Been Awhile

It's been quite awhile since I've updated the blog (since March!). Let's recap what has happened since then:

1. A mostly failed Red Sox season. Injury after injury really made it impossible for us to get to the postseason. Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis, Beckett, etc. At times, we looked like a AAA ballclub.

2. Jo and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary!

3. Jo and I took the trip of a lifetime to Italy and Greece in September. We saw Rome, Tuscany, Athens, and Santorini over a two week period. Truly the most remarkable sites I've ever seen. Amazing scenery, history and architecture; unbelievable food, and fantastic wine. Pictures are on Facebook.

4. EP and WP both had great marching band seasons this year. What are we playing next year?

Since ACC's it's been relatively quiet. Now in the midst of the holidays, we are decorated and Jolene is baking as I type this. Next week will be very busy with several Christmas parties, a WPMB meeting in Delaware, Samantha's bridal shower in Pittsburgh, and the first of our family Christmas celebrations. But first, looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Oh - and the Red Sox signed Adrian Gonzalez AND Carl Crawford this week. I was so excited about one of the announcements, I couldn't sleep that night. I can't wait for Spring Training!

Another Weekend

Gorgeous weather this past weekend. I took off work early on Friday, grabbed lunch outside at Spice with Mike, then hit the driving range. Went better than Thursday, but still pretty rusty. Guess I didn't realize how long it's been since I picked up a club. Friday night had 2 bottles of red wine with Jo.

Saturday I slept in, Jo left for her cousin's bridal shower, and I got to work outside. Wanted to start with the chainsaw right away, but the neighbors were sitting out on their deck so I figured I'd wait awhile. Cleaned up the yard, put down some grass seed. Once the neighbors left, I spent a few hours cutting dead branches off the two enormous pine trees in the backyard. One tree was more dead than the other, so I cut higher branches off of that one... up to about 8 or 10 feet off the ground. The other tree I cut branches up to about 7 feet off the ground. Both look waaaay better than they did before. We had sushi at Akitas Saturday evening with Sam, Mike, Mallory.

Sunday we hit some York County wineries again - Moondancer, Allegro, Fiore (Maryland), and Naylor - then stopped to see some lab pups in Shrewsbury. Had Cuff's b-day dinner at Fireside that night. Great weekend.

NOMAH!

I'm really glad I went to nesn.com today when I did, because I got to watch the Nomar Garciaparra retirement announcement live. Nomah signed a 1-day minor league deal with Boston today so he could retire in a Red Sox uniform. Great press conference. Later I also got to listen to an in-game interview with him on WEEI.

And then Jacoby Ellsbury had back to back home runs in consecutive at-bats!

Now Playing: BASEBALL

Wednesday night Sushi... mmmm....

Weekend 3/6-3/7

Great weekend. Spent the day Saturday along the PA/MD border, trying some local wineries. I was really surprised - the wine at all 6 wineries was pretty impressive. I think most people (myself included) have a negative opinion of most Pennsylvania wines, but these had some really good flavors. Wineries we visited:

Moon Dancer Vineyards & Winery - Wrightsville, PA

First winery we visited, and definitely the most expensive. Only 1 or 2 bottles available for less than $20. Reserve Chardonnay and the Meritage were the best. Really nice place, up on a hill overlooking the Susquehanna River.

Allegro Vineyards - Brogue, PA

We discovered that this winery sells bottles at Giant in Mechanicsburg and Enola. Fanfare (Chardonnay/Gewurtztraminer blend) was best white we had all day.

Fiore Winery - Pylesville, MD

Possibly the most accomplished of the wineries we visited. Lots of award/medal winners. Great Sangiovese. Caronte (Merlot/Cab/Sangiovese) blend might have been the best dry red we tasted all day.

Woodhall Wine Cellars - Parkton, MD

Really close to I-83 in MD. Big tasting, we probably tried 12 different wines. Best white: Seyval, best red: Reserve Merlot.

Basignani Winery - Sparks Glencoe, MD

Great reds, especially Marisa and Erik's Big Zin.

Naylor Winery - Stewartstown, PA

Last winery we visited. First Capital was really good, even though it was semi-dry. Shiraz was good too.

Saturday evening we had the usual gang over for dinner, then watched Zombieland. Hilarious.

Sunday was a lazy day... pancakes for breakfast, washed and cleaned out the cars, then walked to the dog park with Sydney and Jo, where we met Jared, Jen, and Tessie (their German Shepard). The place was PACKED. Typical Sunday dinner at the Legion in Dillsburg.

Anyone else think the Oscars was a snooze-fest? I couldn't stay awake... seemed a lot more lame this year than in the past.

Wild Card

Sox are in the playoffs! Great. Now we just need to stay healthy, especially Beckett, Lester, and Lowell. My preferred lineup for the Angels series:

1 Ellsbury (CF)
2 Pedroia (2B)
3 Martinez (C)
4 Youkilis (1B)
5 Ortiz (DH)
6 Bay (LF)
7 Lowell (3B)
8 Drew (RF)
9 Gonzalez (SS)

Leave Varitek out. Its obvious he doesn't have the swing he once did, and he can't throw runners out stealing 2nd. The Angels are the most small-ball style team in the American League, so they WILL be stealing bases. Let Martinez take care of it. Varitek can PH if necessary, or get pitchers ready in the bullpen. My suspicion is that Francona will have him catch Game 2 anyway, with Beckett on the mound. Hopefully Beckett has good enough stuff that stealing base runners won't be a huge problem.

Gotta love tonight's lineup - all benchwarmers except for Ortiz.

.406

Today, September 28th, was the final day of Major League Baseball season in 1941, a double-header for the Boston Red Sox. At the end of the previous day's game, Ted "The Kid" Williams had a batting average of .39955 - a number that would have been rounded up to .400 for statistical purposes. Williams, despite the advice of manager Joe Cronin, elected to play both games of the double header, going 6 for 8 with a home run, raising his average to .406 - the last player to hit .400+ in baseball history.

Props, the Big Trip, & Upstate NY

Marching band props have occupied my life this week. Hopefully they'll be done today or tomorrow. Big show on Saturday at Hershey.

Went to see our travel agent (Mike's mom) about our Italy/Greece trip next year. We'll be gone for about 2 weeks, around Labor Day 2010... 4 days in Tuscany, 3 in Rome, 3 in Athens, and 4 in Santorini. Can't wait.

Also decided to make a trip to the Finger Lakes in NY this year, after we initially thought we wouldn't have time to go. Andy and Alison are coming along so we can celebrate Alison's 29th birthday while we go to wine tastings all day Saturday & Sunday.