Red, red wine...

The first wine club that we joined after moving to Santa Barbara county was Beckmen Winery.  They make some very nice Rhone varietals and have even had one of their grenaches chosen as a wine for a white house dinner.   We discontinued our wine club membership a few years ago - not because the wines aren't wonderful but because there are so many wonderful wineries here in the Santa Ynez Valley.  We still have a number of their wines in our "cellar."  They produce some wonderful syrahs and grenaches in their biodynamic vineyards.  They do grow some white varietals and a few other reds as well but are known for the Rhone reds.   If you're ever in the Santa Ynez Valley, their tasting room is well worth a visit.

Tonight for Mother's Day, I made a nice dinner for Cheryl - filet mignon and zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, and Romano cheese.  For desert I made cannoli (I purchased the shells and made the filling). We opened a bottle of 2005 Beckmen Purisima, their flagship wine which is a blend of grenache and syrah from their best grapes, and is only made in the best of vintages.  What a wonderful wine!  It reminded me why we joined their wine club.  We have another '05, two '07s, and 2 '08s.  I expect that each bottle will be wonderful too. 

Neither of our children were with us for dinner as both have partners and they needed to be with their families.  They were all in church this morning though - Alexis, her husband Christian and my favorite person in the whole world, my grandson Corwin, and John and Monique (who is due in September with my second grandchild - a girl who will also be my favorite person in the whole world).  I'm concerned about the future, especially for John, Monique, and Khloe, but I am feeling so blessed to see my family and to know everything we share.  More than anything I am thankful for Cheryl, for all that she does for her children, and most of all just for who she is.  The Purisima is an expensive bottle of wine (at least for us) but it was more than worth it to drink it in celebration of Cheryl and the family she has birthed.

In the Ghetto

Yesterday was the first real sit down meal for the blended Busby/Donkin families (although John was working so we weren't all here).  It was a simple meal, sauteed asparagus and sloppy joes, but I decided to open a little higher grade wine.  We have about 180 bottles in our "cellar" so I sat in front of them and looked at the labels and came across Ghetto Red from Joseph Blair winery. 

Yep... Ghetto Red. 

It is a fun joke as the wine area in Lompoc, CA is called the Lompoc Wine Ghetto.  It clearly is not the ghetto red I knew as a teenager growing up very near the ghetto in Wilkinsburg, PA.  The ghetto red I knew was Tiger Rose or Bali High...  I think it had some kind of grapes in it.  The Ghetto Red we had was a very nice blend of Merlot and Petit Verdot.  It really went well with the cloves in the sloppy joes.

Adoption Day

my little boy, John
that tree next to him is over 7 ft.

On December 13, 16 years ago, the Donkin forever family enlarged.  The story is long and complicated, filled with frustrations and joys and fears and relief.  After John had been a part of our family for five years, on December 13, 1995,  Cheryl, Alexis, John and I appeared in family court in Albany, NY and finalized the adoption of John.

It probably isn't proper to tell more of the story here but there is one piece that I can tell the world... that day was one of the most wonderful and impactful days of my life.  John is my son no less than Alexis is my daughter, biology beside the point.   I am so blessed to have him in my life and I am so proud of the man he has become and is becoming.

a smile