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I'm goin' skeezin'...

and powder puffin', and waist deep rider roughin,

and huckin, flippin, white dusty cart wheel trippin'.

Flying fears and high speed tears,

spontaneous accelerations along bumpy vibrations.

Caleb, thanks for the guide.

(a small tribute to Caleb Rowe, an insanely good rider)

The motor hummed gently.  The sky was clear, the air crisp, and the Robbie ready to go out west.  He had had enough of this nails in the finger business.

Road Trip 2006 coming soon...

A Hazy Shade of Winter

Hello again my friends.  It has been a very long time since we've last spoke.  I  need to begin this entry with a very special shout out to Sir Edmund Wilcox.  www.ejwilcox.blogspot.com

The site is a must see.  Some of the best commentary that is available on any weblog is available today for free from the page of the man himself.  Included is our trip to Hokkaido last October.  There is no way to out do him, so I direct you there.  On with the show.

Picture me at my new job, building houses, nailed to the very house I am building...yelling at the Guatamalans and Mexicans I work with in Japanese to come pull the good damn nail out.  A brief word of advice.  BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN USING A NAILGUN!!!! (The nail entered on the far small wound and exited at the bottom darker wound.)

A typical day and a typical night around here.

Gettin Kicks and Huckin Tricks at Wintergreen,VA.

(My first corked spin, Matt Fulk and his Fulk Flip, Lawton Xed Up and Me on skis.)

I hope everyone had a great holiday and they are now back in the swing of things.  Take care till next time.  Hey, better late than never.

After two years, of fun in the far east, I am back home now working hard enough to make up for all the vacations and times spent sitting at a desk.  This morning alone, I loaded and unloaded 6 tons of Cabernet Franc and Sangiovese.  That is 12 tons of lifting all together.  Man!  I am tired.  All this and I still need to buy books and start studying for the 2kyu Japanese proficiency test.  Did I waste my 50 bucks signing up!!! For the first time in two years, I don't have time to study.

After hauling in box after box of grapes (the above pictured are all from the Chardonnay harvest), we sort through them, taking only the absolutely cleanest and prettiest for use in our specialty wines.  Above you can see the sorting table and a rare glimpse at the Goffice animal (Brian) in a rare moment of labor.  Anyway, come on over drink some wine friends.

After days of working, I finally got to throw down proper a few weeks ago in celebration of our winemaker Mathieu Finot.   In his honor, we burned stuff.  ...It was awesome.  The blaze reached as high as 20 ft and burned a circle of grass about 20 yards in diameter.  The only bad part is since this is the boondocks, I was on shuttle duty driving happy party goers out into the field, over the stream, and to the keg and fire.  Grandma didn't go.  Nothing a like a good cruise in a pick-up over stream beds and through fields.  Yes, I am a redneck.

My red hot dady basking in the fire glow.

I leave you with a beautiful vineyard sunrise, and me, my hose, and a tower of washed boxes.  Yes, after they are all washed I get to play Godzilla and smash the tower down.  So fun...

Home Sweet Home

...And so I slipped into a rythm,

musical ryme, viewing life through a prism.

Fractured memories conjure thoughts.

Epic dreams, epic walks, epic talks.

Social sounds and mountain towns,

raging rivers and cool wind shivers,

Feelings that should never be forgotten.

Man, there are so many of you out there I miss so much already.  There is so little one can do with words meant for so many different people, but deeply from the bottom of my heart, a big shout out and I love you to Gunma, Tochigi, Tokyo, and a special one to Kumagaya.  You guys all know who you are.

I've been home for a month and a half now.  Not too long.  After an epic journey in Hokkaido with Edmund I spent a last few days tying up loose ends and then came home to jump straight in the the Virginia grape harvest season.  I can't even begin to describe how sweet it is to see the crisp golden light shimmering off the scenery at dusk and dawn, a view that is only rivaled by the starry sky at night here.  This is trully some of the most beautiful country in the world...

...But alot of work.

Okay there seems to be a problem.  2005 Vintage Harvest pix and Hokkaido coming soon.