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Good Morning Gentle Readers,
It's a little late for Chanukah (there is still New Years Eve), but if you've got a coupla bucks to drop on some good wine for your lavish holiday feast have a look at this short list of Napa Valley wines, courtesy of Steve Heimoff, editor of Wine Enthusiast, and Lexus Magazine.
TWC has enjoyed many of these and, yes, they are very good.
As Ever,
TWC
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Good Morning Gentle Readers,
The Fat Gray Cat isn't really fat, though he seems to have filled out a bit. Probably consuming more than his share of vermin of late.
I believe he is the most intelligent cat with the sweetest personality I've ever run across and my life span is measured in cats. That whole litter was a good one, thus making somewhat of a case for genetics, and I wish we'd kept more of those kitties.
Though he's sharp, he holds onto the belief that there is cream in the saucer when it is placed on the floor, always expressing surprise that there is none. This is so, even though he's seem moi pour the cream at least three hundred times.
As Always,
TWC
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Good Morning Gentle Readers,
This is a great opportunity for those of you in the Southland to enjoy the spectacular Zooport Beach boat parade while cruising Newport Harbor, glass in hand. Vin du Vin has a few slots left for the five-course dinner or buffet cruise on Wednesday December 15. Cruise, tasting, and dinner, which includes Filet and Chilean Sea Bass plus Creme Brulee, $125.00 per person (Buffet dinner, cruise, and tasting, $65.00). Booking info here. Unfortunately, our gorgeous warm weather is slipping away and it is expected to be chilly on the water, so bring a jacket.
Though he would love to join you, TWC will be missing out. All is not lost, though, The TWC's will enjoy the boat parade, and a little red, on Sunday from the dock of the only four story home on Lido Isle.
Last year's boat parade:
Email and feed subscribers will find the slide show here.
As Ever,
TWC
Photo Credits: TWC
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Good Morning Gentle Readers,
Lost in the clamor for the neutering of the season is the reality that many of our most beloved Christmas tunes were written by Jews. White Christmas and The Christmas Waltz, for starters.
On a scorching hot day in 1945, Sammy Cahn and Jules Styne penned Let it Snow, which hit Billboard's top slot in 1946. Okay, so it isn't quite an actual song about Christmas. But it is. Ask my Ma. She hummed and crooned it in verses and five-bar snatches throughout the holidays. Every so often, she'd sing it in its entirety, often while she was baking holiday goodies or stringing tree lights. It suited her lovely contralto quite nicely.
The piece was written as an up-tempo celebration of new love and fireside smoocherie, but today the song is more of a paean to bygone eras, when Christmas shopping happened downtown.
6th & Grand, Downtown Los Angeles, Christmas 1940
Nobody does big band today like Harry Connick and this is a superb arrangement of an old time classic.
As Always,
TWC
Photo appears courtesy of LA Is My Beat.
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Good Morning Gentle Readers,
It is difficult to fathom what neurons must have misfired thirty years ago tonight when Mark David Chapman pulled the trigger on his Charter Arms revolver and it did not misfire. It is even more difficult to fathom what neurons misfired when the collective legislators of New York State decided that a man is entitled to be considered for freedom twenty years into a life sentence for murder. John Lennon won't be starting over anytime soon. Mr Chapman should have an equal opportunity.
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.
As Always,
TWC
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Good Morning Gentle Readers,
TWC cannot get within 100 feet of the Viet Nam War Memorial. Mostly that's because if you get closer than that you can read the names. I was in DC when the Holocaust Museum opened but nixed that as well. I don't do funerals, except now and again. And, that's probably why I'll not see the USS Arizona up close and personal neither.
Seeing all them planes'd make you poop nickels wouldn't it? I was going to use the other term, but this is a family show. A lot of people proved their mettle that day. A lot of others lost their lives.
Don McLean was right. So was Patton. At the rate things are going, my kids will be fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan a decade from now. Armageddon anyone? Pass the tinfoil hat. Thankee.
Speaking of dorks and Samurai's, I almost cut my thumb off with a Samurai sword three years ago on Thanksgiving night. The sword is real, taken from a dead Japanese warrior and smuggled back to the US by Wayne Weber's uncle. It was bequeathed to me by an accident of death. Actually, it was bequeathed to my custody until such time as my son is old enough to take care of it properly.
As I picked the dam thing up to show it to my friend Stevie Crown of the Dark Side, I tipped it down toward the floor and it started to slide out of the scabbard (because the locking mechanism is old and doesn't work right). I reflexively grabbed this HEAVY STEEL SHARP-EDGED MOVING OBJECT with my hand. Bright boy.
Doh. One of those times where you know immediately that you have miscalculated and your brain is saying DON'T GRAB THAT but it's too late because your automatic reflexes overrode the message...... Lisa said I had a big OH-Oh look on my face.
It needed stitches but I could not bear the thought of five hours in the ER with a bunch of illegals and assorted sticky, sneezy children. Taped it up good. Used butterfly bandages.
There is a lesson here, Jacob my son. This is how people get accidentally shot to death. Pay attention Boy.
TWC
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Good Morning Gentle Readers,
Frunza Merlot is a Romanian wine marketed by Cameron Hughes and sells for around seven bucks US. Frunza also might have something to do with weed.
At that price, it isn't a bad wine though it exhibits the same cloying hint of what is often passed off as sweet cherries, a taste and aroma that is characteristic of inexpensive red wines in general. That's a turn off for me at any price.
There are no surprises here, no excitement, nothing exotic about this Romanian Merlot, which is a clone of every house Merlot you've ever ordered. This is really the wine that Miles was talking about.
It's a simple, uncomplicated, drinkable wine and the price is right. Enjoy it with pizza or pasta with red sauce.
As Ever,
TWC
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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Good Morning Gentle Readers,
In case you hadn't heard, today is Pay It Forward day and in honor of that.....
As Ever,
TWC
Photo Credit (unless otherwise noted): ©TWC, all rights reserved
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