"Secret Love"

I really like the melody of this piece, though the words don't really grab me. But this nice, freely moving melody--I wouldn't kick it out of bed, to use one of our wine tastings terms.

I started learning about wine when my daughter was a eighteen months old. It felt like a grown-up hobby, and one that I could maintain ignorance about until I was fifty, or so. My perception is that then, if you are presuming to know anything about wine, you must have bottles aging in a cellar somewhere, preferably French, and be able to speak intelligently about any vintage that crosses your palate.

Here I am, five years later, and I'm way ahead of schedule as far as learning about wine. I know what I like: reds more than whites; new world younger wines rather than aged European style wines; big, fruity, spicy, dry wines. I still buy based on the store sales, and the attractiveness of the label, but now I can also buy wines that I know. Still nothing in my basement, er, cellar, except for the one dessert wine that needs to wait a few years, a gift from my father-in-law. I suppose that makes me a little bit grown-up.

Today we had twenty people over for a sit-down dinner, our annual pre-Thanksgiving event, where we invite some of our very near and dear friends to give thanks. We pass my daughter's plush hedgehog as we all take our turns to speak or sing. For reasons I can't really explain, except that it seemed like a good idea, we all wear antlers. And we drink bountifullly, and enjoy each other's company mightily. For the first time this year, I've deliberately remained relatively sober, and not just because I knew that I needed to write my blog entry at some point. Maybe I'm going to need to invest in better wines, wines I like more, things that don't come in magnums, which has been the norm for party situations. But still, also very very nice to enjoy my friends' company and be able to fully remember it all in the morning, without, I hope, a headache. And right now I'm headed back to the party to enjoy it a bit more. Hear's to us, one more toast!