Gratitude Monday -- It's Wine O' Clock Again

For Christmas Eve dinner this past season, along with the roasted turkey and wildcrafted cranberry sauce, we had a glass of wine.
It was good.
Back in the old days I could hold my liquor with the best of them. I don't know that's anything to brag about, but neither is it a point of shame. It was a simple fact and I relate it for a reason.
One fine day I developed a number of food allergies including to alcohol. Not only could I get looped on the mere smell of it, I couldn't even handle de-alcoholized beer.
It was sad.
I'd have the occasional snort of something at bed time, or perhaps a swallow or two of wine of an occasion, but that was it. Any more and I'd be unable to control what I said. Also, liquor makes me red from ear to ear. For some "getting a glow on" is figurative. For me, literal.
Several months ago I decided to honour my gluten intolerance just to see what would happen. I followed the blog Wheat Belly and learned many things about wheat and gluten.
Commenters noted food allergies clearing up.
I wondered.
Then one day shortly before Christmas I looked in a little-consulted kitchen drawer. What should I find but a bottle of  3 Blind Moose merlot we'd purchased in a Montana service station a few years back.
On Christmas Eve afternoon I popped it in the refrigerator for a few hours to bring it below room temperature. My husband cracked the bottle near meal time to give it time to breathe, and then poured us each a generous glass.
For the first time in years I
a) finished the whole glass
b)drained mine before he'd finished his
c)was still sober
I glowed a lovely flame red from it, but it didn't matter. I tolerated it.
So thrilled was I that Saturday evening I decided to have another to help me enjoy the fourth season opener of Fringe. I only had a half-glass, but it was enough to satisfy me that Christmas Eve was not an anomaly.
It's wine o'clock in my house again.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Friends

Cats just love my husband. He loves them right back despite his allergy.
The cat next door, Toad, spent a winter's afternoon looking at him with unmasked adoration as he cleaned the windows.
Click to enlarge and you'll see how taken Toad was.

Gratitude Monday - SerpentPuss Edition

All is not as it seems.

One of the neighborhood kitties, Puss, stopped by for a visit yesterday. She's a frequent visitor to our yard and loves to be smooched. Before we found out her name we ID her by her collar so to us Puss will always be Gold Collar.
We can't have cats of our own as my husband is allergic to them, but he likes them and they like him.

I let her crawl on my shoulder and purr in my ear for a few minutes. It's always a pleasure to hear a pussycat purr. I turned her over to my husband who spent a good half-hour out on the front porch in the afternoon sun attending to Gold Collar's needs and wishes.

I'm grateful that she likes us so much and feels at home in our yard. It's good to have a friendly kitty come by to visit and we look forward to whatever time she deigns to give us.

As for the picture, as threatening as those fangs might look, she was only yawning. A good afternoon's smooching can take a lot out of a pussycat.