Wine and Juice Tasting

On the Friday after Thanksgiving each year, we have a Wine tasting. We also invite to the table the Grand Children and non-wine drinking adults for a Juice tasting as well. This year 15 people came to the event -- 7 wine tasters and 8 juice tasters, including two adults; one who abstains and a second who is in her 7th month of pregnancy.

Five red Zinfandels were tasted. Surprisingly, most tasters preferred the least expensive Peachy Canyon Zin ($8.00, rated 88) over the other more expensive ones, including one rated 94 and costing $34.00.

But the real surprise was the voting in the juice tasting, now in its eighth year. We taste five juices as we taste five wines, with each juicer having spoken comments as well as a pencil; the one exception was the 15 month old who smiled and bounced up and down on her mother's knee when she liked what she was tasting. Her voted counted just as much as those with a pencil.

It seems predictable that the juice with the most sugar content will win each year. This year that juice was Welch's Concord Grape Juice with a whopping 38 grams of sugar. The other juices were Dole's Pineapple (22 grams), Kern's Apricot (22 grams) Albertson's Cherry (27 grams) Bionaturae' Organic Plum (28 grams).

Surprise, Surprise -- the Apricot and Cherry were preferred, although the 15 month old had an extra glass of the Plum but then had to walk it off. Oh, and don't read anything into her unsteadiness; she still needs a finger to hold when cruising.


So much to be thankful for!

"Great Heats" Back Cover Copy Quandry Resolved

Dear Readers:

Thank you for your many and varied responses. Yesterday my mailbox was replete with emails, Facebook notes and comments ranging from "what the *&#% does 'pithy' mean?" to "the word 'replete' is stuffy" to "a love story, worthy of the ages," to "a tender and beckoning tale." Tender~ ooooooohhhhh, I like that word.

Wow! What a range.

Some suggested that the preceding paragraphs of the back cover made it clear that this was a story of human emotions and behavior, so no need to reference our common humanity with the ancients (a reader-suggested word).

One comment about "mysterious" almost inspired me to go back and write another chapter, centering on the village reaction to... let's see... the simultaneous events of an eclipse of the sun, fertility rites, and the discovery of a jawbone from a moose. The coincidental collision of forces, or was it intentional? -- but I stopped myself from writing... mysteriously.

Others of you suggested eliminating the phrase "human nature" and substituting things like "human experience," "humanity," "full of ...". Most were in agreement to drop the word "replete" which was the thing probably stymieing me, although "fraught" was a tempting substitution from a Dear Reader.

A few urged simpler language and more sparse wording, adhering to Mark Twain's grammatical advice when writing to shoot most adjectives and adverbs on sight, reserving them for an impactful moment. Although, the "complexity" suggestion made me want to use that word some place in the final line.

So, putting all of your wonderful advice together, I chose straightforward, unmodified brevity:

"Great Heats" – a novel of historic fiction, rich in detail and human experience.

THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!

Back Cover Copy for "Great Heats"

Despite my best efforts to avoid doing so, I have decided to write my own back cover copy. I know what you must be thinking -- Ron, you are the last person who should do that because you are too close to the story.

Yet, I couldn't help myself. After revising, and after comments from my chief editor -- Joan, my wife -- I now have come up with a problem -- the last line of the copy.

So, Dear Reader, would you care to offer your opinion? I am happy with the way the paragraphs below are written, but the last phrase of the last line is giving me pause. What do you think?

GREAT HEATS BACK COVER COPY – 11.11.10

Living among the beauty of ancient mounds and earthworks a thousand years ago, the people of the Village of Ohi’yo enjoyed an idyllic life. Village women cared for their families, shared farming duties, and were responsible for choosing the chief, while men protected the village and hunted for game. Yet, with each new sunrise, change was in the air, threatening the village in ways that they could not understand.

Young Heron, tall and artistic, has met his love, Lone Bird, a young woman from another clan living in his village. The two unite in the moving Ceremony of One, but secrets from his past create tragic circumstances, keeping them apart, except for occasional covert and passionate meetings.

As time passes, rain and snowfall decrease in the region, while the summer’s heat increases and lengthens. The fertile and replenishing floods of the two rivers gradually halt their annual immersions. Insects emerge from the drying ground to attack the village crops; deer begin moving away, as coyotes move in; people start to leave, following the deer. The village way of life is in jeopardy.

Against this backdrop, Young Heron finally sees hope for a normal life, as he reunites with his family. In a shocking moment, the secrets, kept hidden for decades, confront Young Heron, and the conclusion seems predestined to be tragic. Years later, the results of this man’s life are revealed in a surprising way.
Great Heats – a novel of historic fiction, rich in detail, and replete with human nature.

"replete with human nature" -- is that too pithy? I am torn because I want a line to dispel any thought that something written about a people who lived 1000 years ago will be difficult to read because their unfamiliar culture will get in the way of understanding the story. Yet it seems
in reading it that I am inviting the reaction -- "well, of course, archaeology breath -- they are people like you and me -- riiiight?"

What do you think? rdgiles@chesco.com or Facebook or here, although the comments function here is spotty.

Thanks, and I hope that your day is replete with happiness.