Picnic Landscape

Today is my husband's birthday. In honor of the occasion I have decided to give him Lady Findhorn's tag--Oil Man. We are at the Farmhouse in preparation for a birthday party this evening given by a high school classmate. Since another classmate shares his birthday, this evening's festivities will honor them both, an arrangement which suits Oil Man just fine since he can relegate himself to the background and let her have the limelight. This is the same man who is happy to hide behind somebody in the back row when the annual family photograph is being taken. He always manages to look slightly sinister lurking back there, drawing more attention to himself than if he just stood up and smiled like everybody else. I take that back. There is usually a three year old or a teenager refusing to go along with the program as well.

The cakes--I baked two because I didn't want to run out--have been suitably embellished with chocolate curls and candles, and we'll probably wind up bringing the extra cake home with us again.

There is a winery nearby which makes a fine pear brandy, or eau de vie as the French would say. We went to purchase a bottle for the birthday girl, in addition to one for the birthday boy as well as two bottles of Pinot Grigio and a bottle of Rose Brut! It was suggested that we put aside the Rose for Thanksgiving but I doubt it will last until November.

The winery has a lovely garden featuring a bridge over a lily pond and a fountain, but I liked the pattern made by the sunshades over the picnic tables even better. Not wanting to spoil our appetites, and because it was only 11 o'clock, we decided to forego a picnic and wine tasting to sit on our own deck and watch the finches jockeying for position at the bird feeder. Oil Man was happy not to have to jockey for position at the wine tasting bar.