I got up at 6, a couple hours earlier than I had to, and
started the cleanup. There ended up being 10 or 12 bags of 
leftover food, three of which were perishable enough not 
to be able to survive a trip to Boston or Bowling Green.
After a flurry of activity, a circumstance was discovered: 
we were supposed to vacate the premises by 10, but Federer 
(Bonnie has an immense crush on him) was playing Djokovic 
(she has a blind hatred for this one) in the Wimbledon 
final, so we stayed until Federer lost the first set in an 
agonizing tiebreak - Djokovic ended up winning the match 
in five, 7-6 (tiebreak), 1-6, 7-6 (tiebreak), 4-6, 13-12 
(tiebreak). One of those events that will go down in history 
with Mike Eruzione and the US Olympic hockey victory and the 
6th game of the 1975 World series. But we had to get out of 
there and catch our lunch appointment with the Fords, and 
the cleanup crew were already there by the time we left.

Google has a very straightforward way to get there. What it
and we didn't realize is that there is a detour for Melvin 
Hill road, taking us many miles out of our way, another
detour for NY-88, taking us miles out of our way in the
other direction, and a third detour for NY-31, which takes
us to the wrong side of the Erie Canal, which isn't so much
fun, as even with eyesight I wouldn't have recognized the
neighborhood. We were wandering seemingly aimlessly down 
Detour NY-31 (I kept saying, this isn't 31, and Bonnie kept 
pointing to the signs that said 31, and I kept saying, no, 
it isn't and pointing to the orange DETOUR signs, which was 
about all I could see anyway. So we pulled over in near
desperation, and I looked left and there was the Whitbeck 
Road bridge, so we were not lost after all. A couple minutes 
and we were home, The 50 minute trip had taken twice that.

We had tons of food with us, much of which had no shelf
life in the car, so we loaded up the Fords' freezer whether
they liked it or not. Our plan was to take them out for a
local color lunch, and their plan had been to take us out 
for a local color lunch, but I overruled all that and made
stuff out of what we had. The Fords were nonplussed but
gracious, saying that they would not turn down an 
opportunity to have my cooking.

I made a homestyle meal of dan jiao (essentially omelets
filled woth ground meat, peas, scallions, and soy sauce)
and bai chieh ji (poached chicken with scallion and soy).
Perhaps some duplication of flavors, but that was what we
had. I hope they thought it was okay.

Jane and Ellie and Bonnie and I had done a tasting at Burt's 
comfort zone winery, McGregor, and I decided to buy Burt a 
treat and find the most prestigious Cabernet, Merlot, or 
Pinot available. I don't care for the Rob Roy, which is 
Burt's favorite, so I didn't consider that, nor the other 
fancy blend they tout highly. I ended up with the Pinot Noir 
08, a substantially rich meaty wine with more Bordeauxy cigar
box and dark berries than Pinotiness. Still vigorous, and
there's a reason why the winery considers it the biggest
and best of its Pinots.

Bonnie hadn't liked the current release Pinots we'd tasted
at the winery and was a little suspicious of my choice but 
had sort of liked the Highland Red, so I got a bottle of it
for our second bottle. It was pleasantly fresh, but Burt
harrumphed and said it wasn't up to snuff and led me to
the cellar to let me have the run of it. I found an old
rarity, Citran 08, but when I pulled it out, it turned out
to be the 00, so I told Burt to save it for their anniversary
and picked the second choice of Ch. Lalande Borie 09, a
large, well made wine that is still in its first youth, 
full of mint and herbs and pepper and blackcurrant. Right 
smack dab in the middle of its prime.

Burt has stooped a bit and is a little plumper than he was,
his height settling into girth more or less, and Shirley is
as lovely as ever, perky despite her recent travails. I
hope they last a good long time more, enough to have them
attend at least one more picnic.

It was a fun visit,  but we felt it would be wise to head 
out before dark, so reluctant goodbyes and we rode off into 
the, er, no we didn't, we were headed east.
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Fido Since 1991 | QWK by Web | BBS.FIDOSYSOP.ORG (1:123/140)