The Great Grape Crush

As many of you know, I decided to delay my return to the United States a few days because I was having so much fun in Australia. Also, I got invited to experience a real life grape crushing at the home of Heather and Mark Stewart in Milton, New South Wales. Heather and Mark have been making their own wine for several vintages, and each year they host a crushing party. Along with Sheri, Joylene, Chris and Gini - I got to join in the fun and reunite with my friends from the Vietnam bike trip.


Before it all got started, Joylene came to Bondi and braved a couple of days at my surfer pad. Here we are on the Coastal Walk:



We arrived on Friday evening and had a great dinner at the local pub. Saturday, some people swam and others of us walked on the beautiful beack at Mollymock. Sheri realy liked the way the seaweed felt on her feet:

We could not dawdle, because there was the business of grap crushing to attend to. Only women are allowed to crush the grapes, in the spirit of Lucy and Ethel. If a male accidentally forgets this, he has to worship at the shrine Mark designed as penance. First of all, we had to get dressed appropriately:

We were a little worried, but not deterred, when we saw how many grapes there were. Mark has them brought up by horse trailer from the Barossa Valley, where I had just visited a few weeks before:

Grapes defintely exfoliate your feet, but I am not sure if it is on a good or bad way. One tip is do not wear light pink nail polish unless you want it to have a purple tint.
That night, there was a big party. Heather made these cocktails only for the ladies, sort of a secret ritual for the grape crushers. She is a fantastic hostess and fed everyone until we were ready to pop!

Many thanks to our hosts and to everyone who came out to New South Wales for my last weekend in Australia!

Back in the US of A

The break is over and it's time to get back to regular posting here on Gretchen 2.0. It's hard to believe the first one third of my year off has flown by already. Here's a few updates on what's been happening since I last posted to the blog.

The first order of business was that I had my 39th birthday. From the look on my face when I was blowing out the candles, I am already thinking about what 40 will feel like. OK, not really - Mom put trick candles on the cake. Thanks to Sharon for throwing an awesome party!


As far as Austin, one word: rain. It has been raining all the time. If you don't believe me, check out this blog: http://austinist.com/2007/07/05/summer_storms_b.php
That picture is taken not far from where I used to live in west Austin. We need the rain, last summer was a terrible drought. But as far as boating or golfing, it's been a bit tough to keep up with. My yard looks great, though, and my water bill is at an all time low.

I reunited with my pals from the Tribal Council in July. Here are a couple of photos including me with some Irish guys we met. One of them proposed marriage to me, but did not leave a phone number. Bummer!




Last week, I went to visit Andrea, one of my very best friends from business school. She just moved to Norfolk, VA and lives in a really cool house near the river. Unline Austin, Norfolk has been having a drought. Andre has spent all summer working on her lawn. Here is what it looked like before she got started:

She's had to water a lot this summer, but when I went to Norfolk I brought the rain with me. At least 5 inches fell in only 24 hours. It was a real test of her drainage system, as you can see...




Thanks to her great neighbors, we got a pump and the water was gone by the next day. It also did not stop us from going to the John Mayer concert. What a show! The only complaint is he came on way too late (9:20pm for a 7PM show). We are getting old I know, but that's a ridiculous amount of time to make people wait to hear good music. It was, however, a beautiful night.

I like his new haircut and love the music, but I can't help but think John Mayer is getting too big for his own good. He has a My Space Page and a blog (http://www.johnmayer.com/blog). I mean, really. I know he's a rock star and all that, but what happened to a good old fashioned blog? I think dating Jessica Simpson had a poor influence on his ego.

Next up: Carolyn and I are headed to golf school in Bella Vista, Arkansas. Look for updates on that next week.