How does this happen? I am cleaning up two bedrooms because we have guests coming in tonight.  As I pick up in these rooms I am tossing odds and ends into the trash, recycling other items, and covering the dining room table with all sorts of STUFF! Where does it all come from? Why do I have to deal with it, keep it, file it, or find a new place for it. We have too much stuff.

I am getting help from Shelby. He is sitting on an open corner of the dining room table and watching me as I type this. Oh, and typing is a diversion from dealing with stuff. If I type or surf, or read e-mail, I don't have to deal with the pile of STUFF on the dining room table!

No pictures to go with this post. You don't want to see my STUFF.

Kevin is off on a job so Kathy and Brady came to visit this week. Brady is a wonderful baby and Kathy is a wonderful mom. We've had a nice visit and they will join us at the Gramas home for a traditional Greek Easter dinner. Fun for everyone!

Susanne Gramas came over on Friday and with Sharon prepared Baklava and Tres Leche Cake for Easter dessert. Sharon is now working on Galaktoboureko and Mount Pelion Cheesebread. The former is made with pastry cream and phylo and the Mount Pelion is bread with feta inside. Both are delicious and we are in for a wonderful dinner. We have bottles of Greek Rosé wine, Retsina, and a couple of bottles of Rosé Cava chilled and ready to go. Rosés and especially Greek Rosés seem to be the appropriate Greek Easter wines. Did you know that Greek Easter is not always on the same Sunday as Western Easter? Different calendars.

Spring continues to happen in our yard. Hostas are sprouting, dandelions are coming up, birds are singing, and the gold fish are swimming. We have a huge crop of maple trees sprouting all over the yard so there is plenty of cleanup to do. Since I am starting my part time schedule at Binny's this week perhaps the weather will hold and I can spend some time in the yard. If not, there is plenty to do inside the house. Hmmm, Ginger, Cathy, and Audra will be here Wednesday night on their way from the Univversity of Michigan to St. Paul. We've got to get a couple of bedrooms ready to go. In our house rooms not in use seem to fill up with everything from the rooms in use. The back bedroom now has the bed covered with items from the back room that had to be moved to make room for the new bookshelves that Lee built and installed.

Oh, before I forget, last week when the iPad and my fingers made my update vanish, I was writing about Whiskey Fest. Sharon gave me two tickets for my birthday. Larry and I drove down their together and Sharon met us and drove us home. Whiskey Fest was a lot of fun and we both tried a number of new and old Bourbons and Scotches. We also tried some whiskies that we would not ordinarily taste because of their high price. We ran into and visited with distillers, vendors, customers, and people we used to work with. Thank you Sharon.

Last week I attempted to update this and my iPad ate my update. I blame it on neuropathy - I'm typing along and have a couple of paragraphs down and then the screen is blank. I don't do this on a regular keyboard, only the iPad keyboard. I suspect the difference is that on the iPad there is no tactile feedback whereas on a regular keyboard there is. I have thought of getting a bluetooth keyboard for the iPad but then, the iPad is just another laptop.

Random pedantic thoughts. Stop signs. The law states that you stop at stop signs. Most of us have somehow forgotten the meaning of stop. The law says when you stop at a stop sign, the fron of your car should be even with the stop sign or the white line painted on the pavement. Most people seem to stop with their back wheels even with the stop sign or their back wheels on the white line. Damn the pedestrians!

Health update. My hair continues to grow. I believe that my facial hair grows faster than it used to. The neuropathy continues to be an issue in my hands and feet. I can still feel issues with the site of the cath port, but it is no longer painful. My Oncologist has not called to give me the results of my blood and urine tests for....whatever it was he was looking for. I had my second monthly B-12 shot this week. I can't say I feel any different after these injections. Good news - I can now usually button my left cuff and my collar buttons.

Tasting Spirits. At Binny's we have a number of bottles of liquor open for tasting. As I have observed people tasting I have noticed that there are very few who know how to taste a spirit. Most people simply drink it down - no nosing, no "chewing", no savoring, just drinking. And, if they are trying more than one, unless I pour only one at a time, people do not consider which spirit should be tried first.

This week a customer asked to try a Laphroaig 19 year old and a Brackla 12 year old. Very different Scotches with VERY different character. I did not know nothing about the Brackla and nosed it after I poured it. I set the Brackla down next to the Laphroaig in front of the customer and recommended that he try the Brackla first because it was likely a Speyside or Lowland and the Islay Laphrooaig would overwhelm it. He commenced to down the Laphroaig and then immediately the Brackla. He had no idea what he was doing.

Unless you take a moment to smell what you are drinking and consider what and how you are drinking it, you cannot fully appreciate it.

Tomorrow night is Whiskeyfest Chicago. Needless to say I am looking forward to this and I will be nosing and tasting spirits and paying attention to what I am tasting.

I don't have it in stock yet.

" I live in Ft. Wayne. I'm only here once a month and I want it."

We don't have it and I don't know when it will come in.

"But I want it now!"

I have no control over when it comes in.

The above are the highlights of a conversation in the store about Knob Creek Single Barrel.

Sent from my iPhone