A Year of Change

Tonight we have a dinner with a bunch of people from all over the World in Boulder at a pre Aspen Food and Wine party. It’s put on by the writers for Food and Wine Magazine and Travel and Leisure Magazine. We met the fellow from the later at our Bocelli lunch last week and he invited the misses and I so off we will go. These are really important press people so it’s a good thing we show up. There will be 24 people in all and each person has to bring a bottle of wine that is not theirs! Lots of spitting will be going on.

Tomorrow morning Aleks Simcic, our friend and winemaker from Slovenia (we stayed with him a few years ago when we all went to Italy and Slovenia) arrives around 10am. Then we have a lunch with a bunch of buyers and then a sold out dinner at a restaurant downtown. Up the next morning will be the drive to Aspen to the Grand Hyatt where we’ll set up camp until Sunday. It’s an incredible hotel right on the mountain. Everyone raises their prices for the Food and Wine Festival which is the busiest weekend of the year in Aspen and our place is running a little over $1000 a night but we have the Slovenian Government (Department of Tourism) paying for our stay. In fact, they pay for everything, food, gas, lodging, my wine samples, anything associated with Aleks’s trip. This is happening more and more as all the various countries are trying to attract visitors. This is a good thing otherwise we wouldn’t be going as it just costs too much. In fact this is the first year we’ve attended Food and Wine.

Yesterday the misses headed downtown and I took the boys with me on my errands. Before we knew it, 1:30 had rolled around and we headed over to the youngest guys dentist appointment. Turns out his aching tooth had to come out! He also has a couple other small cavities (they think our previous dentist missed them!) but we decided to do that at another time. The dentist, who is really nice, said often kids need to go to a dentist that can put them to sleep, like with drugs, to fix their teeth but I said no way and to go ahead. The youngest agreed with me and said he could handle it. Before you knew it, the dentist had given him a shot to numb him up and minutes later the bad tooth was out! He was so tough and didn’t flinch at all. The roots were so long I told him he could make a necklace out of it. The Tooth Fairy I’m sure will be quite generous to him. The rest of the afternoon he had gauze in his mouth until the bleeding stopped and it clotted up. Of course this didn’t stop him from playing at all.

Meanwhile in the 90 plus degree heat, the oldest headed to baseball practice. I made it back in time to see him snag a bullet out of the air while playing shortstop. This is the position he wants to eventually play and the way he’s playing, it won’t be long.

We all were home by 7:15 and watched some tv until around 9pm. This morning I need to go to the distributor to pick up a pallet of samples at 7 before it gets too hot.

I’m surprised we had no comments yesterday, are you all afraid you’ll be on some list? Here’s a thought for the day,

One reason many people don’t mind communism/socialism is they aren’t working. 58.6% of the working age population works. Of that, close to 22 million work for the govt. The amount of people not working or working for the govt is 4 million more than the people who work for the private sector. Hmmmmm

All right, time to run, hope all’s well, take care and God Bless.

So it turns out this week is a pretty good week to go to Aspen as the temps down here are going to be hot! It all starts today and continues as far as they can forecast.

Here’s a couple of comments from my rant yesterday,

1. Eleanor Tafoya says:

   June 9, 2013 at 6:31 pm

   I whole heartdley agree with you , with some of what you say. As for this out pouring of massive spying on us Americans , our telephone, cell phone, e-mail and ect., where is our freedom? I understand the reason behind it when it comes down to it, but not what they are doing? I love America and the freedom we fought for. God bless all Americans .

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   June 9, 2013 at 9:28 pm

   Big government is never a good thing and when our elected officials represent themselves instead of us, you’d better look out. It’s not just one side, it’s both.

   I agree with both of you. I’m sure there intentions were well meaning, (maybe) but they’ve gone too  far and Annette is right, it’s been both sides for some time now.

   So it’s 6:21 and mom is trying to get the oldest guy ready for swim team and I have therapy at 7:30 downtown. Next up will be the youngest at 7:30 and I have a conference call at 9 and then need to pick up some wine at the warehouse. If it’s too hot, I’ll wait until tomorrow am. My knee is doing pretty well as I’ve been trying to ice and elevate this weekend to get it healed once and for all.

   As I said, it’ll be hot today, thank God the wife talked me into air conditioning a few years ago! She’s smarter than she looks and that’s a compliment as she looks pretty smart and smokin’ hot! Speaking of smokin’ hot, here’s my little firecracker now, I’m off to take the big guy to swimming.

   We are still trying to roust the oldest.  I was tickling him and rubbing his back…he was giggling and opening his eyes…slightly.  He is finally down stairs now.  He says he hates swim team and he is not doing it next year.  That will be a real bummer since he is naturally fast and he won his race in backstroke with absolutely no practice.  Maybe I can come up with an incentive program, as a swimming scholarship for college would certainly be nice.

   The youngest has a cracked baby molar on the back right side of his mouth.  He has been in quite a bit of pain. I had to give him kids Tylonol twice this weekend.  We tried to get into a dentist on Friday, but here in Colorado… Dentists do not have Friday hours….maybe oral surgeon should be on the kids short list of career options.

   Yesterday is a blur.  The youngest played with his friend across the street for a bit.  The three boys had a water gun fight.  we made a quick trip to Costco for organic chicken, as the last two times we purchased from Whole Foods the chicken was spoiled.  It smelled more like fish than chicken, ewwwww!

   I told the boys that I would take them to the pool when they ate all of their salad(4pieces of lettuce).  The oldest ate his with no fuss, but the youngest dragged his feet…reminded me that he hates salad and fish(we were not having fish) and told me that I could ground him for life if he just didn’t have to eat the salad.  After about 40 minutes he ate his salad and we went to the pool.  They swam for about an hour and a half and then we returned home for quick showers and Sunday night T.V.

   Uncle T called from Grandma’s to ask if I could help get her earrings in.  The oldest and I walked up to her house and I left the Mr.’s car keys up there. (Oops..we’ve been looking for the keys for at least 30 minutes)I first tried to push the posts through. Boy is she tough. After about 20minutes I finally had to use a needle to re pierce her ears.  She had them done while she was in Scottsdale a few months ago and has only had the posts out for a few days.  Her skin has super human regeneration powers to have completely, and I mean completely healed and closed up over and through the piercings.  Any of us that have ever gazed upon Lois’s lovely face can attest to her genetically superior skin…there is not a wrinkle on her.

   The oldest stayed up until almost 11p.m. It’s no wonder he did not want to wake up this morning.  Time for me to get the youngest up, as it is his turn to swim.

   Have a lovely day…God Bless

    

    

Here’s a couple of comments from yesterday,

2. Eleanor Tafoya says:

   June 8, 2013 at 5:52 pm

   Bob and I are bunkered down today , it’s going to be hot one today, it’s going to be 106. Not looking forward to it . I want to say we love you and we want the best for you, we love reading your blogs, keep up the work, it means a lot to your dad, keep up what you’re doing and may God give you the strength to carry on , God bless you and your family.

   Reply
3. Annette says:

   June 8, 2013 at 6:59 pm

   106 too hot for National Get Out Doors Day! I may movie hop all day.

   That’s hot! Especially in California. Grandma Annette, you should be a movie critic as much as you go.  Stay cool.I would always prefer it to be too cold rather than too hot as you can always warm up or go get some blankets.

   Now to the massive spying program by our government. How does this make you feel? Do you trust them? Apparently they are monitoring this very blog right now, in their words. “even as I write”. Those of you that know me know I’m not really surprised but apparently the rest of the Country is, which is good.

   Let me be clear (doesn’t Obama say that all the time?) this is not right, this is not fair, this is not legal and this is not what the founders of our Country envisioned EVER in America. Now we’re supposed to believe, as the Pres puts it, that this is a minor intrusion or inconvenience that we should tolerate. If you don’t know, they tracked over 100 million phone calls, they track all internet searches and emails and the powers that be think this is all ok. It wasn’t more than a week ago that the Pres came out and said the war on terror is over, and yet they continue to spy on us! Hopefully this coming to light will finally stop this out of control administration. I for one don’t believe for a minute ANYTHING they tell us anymore, and neither should you!

   Personally I would rather live in a Country with some more risk of attacks than a totalitarian surveillance state.

   Now as long as I’m on a rant, Europe is now regulating ALL seeds to keep GMO’s (genetically modified organisms) from Monsanto out of Europe. Good job Europe! Meanwhile the Obama administration and many of his staff are on the board of Monsanto! From Hillary Clinton to a bunch of senators, even higher ups at the EPA, that’s right, the Environmental Protection Agency (how ironic is that!) are on the freakin board of a company the bullies and destroys small farmers and is poisoning the American people all in the name of profit!

   What is happening to our Country? Hopefully people will wise up now. Let’s see, we have:

   the IRS scandal

   The Spying scandal

   The AP Press snooping scandal

   The Benghazi scandal

   The Obamacare scandal

   The Attorney General lying to Congress

   The Director of the CIA lying to Congress

   The Fast and Furious Scandal

   And who knows what else. Anyone see a trend here?????

   Mark my words, lots more will come out in the coming days. This is really really scary. God help us, time to pray for our Country.

   So today we’ll probably take the kids to the pool and try to live our normal lives knowing everything we do is being watched. Now we don’t have anything to hide which is exactly the point. Why this huge countrywide dragnet? In history this is how other regimes justified taking away the peoples rights and liberties. Wake up people, before it’s too late!

   God Bless you all and God Bless America!

    

It’ll be 90 degrees here today which is pretty darn hot for June 8th. Everyone is still sleeping and I’m headed to the gym so today it’ll be short. Today is National Get Outdoors Day, so all of you need to get outdoors! I was supposed to go fly fishing up Boulder canyon but passed as it’s still too early with my knee. Besides the misses has a dress on hold at a store that has 80% off starting today.

As I said yesterday, we both had our hair done (cut or colored) yesterday and she sure looks cute as usual.

No swim meet today and next week we’ll be in Aspen so the boys get a break. The youngest has a cracked tooth and we can’t get in until Monday so he’s toughing it out. Occassionaly he needs a little tylenol when it bugs him.

Time to run, Andrea has a show at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles tonight, too bad none of you live in L.A. as I’m sure it’d be a great show there being outside. I hear they even serve you food and drinks in the boxes but I’ve never been there. Here’s a comment from Aunt Robi,

robi says:

Finally I was able to go to bed early, not eat and drink all night and sleep in a little. The misses had book club so she rolled in around 10pm but then we all went out asap.

Here’s yesterdays comments,

2. WOW HOW COOL COOL COOL!

   Reply
3. Annette says:

   June 6, 2013 at 9:30 pm

   Great experience for a first concert. Looks like everyone had a good time.

   It was fun, especially for Jag. I think if I remember right, we have a show in December  in Phoenix! If so, we’ll try to hook Robi up. We’ll probably come down for that one as it’s the closest.

   Yesterday was still a work day with the misses downtown and me downstairs. The boys were upstairs on the couch for the morning and then we ran a few errands including the grocery store. The oldest had baseball practice and I went back for the last 20 minutes as they were having a scrimmage against another team practicing. I arrived just in time to see our guy slam a high fly ball for a hit to the outfield. He asked me on the way home if he could play fall ball to which I said yes. I’m glad he’s so excited about it as he’s getting better every day.

   Today I’m getting my haircut at 9am and the misses follows me at 11:30. That means she’ll be gone until around 3 as it takes her a good 3 hours for a cut and color. We’re lucky as our friend never charges either of us. This is pretty amazing as the misses hair would be $200 plus each time! We try to do things for her when we can and just sent her to the concert where of course she had a great time.

   It’ll be 90 degrees this weekend. We had a guy from Costco out yesterday to give us a quote on new garage doors. We’re slowly trying to continue to update and fix things around here. Our doors are falling apart and need to be replaced before winter which will be here before you know it. The misses really wants to try to do something with the backyard also. It never seems to stop.

   Time to run, another day in paradise. I stopped in to see my Mom yesterday and she looks good. I’ve been so busy I haven’t seen her in a few weeks, we’ll have to have her over for dinner. Hope everyone is well, take care and God Bless.

What an absolutely amazing night!  We started the morning off with the Mr. going down to the Ritz-Carlton to pick up Alberto and Cinzea Bocelli for an excursion to Red Rocks.  The Mr. called to give Antonio and me the “Heads Up” that he would be returning with two extras, Amos and Mattea Bocelli, (Andrea’s sons).  I quickly called the oldest at his friend’s house to see if he was interested in a morning at Red Rocks.  He was…so I quickly picked him up and returned home for him to change into tennis shoes.  Everyone was out front when we drove up.  We loaded up into two cars and the nine of us made our  way to Red Rocks Ampitheater. The air was crisp and cool and the humidity was thick.  Oh how I love humidity!  The group was amazed by the natural beauty of the Red Rocks and the construction of the amphitheater.  Alberto has a PhD in Architecture and he designed the Teatro de Silenzeo in Lajtico, Italy. It is an outdoor Amphitheater for Andrea to perform in every July…needless to say…Alberto was really interested in the history and the Architect’s inspiration for Red Rocks.  The inspiration for Red Rocks actually came from some Roman ruins…just a fun fact.  After walking down the steps and back up and explaining the exercise boot camps that were going on we all took a guided tour (guided by Doug) through the visitors center.  On a side note…Andrea’s eldest son, Amos found it quite humorous that Americans will get up at 5:00a.m. to run stairs and workout.  He said no way would Italians get up that early..they do however workout late in the evening.

We returned home for Doug and Antonio to quickly change clothes and then stop at an account with the Bocellis on the way back down to a Luncheon at the Ritz.

I quickly showered and changed and off I went to meet everyone at The Ritz.  Travel and Leisure Magazine was in attendance as were some important key accounts.  The food was delicious and the wine better…and of course Antonio, Doug and the Bocellis were not only engaging, but captivating!  Everyone oooed and awed over the stories behind the wine and how we came to be the Importer for the family.  It was just a lovely day.

Here is the Mr. to gush about the concert…..

After the lunch I headed home for a quick rest while the misses and Cinzia had their nails done at the spa. She made it home by 4:30 and then we left at 5:10 headed back to the Ritz to pick up Alberto and Cinzia. We first dropped in at the 4 Seasons Hotel where a friend had arranged a closed off section in the restaurant for a pre show party. 20 minutes after we arrived, Alberto handed me his phone saying it was Veronica who is Andrea’s wife. It seems Mattea (the 15 year old who’s 6’5″) recently had something cut off his foot (minor surgery) and Veronica said she needed a doctor as the incision was changing and/or looking infected. She wanted me to get a doctor for a quick repair surgery at 7 this morning before they loaded in to their plane for Los Angles at 9:30. She of course said they’d delay the plane if needed as it’s their plane.

Anyhow as luck would have it, one of my guests was one of my doctors from my knee surgery in Vail so I told Veronica we’d cut short our pre show party and head right over to the arena. We pulled in through security to our backstage parking spot and went in the back and headed right over to Andrea’s dressing room. Heidi (my doctor from Vail) and I went straight to look at Mattea’s foot while Jag and Mom stood there listening and watching Andrea warm up for the show. After checking it out and calling her cousin (who’s a top dermatologist) we had him all fixed up. By this time our friend Pete (who’s the road manager) showed up with our backstage passes so the oldest and I walked around between all the hustle and bustle backstage including the Colorado Symphony and other people. It was filling up fast out front so I told him we needed to go out and find where our 20 guests were sitting. We found most people and said a quick hello before the show started. He liked being backstage and of course Alberto and Cinzia were treating him like one of their own children. Veronica tracked me down with her 1 year old in her arms to thanks me for bringing a doctor so quickly. As I said, it was just lucky Heidi came with us. She asked me if she could call me from Los Angeles if she had any issues and of course I said “of course”.

Everyone was wondering who this sharp dressed 11 year old with an “All Access” backstage pass was as they just don’t give those out except to the Artist (that’s how everyone refers to Andrea) and his family. He didn’t seem to grasp the importance of his pass, he just liked going anywhere he chose having everyone open any given door for him.

The show was simply amazing! You cannot put something like this into words, you just have to experience it. There was a 20 minute intermission half way through and at the end of the show, Andrea did 4 encores to standing screaming 40 year old plus (may much older) fans. It was like a geratric Beatles concert and the ovations were well deserved. He had some guest performers and one was this amazing violin player who was not only beautiful but played like you’ve never heard anyone play. The highlight for me was Canto Della Terra from Andrea. After the show I had arranged for a meet and greet with Andrea for my 20 some guests. I met Mark, the other road manager who I’ve also known for a number of years, and ushered our group backstage and had them all stand within a yellow square painted on the floor. We had to do this as right when the show is over as an army of workers begin tearing down the stage and loading it into trucks for a trip to Los Angeles for the Hollywood Bowl Show the day after tomorrow. Lori who stayed with Mark to say who was approved and bring up the rear of our group, then rushed up front to join us.  (you wouldn’t believe the groupies that try to get backstage)  We then brought in 4 people at a time to meet Andrea and took a quick photo with our camera of everyone. All the time Veronica had a watchful eye on everything with baby in arm. It took me about 12 minutes or so to rush everyone through and then we were headed home. We were going to run Alberto and Cinzia back to the Ritz when we discovered there was room in Andrea’s suburban so they went with him to save us the trip. We made it home by 10:30 and headed right to bed.

This morning Antonio and I left for the Ritz at 6am to get Alberto and Cinzia and head to the airport. We met up with the other guys at the Ritz who were also headed to various planes and the private jet for the short trip to L.A. I dropped them at 7 am and after hugs and kisses (Italians) and made it home by 7:45. Alberto and Cinzia are insisting our family comes and stays with them this fall. We’ll see, it’d be nice. They said all we need to do is get there.

So it was a great two days, we did lots of good business, everyone was happy and no one was really hurt. Now I have lots of work before next Wednesday when Aleks Simcic from Slovenia arrives and we head to Aspen. Tis the season for me having winemakers. It’s fun but don’t be fooled, it’s lots of work.

Here’s our sharp dressed man below with Andrea, Alberto and Cinzia. We have lots more pictures but here’s one!

Here’s a couple comments,

1. Lori says:

   June 4, 2013 at 12:59 pm

   The oldest said that his heart was filled with more joy after getting the first hit than it was when he got his dirt bike! Pretty special!

   Reply
2. Annette says:

   June 4, 2013 at 3:24 pm

   Tell the oldest we are really proud of him and in a few years we will be cheering him on with the Giants.

   Thanks, he was really excited. We can’t wait to hear about last nights game as he rode with one of the coaches and his son whose his friend and spent the night after the game with them.

   Meanwhile my day started off with our guys from Greeley Hat Works measuring Alberto and Cinzia for custom made cowboy hats that’ll be ready in 4 or 5 months, then a fantastic lunch at Venice downtown where the chef from Italy came in to cook a special meal for our table of 12 and then we had an in store bottle signing at Applejack. After that we all went to dinner with the owner of Applejack and his wife which are good friends. We made it home by 10:30 and are off today at 8am.

   First up we’re taking the Bocelli’s up to Red Rocks so they cans see this natural wonder. After that we’ll have a quick stop at a top shop in town and then our lunch at the Ritz Carlton downtown. Then luckily we get a break until the show at 7:30. I think we’ll pass on the 4 Seasons pre show party but we’ll see. Of course I’m getting a flurry of last minute requests for tickets. I don’t know what people are thinking, I mean calling me with less than 24 hours until the show thinking I’ll just squeeze them in. Not gonna happen!

   So I’m pretty busy, so is the misses who’s coming to lunch with us, until tomorrow am. The oldest is going to the show with us too and is pretty excited. It’s cooler today but that’s ok. Hope all’s well with everyone, take care and God Bless.

Wouldn’t you know it, the one baseball game I had to leave from early, our oldest guy had the best hitting game of his young career. He had multiple hard hits (doubles) into the outfield and scored 3 times! Mom said when he got to 2nd base on his first hard double, he raised his hands in the air with joy.

Meanwhile I was picking up Alberto and Cinzia (Bocelli) at the airport and heading down to the Ritz where we have them staying. The youngest guy came with me as did Antonio who flew in earlier in the day. Mom and the big slugger drove down and joined us for a 9pm dinner at Elways. We made it home by 10:30 and I’m sure Alberto and Cinzia were asleep by then from jet lag flying in from Italy.

Today we have a big day starting out with a friend of mine measuring the Bocelli’s for custom made cowboy hats and then a lunch with 6 key buyers from around the city. Then we’ll rush over to Applejack for a bottle signing from 2 until 4 and then we have dinner around 7:30. Lots more tomorrow but we’ll get to that then.

Time to run as lots to do. Hope all’s well.

Today we’re keeping it short, not sure many of you are reading these days as we’re getting  very few comments. Anyhow yesterday we had baseball and the oldest and I went from 3:30 until 7:30, the youngest went on a hike and Mom rested.

Today I’m off to the distributor at 7, the boys are off to swimming at 6:30, Antonio and the Bocelli’s arrive today and the oldest has another baseball game.

Lots more but there you have it.

God Bless

Last night Ben the neighbor slept over and all 3 boys slept on the couch. I went down at midnight to check on them and they were all asleep. Earlier in the day we went to Evergreen for a mini road trip and saw a cow elk with her baby’s right out in the open amongst a bunch of people at the lake.

Before that I washed the truck and tried to clean up around here a little. Of course before that we had the swim meet at sunrise. The youngest swam really well, especially on one leg of his relay when he only took one breath the whole length of the pool! The oldest guy won one of his races which was backstroke. It was really cold and Mom had to run home to change clothes after I arrived. I think we finished up by 11am and were home a few minutes after.

Today it’ll be warmer and we have baseball at 4pm. Before that I’m going to try to clean the house and get to the gym. Right now the misses is upstairs still in bed as her neck is really jacked up. I can’t believe it, her headache or her neck, one of the two hurts daily. We have to get her in to the doctor right way although she’s tired of them.

So time to run, I’m off to the gym. Have a great day, stay safe, lots of freakin weirdos out there but I won’t go into talking about democratic politicians  or criminals (wait, they’re one in the same) today.

God Bless