More than Just a Tasting Room

This lovely courtyard (piazza) is surrounded by buildings containing a tasting room, a delicatessen, a cheese counter, and a gelato store. We are fond of going there for a glass of wine in the afternoon and picking up some antipasto, marinated artichoke or mushroom salad and cheese to take home. The last time we were there, we noticed a sign that said they opened at 7am for espresso so we headed over there this morning.

First we went to the regional preserve so that Ozzie could have his sniff, stick and swim fest. We found a new lake, not too silted up and muddy. Ozzie doesn't care, but a large dog that smalls like a swamp is not desirable, especially in a lovely courtyard. We sat under this beautiful roof, sipped our coffee, dipped our biscotti and agreed that life is good.

In fact we felt energized enough to tackle the last remaining corner of the garage full of boxes, a large cedar chest and a huge number of pictures for which we have no walls, and our youngest son's baby book. He requested it when his first child was born. We looked everywhere for it (except for the chest where it was). His oldest child is now seven. I wonder if he still wants it? And what do we do with the decrepit cedar chest, now empty, which hid housed it all these years?

I still don't feel that things are completely organized, but I suspect I never will. The basic problem is that we end up storing things we don't know what else to do with--OilMan's mother's wedding dress, my wedding dress, countless old family photographs (some pictures of relatives I know nothing about and can't identify). You can't just throw that stuff in the garbage, but nobody else wants it so you wind up dragging it around with you and shoving it into random corners....