So, today marked the last day of our adventure in Boston.  Over the past several days we have trickled home – Brian first on Tuesday night, Daughter #1 took the early bird on Wednesday a.m. and finally Jean today as she wrapped up her conference.  Must admit, it was so much fun to get to spend time with Daughter #2 in her stomping grounds, and to really see some sights.  When you figure that we departed at O’Dark thirty last Friday and just now are back in Texas – we essentially had seven days to explore.  In a nutshell, we did the Freedom Trail, saw the graves of some pretty famous people, visited the Old North Church, had a cold beer in an Irish tavern along with a very Irish bartender, had a cold beer at Cheers – where everybody didn’t know our name but were very hospitable, saw a Red Sox game and the Green Monster, visited Sam Adams Brewery, visited Salem and toured the Witch Museum (yes, there is such a thing), drove the entire Cape Cod route – stopping to hang on the beach . . . see the lighthouses . . . have some great seafood . . . and hit the souvenir shops.

Yep, it was a wonderful time and we are ready to head back one of these days.  But, now it’s back to reality – Brian has a head start, so Jean will have some catching up to do when Mr. Alarm goes off at 6 a.m. so this will be a bit on the short side tonight.

While waiting for her flight to depart, Jean decided to stop in at Cisco’s at Logan Airport and there she met Danielle behind the bar.  When asked for a wine recommendation, Danielle asked the most appropriate question – “White or Red” . . . silly girl – “Why, Red of course,” Jean replied in earnest.  Danielle suggested a local blend called Sailor’s Delight from Nantucket Vineyard which is a small winery located in Nantucket Island, MA, owned and operated by Dean and Melissa Long. In 1981 they planted ten acres of grape vines in hopes of producing enough grapes to keep the winery making plenty of wine. Unfortunately nature had other ideas. Because of low fruit production caused by the salty wind blowing off the ocean and the destruction to the vines caused by the occasional hurricane, in 1997 they began to make their wines instead from premium grapes grown in Yakima Valley, WA, Long Island, NY, and Central Valley, CA.

Of course upon hearing the name of the wine, the first thing that popped into Jean’s head was – “Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in morning sailors warning“.  Well, it was closer to night than morning, so Jean figured it would be a delight to try this wine.  As it turns out, the wine is a blend of Syrah and Viognier from two premier vineyards in The Columbia River Valley of Washington and Oregon.  On the nose, it was fruit all the way . . . full-bodied and ready to rumble.  The palate revealed super flavors of blackberry, prune, and jam – rounding out with a medium finish.  This wine would be perfect for entertaining and is an honorable mention to the Bondy Deck Wine list – not in the Top Ten, but close enough to be added.  A shout out to Danielle for her recommendation!

So, here we are wrapping up yet another week – that is after Friday is over and done.  We hope you’ve had a great couple of days and enjoyed yourself as much as we have.   We are looking forward to a couple of days with the four-legged children just hanging out and trying to stay out of trouble – no promises!  In the meantime, remember to enjoy responsiblity and recycle whenever possible.