Now we are 36

While bathing* on vacation in Tennessee, I read A. A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner. It was a strange sensation, because, although I knew the characters and the stories, I'm fairly certain I had never read them before. We had Milne's verse We Were Very Young at my house, and perhaps Now We Are Six, but I had never read the prose of the Pooh stories. Not only are the stories fun, they are much more realistic than my Disneyfied image of them. The characters are multi-dimensional. Eeyore is a pessimist and a snot. Rabbit is caring and a busy-body. Winnie is lovable and really dumb. Issues are rarely resolved, just diverted from, in much the way that life at six, or thirty six, really is.

Speaking of birthdays, my parents were here for mine and we celebrated in good style by painting the living room wall red, eating delicious dark chocolate stout cake and drinking a sparkling Blanc de Noir from the Biltmore. I liked the wine better than the Blanc de Blanc from the Biltmore we drank in November or the Canard Duchene the Mister and I drank to celebrate the end of the semester, or several bottles of inexpensive sparklers we've consumed to get us through the semester, but I'll admit I've enjoyed them all.

Speaking of wine, the Mister and I did visit wineries in Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina on our Smokies trip, so I think we may be moving ahead in the every state winery challenge.

Speaking of Pooh, we spent Memorial Day weekend in the Alleghenies with my parents and did two great hikes. At the last stream crossing on Saturday we played a game of Pooh Sticks and my father claims he won, although none of the rest of us spotted his swift stick.

Speaking of birthdays again, the little lion turned four on Monday and appears to be as adorable as ever.
*We have neither bathtub nor television reception at home, so vacation can mean taking bubble baths and watching The Daily Show or a Top Chef marathon.