Ode to Jasmine

Soon after we adopted Jasmine,
the three became best friends

When our boys were young, they were petrified of dogs. Harry had a bad experience at a park that was the source of that fear, and he seemed to pass his fear along to Kai.

When we were getting closer to buying our property, we knew we wanted a farm dog, but it had to be the right dog; one the boys wouldn’t be afraid of.  That dog was Jasmine. She belonged to the people renting the house that we now live in. Every time we visited the property, while still in escrow, Jasmine would be there to greet us. The kids fell in love with her instantly and we kept saying that we wanted to find a dog just like Jasmine.

When we were about to move to the property, the people renting the house couldn’t find another rental that would allow dogs, and asked us if we wanted to adopt Jasmine…..not only did we get a dog just like Jasmine, we got Jasmine!

Formally a strong swimmer, she was too weak
to make it across the river so Steve had to give her a ride

Jasmine quickly became part of our family. She watched out for the boys when they would go for adventures….We always knew where they were because we could here her barking, and she’d be with them. And we knew that if something ever happened to the boys, Jasmine would come and tell us.

We are very sad that she is no longer with us and we miss her very much. She lived a very long, happy life.

Harry won the photo contest! Our wine is in the Top 100.

Our son Harry started taking a photography class last year as an elective at school. In general, he's very observant, and it turns out he has quite a knack for photography. We asked you all to vote on which of Harry's photos he should enter in a photography contest. Well, we are proud to say that, thanks to all of the input, Harry got 2nd place and a $100 cash award! 

the award winning photo

 And last year, he got 2nd place in the Napa County Cover Art contest for the annual crop report and won $150....he's doing very well so far! 

Napa County Crop Report Cover Art contest

And in the world of wine, we are very excited to be included in the San Francisco Chronicle's list of the Top 100 Wines of 2011. Here is what they had to say about the wine:

2010 Matthiasson Napa Valley White Wine ($35, 12.5%): 
When not doing some of the best vineyard work in Napa, Steve Matthiasson keeps fine-tuning his brilliant white blend, this time a co-fermented mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Ribolla Gialla, Semillon and Tocai Friulano. It's more subtle and focused than ever, and time in bottle has given flesh to steely chive, key lime and orange notes. It'll be even better in a year — no surprise considering its inspiration in the long-aging whites of Italy and Bordeaux.