Age is just a number

Mrs. G is 89 years old.   She quietly listened to my explanation of general anesthesia vs two types of regional anesthesia for her operation.  I asked what she thought about what I had said.

"Well, general anesthesia is just too much for this.  I think that I would rather endure a tight band around my arm than have you fiddling with my nerves."

People half her age have coped less well with these abstractions and decisions.   I was impressed.

Her mind was sharp, her manner calm.  "What's your secret?",  I queried. 

"It must be the gardening", she replied. 

"Oh!  Of course."  (While, inside, I cheered and yahooed.)

On Saturday, I stopped off at the garden center after food shopping.  Mr. E had a book, which he read in the car while I got a soul-saving transfusion of cute little plants in cute little pots.   (CLPs in CLPs is the shorthand in our household.)

Johnny Jump-Ups in antique lavender for my soul, and mesclun seedlings for spring salads:

Remember all that startitis?  I'm 7/11 through the garter stitch portion of Wool Peddler's shawl.  The yarn is Judy's merino/silk two ply in the Atlantic colorway:

I'm thinking of starting a new feature on the blog called Wine of the Week (WOW).  It will be something good, or something unusual, or something fun, and it won't happen every week.  (That's too much pressure.)

1983 Guigal Cotes du Rhone - this was ridiculous.  It cost $6.50 when I bought it in the late 1980s.  It should have been consumed the day I bought it.  Instead, it hung around the cellar until it was twenty five years old.  It is a modest wine.  The juice used to make the blend came from numerous no-name vineyards, blended every which way, to make an inexpensive, buy-now-drink-now product. 

I expected it to have died a vinous death years ago.  Instead, it was ethereal.  Mushroomy, woodsy, gentle fruitiness, smooth, lush, we celebrated the surprise, and then mourned the passing of the bottle.

Comments

[Paula]

Oh, those Violas are beautiful!

[Cheryl S.]

It's always nice to know that some things get better with age. Those Johnny Jump-ups are stunning!

[Marcia Cooke]

You are KILLING me here..still no G for Golding?! I was sure I was going to see it when I saw that you had posted tonight, even though it's the start of H is For, no? Please, please, on my knees! Nice JJU's, though and you are 7/11 farther along on a shawl than I am.

[Lee Ann]

Darling Etherealknitter...we drink Guigal Cotes du Rhône on a rather regular basis, and it is indeed a drink-it-now kind of wine, with varied results from year to year. We've bought it in France for getting a good distance from the here and now (1993), and bought it here for having a halfway less than crap bottle of wine for not much money (2003). Amazing that it survived to tell a tale worth hearing.

I can't wait to see your WOW (as opposed to WoW, which would be World of Warcraft, which requires wine but we don't talk about that much...okay, maybe it's just me who needs a good hit of vino to play...nevermind...)

My mother's lawn had Johnny Jump-ups in it. They are my favourite flower ever. I used to cry when my father mowed the lawn....

[Lorette]

The shawl will be stunning in that color/yarn. If you have it figured to the 7/11ths, I take it you're bored with all that garter stitch.

Hmmm. The last bottle we opened that was roughly that old was so bad that we all nearly had to pinch our noses while dumping it down the drain.

[Teresa C]

The photo of the Johnny Jump Ups! I love it.

[Danielle]

I'm looking forward to your wine reviews, as what I know of wine could be captured on the head of a pin. (Sum total of my knowledge: 4 kinds -- red, white, pink, sparkly -- and all of them make me giggle like a schoolgirl when consumed to excess.)

[Carole]

Great spring type photos. Is it bad that it's 7:00 in the morning and now I want a glass of wine?

[margene]

How wonderful to have your WOW to educate us as to what our pallets should be tasting. I love my Wool Peddlers shawl and you will, too. Johny Jump ups are my favorite spring flower!

[Ruth]

Yay for spring flowers! I think I'll run out to the garden shop this afternoon ....

[Anne Podlesak]

Mrs. G sounds like a smart woman. Of course, I hear a little wine doesn't hurt your health either. ;)

[Octopus Knits]

Definitely the gardening! The shawl is lovely, and your WOW sounds so intriguing...

[Lucia]

Over the weekend I bought and read Harlot's latest book, in which she mentions that, according to a JAMA article, gardening and knitting are two activities that can build new neural pathways and keep dementia at bay.

(Of course they've never seen a knitter who has just discovered that she has knit the heel of the intricately patterned toe-up sock she just finished 90 degrees off from the toe.)

(As I was writing that I figured out how I would fix the problem with minimum stress. I may have a few brain cells left after all.)

[Kathy]

I've head my head in gardening books for weeks -- now I know there's a neurological reason to proceed :-)

[Beth S.]

Please bring on the WOW! I'm sure I am not the only one eager to benefit from your knowledge and good taste. ;-)

And speaking of knowledge and good taste, I'm with Marcia, waiting for that "G" to make its debut. (Ahem.)

[claudia]

Mmm. Wine.

[Sylvia]

I've been slipping violas and pansies in amongst the shrubs at the new place. Such bright happy bits of color. However, if I spot water them? The squirrels come and dig and bury in the damp spot, thus uprooting the plants and killing them. Grrr.

You check Wine Searcher to see what the '83 Guigal CdR is going for now? $100.

[kmkat]

So I take it that the Cotes du Rhone whatever is easier on the palate than Two-, er, Three-Buck Chuck?

[Kim]

I think I want to come to your house and play with your G's. The G-wheel and the G-wine...yum!

[Mardel]

We drink a fair amount of the Guigal Cotes du Rhône and yes, it does so often seem to be a "drink it now" kind of wine, but that is one of the real pleasures of wine, when something that shouldn't perhaps sit around does and turns into something utterly fabulous. These treats are what makes the whole thing so special, and far outweigh the occasional disappointments.

The Johnny Jump Ups are a treat.

[maryse]

ooh wine reviews. i look forward to them. i don't know much about wine, i just know what i like.

[Teyani]

It is definitely the gardening :-D
WOW is such a fun idea.