Saying No to the Culture of Death

Last week we had our annual wineries tour with the family group (ok so last year was our first time when we went to Mudgee for the weekend) and our destination was Orange NSW. My husband took the day off from work so that we could travel during the daylight. Last year we travelled very late in the afternoon and discovered that everyone had arrived a lot earlier in the daytime. We arrived on that occasion well after 7.00 p.m. This time there were buckets of rain sweeping through NSW and our trip was a little on the wet side, but the rain had stopped prior to reaching Orange. Anyway, the 15 members of the group who decided to go on this weekend gathered together at the Metropolitan Hotel for a meal together and the next morning we gathered again for breakfast prior to taking off for our tour of wineries in the Orange district.

The wines in the Orange district are classified as cool climate wines and there really is a wonderful selection of fine wines to suit all tastes. I personally prefer a white riesling but I must say that I tasted some very nice reds on this particular tour. This story is not about Brangayne wines, or Prince of Orange or Word of Mouth wines, but about the wines from the Cargo Road winery, or rather, about the lunch we had at the Cargo road winery.

By the time that we reached the Cargo road winery we were feeling hungry, and I know that I was starting to hang out for a cup of coffee. When we arrived, James, the owner was on hand to greet us. James really knows how to talk and he really knows a lot about making wine as well as how best to grow the grapes. He has endured a lot of losses and I have to admire what he has done to build up his winery. However, when it comes to serving meals, well I think James should hire new staff and perhaps build a new area for a restaurant so that it is dedicated to food service. The first thing that James told our leader when we arrived was the bad news that he only had two venison pies. The other dishes on the menu were pasta meals made in the form of ravioli but he did not have sufficient of each type. In the end he took our orders and we were sorted out. He was generous with the wine tasting and finally the meal was ready. Then it came to having a drink. On the menu there was coffee and cake, but James gave us the bad news........ "there is no cake". In the end we did not get our coffee. So, we gave our wine orders, paid for the meal and off we went to the Prince of Orange winery.

By the time we finished at the Prince of Orange winery, it was time to head back into Orange for Mass. We had gone on this tour as a convoy of 4 cars and as we headed towards the local Catholic Church one of the cars fell behind. Originally Pat had indicated that she really wanted a cappuccino and when that group did not arrive at the church we thought that they had gone to the Golden Arches. However, what really happened is that John, who was the driver got himself lost and then he could not find the church, but they did catch up and find the place and they were sitting right down the back away from the main group.

It was an interesting weekend and we had fun despite these small disasters. We hope to do the same next year. This will be interesting because my husband has taken a job that means that we must move to Canberra in the near future, and so we will just have to find out what the Canberra region has on offer as far as wines are concerned. Yes, this will be an annual event even if some of us have moved away. 

Last Monday was the anniversary of my sister's death. I remembered her second anniversary by requesting that a Mass be said in her name. At the same time I asked for prayers for my niece Cassandra who was due to give birth during this month. Cassie became pregnant through the IVF program and when this happens they seem to run extra tests. At one point the doctors thought that there was something wrong with the baby. However, the tests that were run in March proved that this was not true. There was nothing wrong with either the baby's brain or his heart.

When I made the request for prayers for Cassie, I had no idea that she was in hospital because of high blood pressure and that a decision had been made to bring the baby on two weeks early. Imagine then, my surprise when I received the news that my niece had given birth to a very healthy baby boy at 8lb 4oz on 8th May, one day after the anniversary of Maureen's death. The hospital staff had delayed the induction by one day so that the baby would not be born on the anniversary of his grandmother's death.

So it is then, that I am reminded of the Byrd's song "Turn, Turn, Turn", which is based upon the Book of Ecclesiastes, where it says that there is a time for dying and a time to give birth. Now, I can celebrate the birth of my new great-nephew.