Puppy and Wine and Cookies and Wind

21°f/-6°C, rising to 55, mostly clear.

We had some wild winds Thursday, with gusts up to 74mph recorded near our home! We were fortunate; no downed trees around our house although there were several along the road, and our power stayed on. Many people in the area lost power, so we were lucky. The deck was littered with small branches and twigs, and we had to hunt for the dogs' food bowl, but that was it for us. With that wind came some heavy rain too, and it beat on the side of the house that seldom gets hit by rain. So that bedroom window that needed washing? All clean now!

Pip, AKA Pippy, Pippin, and Pippy Longstocking, a few weeks ago.

Yesterday we took Pip, our new dog, to visit the animal shelter we got him from a couple months ago. Poor puppy was nervous at first, I guess thinking we were bringing him back! The people at the shelter were so pleased to see him, and to see how he had grown and how happy he was. He remembered them too, and just soaked up all the lovin'. I forgot to take photos! Well, my hands were full, really, as Pip wanted to see everything, smell everything, etc. The lady at the shelter, who was the one working when we adopted him, gave Pip a pretty red Christmas collar. We had decided that instead of giving  gifts to each other this year, we would make a donation to the shelter, so we delivered that while we were there. We are just so pleased with our new boy, and very glad we found him.

In the evening we went to our first ever wine tasting. Yes, we are that behind the times! Actually, Larry wasn't all that keen on it as he really prefers beer, but he tried all the wines and liked several. The winery is fairly local, so to speak--- it's about 25 miles away, but it takes a while to get there because getting to Pee Wee, in Wirt County, WV, isn't all that easy.

Mr. DeFeo, the winemaker, who moved to Pee Wee about the time I came to West Virginia, came here for the same reasons I did: to get away from urban sprawl. He is a descendant of an Italian winemaker who emigrated to New Jersey, and now he and his wife make a wide variety of wines, as well as balsamic and flavored vinegars and flavored olive oils. 

Everything we tasted was delicious, and if I had been more flush of cash I would have come home with a lot more than my two bottles of wine!

Today I finally got started baking. Mincemeat tarts from mincemeat I preserved a couple years ago, chocolate-orange shortbread and peanut butter cookies were on my list today.

Those tarts are so, so good. It is a shame that mincemeat is one of the foods that is dying out, at least here in the US. It's an old-time taste that apparently doesn't please younger palates.

Tomorrow may be chocolate cherry kisses, Kahlua brownies, and maybe cherry tarts? Or maybe chocolate-orange biscotti? Not sure yet! I so love to bake, but being married to a diabetic and having to constantly watch my own weight, I rarely get to indulge my urge. Except at Christmas!

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