Friday, January 30, 2015

Vino Nobile 2006

Carm unearthed a special bottle of wine for us last night. The 2006 vintage Vino Nobile di Montepulciano was a rich black liquorice with black berry when it was first opened and then mellowed into a smooth red ambrosia.

But enough of that…

Inspired by the date on the bottle, I wondered what we were doing when those grapes were growing and harvested.

It seems that 2006 was a big year for us. I was still learning how to stay well and part of that was re-evaluating our lifestyle. A barn full of horses was a big responsibility and one that I wasn't well equipped for anymore - it was time to do some serious soul searching. Having the horses was my dream, but my dream was making my reality too hard to deal with - more than a few tears were choked on as I made the decision to downsize.

Initially I thought of keeping one or two riding horses but every time I rode I fell off. Side effects from medications were messing with my balance. I worried that eventually I'd really hurt myself and not just turn black and blue from a few bruises or limp from a twisted knee. I knew myself well enough to know that if there were a horse in the paddock, like iron drawn to a magnet, I would mount up. They all had to go. If you know me very well you'll know that giving up this dream wrenched me to my core. But in the end, I wanted to be well more than anything else.

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Fiorgyn and Ulfrun were two of the four foals that were born in 2005. With four yearlings and I can’t remember how many grown horses, we had a barn full at the beginning of the year. Throughout that spring and summer horses left the farm as we found new homes for them. By September we just had 2 left - Luna and Torge, one of the foals from the previous year. Two for the winter seemed manageable, plus I needed a break from the exodus.

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The horses weren't the only things in our lives, we had dogs, and some of them were getting older. Early spring we said goodbye to Grizzle, our Borzoi. He left a giant hole in our hearts which we were anxious to fill.

We got Kabira at the end of April. She was the last available puppy in a litter of 12 but I think we got the pick of the litter.  She does have an undershot jaw and a crooked tail, but those flaws are out shined by her loving disposition. Her 9th birthday is coming up in Feb and I intend on having a full post all about our Kabarific.

You would think that there were already plenty of changes already made but there was one big one in store for us – a change that would affect us for many years.

In September, on a lark, we went tent camping. We hadn’t been camping for well over a decade but it seemed like a good idea. Being away from our responsibilities was a balm to my soul. While we were away I felt a release of tension - it was almost a holiday for everything, including my illness. I liked it! But I wasn't crazy about sleeping on the ground – it was September with overnight temps dropping to just above 0C. It was so cold that Bella and Kabira wormed their way under the covers at night to keep warm – we didn’t kick them out, they were keeping us warm too!

The gears in my head started turning (at a ferocious rate I might add), and soon I had Carm convinced to do some trailer shopping. We looked at many small ones but were eventually drawn to a 24' fifth wheel. The deal was signed and we anxiously awaited delivery.

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Our first trailer arrived home in November. We were both really excited and couldn’t wait till the next summer to spend a night in it so as soon as it was parked in the laneway I started setting it up for a driveway camp. With a down comforter on the bed and a hot supper on the table we popped open a bottle of bubbles to toast our new lifestyle.

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One should always be drunk. That's all that matters...But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you chose. But get drunk. ~Charles Baudelaire

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