Holiday Trifecta

We finished our wine-tasting tour with Zanata (not sure of the spelling) and Godfrey Brownell (sure of the spelling ;-). The first place was in a nice old house, but the host was in a hurry, as he had a bus tour arriving momentarily. The wines were quite nice - we particularly liked the whites - but not outstanding. But I did help myself to some money plant seeds in the garden on the way out - I figured they were probably not going to be harvested, and I have been wanting to plant some money plants. Back when I was a poor single mum, I thought it was a giggle having money plants at the front door, and I have been wanting to grow them again. Now I have the seeds, but I'll have to wait until next spring to plant them.

Our last winery was Godfrey Brownell, an odd place that Rob, Nikki, and I had visited in 2007 when we did our all-day wine-tasting tour with Pete, Irene, and Elsa. The grounds look run-down and neglected - there are weeds in the vineyards, and the terrace bricks are crumbling, and the whole operation looks very, very low-key - as if no one really cares what people think.

When I was there last time, we all liked the wines, and I bought 2 bottles of a red named William Malman, one of which we consumed that night at Rob's. It was offered this time too, and I still liked it - in fact, Liam bought a bottle, but I did warn him that my second bottle, which we carefully saved for a year before opening, had turned to vinegar! Their best wines were $40 each, so I was not tempted to purchase either one; Liam agreed that, while they were tasty, they were not worth $40.

Overall, it is a slightly strange experience at Godfrey Brownell; the look of the place does not inspire confidence, yet they have some good wines, and this time they had also a jazz duet playing very nice music back under the trees. But very few customers. Liam looked them up later and reported that the look of the place is a deliberate choice, not neglect....I'm still not sure it works for me!

After stocking up on some groceries, we went home and played a hilarious game of Pictionary while waiting for the very delicious roast chicken to cook. After dinner, we played Balderdash, again to much hilarity. While Therese didn't come on the wine tour (she is, after all, only 16), she did join in the games, and we all had some good laughs. Later, we just relaxed in the living room and drank wine and yakked.

The next morning I was up at 7 am again, and it was sunny - I even put on shorts. But by the time the others were up, it had clouded over, and the rain came pouring down, accompanied by strong winds. Finally, by noon, it was simply cloudy but not raining, so we grabbed a quick sandwich and loaded up the car with our luggage, thinking to look at some shops and galleries in Nanaimo before going to the ferry. But we took the Yellowpoint road to go past Rob and Nikki's old house, and decided to stop at the very lovely (even in the dripping wet) Roberts Memorial Park, where we used to visit when Rob and co. lived a mile or so down the road. It was a very nice walk beneath huge cedars out to the beach, which is sloping and flat rocks, not gravel or sand. Everything smelled fresh and verdant, and I was delighted to be there again.

Invigorated by our short hike, we stopped at my favourite neighbourhood pub, the Crow and Gate, which is an old-English style pub in a park-like setting on Yellowpoint Road, not far from Cedar. Liam and Mel had never been, and were quite delighted with the appearance both outside and inside. It was very crowded, so much so that we tried sitting outside for a while, but it started raining again and we ended up on a bench beside the fireplace, but we eventually got a table. We were having such a good time talking and laughing that we decided to have another round and a couple of ploughman's lunches, and just stay there. I really enjoyed it, as I rarely get to go to a pub, having a partner who doesn't like beer and who has a dim view of pubs in general - although he likes the Crow and Gate just fine!

Mel, Liam, and I caught the 5:45 ferry, and sat in the caf eating snack food and relaxing: Mel watching Grey's Anatomy on her new Notebook; Liam writing up his wine-tasting notes; me reading my book.

We took the jitney together to the long-term parking lot, found our cars, and headed home. When I got home about 8:30, John and Daisy were at Angus and Natalie's - he had installed their new dishwasher for them. I was invited over for a glass of wine and a viewing, but I was by then too tired of traveling and wanting to just nest.

All in all, a great visit on the Island, and I still had the holiday Monday free to spend time doing chores. John and I had brunch and Scrabble with Angus and Tash, then Tash and I went shopping, all over town, for bookshelves. I had decided that we desperately needed shelves for the books piling up in the basement, so off we went. We ended up at IKEA and bought 2 different shelves, one for my office and one for downstairs books.

Then Angus and Tash came over for a movie and pizza, and we had some laughs - Angus WILL talk during the dialogue - then John went off to close down the Bonanza Gallery for the last day of the PNE (yay!!!!) and A&T went to the PNE to pick up Andre, who was working at the Gallery.

I unfortunately woke up at 4 am unable to sleep any more even though I needed to, with a sinus headache, so I stayed home from work. And here I am.