What's Up?

Today is a holiday over here in the States, Martin Luther King Day.  Not all people have off, but a lot.  Our office is closed, but since I only work part-time I will have to make it up by working another day this week that I would usually be off.  My friend in the UK said that part-time workers get paid for days off, most places in the USA do not.

So today was the day to rack the wine; which we made last August. After the wine sits all the sediment drops to the bottom of the demijohn, so you siphon off the wine into a clean demijohn, leaving the dregs to throw away.  By this method you make the wine clear. Two lots of grape wines from the garden vines, a Concord and a Catawba, plus I had a go at tomato wine; honest to goodness I think it's as strong as vodka, I'll probably just use the tomato wine for cooking, it has a lovely golden colour.

The Concord grape wine I made very dry as not too much sugar was added.  There were two batches of Catawba wine and the last one I made sweeter, but I would classify all these wines as dry wines.  It took a couple of hours to do all this, because all the bottles must be washed and sterilized as you go along.  Well that's a good job done today.

Yesterday I actually sewed on four buttons, three belonging to coats and of the coats two had needed buttons since last year.  Why does one procrastinate on buttons.  One of the reasons is, I put the button in a safe place then when I want to sew it on I can't find it.  Yesterday everything came together.  Plus one skirt button sewn on.  And Rob's T-shirt needed hemming.

The one long blue wool coat I want to wear to New York on Thursday.  I'm meant to wear corporate dress, for a sales kick off meeting in Manhattan.  I will rake out my blue suit, seems appropriate.  Afterwards we're meant to eat at Carmine's, I've never been there before so I'm looking forward to that.  Hope to take my camera and take some photos, if possible.

Also made a pot of chicken and vegetable soup today from a left over chicken carcass.

I've been watching Jane Eyre over the weekend, a version I had never seen before from 1983 with Timothy Dalton who is famous and an unknown Zelah Clarke.  I can't say I especially liked her performance, his was OK but I've seen better.  I do like the 1997 version with Ciaran Hinds and Samantha Morton.  There are at least six other versions I found, besides these and I thought it would be fun to stream them or order them from Netflix

There are so many wonderful books why, as much as I love Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, can they not do some of the just as wonderful stories but not quite so well known.  I would even take a remake of North and South, my very favourite.

Christy