The Opening of the Garden

Last year when we returned from Italy, a few treasures continued to arrive over the summer.  Mainly wine...and really good wine at that.  One of the most fun deliveries was from a small vineyard in Tuscany where we got lost and upon arrival, walked into someone's home thinking it was the tasting room.

Oops.

But once we got yelled at (in Italian, which made it sound gorgeous) and found where we were going, we discovered a wine we loved and in a moment of weakness (or pure joy, however you want to look at it) we had shipped home a magnum.

A four bottle magnum.

We were saving it for something special...and for a time when we had enough people over to not just drink four bottles worth, but enjoy four bottles worth because that's a lotta wine!

Fast forward to mid-May and the opening of the garden, which was so special a party that our besties from Colorado flew in for the weekend.

NOW...here is where the fun part comes in.  See in the picture below, behind the wine glasses?  Not Brian, but the shelves with the dishes on the wall?

Every dish I own?  On the wall?

Shortly after we toasted, there was a LOUD crash and the shelves...those shelves holding all my plates, came crashing (and I mean crashing!) down.

We all stood there for a few seconds in shock.  Dishes, and the sink full of freshly washed glassware, were everywhere.  Some broken...some surprisingly not.

It was...funny.

Like, OH MY, what?  What just happened?  

The damage?

broken plates - 12

broken wine glasses - 2

broken whisky glasses - 3

broken big bowls - 3

broken small bowls - 6

broken coffee mug - 1

I keep describing it as a big Greek wedding, one where everyone smashes dishes...except we aren't Greek and there wasn't a wedding.

And how blessed are we that #1 - there were people here to witness this grand event so the story can live (and grow) forever and #2 - there were people here who jump in and fix things.

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And #3 - that Crate and Barrel delivers.

The bonus?  We all went into a month-long clumsy-fest where we kept breaking things.  I broke 3 more wine glasses, another plate and my favorite coffee mug. That guy that I like so much broke a wine glass and a shoelace.  

Welcome to our life.

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The next day we escaped for the sea and rented a duffy boat for the afternoon.  We packed some snacks, grabbed our peeps and sailed off into the harbor. 

It was so much fun!  Definitely on the list to do again this summer.

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Besides, we have our very own driver - he's working towards his captain's license.  Driving a duffy is a bit below his level of expertise, but that's ok.

I ended up having to take an overnight, last minute trip to Florida for a meeting a few weeks ago.  It wasn't easy - fly all the way across the country, spend the night, go to a 10:00am meeting and then straight to the airport for the flight home.  

I was gone for 44 hours - 12 hours were spent in the hotel, the meeting (and prep) lasted 4 hours and the rest was travel time.

Yawn.

Adventures in watching boys grow up continues with fun texts reporting in about yummy dinners they are cooking.

And others that take time to settle in.

And yet others where we say a prayer and trust.  Typhoons, when you live on an island, are a big deal.

All is well...the typhoon dumped its rain and continued on.  And hello, can we get an AMEN for technology?!

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