Happy New Year

On the 30th I took Dad and Shea to the Woodford Reserve Bourbon Distillery. Shea is 21 now, so he got a taste also - he only took a small sip and gave the rest to Dad. We tried for the warmest day possible, but it was still barely 40 and fairly cold on the tour. As with last year's tour of Maker's Mark, no one is working in the Distillery except the tour guides. The three copper pot stills are somewhat unique to Woodford and the one at the furthest distance in the picture is actually not flat to keep from scortching the fermented mash. These copper pot stills were made in Scotland!

The most fun was taking pictures and as always I love taking pictures of Shea taking pictures. He gets so focused on what he is doing.

At the end of the tour all the 21 year old + get a half a shot of whiskey/bourbon. Bourbon is a particular kind of whiskey - per a law passed in 1964. The main thing is it has to be 51% or more corn. Although this Bourbon also has rye in it, which has gluten - by the time it is alcohol, there is no gluten left. Thus celiacs like Shea can drink it. After the tour we head to Frankfort - the capital of Kentucky - to find the Irish Sea Celtic shop. We initially headed the wrong way, but eventually found it. Downtown Frankfort isn't very big. The story is they couldn't decide whether to make Lexington or Lousiville the capital, so they compromised with Frankfort.

On New Year's Eve, after Dad and I took naps, we went over to Doris' house. Karma is always the most adorable and photogenic person there. That's Doris fixing Karma's party hat. There was lots of music - bluegrass, old rock and jamming. Hot wings, Kentucky bourbon and whatever else people brought to share.

Doris has been remodeling her guest bathroom and had a friend and artist, Stacey Street, design and make this work of art to cover the lights surrounding the bathroom mirror. The leaf-like shapes are individual pieces of glass that are heated enough to meld together without being flat. You don't really get the three dimensional quality of the glass in this photo. It is beautiful and an amazing piece of art to have in one's bathroom.

Karma having fun as midnight approached. You can see some of the musicians in the background. There were plans for fireworks, but it never stopped raining and the temperature was probably in the high 20s.