For the perfect way to celebrate a fresh year with unlimited potential and nowhere to go but up, try 2006 Cakebread Cellars Rubaiyat red wine from Napa Valley. Cakebread is one of my favorite wineries and the wine is worth donating a sliver of kidney to get. It’s about $32 a bottle and will make you want to get a second job to have the $100 bottle of Cakebread Cabernet. Rubaiyat was named for a verse from Omar Khayyam’s poem: A book of verses underneath the bough,A jug of wine, a loaf of bread -and thou beside meSinging in the wilderness -Oh, wilderness were paradise, enough!
Give a Valentine to Your Heart
Today your heart will beat 100,000 times. There’s a good chance it will do the same thing tomorrow, unless you suddenly get chased by a rabid tiger after having a triple-shot of espresso. The fear and caffeine will fuel your adrenalin and increase your heart rate so you can flee from the tiger, leap a few fences, and return to work before the caffeine buzz wears off.Midlife is the right time to start loving your heart. One in two women will eventually die from heart disease or stroke, and eleven times more women die of heart disease than from breast cancer. If your midlife schedule is making you too busy to focus on this important ten-ounce organ, here is a list of ways to continue to damage your precious heart. 1. Smoke like a chimney. Odds are you won’t have to worry about old age.2. Worry in silence. The internal stress will put a strangle-hold on your arteries and consequently you’ll soon need to worry if your pacemaker will continue to work. 3. Ignore your high blood pressure. So you think it’s cheap and easy to get a heart transplant?4. Gobble tons of refined carbohydrates and fried food. You’ll have plenty of time to learn to spell arteriosclerosis while you’re lying in a hospital bed,5. You have a body mass index great than 25 and your waist measures more than 34 inches around. Face it, your heart is only the size of your fist and was not designed to support the weight of a young buffalo.6. You believe that exercise is for sissies and never run, walk, or do any exercise that keeps your heart rate above 120 beats per minute for any length of time. Keep in mind that being tethered to an oxygen tank and grasping heart medication doesn’t make you brave or smart.It’s time to protect your heart for the future, so walk every day, maintain a healthy weight, improve your diet, stop smoking, and reduce your stress. Your heart is programmed to beat 3.5 billion times throughout your life. Don’t stop the rhythm.
Today’s Cabernet
Today’s blog was fueled by a glass of 2006 Terra Alta “Sexto” from Spain. The wine was introduced at a “Women, Wine and Money” event in Boise last week. It’s $26 a bottle and is called “Sexto” not for the carnal flirt but for the word “sixth” in Spanish. The wine maker added a sixth grape to the blend so decided to call it “Sexto.” The six grapes include garnacha, carignan, tempranillo, lledoner pelut noir, cabernet sauvignon, and syrah. I’m a fan of Italian and California wines, but this Spanish blend is absolutely yummy.
Midlife Cabernet – Still Sipping After All These Years…
I took a small vacation from my blog titled Midlife Cabernet. OK, it was for three years, but who’s counting?
So much has happened during the past three years: I moved (for the fifth time in six years) into a wonderful home I bought on a short sale which helped ease the pain of losing a fortune on a needless McMansion in Two Rivers. My daughter had a delightful baby girl, born with Down syndrome, who has added pure joy and honest love into our lives. I met a man who is so fun and wonderful that I married him on a Greek island. My son married a splendid young woman, and I inherited two new granddaughters. I moved my mother into an assisted living facility and we all survived her broken bones and ambulance trips to the hospital. My publishing company, Mill Park Publishing, published four books: Daily Erotica, The Backyard Chicken Fight, Mother Knows Best, and Little White Dress. Mill Park Publishing also created and hosted three successful “Write by the River” events at the cabin in Garden Valley. And, I passed a milestone birthday that still has me quivering with astonishment: How in the hell did I get to be this old?
So, yes, I’ve been busy. And, just think about the vats of wine that were consumed during all those events! I’m starting this blog again – because I can. I hope to update the blog often and will focus on all the exciting fun that comes with being too old to care about silly things, such as if my socks match or if I’ve paid the electric bill. I hope you can join me on this joyful journey to Supreme After Sixty Status (SASS). (I get SO irritated at young people who refer to those over age 55 as “elderly.” We are, punks, aged to perfection!)
Wine of the Day: Menopause Merlot by Bitner Vineyards was released in 2008. I only have a few bottles left, so I’m bribing Bitner to do another release. We’ll see how that goes.
Midlife Cabernet – A Vintage, Full-bodied Blog
The power of a child! My sweet granddaughter, Mirabel Ruby, celebrated her second birthday yesterday with a festive party as four generations enjoyed brunch and mimosas prepared by her parents, singing by her cousins, and a musical program from her grandparents.
The amazing reality of this event was that 15 adults of totally diverse backgrounds and beliefs came together to celebrate this wonderful little girl. We had liberals, conservatives, agnostics, new-agers, a vegetarian, and a widow who still thinks Eisenhower is president. At least three guests own a concealed weapon permit and several others wouldn’t have a gun in the house. We represent a sample of America, and we’ll probably cancel out each other’s votes during the next presidential election.
But, we came together to sing, laugh, and celebrate the extraordinary life of a two-year-old who just last week learned to crawl. Mirabel was born with ten fingers, ten toes, and Down syndrome. And, she has the power to unite all of us. Cheers and thank you, Sweet Mirabel!
At home, to continue the celebration, I opened a 2009 Terra-Barossa Shiraz from Australia. I was hesitant to purchase the wine, mainly because I’m a Cabernet fan and the bottle had a screw top, but it was highly recommended by the Co-op in Boise. I was surprised and pleased at the rich flavor, and it tasted of spicy plums and creamy oak. This wine is good enough to go without the lovely sound of a popping cork. It’s about $20 at the Boise Co-op.
Midlife Cabernet: The Curmudgeon Phenomenon
One of the best reasons to slide gleefully down the backside of middle age is to reach that glorious oasis where I just don’t care anymore if my socks match, or if my plastic pink flamingo in the yard irritates the neighbors, or if I could braid the twig-sized hairs growing out of my chin. My life is an inviting place that reminds me of my paternal grandmother’s old rocking chair; the one with the sagging, butter-soft, leather seat and the wooden arms worn white with wear. Finally, I’m comfortable with where and who I am.
What does concern me, however, is the unexpected, occasional detour into becoming a curmudgeon. Yes, every now and then I scowl at teenagers with pants hanging below their butts. I ask others why they have holes in their ears big enough to measure serving portions of spaghetti. I audibly gasp at baristas with multiple piercings in their lips, noses, and eyebrows and angry tattoos crawling up both arms. And, I’ve been known to roll down my window and tell the gyrating rebels in the next car to turn down the heavy metal music because it’s peeling the paint from my car. They can’t hear me, of course, because they are going deaf.
I vaguely remember back in the dark ages when I was young. There were plenty of old farts telling me to “Cut your bangs,” or, “Turn down that gawd-awful music!” But, my hair didn’t resemble a mixture of spilled, day-glo paint plastered rigid with super glue. And, the music of the Beatles and the Beach Boys seems nursing-home tame compared to the jet-engine shrill of today’s harsh sounds that could be used to torture prisoners into confessing that they ate the body of Jimmy Hoffa.
Maybe it’s inevitable to turn into the image of the old lady with the purse from the 1968 television show Laugh-In. I should just go sit on a park bench and wait for an elderly man to shuffle up and offer me a Walnetto. (A favorite Laugh-In skit.) Except now, I’d probably take the Walnetto and tell him to hit the road. Because, at my age, I can say anything I want.
To assist with my age-induced transition, I enjoyed some fabulous 2009 Justin Cabernet Sauvignon from the Justin Vineyards and Winery in Paso Robles, CA. This delicious wine offers tastes of cherry, raspberry, spice and mocha with abundant tannins. I found it for around $35 at Seasons Wine Bar in Eagle. The label on the bottle contains a QR Code application that I can download to my smart phone or Ipad. Of course it does.
