Shine On Adelsheim!

Before continuing with wineapalooza, allow me one "real time" break-- I had my UCLA check-up (mammogram this time) yesterday. All was fine. And I graduated. I have been returned to "normal" and will only have mammograms once a year now. Just like folks who never had cancer! Woo-Hoo! Now, on with our regular programming....




July 24, 2011: Day 2, Part Two

Okay, I was wrong. But I can clear it up now. We didn't have that fabulous lunch (see post below) after Barrel Fence. Oh no. We went on to Adelsheim Winery and guzzled tasted another 7 wines before lunch. If you're counting, that means we had tasted 21 wines before breaking for lunch. I don't know if I'm impressed or mortified. No, wait, I do. I'm impressed.

Adelsheim was a winery that I put on our itinerary. A few years back they had a stainless steel Chardonnay (2007) that was my "buy cases of this I'm drinking it forever" wine. And we bought cases. Until we couldn't buy it anymore. Then I put Michael on it (he who lives in the region) and he couldn't find it. It was over. And I mourned the loss of that wine. That's the thing about wine---when a vintage is gone, it's gone. It won't and can't be repeated. Even with the same land, same vines, same winemaker... the weather over the year is going to be different, so the wine will be different. The barrels (or steel vats) are going to be different. The wine will be different. It's the fun, the glory, the agony and the great mystery of winemaking (and, uh, buying). Which is why I wanted to go visit the winery and taste every single one of their white wines in search of my new favorite.

Marketing Manager Catherine Douglas was our cheerful and informative tour guide,

out in the vineyard

and in the cave. And then in their "library" (the storage room for each of their vintages from way back to current):

and you know what I was looking for, right? Yeah, it was there. But, damnit (Willamette) I couldn't reach it. Or, well, steal it. I just can't.

But we did love the 2010 Ribbon Springs Vineyard Auxerois (yes, that's a grape and yes, that's a white wine, second from left in the above photo). Quite a tasty wine ("full bodied up front segueing into lemon; good minerality; finishes as a tarter lime mid-mouth" per Chris). Also, it was the 2009 Willamette Valley Chardonnay that came closest to my fond memories of the 2007 (as opposed to the 2009 Stoller Vineyard Chardonnay...but that was good too!).

So, right at this point we are 21 wines tasted. You'd think that'd be good for a day, but no.
We headed over to Cana's Feast, in Carlton where Wes gave us quite a tasting. I have to admit...I could not keep up. Plus, we were tasting in the barrel room, which is a nice private way to taste but, uh, they keep the temperatures where the wine likes it...call it 56 degrees. Yeah, I can't do that.

I cannot tell a lie...I ducked out and took a nap in the car. Michael and Chris though, they powered through another ten wines. 10!!! Their favorites were the 2008 Barbera and the 2007 Nebbiolo. I have to take their word for it for now...but bottles did come home with us.

Day 2 total wines tasted (well, by Chris at least): 31. Total for Wineapalooza: 36.

Willamette, Damnit

July 24, 2011: Day Two of Wineapalooza

We were not up at the crack of dawn. We were however up and out the door at an hour that was too early for Michael's boyfriend Brian or friend Carmel to join us. And really, they live there, so I can see their point. Why is it that wine tasting rooms open at 10 (freakin'!!) a.m. and close, mostly, at 5pm? Them don't seem like normal drinking hours to me. And I'm a seasoned pro.

Nonetheless, after a lovely room service breakfast, we met Michael in the lobby and we were off in our trusty white wine-mobile. Headed to the Willamette valley, which, yes, is pronounced to sound like Damnit, not William's diminutive (much as Chris tried, he continued to say William-ette all day....causing several cheerful folks to respond with the helpful "It's Will-a-mette. Damnit." For the record, Chris also can't say "query"--he says "quarry" instead. Other then that though, he's perfect. Which is why I share those two things.)

Chris on left, Michael on right; box of heaven above

Our first stop was the beautiful in name and in reality, Four Graces Winery. And I'm just going to stop right here and say: Pinot Blanc. Buy their Pinot Blanc (and send it to me!!!). We all loved it and we all bought it. Chris's notes say "good citrus with candied orange. Long finish. 500 to 700 cases made." My notes say "Oh my god! Oh my god! Ohmygawd!!" (You can tell which one of us is the professional.) I was also a fan of the Pinot Gris. And you can (almost) never go wrong with an Oregon Pinot Noir. Purchases were made.

We moved on to Winderlea Vineyards and a truly spectacular tasting room (also, the beginning of our "let's find the best tasting room bathroom" game! It was also the end...it was awesome and unbeatable. Think fancy hotel bathroom. Sorry, I did not photograph it. I don't actually take my camera to the bathroom with me, which I now see as a character defect.) But look at this place!You just know they have a fabulous bathroom. (And this is coming from a woman who spends a lot of Sunday in the kitchen and bath showrooms of Standards of Excellence where Chris does his Sunday Night Chef Fights.)

They are known for their Pinot Noir (which is not a Forgotten Grape, Chris's specialty, but tasty nonetheless). We tasted five wines and preferred the '07 Estate Reserve Pinot Noir. And this view:



We couldn't help but venture across the street from Winderlea to this clever looking winery called Barrel Fence Cellars. You can see where the name came from, no?

Does this help? See? The fence has barrels in it? Oh and a giant corkscrew sticking out of my head the end barrel.  The winemaker also owns a vineyard in New Zealand which just happens to be located at the 45th parallel south and his vineyard in Oregon is at the 45th parallel north, which is a fascinating coincidence and also allows for a very unique vertical...no, wait...horizontal...no, parallely-elle, no...well, a unique tasting of these two wines. Same grape varietal (Pinot Noir), different vineyards on these two parallels. Way cool. And for the record, I'm a south-y.

You'll be happy to know we had lunch next.
I was happy to know there was such a thing as a hot dog, wrapped in bacon, snuggled in a fresh bun with a slab of blue cheese, served with potato salad and baked beans on the menu at the Horse Radish Wine & Cheese bar and cafe in Carlton.

 Hey, one needs to keep nourished with all that wine tasting going on! And note...there was iced tea to drink. A little break in the wine tasting to let those taste buds relax.. And speaking of relaxing, we're only at lunch on this day. I think we'll take a little bloggy break and split this day up into two posts. I'm sure you're feeling a little tipsy after all those virtual wines anyway.

PR PTII

Also known as "Paso Robles, Part II."

Yeah, I know...it's taken me awhile to get this posted. Well, all I can say at this point is that it's been a really, really busy week or so as both a lawyer and a writer. I will have very exciting writer news to share very soon (lawyers aren't really allowed to share their news..oh, and it's rarely exciting to non-lawyers)! In the meantime though, I wanted to share a bit more about my Paso Robles week of wine and writing. I mentioned our neighbors in PR. They were awesome. So cute. So well behaved. Perfect in every way. Allow me to introduce you to a few of them:

This is Clover (so named because he has a brown clover-shaped marking in the fur around his butt). He lives at Venteux Winery. (Let me also highly recommend their Hospice du Bone wine...mmmmmm).

This is El Cid from Ambyth Winery (he's a golden-doodle!). Simply adorable. Also, I'm going to recommend the Ambyth Rosada Rose...and just going to this absolutely spectacular vineyard. The views are incredible. The wine is delicious and if you are as lucky as we were, the caretaker Gustavo and his lovely wife just make a deliriously fabulous shrimp Veracruz and chips and guacamole (she put cucumber in the guac! never hear of that but it was fabulous!).

This is El Cid's pal at Ambyth whose name is momentarily escaping me. But he ran way out ahead around the entire vineyard leading the way as Gustavo drove Chris and me around in the Polaris for a tour...wineglasses in hand.

This was our next door neighbor for the week. Never did catch her name; she mostly kept to herself.

This is Cabernet. He lives at Eberle Winery with his less-willing-to-be-photographed sister, Roussanne.

I did not catch these girls names either, but clearly they were having their own girls' weekend.  We'll just call them Lori, Jane and Teresa. (The photo is taken from the car, through the windshield while we waited for them to cross).

Bartender Zachery. Cute waiters are also part of the native wildlife of Paso Robles. (And Zachery was an English major in college. Mild swooning.)

T (heart) PR.

Catching my Breath

Crazy schedule has not calmed down. But I did have a little time today to think about the fact that in a mere 3 months I will be in France. On another of our wonderful, relaxing, tasty, wine-drenched Words & Wine trips!!

And then that caused me to go...."holy crap, 3 months away?? We're in charge of this thing. We've got to get the itinerary to folks!!" So uh...this blog fell by the wayside. But you can check out part of the itinerary that's getting firmed up and looking good ("holy crap, I only have 3 months to do that myself!!") over at http://wordsandwinellc.blogspot.com 
And in the next few days, Chris should have all the info and the full itinerary on the Wordsandwine.com website. (We still have a few spots left for some wine-lovers to join the tour!). Hey, I wonder if this means life is sort of returning to a pre-cancer normal? Now there's a thought!

I'll be back blogging over here soon...I hope.

(P.S. photo is Chris and pre-cancer/chemo Teresa on the first Words & Wine trip...August 2006. Awwww...)

Passing Time in Paso

Even though 2010 is still the worst most horrible terrible no-good year (if this confuses you, click here for a reminder: "terrible no good year"), we've already had what would be called "an amazing journey" if we were a reality TV show.

Last weekend Chris took me away from it all to Paso Robles in Central California to celebrate my birthday and, well, do a little business. But when your business is wine, that's not a bad thing. A little background for those of you who don't know Chris (and okay, if you're really new to the blog: Chris is my "significant other" of nearly 6 years). He writes a wine column for Area 9 magazine and he also runs a website called ForgottenGrapes.com (yep, that's a link to it--check it out!). Lately he's expanded his wine repertoire  to include wine tasting events at restaurants and wine bars. He puts on a great "show" that's entertaining and pop-culture referenced filled and at the same time educates the audiences on some of the lesser known wines (so Mourvedre, Viognier, Roussane, Carmenere....not Chardonnay, Cabernet or Pinot Noir; you got that right? No? Okay...time for you to check out the website). His next big adventure and expansion into eventual world dominance of Forgotten Grapes everywhere is leading a wine tour through Paso Robles for a long weekend  April 8th to the 11th, 2010. 10 or 12 of us will get to tour the wineries of the Central Coast, but not just hopping out of the van and running into the tasting bars with the masses of humanity. No, we'll be meeting with the winemakers, getting private tours, doing barrel tastings, and in a few cases, dining with the winemakers in their private tasting rooms.  (If you're interested in joining us....and why wouldn't you be??...there's room for a few more. Check it all out at ForgottenGrapes.com).

So this past weekend, Chris and I had the very, very difficult job of scouting out the trip. We went to most of the wineries on the trip, met with the winemakers, ate at the restaurant and checked out the house (well, it's really two houses) that will be the accommodation for our group. Awesomeness everywhere. So many good wines, but the people we met were even more impressive. So kind, friendly and genuinely interested and passionate about their wines. Maybe because Chris is so knowledgeable in an area that most know little or nothing about (another word for "Forgotten" grapes might be "obscure"), the conversations were endlessly interesting. (Another thing to know about Chris is he has an encyclopedic knowledge of just about everything and particularly wine; I'm old so I say "encyclopedic"; our younger friends call him "Chrisipedia.")

I wasn't in charge; I had no duties or obligations; I was chauffeured about, wined, dined, wined, pampered, wined, and generally spoiled and relaxed all weekend long. Sheer bliss. And I fell in love with Paso Robles. Very few places make me want to pack up and move. Paso Robles had me not wanting to even bother coming home to pack up anything (except Seamus; we need Seamus with us). Here's some photos from our trip:

 

This is Chris (right) with Claiborne Thompson of Claiborne & Churchill winery (they're both Princeton grads so they had that in common too)

The house our group will be staying in come April. It sits high on a hill overlooking the wine valley.

The Pinot Noir flight tasting at Wild Horse.

Dinner at the home of Lisa & Ted Plemons, with Alice and Steve Cass. The four of them own Cass Vineyards & Winery. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Ted...but trust me, he looks just like Richard Branson!

Here's Lisa with their dog Fig. Fig was very Seamus-esque (note his presence at the table and the defiant stare; yep, that's Seamus!)

These were a select few photos from Saturday and Sunday. Still to come, the Monday photos (hint: Monday had gorgeous weather--that's when the photo that is now the blog header photo was taken).

To think, this time last year I had just started my very first chemo treatment. A trip like this makes that all a very distant memory.

A Whole New Life

Chris whisked me away to Paso Robles for three glorious days of wine tasting to celebrate my birthday (birthdays get bigger celebrations these days!). I'd like to pack up my life and start a new one in Paso Robles, with Chris and Seamus of course. Here's a few reasons why:

 

  

  

More on the trip later. For now, I just look at these photos and sigh. And then I remember I need to get my butt into work!

Living Strong

Thanks for all the comments on the last blog post (and a few emails too). Seems I'm among the last to learn this whole "balance" thing. I have however started consciously working on it. Not too bad so far.

This was a a busy week at work and I've been on a bit of a writing roll--the whole memoir thing as taken on a life of it's own (up to 60 pages of that really crappy first draft so far!). But those are both good things. It feels great to be writing. Chris and I also had some enjoyable time with friends  (and their dogs) when we "had" to sample some wines for Forgotten Grapes.

So that's photo number 1 --Seamus and co-horts Harold and Bobby--in our kitchen begging for some of Chef Brein's food while their humans engaged in a little wine tasting on the patio. And yes, we know it sounds like our dogs are from some private school. And Seamus is the foreign exchange student.

I did also attend a couple of fundraisers this weekend (old habits die hard; and the tickets were already purchased). Friday night was the Riverside Humane Society's Comedy Night. Chris was my co-M.C. and he did great!! (I might be biased, but it's true anyway.) And the Riverside Fine Dining Group's Gala event kick-off for restaurant week was Sunday night. Here's the best picture I have from that event (Becky Whatley and Scott Petersen at the Omakase serving table; and how awesome is that moon??):

And then here's me...hot, sweaty, but having fun. And can you note the important thing in this photo?

Right! It's my yellow LiveStrong bracelet! That's the one that my new friend and fellow Cancer Conqueror Stephanie, she of the Bah! to Cancer blog, got for me in Dublin at the Lance Armstrong Global Cancer Summit. It traveled from Dublin to England (where Stephanie lives) all the way to California. I sent her a Survivor shirt in exchange and if you click here (on this! right here!!) you can see her blog where she's posted a pic of her in the Survivor t-shirt. Which I just find really cool. One of the  silver linings to the breast cancer odyssey is definitely the people you meet (even online in this case). Odd, but true.

Oh, okay, so in the photo you might also notice cleavage. My plan was to distract people from my ridiculously short hair.  Not bad for a breast cancer chick though, huh?

Coming to the End

Seems this whole cancer thing may be coming to an end soon. Well, my whole cancer thing. At least we hope, right? I've still got 7 radiations to go, but it's been almost 7 months since I made my way into the doctor's office to have a thickening lump in my right breast checked out. There is a way in which it just seems like that time has flown by--and I'm amazed at everything I've been through. And in another way, it's almost hard to remember time when I wasn't dealing with The Cancer. Little things will happen that point out how much time has gone by and how Cancer really does suck away all your time (not to mention energy). For example, I was at Barnes & Noble on Friday and found out my Reader's Advantage card had expired. How can that be? I'm in bookstores all the time. Nope, it expired. In December. Right. I haven't been there since December. 7 months ago.

Chris and I were also talking about our upcoming trip to Chicago, which is a little bit business (I'm going to a conference and Chris has two Forgotten Grapes wine tasting events) but we're also swinging down to Springfield, Missouri to visit parts of my family for a couple of days and we'll have a day and a half or so in Chicago to play, so it's a little bit vacation too. Then I realized that while I've of course missed a few days of work here and there for The Cancer, other than the Monday we took off for our La Jolla weekend of decadence, we haven't been on vacation in over a year. Don't get me wrong, I realize lots of people don't go on vacation for a lot longer than that. It's just that we're not those people. Much like being in bookstores a lot, we also travel a lot. We get away as much as we can, whether it's weekends in San Diego or San Francisco or wine tasting in France, we kind of like to go. That's why we have a townhome and no real yard--our money goes elsewhere and we don't have a lot of "house" to take care of. Surgery, chemo and radiation have really put a damper on the travels. We canceled our trips to France of course, but also to Napa/ Sonoma and never did get to even finish up plans for a long weekend in Cambria and the Central Coast of California before The Cancer intervened. Wow. I miss traveling!

Another thing has got me thinking about the fact that this Cancer treatment drama is coming to an end and that's this blog. Some of you have even asked--what happens to the blog when the treatment ends? And fellow blogger Sara (Sara in Vermont--- check it out!) had early on mentioned to me that when the breast cancer "odyssey" ends, the blog will too. She learned this herself when she had a Sara Meets Australia blog that ended when....well, Sara was no longer in Australia (she's back in Vermont--you got that, right?). Treatment ends July 14th (The Machine willing) and the Survivor party is July 19th. Then I get an entire one-month break before I go for check-ups with Drs. Glaspy (oncologist) and Karam (surgeon; you could not have forgotten this!) on August 14th. I assume then I will learn what my follow-up care will be. At this point I understand it will be every 3 months. I'm hoping I get to talk to a nutritionist also. Even though me talking to a nutritionist my have the same effect as me walking into a church (cue the lightning), I think it would be a good thing to do. I believe this every 3 months thing goes on for a few years. And of course, I'm not considered out of the woods ("cured"?) for five years (although apparently with my kind of cancer--triple negative--there's a higher chance of recurrence but it peaks at three years). So what do we call the end of treatment and therefore the end of the blog?

I sort of like a different date as the "end" of the blog. December 15th, 2010. It's the day Chris and I hop on a plane for Maui. But it's also the 365th day since I walked into the doctor's office complaining of that dang-blasted (and doctor-excised) lump. Kind of a year in the life of a breast cancer patient. But then, what will I be posting for the next 5 months? (I realize that Chris's hair growth even when combined with my far less spectacular hair growth does not an exciting blog make.) I suppose I'll know more (and probably post less) once I have the follow up appointments. In the meantime, there is only one thing to do. I must take it to the readers!!

Yep, there is a new poll over there to the right. Vote now. Vote often (I'm kidding; you can only vote once...per computer).What makes sense as the end of this blog? You will note this blog has a much shorter polling period--that's because one of the options is to end the blog with my final treatment. There are some other choices, but it does seem the blog must end. Sorry, but I'm not willing to have a recurrence of cancer just to keep blogging. Besides, Chris and Rachel and I have been talking about getting our Words & Wine blog going (wine, writing, books, France...stuff like that; or drunk ramblings, it's a TBD thing right now), so there is always that to turn my attention to.
P.S. The picture at the top is from one of our trips to France (we're in the Rhone Valley). Sometimes I like to reminisce about our travels...and having hair longer than Chris's.

Wig in the Wind

No posting Sunday and I've barely got the energy tonight. But that might be the wine. There was at least wine tonight.

The cement in my veins has subsided a bit. My upper arms and rib cage are still sore, and oddly so is my throat. And of course, my nemesis "dirt/metallic taste" has returned and is insisting on having things his way. I'm still fairly tired, also. I lasted at work only until 4pm. It probably would have been wise to take a nap around 2 and keep going after that, but it just didn't work out that way. So by 4 pm I was all but asleep at my desk. Oh, and it was windy today and I had to think about the hair (uh, yeah, that would be the wig) more than usual. It was all too easy to picture it just blowing off and down the parking lot as I tried to make it from my car to my office. Maybe I should carry back-up wigs in my trunk? Would this be a normal thing to do? Okay, probably not. But a back-up scarf is probably not a bad idea. Especially since the late afternoons find me itching to take the hair off. I don't think I'm going to last long with these wigs. I'm liking the scarf look more and more.

I got home a little after 4 and went straight to bed. I napped, soundly, until 5:30. Then Brein and Roryann Clements (Omakase, you remember, yes?) came over to do some wine tasting with Chris (it's all in the name of Chris's new wine website/ blog...which you'll hear about soon enough). I participated a bit--even "healthy" I can normally taste only the whites, as I'm allergic to American reds. Some of the wine still tasted good to me, and some of the cheese and breads did as well.( Which was a good thing because that turned out to be dinner!) Normally I have a decent nose for wine and I'm not too awful at identifying the particular characteristics (even if I do occasionally say "smells like dirt" and Chris has to gussy that up to "Earthy on the nose"), but I was no help this time. "Metallic taste" really had no credibility. And "earthy in the mouth" is not really what one looks for. So I was really "cancer girl" just pretending to participate. I was also a lot less drunk. Damnit.

All of this is to say, I have to admit that over this past weekend and today it has occurred to me that...I'm tired of cancer. Sure, it was fun while it lasted, but um, can we move along now? It's been 3 months. That seems like enough time. (It was in fact three months ago exactly that I received the "highly suspicious of malignancy" phone call.) There's just so much to think about and really everything changes. Not much gets to stay the same. Which is annoying. It's hard not to be a "cancer person." This past weekend I kept apologizing to Chris for his having to go through this too. Not that I chose it, or it's my fault, but I just felt bad for him. He assures me that cancer or no, he would have been home watching the March Madness all weekend anyway. I know (from years past) that this is true, so I also know that I was just in a weird/bad/sad/tired place. And that's what cancer does--it finds a million little ways to push you to those places. So now it's time to push back. I'm through with the meds, the Neulasta shot cement effect is wearing off, and I've got more than two weeks before I have to go back for more chemo. Time for margaritas with my friends.

Oh, and I got a jury duty summons today. Yep. Of course I did. For April 20th. Which is....day 12 after the next chemo round. I sure hope they let me postpone that. Did I mention I have cancer?

Hanging with Seamus on a Sunday

Chris headed down to San Diego today on a much earned reprieve from caretaking to join BRIEN and RORYANN CLEMENTS (Restaurant Omakase but you must know this by now!) and JULIE and BOB DE KORNE (of Ciao Bella--another very good Riverside restaurant with excellent martinis;) to attend the California Family Winemakers tasting event in Del Mar. I still can't be around crowds; I'd never last that long and I darn sure can't drink that much, so rather than be a wet blanket I stayed home like the ugly step-sister. And I'm even red-headed now! That's Julie in the picture with Chris. Roryann is sending Facebook updates every so often. It's almost like I'm there, but without the wine and the food, so really, not at all. After my day of medical bills and taxes yesterday and then missing out on such a fun event today and instead staying home and working (you know, to pay those medical bills), it was hard not to launch into a full blown pity party. I came close. More than once. I hovered in the yellow/orange zone. But luckily I had Seamus and he abhors pity parties. If you suffer from depression, get a beagle. Then get some food. You'll be endlessly amused and laughing in no time. Seamus even convinced me to take him for a walk (this is when I was explaining to him that I am fat, and ugly, and now broke; he was sure a walk would cure all of that. He wasn't far off. My perspective returned.) That's two days in a row of walking! For me, that's like a full-blown exercise routine. I'm sure I even worked off the Lay's potato chips I ate at some point during the pity party (because come on, what's a pity party without potato chips? And Lay's is the perfect food--oil and salt with just enough potato to hold it all together. Perfection.) I'm thinking keeping busy is somewhat key to this positive attitude thing. Just maybe not busy with a bag of chips.

And speaking of more positive (yeah, I'm stretching to connect things here) an interesting email from a stranger reading my blog arrived the other day. The author was reaching out because of reading Chris's rant, and then mine, about our horrific experience at Quest Diagnostics last Monday. She offered up some useful information on how to make it go better the next time. Apparently Quest takes appointments and this can be done even in an emergency. And she gave me a website to go to to make the appointment which also helped me find a much closer (and fingers crossed--less crowded) location. The website was simple enough: www.questdiagnostics.com and there was also the Quest Diagnostics Patient Services Center link. And then interestingly, Quest has partnered with Google in a service called Googlehealth which will allow you to keep your medical records online all in one place, easily accessible for future use. Unfortunately, that's not available in California yet. Finally, there is a way to get lab results online (that'a a link I hope) if your physician is signed up with Quest. I have to get my physician to sign up first, but there's a handy little letter I can print out and bring to her to discuss that possibility. Now, none of that is going to make Ms. Bryman recent grad respond any faster should my white blood cells disappear again, but the appointment may shorten the wait, I now know to ask for the lead person in the Patient Services Center to explain my situation (dire), and that I can give them my cell phone number and go wait in the safer, warmer, more relaxing car until it is finally my turn. I will test some of this when I go in on Tuesday for the blood test to make sure I'm okay for chemo on Thursday. Starting with making the appointment. At any rate, I thought it was awful nice of a total stranger to reach out like that. Thanks!

And last but not least, my father called to agree that I look like my brother with my new shorn look. He also thinks I look like my mother in the red wig (they are long, long divorced and I didn't dare ask if the similarity was a good or bad thing). I think I look like my mother in the wig a bit too. My mother, who declined to comment, did say she would get my brother to read the blog to see what he thought. No word so far. But this will prove my point:
This is me with my two sisters and my brother (in age order oldest to youngest left to right). Note how none of us look alike. My brother looks exactly like our dad, my older sister looks like our mom, and my younger sister looks like her mom (this being my family, my sisters do not have the same mother; you probably figured that out). I look like nobody--when I have hair. Or at least blonde hair. A little from dad, a little from mom, a little from those Vikings that pillaged Ireland 100's of years ago, but no one in particular. And it's always been that way. Now, look again at me with no hair. I finally look like somebody in the family! Okay, so it's my brother, but at least I know I wasn't left on the doorstep of some random people. It took cancer to know this for certain. And since my brother and I actually have the same two biological parents (trust me, this is also uncommon in the mix that is my family; only partially shown in this photo), this makes some sense. Jay totally needs to start sporting the hoop earrings.

That's it for this Sunday. I think I may have to do a little wine tasting of my own this evening. Judging by Roryann's latest update, Chris will not be home for a long, long time. Something about a wine list with 2500 selections. And it's 10:15pm and she sent this "live" photo of the meal they are having at Pamplemousse. Okay, now I am depressed. This was Scallops and truffles!!!! They didn't even save a bite! Even Seamus is depressed (he loves him some scallops and truffles). Lay's potato chips cannot make up for this.