October is pink all over the place

 Well, we had a very full Saturday (again.)  This party started when I got my routine mammogram.  Asante Health is the big healthcare providing system in southern Oregon.  ("asante" just happens to mean thank-you in Swahili.) Bado ninawezi kusema Kiswahili kidogo.  Anyway--this system does up breast imaging right.  The place was extra pink everywhere as October is Breast Cancer awareness month.  But I have a feeling the brart (I made that word up:  that's art made out of bras) were hanging all over the place with catchy phrases, in every change-your-clothes room.  An then, after the state-of-the-art-squish-your-boobs-no-matter-how-small-machine, the technician gave me a special pink goody bag because it's October, plus free service to the candy table.  WHA?   And the bag included both a coupon for a free coffee at The Human Bean, a local chain of coffee kiosks AND a coupon for free flight of wine tasting at Del Rio winery.  SO, Judd being the good sport that he is, agreed to join me for the wine tasting. ...

....tasting, AFTER we did our domestic chores  (i.e. me doing laundry and vacuuming and he doing lesson plans and grade)  HOW IS IT, that a week's laundry for Judd consists of: 

6 collared shirts

2 pair of khakis

3 pair of socks

1 pair of underwear

??

He says he learned it on the AT. Makes me so proud. We'd gone to lunch (Umi Sushi) and to do our laundry and shopping.

SO, about 4:00 we make it to the tasting room in Gold Hill. The drive is along Old Stage Coach Road, the same drive we took to the river fishing but it was too dark to see the scenery.  On this drive we could see all the leaves turning yellow and big Mt. McCloughlin in the background, already covered in first snow.  Gold Hill is about 24 min from Jacksonville. The tasting room is hopping and crowded and then a limo pulls up with a dozen women in matching black t-shirts which we assume was a bachelorette party. 

 

 Judd and I each taste our different flights and decide we should indulge in the
"buy a bundle"-- a box of 6 pink rosés tied up with a big pink ribbon with some proceeds to making mammograms affordable to all.  Then we get our picture taken with an instamatic camera and post it on the wall in remembrance to all our friends affected by breast cancer--so many we have to reduce our font to fit the names on the 2 x 4 inch photo.  : (

While we were checking out the gift shop, we remarked about  a poster of a waterfall coming out of a beer can.  The lady on the bench seat within earshot said she was the artist.  Small world! We struck up a conversation and turns out she and her partner next to her, both work at the same VA as me. We exchanged some stories and name-dropping and then she autographed the pic for us so we had to buy it.  

We were home in time for dinner.  Judd BBQed up rock fish and oysters on the grill. Even the supermarket has new fare whenever we go.  We walked downtown after dinner to get our complimentary glass of wine at South Stage Cellar. Some people had come specific to the live music. Judd made friends with a nice Bulgarian woman and we found out she is a musician and her instrument of choice is:  the accordion. Judd tried to say that my instrument of choice is the accordion but I didn't even bring mine from Maine so I played dumb, which was easy.

After our flight of chocolate truffles we walked further downtown and found ourselves at BoomTown Saloon.  More live music. More adult beverages. Again, meet up with John, the British man who worked on the same space shuttle part as Judd. John invites us to his home for a Halloween costume party.  We dance. We drink. We walk home. A full Saturday and now we have a bundle of pink in the kitchen.