Wine Country Weekend

On September 14th Allen and Jacalyn Spence hosted their first harvest party to promote their wine club.  Dad and two of his friends cooked for the 35 guests and staff, with spouses and some of the guests pitching in to help.  I know all of this because Lou and I were allowed to go with them.  Jesse and Jose, the Spence puppies, irritated us by nipping at our faces, so Lou and I growled and barked at them to make them stop.  We are old dogs who don't have time to be bothered by two female dogs who don't understand us.  Mom and Dad were proud of us because we didn't fence fight with the neighbor dogs which would make Jacalyn crazy. We are getting wiser knowing that if we did stuff Jacalyn doesn't like we don't get to go up there, and we love it up there a lot.  Here is a picture of Lou in the vineyard there during the event:

Dad loves that picture so much he had it printed and framed for his new office.  He promises to get a picture of me too so I don't feel left out.

Several people at the party have known Mom and Dad for some years although we don't see them very often.  Mom doesn't like to tell lots of people about her cancer, only close friends and family because so many people don't understand that she doesn't want them to feel sorry for her.  She just wants to lead a normal life.  One of the gals we see occasionally actually started crying when she told Mom that a friend had told her about the cancer.  Mom was uncomfortable because she doesn't like causing other people to suffer or feel sad.  What she needs is to be understood as a strong woman who intends to be around for as long as her quality of life is maintained.  She doesn't need people to be sad.  The more she can be happy and have fun, the stronger she becomes.  People have their heart in the right place, which makes it difficult to realize that reminding her that she has a deadly disease sucks her energy, while acceptance, love and giving fun times makes her super Mom.

This is what she needs:

Mom with her friend Karin.  They look very happy and pretty together.