You Either Love Williamsburg or ...

... Well go to some NASCAR race I suppose. We've been going many times over many years and with the exception of Summer, when it is intolerant because of the humidity and crowds, it is a beautiful place with its gardens, buildings and chance to restore one's soul. So on December 2rd 2010 it was a beautiful mornig and we took our first ever carriage drive with two Percheron horses and Dan the driver. I'd never been able to afford the $25 before and it was quite a nice trip, what with my bad leg. I took some pictures of some door decorations that you'll see below. On December 24th we took another carriage ride in a snazzy red job with two Hackney / Clydesdales and Clarence who happened to hail from Finksburg of all places. It was a short ride on a grey morning that quickly led to a snowy afternoon with a foot of snow that Williamsburg seldom sees in December --- it was quite a treat for us. The pictures are of some of the same ornaments of the day before and some I attempted to take at night without a flash and tripod. I guess you just had to be there. And if you do go there I recommend the Trellis Restaurant in Merchants Square. Fine food and a good wine list that doesn't try to hose you. The Williamsbburg Lodge is a nice place to stay. The Williamsburg Inn is a nice place to visit if you want to see what the remaining DAR - Daughters of the American Revolution - and their ilk look like.

The really good camera was at home!

Zenyatta. 17 of 17 at 17 hands.

In an earlier post I criticized the very wealthy connections of the great mare Zenyatta for taking her out of her abbreviated retirement to run her again as a 6 year old. It was misplaced criticism as these folks needed the money like they needed another 25 cent piece. They knew their horse and the rarity she is. She wasn't ready for the breeding shed, she loves to run. And run she has.
Yesterday she took on some difficult competition with St. Trinians, who was amazingly bet down to 5:2 agains her, in a Grade one Stakes (no cheap handicap like they are tossing Rachel into these days). She won by a hard fought neck giving away 9 pounds to every other horse on the track and with her characteristic style she pricked her ears in the last 200 yards and bore down, stretching her long legs to just catch St. Trinians at the wire by a neck. No fault of rider Mike Smith, he had her placed well for the race; she just had tough company and was carried wide by her competitor. If this was her last race it's fine by me but it looks like the goal will be as many as three more with the Breeders Cup to be her last. If she wins all three she will hold the record for the most undefeated race horse of all time. As it is now, she's tied with Citation and Cigar and stands as the #1 winner in the distaff field of all time.
Never has a race horse made so many people feel so good, including me. What a thrill to just see this beauty in the paddock. What a laugh to see her do her little dance before each race. What a thrill to see her come charging down the stretch. She know when she's won and seems to be looking around for more on the trip back to the winners circle. Zenyatta!
Here's the call on her record making race: http://www.ntra.com/schedule/race/display/MjU4

Cheap Wine Update

Update for May 12 2010I'm still on the damn wagon and even with Gabby Hayes driving and Andy Devine riding shotgun I haven't fallen off. I have a little help from a tablet called Naltrexone, which tells my brain it couldn't care less if I have a ginger ale with my pasta. I really don't miss the stuff but challenges are sure to come. Meanwhile I have lost between 20 to 25 lbs. depending on which scale I'm using. If there is one thing I miss it's the mystique of red wines. I guess there's no sense in my taking that trip to Italy now.

Update for April 2, 2010, much to my chagrin, I have pulled up the wagon and climbed aboard so there won't be much more written here for a while about wine. Seeings how booze is guilty for about 3/4 of my daily calorie count it's gotta go while I enter the diet of my lifetime. Either the two sacks of cement I'm toting around on the front of me go or I'll be going, if you catch my drift. Meanwhile, be sure to drink one for me when you do.
/////I couldn't wait until February for this update to the cheap wine assemblage since my package goods store rolled out a caseload of a rare new vintage (2008)  of an old favorite on mine (2007) Estampa Estate Malbec / Petite Sirah blend with it being 60% the former and 45% , give or take a little, the latter - which is a shame because Petite Syrah is amy absolutest bestest favorite grape - wine.
Well this one is a real winner at $11.oo people. It's from the Colchagua Valley in Chile which has a very small growing area to begin with considering the length of the mostly costal Central American Country with nutty neighbors.
Estampa Winery apparently makes many other wines, fine wines according to their web site :
http://estampawine.trustpass.alibaba.com/ (alibaba???) and this very nice blend may be at the bottom of their efforts.
I find it has a beautiful red color, good nose of burnt cherries and a taste of ... well... grapes...yes thats it...nice ripe grapes that have been squoze, fermented, aged and bottled. Hard to beat that!
OoooOoooThey have a Cabernet Reserve called "Ticket to Chile Reserve" that's 14.5% alcohol, this I have to find!

Affordable, Sustainable Housing

[Edited with new pix 3-10-10] Hey, everybody has to do something in their spare time. Me, it is largely wagering on slow horses but when I'm not I doing thatI try to lose myself in making various types of birdhouses out of "scrap" lumber. I started using left-over siding from our house, which is cedar and made awfully nice houses but eventually I ran out. Before I started pulling boards off the back of the garage two friends, Judy Smith and Don West, fortunately came along and offered some scrap they had left over from home improvement jobs and some old fencing. It'll be a while before I have to start scavenging off neighbors houses at night thanks to them.

I know all the faults of each house I make but not a bird has complained to me as yet. I'm no carpenter and my inspiration comes to me from my partner at work, Harvey - the Pookah. He's not much with a hammmer or saw but he does have a good imagination. Unfortunately he drinks more than me and is pretty well snookered by 3 PM most days so I have to have him sketch his ideas out before then. He's terribly fond of Ruby Port, he is, and I don't argue with him about it because he does put up with all my fussing and fuming about matters local and what not.

So here's a few pictures of what Harvey and me have cooked up for the neighborhood birds. I really do hope to see a Pileated Woodpecker take advantage of one of those with the 3" holes someday.