I am trying to be better at picking the battles I fight with Kaitlyn. So tonight when we needed to get her dressed and out the door to drop her off at someone’s house on our way to the ISE winter dinner, what she wore was not going to slow me down. I do a fine job of going slow enough without any help. Earlier today I let Kaitlyn play dress up with one of Bill’s shirts. Tonight, that was what she wanted to wear again. So we sort of compromised. Kaitlyn arrived at her party wearing one of my polo shirts, a Winne the Pooh scarf, sandals and a big, pink floppy hat. But she was happy, so what difference did it make?
The dinner was at a banquet hall on a farm. As we walked up we could definitely smell farm smells. Bill pointed out he was glad we weren’t eating there in the summer when all the doors would be open.. and the smell would waft in.
Along with the aroma, there was a sommelier and a string trio. (or was it three-fourths of a quartet?)
The sommelier set up a blind wine tasting for us. He had us divide into groups of six or so, for a competition. Now, I don’t know much about wine. Even those who spend a lot of time and money buying and drinking wine had to find the challenge, well, pretty darn challenging! He started with two white wines to compare. We basically had to (as a team) guess what kind of grape it was, which of the two wines was younger, what year the vintage was. Then came two reds, chosen he said to go with the main course, which was duck. Then one red by itself with the cheese course. Then a white dessert wine. (which was gross) Our group didn’t win. But I may have found another way to learn more about wines. The sommelier does have a business where you can sign up to get two wines a month that come complete with an explanation of where they are from, what to serve them with and when best to drink them (year, not time of day).
There was a lot of hubub going on just outside the dining room. Finally, Bill went over to find out what all the fuss was about. The lunar eclipse. I eventually gave in and went out to look. To me, it just looked like the moon with gray clouds over it.
We called it a night right after the wine contest winners were announced; we didn’t stay to even find out if there was a coffee course. (it is, of course, it’s own course in France) That was at about 12:30. Kaitlyn was still awake when we went to pick her up. At least she was lying on the couch in the dark pretending like she might doze off.