skiing many times. They were so young and full of energy.


Now for a VENT:

I babysat my neighbor down the roads 3 year old last Thursday and Lucy and I have been sick ever since. What is OK about sending a contagious kid down to someone else's house to infect them? I think this woman just doesn't care. But is stupid enough to think when you pump'em up with meds they are OK to send out into the world. JEEZ! The shear stupidity I have come across in this town! and the SH** I put up with in order to have friends for my daughter. This womans kids are spanked and yelled at on a very regular basis, so much so that the kids spank each other while playing, Lucy told me about this play, the kids are in their bedroom while I'm in the living room with the mom and this is going on, OK I'm good with it as long as everyone is playing and having fun, then Lucy tells me it hurts and they won't stop when she asks them to, HOLY CRAP!!!! We haven't been down there since nor will we be going down there. OH, I knew it wasn't ideal but I kept telling myself Lucy needs to play with kids, she wants to play with kids, although she doesn't really like these kids, most of the time. The thing is, they always feed our dogs when we are gone, of course we pay them but I feel I have to appease her or she won't feed the dogs, I feel like such a chump.

We are going to San Diego to visit soon for 3 weeks, I am soooo looking forward to being there, being with Gardner and seeing friends that are gentle, loving, thoughtful and WONDERFUL!