It's a Girl!

Abby McCartney-Ferris has joined our house! She arrived this weekend where she initially was very shy, but is now very affectionate and - as is the nature of all cats - curious.

Her initial hours were spent hiding behind the dryer in the first floor bathroom. We decided to put her litter box and food in there for now just to get her acclaimated to the house. She hid in there for a few hours before I was able to coax her out with a few Pounce treats. Needless to say, all cats LOVE Pounce. :)

Over her initial shyness, she immediately began to explore her new home. She went into every room, sniffed into every corner, and got comfortable with the surroundings. Barry read that most cats when introduced to a new home tend to hide for a few days, sometimes even a month, until they get used to it. Abby, however, was snuggling with us before evening, and even spent some of the night with us in bed.

Saturday was a bit anxious to start - I looked everywhere for her and couldn't find her. I knew that I didn't have any external doors open, so she needed to be somewhere in the house. But she was an accomplished hider. We eventually tracked her down under the bed where she was hiding once again. Barry was concerned about her staying under there, so we removed the mattresses and physically removed her from her new cave. We shut the door to the bedroom to prevent her from hiding under there again, which she was initially put off by. However, throughout the day, she was snuggling next to me on the couch as we watched movies, purring up a storm. She now takes to sitting on the arms of the couch and side chair, looking like an Egyptian Sphinx - all wise and knowing. :)

I'm sure you'll see more pictures of her over time!

The Big Wine Tour '06

Barry and I just got back from a glorious weekend of drinking (and buying) way too much wine. It started with my asking Barry what he wanted to do for the weekend, and apparently it didn't involve yard work. So I booked a room at The Manor House in Norfolk at the last minute and we headed off for Western Connecticut to do the Wine Trail.

As we arrived at our first destination, the Hopkins Inn and Vineyard, we settled back for a relaxing lunch on the veranda. I realized I didn't have the good camera, but I did have my cell phone. At least there's something fuzzy to show you. The picture on the left shows you the view we had as we relaxed.

After enjoying the wine at Hopkins, we headed north, skipping Haight Vineyards (I hate Haight wines), and visited the first of several new vineyards that are on the tour - Jerram Winery and The Land of Nod. For my taste, Jerram's wines were a mixed bag, but we were both pleasantly surprised by the Land of Nod. Odd name, good wine. The guy who was doing our tasting allowed us to sample a new blend they were trying. It wasn't even labeled yet (they only bottled 4 cases), and because I liked it so much, he gave me a bottle for free! I'll definitely be trying to go back in the future...

We then headed to the Manor House where we enjoyed a bottle of the Peach wine we picked up at Hopkins while soaking in a hot jaccuzi bath and nibbling on dark chocolate. Gosh, life can be so difficult sometimes. :) The picture on the right shows the front of the manor house. It was a lovely old Victorian mansion that had several original Tiffany stained glass windows throughout. Just amazing! And we had a balcony off of our room where we enjoyed the crisp night air after our luxury bath. That is, until we started to see our breath and came in before catching our death of cold.

The next morning, we arose to a wonderful breakfast at the inn, then packed the car and headed down the amazingly scenic Route 7. We passed through some of the most gorgeous hills and valleys in the state - Barry kept saying he couldn't believe we were still in Connecticut.

The picture to the left is of Kent Falls, right on Route 7. We almost went by it, but after seeing a glimpse of it as I was crusing by, Barry told me to turn around and head back - I'm glad he did!

We then finished with the rest of the wineries on the western trail, and ended with a winery on the Eastern Trail. We had about 2 cases of wine in the car when we finally pulled into the house, along with enough engraved wine glasses (you get your glass free when you pay for a wine tasting at most of the wineries in Connecticut) to stock multiple wine bars.