Catholicism+Wine

Saturday Cobwebs

It's a sleepy Saturday morning in the valley. Mr. P and I are cruising around on the internet, and Mr. D is dreaming of catching blue jays (probably).  Just a few notes...

 

<sigh> Not only would I not mind being in London, but I would love to assist at this Pontifical High Mass that Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos will be celebrating in June! Read more about it at www.latin-mass-society.org.

On an unrelated note, I'm discovering that the baby goods industry is just as full of marketing and messaging as the wedding industry.  If anything, it is worse: being a new parent, one is worried about "messing up" or not doing things correctly, and there are all kinds of goods out there to "reassure" you that by buying their goods, you're being a better parent. Examples abound.  Magazines are a good place to start if you want to see what kinds of gadgets are out there for anxious parents. I just read an ad about a "Prenatal Education System" that you strap to your belly.  The gadget then broadcasts "lessons" of various sounds to your unborn child. Spending the money on this product and giving your baby these lessons is supposed to yield all kinds of benefits- smarter! more ready to nurse! etc!  I wonder who gets suckered into these things? I recently talked about language development with a professor from BYU. He listed for me all of the abilities that infants have, innately, when it comes to language absorption and retention. An 18-month old, for instance, already knows syntax- well before he even comes close to reading. Babies have abilities that the rest of us will never have again in our lives. And Socrates, and Thomas Aquinas, and Einstein never had prenatal learning systems that their mothers diligently strapped to their bellies.

So some baby stuff is bunk, or at least easy to reject out-of-hand. But then there's the things that are traditional, and can cost a lot of money now: mobiles! wicker bassinets! strollers that look like old-fashioned prams! These are MY Achilles' heel. I almost buy these things, in my happy baby fog.

I realize, though, that darn it, I am a crafty person who was raised by a crafty mom. When we needed costumes, she made them. When our American Girl dolls lacked clothes or fancy steamer trunks, she made them. And she loves doing those kinds of things-and she passed the love of handmade goods onto us. I can knit and crochet, sew a little and embroider. My sister knits even better than I, can make soap, and does wonders with pastels and paper.

I was at the Pottery Barn website. If you want to see expensive items, especially for little people, go there. They have these adorable mobiles- one was even on sale. I was tending towards the sale one, when something shook me out of my consumer stupor: I could make some of these! They had soft, home-sewn stars and moons on them. I think I even made something like these stars for Girl Scouts in 3rd grade. So there's another project to add to the pile. A challenge, really: I want to make this mobile in such a way that no one knows it's been homemade.

I've also been hung up on baby furniture. I NEED a baby dresser, I thought. We're short on closet space. Then I returned to reality, again, and realized that I already have smaller, modular dressers that are even the right color. With new knobs, they will look very nursery-ish. Done, and hundreds of dollars NOT spent.

A dear friend of mine works at a magazine. She sent me copies of tons of wonderful, old baby patterns, mainly knitting patterns. Among them is the pattern, with a whole photo layout, for a sweater that Princess Grace knit for Princess Caroline. Imagine! Even princesses once knitted for their babies, even though, unlike for other moms, the need for knitted items was absent in Princess Grace's case. But other households traditionally relied on home-knit undies and baby items. And here we are now, not even considering that we could make some of the things that we buy. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I don't HAVE to knit a whole layette set. But as we try to consume and waste less, making certain things from scratch can be really economical. And it cuts the clutter from our lives.

I told you that this was a random post.  I just hope that it didn't add to the clutter of your own day!

Where's the Wine?

Every now and then I see that people have found my site by searching for wine. They must be thinking, "What about this site has much to do with wine? I'm thirsty, away with ye." And the truth is that I haven't had much wine lately. Ok, a few sips, since I've found out I was pregnant. But believe me, I miss it, especially during a nice meal. It's interesting that I don't miss white wines, which I usually like quite a lot (Chardonnay and Viognier being favorites), but I CRAVE red wines. Big ones: I miss Zinfandel, and Petite Syrah, and Syrah, and Cabernet. I had a bit of Bighorn Cellars 2001 Cabernet with lamb at Easter, and I was in heaven.

Even if I could enjoy wine all the time, there's a few other impediments to "keeping up" on the wine world that I've encountered.  I no longer work part-time at a winery- my back hurt so much from all of the standing that my concept of cheery customer service oxidized into vinegar faster than a jug of Franzia. I couldn't do lifting of cases anymore, nor quality check the wine (yes, you have to do that when you work in a winery). Pregnancy is a bit incompatible with that particular job, and I had recently found a teaching position closer to home anyway.  The second impediment is the fact that, when Mr. P and I go wine tasting now, he tastes the wine, I sniff a lot of it, and then I wander around looking at the retail stuff while he continues to taste. I get a kick out of the fact that I've become the spacy wandering wifey type, because those were the customers that always perplexed my at my own former winery job ("Are you going to taste, or aren't ya??").

So I don't know what newest of the new releases are out, though I did get a good start on tasting the 2005 vintages for Napa Valley reds before I got pregnant. And I loved them! I don't think you can go wrong with that year. Every red I've had (and they are still young), has been great. I am looking forward to partaking again of the '05's when they're a bit older, and doing more than sniffing them.

So if you've come looking for wine news, or tips, or wine writing that positively ferments with super-charged yeast- well, there's that "back" arrow button on your browser. Godspeed, and cheers!  For the rest of us- I suppose there is more to life than good wine.... right?

Just when you find a beautiful blog...

you find out that its days are numbered!

Oh well, I will definitely peruse the archives of Hallowed Ground to make up for lost time. A blog that has great visuals, and good theology! 

Sometimes, post dies Latine scribendi, or of smiling and SMILING and pouring wine for people, I just want to look at.. pretty... pictures... not read about Church scandals or liturgical debates.  Call me shallow. My lack of mental vim and vigor must be due to the carbon dioxide being released during fermentation of the grapes right now.  It can become hard to breathe if we don't remember to open the winery door often.  Whooo! A little light-headed.  Though that excuse doesn't help me during the other months of the year, when there's no fermentation whatsoever...

IN RELATED NEWS, visually-related and non-serious, I've discovered a wonderful modern poster artist, Jean-Pierre Got . For those of us who love Art Nouveau or Art Deco posters, it is a consolation to know that he is creating stylish and whimsical works. Some of my favorites (winery-wise and poster-wise) from his website . I in no way wish to profit from his work (even if it were possible for me to profit from it...), so I hope he does not mind if I post a few of his posters, with the link back to his site. 

Yay, Charbay! Not only do they produce lovely wine, but they also create vodkas made from fruit. GOOD fruit.  The poster pretty much sums up how I feel about their aqua vitae...

You might like Toulouse- Lautrec... but just make sure that your corks aren't too-loose! Ha, ha....... ha.

You know, just tonight I was telling Mr. P that we had to go to Toad Hollow Vineyards. I don't know anything about their wine or what they produce, but with a name like Toad Hollow... you have to go!  I sense a field trip...

Blogging 'Round the Napa Valley

 

A one-room schoolhouse on Taplin Road (off of Silverado Trail) that has been converted into a home. So cute!

 

The chapel at Holy Cross Cemetary, St. Helena. Latin Mass was offered here daily until recently.  Perhaps it can resume again now?

 

Peju Winery on Highway 29. People ask what kind of funny trees those are. They're sycamores- just pruned until their sycamore-ness resembles something from Dr. Seuss!