About a year and half ago I was invited to join a small neighborhood group of women wanting to explore and find out more about our growing and booming regional wine industry. Well what an adventure this has turned out to be. From where I live there are 160 wineries with in a 50 mile radius. There are over 600 wineries in the state with the majority of those facilities with in a couple of hours from my house. Nearly all the grapes in the state are grown here in our semi arid region. Now if I lived in England for sure I would be doing castles and garden tours, but this is still a very cool thing to explore.
It has been a most informative and enjoyable experience. I have met a large group of wonderful women. We have explored wineries, vineyards, tasting rooms, cheese bars, and all sorts of dining and shopping experiences along the way. Because of our large group status we are able to make special appointments with most places and get guided tours and special tastings. We have had many a delightful picnics, luncheons, blind tastings in our homes during winter weather..all sorts of outings and explorations from some large industrial plants that are moving up here from CA to some very special boutique designer wineries.
The newest adventure that has come our way has been the oppourtunity to blend and bottle our own special Super Tuscan blend of wine. I am not going to go into all the details here. If you are interested I have another whole team blog for the group that has our latest adventures documented on there. See... Women Who Wine. Let's just say it came about as a complete surprise to all of us. When the opportunity was presented this group of ladies jumped on it and the final results was truly a unique and fun experience. We ended this adventure last Saturday as we and our husbands all pitched in to bottle the finished product.
You know I recently read about a study that was done a few towns away from my home town in New England that showed that happy people can influece people up to three degrees of separation...
Results Clusters of happy and unhappy people are visible in the network, and the relationship between people’s happiness extends up to three degrees of separation (for example, to the friends of one’s friends’ friends). People who are surrounded by many happy people and those who are central in the network are more likely to become happy in the future. Longitudinal statistical models suggest that clusters of happiness result from the spread of happiness and not just a tendency for people to associate with similar individuals. A friend who lives within a mile (about 1.6 km) and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25%
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11 comments:
I totally agree. I think you can learn, profit, and keep growing with upbeat and interesting people. This group of ladies seems like it would be an education in itself, to be involved with them. Great post!
Your pictures are great, the "special effects" you created with them. At first I thought you were talking about whining, not wining (or winning)... :-) Looks like a lot of fun.
Interesting, that happiness quote. Have a good week.
Wow, that does sound like fun. We have one winery and about 20 distilleries in our county. No breweries that I know of. I feel that way about my art class and my co artists. We are planning a field trip to paint as soon as it gets warmer. Yippee. Your degree of happiness has made me happy.
QMM
Loved this post sis, what a great day, and such an amazing accomplishment!
Good Job girls!!!
It certainly does look as if you folks know how to have fun and how nice of you to share the experience with your husbands who also look as if they are enjoying themselves. Maybe I need some wine... ;>
The Duchess of Tea has bestowed a title upon you. Her Grace requests the honour of your presence at the knighting ceremony to be held at Rose Tea Cottage.
The Duchess will be honoured if you accept the award she is presenting you by copy and pasting it on your blog.
I love that your group gets out there to experience life like this! So much fun. And to share the experience with friends makes it even more exciting and memorable. Looking forward to hearing about more adventures...
~Mermaid Shelley
I adore hearing wonderful stories about women who enjoy a wide array of interests with enthusiasm! I just happen to also enjoy wine, (and fine food)!..,
With regard to the fine things in life,(appropo your last post in particular, you are most warmly invited "to click on by",to visit for afternoon tea at Wednesday Tea For Me And Thee!..,
Also, I'm visiting the fellow recipients of that wonderful blog award from our lovely Duchess, at Tea Rose Cottage..,
So lovely to have found you!..,
Cheers from Wanda Lee @ Silken Purse
I am doing an Oenology course at the University of Angers! Learning about wine makes yuo feel very respectful when you drink a glass!
Now that is really digging in to the local color. What a wonderful idea and experience! And your photos are fantastic...the heightened colors convey excitement and action.
But mostly, I was very deeply moved by the happiness study. "Yes!" I cried! There are days when you feel that you're the only one who believes in light, life, and joy and that they matter SO. VERY. MUCH. You greatly encouraged me here and I've bookmarked this post to revisit.
What a fun group to be a part of. You really are lucky to live in that awesome part of our beautiful state. I have visited several of the wineries near you. It is so much to experience and learn.
Mermaid Debbie
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