As I’m moving into my 10th year of marriage, my son is heading into 5th grade, I’m in my 15 year of teaching writing at the community college level, I’m 12 years into a 30 year mortgage, and I’m almost done with my second year of my PhD (about to earn a second Masters, this one in Depth Psychology), I sometimes see  opportunities and say, hmmn, I wonder, I wish. What if.

Shoulda coulda woulda.

Will Lambrusco, that delightful bubbly red wine from Italy, be the next Prosecco, that delightful white bubbly wine from Italy that took the US by storm nearly 10 years ago?

We’ll see!

In the meantime, the perfect time to check out Lambrusco is today Friday June 21, 2013–the first day of summer and Lambrusco Day!

I was sent a sample of the IL Mionetto Lambrusco so Annie and I opened it up yesterday in anticipation of Lambrusco Day. Annie said,

“This is a lot of fun for 10 Bucks!”

And I agree!

So being the Wine Predator that I am, I acquired numerous bottles of open and closed wine during and after the Wine Bloggers Conference that I either tasted before I left (nothing like a 3am taste and dump session to break your heart!) or I snaked across the border.

Somehow, I was blessed to bring home three bottles of Okanagan merlot (pictured). One bottle of these bottles that made it home open was

amazing afternoon hiking @paintedrockwine to rock art then rambling construction site & vines then tasting! #WBC13twitter.com/ArtPredator/st…

— Gwendolyn Alley, MA (@ArtPredator) June 10, 2013

For the first time, the Wine Bloggers Conference ended on Saturday night instead of Sunday (after announcing that 2014’s gathering will be in Santa Barbara which is practically in my backyard! So excited about that!!)

This left bloggers up to their own devices, and while many of them headed to flights from Kelowna or drives West to Vancouver or South and West toward Seattle and Portland, others stuck around for a day or two to learn more about wine in BC.

Personally, I knew I wanted to spend time at Tinhorn Creek. I’d met winemaker/CEO Sandra Oldfield in 2011 through Twitter where I also connected with her husband Kenn. I wanted to learn more about what it’s been like for her as a…

So after a great adventure from Seattle via Lake Chelan that included a flight on a seaplane (where poor 1000 Corks got sick!) and lots of delicious wine (a blog post is brewing on that!), I made it to Penticton, British Columbia to the 6th annual Wine Bloggers Conference!

Because our bus was several hours late and delayed at the border for an hour, we missed the first event featuring the sponsors and so the conference proper kicked off for me last night at scenic See Ya Later Ranch high above the north end of Lake Chelan for the Constellations tasting of wines of Okanagan.

No, this isn’t my suitcase and I didn’t pack radishes! But isn’t this salad cute? The dirt was a ground nuts, herbs, and spices with a feta yoghurt dressing! Catered by Okanagan culinary darlings, Cam Smith and Dana Ewart from renowned Joy Road Catering…

Two centuries ago, Immanuel Kant casually remarked: “The hand is the window on to the mind.”

Modern science has sought to make good on this observation. Of all our limbs, the hands make the most varied movements, movements that can be controlled at will. Science has sought to show how these motions, plus the hand’s different ways of gripping and the sense of touch, affect the ways we think.

–Richard Sennet, author of The Craftsman
from “Labors of Love” an article in The Guardian Feb. 1, 2008

I’m in Seattle right now, working on a paper about the 3:15 Experiment as part of my doctoral field work. Danika Dinsmore and Bernadette Meyer started the Experiment in 1993 as a way to write in non-drug induced altered states of consciousness and to discover what it would be like to write collectively (at the same time) but individually (alone) to join in…

Guess Who Has A Birthday Celebration This Weekend?

After yoga from 8:15-930am today, a group of Sally McNally’s students, led by Bhante, moved the replica of the Jade Buddha from his resting spot to his place on the ceremonial stage for this weekend’s festivities at the An Lac Buddhist Temple in Ventura CA.

The May Full Moon is  ‘Vesak Day’ –a celebration of the Birth of the Buddha (or in  some Buddhist traditions, to honor the Birth, Enlightenment, and Passing Away).

From Friday, May 31 to Sunday, June 2, An Lac will offer different activities to celebrate the Birthday of the Buddha.

On Friday, May 31st At 7:30pm you are invited to enjoy the beauty of the garden which emerged from dirt and dust to a beautiful Peace Garden.

Candle light meditation for Vesak in the brand new, beautiful peace garden of An Lac Mission. Please join sitting and walking…