A day without sunshine is just another day

This afternoon, a group of agriculture students from UH Hilo came in to tour the winery, after which those who were over 21 lined up to taste the wine. These were fun kids, interested, funny, charming. The tall one at the end asked me if I'd seen the movie Sideways.

"Sure," I said. "And I've eaten at The Hitching Post several times."

"No way!" he said, laughing. "Really?"

"And," I added, "sometimes I even drink Merlot."

"Ah hahahahahahahahhahahaha...." He thought that was hilarious. It's nice to know I'm still hip enough to relate to the early 20s set. This group was the most attentive I'd had in weeks. They asked lots of questions, and laughed at all my jokes. College students are a blast.

Our 2007 Pinot Noir is brewing. OK, it's aging, out of the oak already and into the bottle. My humble opinion is that it should go back into the barrel for several months more. Today, I did a blind taste test between ours and two fine wines from The Great Pacific Northwest. Last year, our held it's own. This year, no go. It's still way young, to be fair, but super thin, fruit way up front and with little substance. Not to be mean, but I'd rather guzzle a glass of Welches. The 2005 Erath was delish, superb, with great structure, a smooth, lightly tannic finish and almost jammy enough to be a cab. Loved it. It reminded me of the High Density Pinot Noir I tasted last spring at the Melville Winery, Santa Barbara County, with 50% stem inclusion. The stems give the Pinot some welcome heft without making it heavy. I picked the Erath as my favorite of the three in a blind taste test. Of course it's a $65 bottle of wine. Guess I'll stick to my very respectable $8/bottle Gala Rouge, 2004, always on sale at Cost-U-Less. Wish we had a Trader Joe's. Wish we had a lottery. Wish I'd find a suitcase full of cash washed up on the beach. Not likely, since I rarely go to the beach.

Today mother nature and Pele treated us to both rain and vog. Double your pleasure, double your fun. It's amazing there's any paint left on my car, let alone tissue left on my lungs.

I wore a cute, shamrock scarf to add just a touch of flair to my ensemble for St. Paddy's day. My very talented friend Lila made it. She didn't really make it for me. She made it for my dog. But I talked to Hoppsy, who agreed to let me borrowed it for the day. It looks better on her, but pulled it off.

There's a blizzard atop Mauna Kea tonight. If the weather clears, we could get a nice view of the white mountain.

Yo homes, smell ya later!

A hui hou. Aloha!

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Born and bred

The creature stared at me, wide-eyed through the florescent glare, Saran Wrap stretched tight across its broad back. Alone in the seafood cooler, he was the only one of his kind, there among the farmed, color-added Atlantic salmon and mud-flavored tilapia, perched on a blue foam tray, legs tucked 'round him like a comfy kitten. He didn't blink. He was dead, red, cooked and chilled, ready to eat. Such a find is rare in the City Market fish department in Gunnison, Colorado. What if nobody takes him home? I thought. This beautiful animal will have died needlessly, ripped from his home, family and friends (Dory, Nemo, Crush and Gill?) only to be tossed in the trash when his expiration date came and went. I lifted him for closer inspection, checked that date, felt the heft of him, scanned his surface for cracks and blemishes. The creature was perfect. I lowered him back into the cooler, nodded farewell, turned to walk away, took one step, and stopped. Shoppers strolled past, stud

Fruity booty

It was a long drive from Glenwood to the northern tip of the island -- three hours -- so for sustenance, we stopped at Baker Tom's for malasadas on the way. My pal Kathy and I were headed to Kapa'au for a hike, one we'd read about in the local newspaper. The couple who run Baker Tom's (not sure if the husband is actually Tom or not) are delightful, with enduring stamina. They're as old as radio, yet they're always on duty, ready to serve behind the counter, as they have for many years, frying, baking, brewing and smiling, there in Papaikou , gateway to the Hamakua Coast. The malasadas are enormous, cheap and delicious, the coffee OK, the tourists all happy to have discovered this place, buzzing with sugar and caffeine. They make a killer pumpkin cheesecake at Baker Tom's, too. It's always a pleasant stop. Ahapua'a . It's a Hawaiian land division, usually a strip or wedge, stretching from mountain to sea. Hawaiians lived in villages wit

On Tennis and Writing and Being Too Nice

I've recently been recruited to play tennis for a local 4.0 ladies tennis league team, referred to as either "Team Debbie" for the nice woman who manages us, or "Have Fun," which is our pre-match chant. We're still looking for a proper name. But we do have fun, despite getting creamed most outings. Last Saturday, we played in the Edith Kanakaole Tennis Stadium in Hilo. Good thing, too, since outside it was pouring, complete with thunder and lightning. It's a substantial structure, covered, yet open all around, most famous for hosting the annual Merrie Monarch Hula Festival in April. It was about 85 degrees outside and 100 percent humidity, air so thick it took three sucks of my albuterol inhaler just to breath. Several of us arrived early to warm up, but after twenty minutes' steady rallying with my teammate, Keiko, the human backboard, I was drenched. I played doubles with a nice, extremely fit and excellent ground-stroker named Cynthia from Pahoa.

Mountains and Islands

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