Our alarm went off at 6:30 this morning. We rolled over and looked westward out our window at the beautiful Piedmont, once again lit by the sun rising out of the East. Dawn finds the hills a duller brown and mostly bare with the fall. The leaf drop is stark; the gentle roll of the mountain flanks are revealed and the neighbors become easier to find nestled among the tree stands and meadows. Hello Kate! Hey there Steve. Good mornin' Gary! After the verdant summer and the golden fall, the story of November is that the neighborhood is reintroduced. On nights when the wind howls outside we gain comfort seeing many the porch lights shining out from the country darkness along the valley.
The fluries had not yet started as we lay there waking, so there were none of the shimmering ghostlike floating columns of snowflakes that have come out today since. The room was quiet except for the swish/pant/swish of our fuzzy tail-wagging dogs. We didn't say much but we both felt excited. "Today is Chocolate Lab Day. Today we bottle the Chocolate Lab!"
It was a bit early for us. We've been sleeping in a little later and recovering from the craziness of the harvest and crush and tasting room. My feet don't hurt these days and Sharon has been getting back into the gym. But this morning was different. Our customers have been patient, at first quietly waiting for the ChocoLab, then persistently asking for it, then beginning with the pleading, and more recently threatening us with beatings if we didn't get more soon. Lying there...we felt...safer. I rolled over and smiled at Sharon. "hmmmm....not gonna be any beatings." Sharon smiled.
Fast forward to now. Mid afternoon and I'm at my desk writing. The wind is blowing outside my window and I can see the white flurries working their way South to North and West to East. Because the snow showers are clearly viewed as discrete white columns floating over the landscape, I imagine that they could be falling -or rising. I think that maybe there is a giant vacuum up above in the clouds pulling rather than pushing the precip. Was that a lake being sucked up or was that a cloud raining down?
Clearly today is a day for imagination !
But hey, CHECK IT OUT, this is no imagining! We just found out that we made it into the Wall Street Journal. In today's Food & Drink Section is the article: "Wine Events: Post-Turkey Quaffs" written by Melanie Grayce West. Ms. West is my new favorite journalist! Here's the website link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122722062836545671.html.
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