Quilt

Sunday, August 24, 2014

A little bit of a French country experience

I have been branching out a bit and hanging out with some of my co-workers. I was hesitant when I started this job to get too socially involved with my co-workers. It is a very small world out here, and I suppose I was feeling a little protective of my personal space. I also believe in boundaries, especially with the kind of work I do, because I would hate for personal issues to ever get in the way of the work environment. Lately, though, since I realized that making friends with people who have my same interests has been challenging out here, I decided to take my co-workers up on social events. We all love happy hours, festivals, live music, dancing, food, and art, so most ideas that are offered-a happy hour here, a concert there-have had the perfect balance of doing something enjoyable without having to share too much personal information.

This last Friday, my co-worker Nina asked if I would like to join her for a fundraiser for the Paonia Mountain Harvest Festival that is held at the end of September at a vineyard outside of Hotchkiss. I decided why not and we reserved space for two. The vineyard is Leroux Creek Inn and Vineyard and it has a bed and breakfast as well as acres of grapes. There are horses and ducks and dogs that roam the property, along with spectacular gardens and a small pond. The event cost $40 and included food, some wine, and live music. The vineyard and inn is owned by a French man and his wife, which of course made it feel like I was in another country. The food was small plate food, but was delivered in a lovely manner...the sides of the barrels that were used to age the wine were cut into long serving dishes. On these lay grape leaves, pate, a small beet salad, cheeses, prosciutto, pickled onions. Along with these delicacies were warm bread and olives. After this feast (which they kept bringing more of whatever we wanted) there was a peach tart with cream.

The evening was clear, just after a rain storm, so the sky started to turn the pinks and yellows that it does at sunset. The vineyard is located on a mesa so the view was wonderful. The band played fun rock and roll music and Nina got up and danced-I just sat back and enjoyed the experience. I didn't bring my camera, but check out the link below for a video about this charming and unexpected piece of French country right here in Colorado!

http://vimeo.com/92415056


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