all I want for Christmas…
Is a visit from my new girlfriend… Yes, you read that right, my new girlfriend. We’ve been trading emails for a while, became friends, and then things just went to the next level. We haven’t met in person yet, but we will soon, she’s coming to visit me this weekend.
I’m not going to talk about her a lot at this point, we’re still in the getting to know each other phase, and while she has given me permission to talk about her some, we both feel it’s a good idea not to reveal too much this early. I’ve only recently told my family and friends about this development, and surprisingly the most curious have been my daughter, naturally, and a co-worker of mine, who has been my friend for a number of years.
So naturally, over this four day holiday weekend, there has been much cleaning and preparation going on in anticipation of her pending arrival. I broke with tradition this year and did not go to a movie on Xmas day as usual, but I could have had I not been so lazy earlier today and accomplished something meaningful this morning before 11. I did watch A Christmas Story a couple times on TBS, so I don’t feel cheated in any way.
I did a couple things I don’t normally do this weekend too, which had an effect on what I did and when. Sunday I bottled the three gallon and one gallon batches of beer that I made, and I’ve been sampling them while writing these entries. The spruce beer tastes incredible - rich, creamy, and well, spruce like. I made an American beer style for a friend of mine, but I’m not real crazy about it. I think she’ll like it, but it’s definitely not something I would normally make and drink myself, not being a fan of domestic American beer.
After bottling the beer Sunday, of course the kitchen looked like a federal disaster area, so I had to do dishes and get everything cleaned up, so between bottling and cleanup, you can add an extra 2-1/2 to 3 hours onto my chores for the week. Now as if that weren’t enuogh, today I brewed two more small batches of beer - a blackberry and a sour cherry in a medium light base. I don’t know how they’ll turn out, I’ve never made a fruit beer like this before. I did try a cherry beer once in a lambic style, but I bottled it too soon and the bottles started exploding from the pressure, and what didn’t explode got poured out for fear that it would explode. Boy was that messy to clean up. And smelly too, but fortunately it didn’t soak into the carpet.
So belated Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you got what you wanted, I’m getting what i want in about 3 days or so - and I can’t wait.