LABOR DAY WEEKEND IN TENNESSEE

IT is the starting of Labor Day weekend here in the states and that marks the end of summer here. I went over to Ed Fryers neat wine shop in Hill Place next to Whole Foods today and talked to a lot of neat people who dropped in to get some wine. I was able to talk a good number of shoppers into trying a bottle of our Hawks Nest Orchard Block Red. Even with weather still hot and humid here I can smell fall in the air (almost!!!)

Soon it will cool off here and more wine drinkers will think of reds and hopefully Orchard Block. Do remember our wine as you consider a good wine to pair with fish, poultry, or of course lamb and red meats this fall. We are down to about only 40 more cases of our good 06 vintage so stop in today to your local wine store here in Nashville and get some good Orchard Block.

Many thanks to you who let me take your photos today in the Ed's store. As you can see as usual he insisted in getting in one of the photos. He is such a ham it is hard to keep him away from the front of the camera. Oh well , it is his store so I guess he should be allow to get in the shots occasionally. The three lovely ladies in the two first photos with me and then Ed are Whitney Ott, Sarah Manda, and Susan Manda who are all part of a soon to be bridal party--what a lovely threesome!!!!! Thanks for trying our wine--maybe think of a honeymoon in NZ and come work at our vineyard for a few days!!!!!!!

That handsome guy with less hair than me with two ladies on each side was one of "America's finest serving in Ramstein, German in the USAF. He was in there looking for good German RED wine-shows he knows more about German wines than me as I never even tasted any good German reds while living in Wiesbaden, Germany myself for three years from 73 to 76 back when I was delivering babies in the USAF myself. Fond memories!!!

So, all of you have a good long holiday weekend in Tenn and those of you reading this in NZ lets pray for an early dry spring. See you very soon!!!

More soon;

Dr Jim

LOVELY NEW ZEALAND

Everyone knows that NZ is scenic but I just wanted to post a few shots that prove that point. I have waxed poetic in this blog on may occasions about the how lovely the countryside is all across NZ. This weekend here in Nashville I have been cleaning out my computer photo files and find I am having a hard time "letting go" of some of the old shots. For example here are three shots taken by our son, Brandon, over the last decade. The rainbow shot is just as random road scene on the south island where a rainbow suddenly popped up. That is Brandon on the Franz Josef Glacier working on his roping technique. He does a bit of climbing in the Southern Alps and thus has acquired advance rope safety skills. This shot was mid summer in NZ up high on the glacier. The last shot is of Lake Wanaka in the Southern Alps. Wanaka is our favorite spot down south in NZ and most overseas tourists miss it even though it is just over an hour from nearby Queenstown. Be sure to include Wanaka in any tour of the South Isle of NZ.

We are still in Nashville enjoying the US summer. Hard to believe it is mid winter down at Hawks Nest Vineyard. We are counting the days now until we go back down under for NZ spring. Only a month to go for us!!!

More soon!!!

Dr JIM

SOOOO SORRRY

To the millions of readers to my blog I must apologize for no postings for so long. We got back to the states in June and have been full on with grandkids, children, parents, ectc. It has been a long hot summer here in Nashville. We did have fun at the beach so I better show some shots of the family!!!

So the shots show my wife and daughter on the sand, our two grandchildren, Baylor and Cadance along with their keepers, Megan and Andy- our fine breadwinning son in law. Such a crew!!

We did have a good time but now I have to get back to work as a doc here in Tenn. Down in NZ at Hawks Nest all is quiet as it is dead winter there with lots of cold rain and wind. The vines are sleeping and the wine is ageing!!!! All is well in our two worlds.

More soon;


Dr Jim in the US summer