The Beginning of a Beautiful Postship

We had a great weekend. How could it not be when there was free wine tasting???

We all went to visit OH's dad for his birthday. It was gorgeous weather: cold, but sunny. There was snow on the ground in patches, the white kind, not the dirty brown junk. We had lunch with my grandma and aunt, who I haven't visited for years, for reasons innumberable. Okay, not really; there's just one reason, and that it they are my biological father's family and since I had a problem with my biological father, I felt like I couldn't communicate with his whole family because they seemed like one big unit, not individuals. But they are individuals, and now I feel like I can make that distinction and proceed to forge relationships with each of them and not feel jeopardized. Does that make sense? If not, suffice it to say there is a lot of history behind why I feel this way. All of which would make for a great post one day.

After lunch, we went to King Estate Winery where there is (free!!!) wine tasting. King Estate is the largest winery in Oregon. We tasted 6 or so wines (for free! free! free!) including a reserve 97 chardonnay, which was creamy and gorgeous; a reserve pinot which was not so good but only because it had just been uncorked and hadn't had time to breathe, which would've displaced the strong flavor it had which it wasn't supposed to have. Listen to me, like I know what I'm talking about! Ha!!

You know what I love? OH's dad is this farmer and logger, yet he defies stereotyping because he also likes wine, history, golf, recycling, and organic farming. He did mostly horse logging, which is much less detrimental to the environment than equipment logging because it doesn't use fossil fuels or damage the ground as badly. He also did a lot of thinning rather than clear-cutting, which is much less invasive to the forest, allowing it to recover and grow anew that much faster.

(Logging is a controversial topic, but to me it's simple: All logging is not bad; using natural and renewable resources is good; bad logging practices are bad; logging practices have much improved in the past several decades; my father-in-law is conscientious about what he does, so much so that he's had numerous back surgeries because horse logging? Is a HARD work for the person, too, and taxes your body a LOT but FIL thought it was the right thing to do and so that's what he did and I totally respect that; humans will always need wood to build houses and things, and it's much better to have people like my FIL showing us how doing it the right way produces a good product, gives people jobs, and preserves the environment, all at the same time. It's GENIUS.)

To be continued...