Nearly a Year of Thankfulness

Buckle up for a long read with nearly a year’s worth of postings in one of thankfulness.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I think it is worth mentioning the many things to be thankful for in the most recent months. But, in fact, it’s been nearly a year of thankfulness with trips, family reunions, and gatherings with friends.

Each one of the following mentions is deserving of their own post, in which I may expand upon at a future time, so just summary pics for now.

Artechouse

These are not listed in any real order but here’s the most recent activity, experiencing the Spirit of Autumn exhibit at the ArtTechHouse, where we where just some of the many adults who got to act like kids again. This thankfulness was about leaving your worries behind and remembering what it was like during childhood to experience the simple joy of discovery.

We colored leaves and looked for them to appear on the digital wall while we had an “artini.” Before we took our turn, we watched others dance with leaves in the main space and the side rooms, as well as make magic happen with a liquid-lighted floor that resembled what you see in the commercials for an iPhone 10.

Everyone came out of this exhibit smiling as did we. You could just sense the stress of adult issues just melt away.

What needed fun! This is the first digital museum of it’s kind in DC. I’m looking forward to the next Kingdom of Colors exhibit!

October was a month full of thankfulness. We enjoyed visiting 4 different Virginia wineries with friends on two different beautiful fall weekends. This thankfulness was for actual autumn color with crisp weather in the air and friends to enjoy it all with, while leisurely sipping wine with fun conversation.

Wine Tasting Weekends

Barboursville was the first stop on our wine tasting adventure. It is the oldest vineyard in VA and maybe in the country. It was started in colonial days at the time of Thomas Jefferson. Here are the ruins of the original manor house.

The present-day winery has a very California feel to it. That was perfect as some of our wine-loving friends used to live in California and know their wines. It’s our goal to do a wine tasting trip with them in Napa one day soon.

After all the wine we sampled here, we came back to our favorite, their Octagon. We happened to have it for our son’s Rehearsal Dinner.

Pearmund was next. We have fond memories here because it is where our families met to enjoy each other’s company the day before Piers graduated from UVA. That was a splendid day then and an all the more welcoming experience now. Families were there playing games. Friends were enjoying the renovated patio with 2 fire burning pits. Love that smell! We enjoyed a picnic and a rare chance to meet the owner and even tamped down the grapes.

We visited Linden and Green Hill another weekend and boy were we thankful we changed our date to Saturday because it rained all day the following Sunday, which would have been miserable wine-tasting weather.

The thankfulness during this trip was that one of our friends is a member of Green Hill. We were lucky to sit upstairs in the Members’ Loft because it was noisy and crowded downstairs.

Green Hill has a chateau down its pasture road that is set up for private wine tastings for members. We visited just to get a glimpse of what a pleasurable time it could be to linger. This entire landscape was very appropriate for the wealthy Middleburg set with horses and all.

Ending this segment by going back to Barboursville with wine tasting friends.

The Wharf

In between these two wine weekends, we celebrated the public opening of The Wharf development in DC. Piers had been working extremely hard to complete his project management of the Intercontinental Hotel for Clark Construction. We wanted to witness it first hand. He gave us a special tour.

Although not all restaurants were open, people were milling about, there was musical, even artistic entertainment as bands played and dance troupes performed throughout the development. Restaurants had their soft openings but there are many more to come, like Kaliwa, which I’m looking forward to. It is part of the EGFG (Eat Good Food Group), primarily comprising of restaurants in Alexandria. This will be their first foray into DC with proven success under their belt in Old Town.

There will be more pics to post about this. Meanwhile, The Canopy Hotel also has a location in this development with their own Central and Rooftop Whiskey bars that I want to check out.

The Canopy Reykjavik hotel happened to be one of the more interesting stays when I took my three-week, Scandinavian-ancestry trip to celebrate my mother’s 80th birthday this past June. I’ll post about this later but this was a great destination to end our thankfulness excursion.

Let me throw in our recent tour of Jos. A. Magnus Whiskey Distillery while whiskey is on my mind.

We were guests of good friends who purchased the tour as an auction item for their son’s school fundraiser. We were lucky to reap the benefits. Who knew this distillery has roots to my father’s KY home’s Woodford Reserve, or that DC has its own Distillery Trail. This would be worth doing while sampling DC’s best pies along the way. We discovered how much this Ivy City (New York Ave), above  (Noma / North of Massachusettes Avenue) and Atlas neighborhoods, have dramatically changed since we used to take our boys to school nearby.

It’s hard to believe we experienced most of these things in just November and October. But the summer was not uneventful. There were beaucoup trips that included a 3-week cruise (still writing about in spurts), a family reunion, a family getaway to Rhode Island, and our (6th) annual beach vacation with friends.

TRIPS

Immediately after returning from my June cruise, we took a close-by excursion to have dinner at the Inn at Little Washington in VA, where we were treated to the most exceptional meal I’ve ever had. No wonder Chef Patrick O’Connell’s restaurant gets some of the highest, most-esteemed ratings for food and service. It simply was the best! Our thankfulness goes to our friends for enabling us to experience such perfection. They had also treated us to Métier, also high up on the list.

What would July be without fireworks in DC?! And what better spot than to view on the lawn of The White House. This was a special teat full of thankfulness to our friend who works in the administration.

We always enjoy our trips to visit family in Rhode Island and walk in the Wildlife Refuge. We didn’t see a bobcat this year but did see swans swim into a picturesque photo op.

We had other wildlife join us on our hike but perhaps a highlight for human wild-life was a trip to Sons of Liberty Spirits Company to taste their unique whiskey made with beer mash. Family members bellied up to the bar to sample flights in their cool basement-type, rec-room, complete with foosball and pool tables. The whiskey tastings were surprisingly good. I like Uprising and Battlecry the best. We went to the neighborhood liquor store to purchase a small set, that we ended up taking with us to the beach, but they were out of their Apple Flavored Whiskey. It would be wonderful for after-dinner-drinks, particularly in the fall — instead of amaro — for a change. I like their cocktail line up too.  Time to go back because looks like I can’t purchase online!

Finally, when Congress gets their summer break, we get ours! Our annual beach vacation to Ocracoke this year included: beautiful scenery, as always; experimental fishing; visiting the mosquito-infested, island and ghost-town of Portsmouth; chatting with locals who remember us;  incredible sunsets; seeing the solar eclipse with the last glasses on the island; and homemade ice cream!

We were all INCREDIBLY thankful that we took our drop-off-guide’s offer to use his mosquito netting. There’s no one living in this Portsmouth ghost town but if there were, the mosquitos would have killed them! None of us have been attacked so much and not one bite with our protection. I laugh every time I see this picture! 😉

We have such thankfulness that our friend puts his gourmet talents to good use and does all the cooking!

Gulf Shores, Alabama proved to be the optimal place for a family reunion. My sister organized and was able to find a house that had 10 bedrooms and right on the dunes. All of my siblings with their families and our mother were able to make it — except our boys now that they are independent and in the working world.

Other things for thankfulness: Good thing we left right before hurricane Nate and despite the she-crabs laying their eggs where you couldn’t see when you stepped in the water or stinging jellyfish, I’m extremely thankful I wasn’t shark bait!

We walked into the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge on the beach side of the peninsula but decided since we didn’t have our cell phones we wouldn’t continue because of “Gator” Lake and the dunes were so large on either side that we could have been walking into a death trap. Hmmm, best to not take that chance. But then, who knew blacktip sharks could maneuver so fast with sharp left turns, in the blink of an eye and in just one and a half feet of water!! I almost became shark food when I got in the water here. Fortunately, Peter was standing on a dune so he could see the sharks that I did not. He yelled at me to get out fast as they headed my way.

Before putting a sunset on our Gulf Shores reunion, what would a trip to what is affectionately known as the “redneck riviera” be if we didn’t swing by the Flora-Bama bar with the best drinks ever! The bar is located on the state line between Florida and Alabama, hence its clever name. We had to wait for the cop halting traffic so large groups of people could cross the highway to go to the main bar to participate in the Assembly of God Church. It was 10 am on a Sunday after all. Many had beer cups in their hands… We popped in the dockside bar to get our fill before driving to the airport. What a trip!

Yes, you might gather there is a lot of drinking going on within these posts…Well, what can I say, I’m from New Orleans!

Despite the latest health report claiming that there is a 50% increase to get head and neck and other cancers for those who drink more than one alcoholic drink or glass of wine a day (this is a moderate drinker), I typically don’t drink during the week. But when celebrations occur and the weekend is here, I say, “Life is too short not to live it and with cocktails!”

Thankfulness continues for cocktails and cats!

It was this time last year when we adopted our Main Coon Cat kitten, Ingrid. She’s now about a year and a half old and she and Ingmar get along well. It’s been fun to see them chase after one another like a tag, you’re it game and hear them romp through the house, even in the wee hours of the night. They are happy > we are happy. I have much thankfulness for a good year!!

Wishing you all the best for your Thanksgiving!