It’s been a busy spring, dare I say summer already. It all blends together sometimes, doesn’t it? It seems like time to fill y’all in on some happenings right at home.
Tina (my spousally-oriented compass of cha cha and smarts) continues to be a fine dance partner in this gorgeous, layered world. She did a semester of pro bono teaching in the psych department at Sonoma State to rave reviews. Do it again? Well, she says she really enjoyed it, particularly at the upper-class level where her students were more self-selective of her interesting class, as opposed to – you might remember this feeling – having to fill in with a humanities course just because. I found it interesting material, being that I continue to be a second set of eyes for her thesis work and curriculum. Not that I’m a Jungian expert. Just an enthusiast and a language geek. Tina‘s going to be a hot ticket item; she and her peers have developed and implemented some well-received workshops on a national level that incorporate the arts and the inner workings of what makes humans do what they do.
Noah, our eldest, and Tobin, his little bro, are each well on their ways to great things. They both plan to do some volunteer work in South America and Asia this fall (yikes – there’s never enough planning to do!) and are quite excited to get the show on the road. Neither has left the US before, so we’re thrilled that they want to get so far away from us with such generous plans in mind. Afterwards, Noah plans to pick up where he left off as a very talented digital artist. His connections have granted him the inside track into the world of Lucasfilms, so our hopes are with him. The guy can do the Shrek thing, and nobody taught him a thing. Incredible. You should meet him some time. Tobin, well…it seems he’s got the culinary bug. His employer hails him as a quick study, a true talent and a very hard worker. Sounds like a winning formula; his salmon recipe already brings tears to my eyes. Not because he didn’t share his secret but because he’s just got that thang;and that thang is going to be thousands of miles away for many months. Should we talk him out of the trip? Heh.
We found that grass doesn’t always just grow in the front yard without tons of water. So we’re xeriscaping it. Well, almost. Layers of wineboxes, manure, soil, leaves and bark are turning it into a place where we can eventually highlight fruit trees and such. But the crab grass keeps persisting! Someone said, “Why not just spray Roundup?” Heck no, said I. I’d rather take to it with a shovel. No neurotoxins on our land, thanks very much. Doing things the natural way may involve more labor, but when you do it with your wife, it’s a labor of love. This is one of the ways we, with our insane schedules, get time to chat about something that doesn’t involve a computer screen! And Carmine the cabernet vine – some of you know about him, born from seeds that create $250 wine – he’s doing very well in his little pot. Soon, he’ll go into the ground – and probably feed the birds that know I’m up to my eyeballs and unable to shoo them away. The dogs would, but we want to remain friendly with our neighbors, so Chester’s and Bella’s more vociferous bird-repelling program is in the process of modification!
Me? I’ve begun publishing a blog that celebrates human achievement in a way that really aids all beings and the planet. Science, esoterica, just good old generosity…when I get more uploaded, it should be an interesting, uplifting read. I’ll make this known pretty darn soon. Just a few more entries…. Then there’s the book. Yes, the book. Years in the making, months in the fine tuning….Simple Math: Deconstructing How We Talk About Wine is going to be coming at you in electronic form. Some of you have already been given some chapters. I hope you like it thus far. It’s going to take just a bit more time to bring it to fruition as a book you can hold and read on a plane. Please be patient, but feel free to ask for a sneak peek if you like. That is, I need to make sure I know you before throwing it out there, so I’ll assume you’re a mailing list member. And if not, well whaddya waiting for? There’s a lot of benefit in being a peep. For instance, the party that’s coming up on July 7th. I’ve always appreciated our camaraderie, and this is a far better way to share it than in some big hall or in a hot parking lot, right?
So, that’s about all. Remember to kiss a puppy and if there’s not one handy, give me a shout. Our dogs are grownups but they’re built for laps. (They won’t be at the soiree – they’re a little, um, vociferous.)
