new year – Creative Content

Events of 2021

Here is a quick rundown of major events that happened in 2021:

* January 6th mob in Washington DC.

* Biden inauguration on January 20th.

* Vaccines approved for use in January/February.

* 1.9 trillion dollar economic plan started in March 2021.

* US rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and WHO.

* US military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

* Juneteenth became a federal holiday.

* 20th anniversary of 9-11.

* Summer Olympics held in Tokyo.

* Meghan and Harry left royal life.

* Broadway theaters in NYC opened back up.

* The Buccaneers beat the Chiefs in Super Bowl. 7th Super Bowl ring for Tom Brady.

* There were mass shootings in Atlanta and Boulder.

* A condominium collapsed in Florida.

* There was a massive winter storm and power failures in Texas.

* Scorching heat and wildfires continued in the Pacific West.

* Hurricane Ida hit the coast.

* Derek Chauvin was found guilty in the murder of George Floyd.

* Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted.

* 3 men charged in murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

* R Kelly was convicted.

* Bill Cosby was released from prison.

* Britney Spears gained her freedom back.

* NASA Rover Perseverance landed on Mars.

* Space X sent civilians to space.

* Blue Origin sent William Shatner to space.

* Facebook rebranded as Meta.

* We faced supply chain shortages and critical staffing needs.

* We experienced the Delta and Omicron variants.

* 7.4 billion people worldwide were vaccinated.

* 5.4 million people worldwide have passed from Covid since the beginning of the pandemic.

* We also lost these notables: Prince Philip, Hank Aaron, Colin Powell, Beverly Cleary, Anne Rice, Donald Rumsfield, Bob Dole, Larry King, Rush Limbaugh, Christopher Plummer, Stephen Sondheim.

Remind Me

My daughter was born in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Her name is Ella. Another woman named Ella came from Hampton Roads. She was born April 25, 1917 in Newport News.

Ella Fitzgerald.

Just listening to her beautiful voice tonight…….reminds me…..brings me back to those days in lovely Virginia.

Here, listen:

Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year in 2021! May we all be reminded of the wonderful things in life this year.

Bringing in 2020 with Ice Wine

Oops, we totally missed celebrating Repeal Day on December 5th.

But where there’s booze involved, we can make another reason to party.

…..so…..

December 15th was Bill of Rights Day

…..and although, the amendment ending the prohibition of liquor wasn’t really in the first 10 articles called the Bill of Rights…..

well, it certainly makes it onto our TOP 5 FAVORITE AMENDMENTS OF ALL TIME list!

And, I’m certain our Founding Fathers would agree. I mean, wasn’t it Ben Franklin that said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”?

Then, of course, there is Samuel Adams…the namesake for a very fine beer.

Repeal Day occurred in 1933 during the Great Depression. It ended 14 dry spell years for the country.

Good grief! That’s a long wait for a beer!

So…in honor of Repeal Day or Bill of Rights Day or just to bring in the New Year right, we should probably talk about German Eiswein.

You are probably thinking, “What is that?”

Eiswein, or Ice wine, is a special product with limited availability due to the nature of creating it. The grapes are picked on the first frost and processed to enhance the sweet flavor of the wine. Picking frosted grapes is an arduous task that involves a large on-call work force. The grapes are cold for the fingers and the harvest must be done in a few hours.

Eiswein usually comes in smaller bottles and is used as a dessert pairing. It is considered to be greater value than these degrees of German wine:

Auslese

Spatlese

Taflewein

Ice wine production occurs in the United States as well but primarily in the Great Lakes region. Michigan is the biggest producer of Ice Wine.