the "in between" stuff

Yesterday's sky had a very Maxfield Parrish feel to it... 


 [This is one of my favorite pictures by Maxfield Parrish... ---> it's called Morning]

It would seem, the "in between" stuff is actually the bulk of what my life seems to be made up of. If wine is the destination, then I'm following the map as best I can -including all the detours. 

Friend Sammy returns tomorrow morning (10:30 ish) to help with the next phase of the wine making... pressing the grapes.  It's why we borrowed her wine press.  Sam says this part only takes a "couple of hours" as she's planning on working for the rest of the afternoon.  I have informed our wine enthusiasts (except for Alan and Lynn as I realized I don't have their number anywhere!)  Tonight I will make an apple cake with NO raisins so everyone can enjoy a piece.

Yesterday I dutifully stirred the vat o grape sludge three times.  I also went to see Andreas, with high hopes for a bit of direction and a judging of the grape juice.  I arrived at the Cava, carrying my small jar of juice, only to be overwhelmed by 15 people crammed into a tiny room, all vying for Andreas attention.  Everyone had brought big liter bottles of their juice (theirs didn't have little grape bits in it like mine did... hmmm) 

Andreas shushed the multitudes when he saw me.  He smiled and asked me how many liters I had, I said 39.  He looked a little blank then wrote down 39 on a piece of paper.  I nodded and said he told me to come back for the chemical to put into the wine, and also to tell me how much sugar I would need to add.  (He carefully wrote down my name and phone number on the jar).  He said "Now is not to worry with the sugar.  Later." He kept shaking his head about the 39 liters.  I think he had hopes for at least double that.  (But there are still so many grapes on the vines that aren't ripe!)  Anyway he dashed into the back (I got many dirty looks when he left his "post"!) and popped back with a little twist of paper that he told me to mix with water and stir into the grape juice.  He smiled sweetly and was immediately plunged back into the maelstrom of people with I am sure huge vats of wine waiting for his attention.   So that's it, I guess, for now- re: Andreas the wine god.

 So I came home, took off the netting that keeps (most of) the bugs out, added the paper to a small glass of water and dumped it into the vat.  Then I stirred, and it started to fizzle.



What next to do?  ("stir three times a day until the press!")



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ON another note: I went back to see Dr. Alex today and he was cross with me for doing too much as my knee was swollen.  He says "ICE, three times a day, and a rest for at least a half hour!"   I actually thought that was a nice prescription...  Much better than the ones that include large pills or disgusting liquids.

The great news as far as I was concerned was that my knee doesn't hurt at all!  (so yay! acupuncture!!) 

But the jewel in the crown of my morning came when after I got on his fancy scale, he told me I'd lost 5 kilos since last month.  It's a very reassuring start to easing the strain on my knee - I am not going to look at the whole amount I probably should lose, merely continue to lose weight until I don't feel comfortable doing the weight loss thing any more.  (yay! acupuncture twice: for the little appetite suppressant tags he puts in my ears!)

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Two more pictures of note: the first one is a picture of what I found on the floor Sunday morning.  At first, I thought it was a burr that the dog had brought in on her fur, but when I bent down to pick it up (without my glasses and in early morning 'light') I felt little legs.  But it WAS dead so I took it into the kitchen and put it on the counter to see what it was...

Yes it WAS a pretty big dead spider- that's a 2 euro coin next to it.  I am blessed as generally I am not afraid of spiders, but I must say I was glad this one was dead.

But that's not really the story... the story is that seconds after I finished taking this shot, I went to pick it up and throw it away.  Suddenly about a million baby spiders shot off the body in every directions.  (and yes, I did let out a full-throated scream.  I was in luck as there was a can of wasp spray on the other counter and I sprayed all the little beasts with no qualms. (all I could imagine at that point was having giant spiders coming into their maturity- in my kitchen cupboards!)  I am sure there must be some kind of a karma for all this.  That or it's THEIR karma and I was just the hand of fate!?!

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Last I wanted to include a picture of the sunrise this morning, as I thought it was stunning...









More tomorrow!


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