August 16 - Napa Valley Week
This week we took off for Napa Valley on Tuesday and my thoughts were that I probably would not play any races. But we had a lot more "down time" than I had anticipated so I opted to play a few races on Saturday before our last winery outing. I hit for 33% of my limited picks but the photos of the winners were not at all what I anticipated. In the featured Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga I thought leading 3yo filly Good Cheer would bounce back with a strong effort. She did, but she was only second best. And at Monmouth, I - along with everyone else - thought multiple graded stakes winner First Mission was going to win for fun. Sent off at 1/5 he was caught at the top of the lane and just missed when also second. But I did win two races at Saratoga, and has become a "practice" now, I found a favorite at Gulfstream that was worthy of betting and he won for me.
The Napa Valley adventure was great. All four of our adventures were as good or better than I'd hoped when I researched and booked them. And our rental home in Sonoma Valley was just so wonderful. It's worth checking out our photos by following the link below.
We had nearly 500 social media hits from our less than a week-long visit to Napa Valley. And as is usually the case, nearly all of the likes and comments came from "my girls" on social media.....
Social Media this week......
Monday was the first day of school in South Florida and shortly after 7 I got a notification that Melissa had mentioned me in a video. I opened the video and Melissa was driving to school for the first day and was giving a shout out to everyone to have a good first day and school year. And then she said, "And Mark Love," as she put her hand in a thumbs up, "...toast a cup of coffee to us...." On her posting it automatically converted my name to my instagram handle but in the video she called me out by name. I had already posted such a photo and I sent it to Melissa personally, who immediately gave me a heart.
Teri was one of the first to like and comment on our Napa trip. I'm happy that despite her getting married and moving out of the area we've remained friends and she enjoys following our trips and messaging with me.
Lauren also followed our trip and liked more than one of the postings. But the one heart I got that I enjoyed most was when she did one of her "walk & talk" videos and pointed out that the new "middle age" is 38, which is her age. I messaged her a photo collage I'd made around my birthday with a shot of me currently and 15 years ago to follow up a comment on the video I'd made that age is just a number. And she sent the heart - which I have to assume she agrees with me that I've hardly changed :)
NEWS FLASH! Over the birthday week when our youngest son Brad was here with his family, he remarked more than once - as he has in recent months - that he wished we lived closer. And I know Kim would truly enjoy that. I opened a discussion about getting a second property there where we could go up for longer periods of time and see them several times without having to be on 24x7 with them in their house over a long weekend. I called our realtor to explore how to determine (a) if we could find something that met what we were looking for and (b) if we could afford it. Our realtor, of many, many years said she had a realtor friend in Orlando who would work with us KNOWING we were not buying immediately and maybe never. She gave me her number and so I came to meet Sophia Gordon. Immediately when we talked on the phone I could tell she was a sweetheart and she was so willing to help. As we began exchanging emails our "conversations" began to reveal things about our personal lives and I suggested we become Facebook friends. Within minutes we were and while on the Napa trip she became a follower who "loved" some pics and reacted to my posting about her cute little girl.
If you've followed along with my social media records you know that one of my all time favorites is former student Kimmy. She's never on social media but we "talk" back and forth thru text. While we were gone apparently her "partner in crime" and best gal-pal from HS and now as adults, Christy visited her and they went out on the town. Christy posted pics and as you can see, despite being a mother of two, Kimmy has not lost any of her exceptional good looks!
I sent our "Egyptian girl" Petra (who we met in Egypt but she's from Slovakia) a photo of me with the raspberry cabernet gelato and that touched off an exchange.
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