Groundhog Day

I may just have to don a scarlet letter after I admit this, but I'm one of those folks that has never seen the movie Groundhog Day. I mean I know it's a classic and all but I've never had the pleasure. I know it's supposed to be something about the same events happening over and over and over again - and I think it stars Chevy Chase - but that's about all I know.

If nothing else, I may have to admit that I'm living my own sort of Groundhog Day with this blog. I continually find myself so far behind on my posts that I have to pull a drastic catch-up stunt. I'm coming close to that now, but I'm trying to persevere for the moment.

Maybe I should check out the movie to see if or how that dilemma was resolved.

In any event, the real Groundhog Day has come around and our neighbour, Shameless Hussy, is throwing a little little fundraising soirée. And, rather than have us stand around a hole in the ground looking for a rodent, she's arranged some laughs, some music and many spirits to enhance the mood.

1252.  2004 Burrowing Owl Syrah (VQA Okanagan Valley)

A small confession might be in order as I add the new bottle to The List. We didn't actually open this bottle until we got home from the Hussy's party. She had some wine by the glass there, but they weren't selling it by the bottle; especially when it was coming out of a box. So, I just stuck to beer. BUT we did drink the wine while eating one of our Shameless Hussy's Groundhog cupcakes; so, I'm thinking I can still use her party as the premise for the bottle.

Plus, I figure Groundhog - Burrowing Owl; they both sort of pop up out of a hole in ground. So, it's kind of fitting. No?

Regardless, any occasion is pretty much fitting for a Burrowing Owl wine. This is the fourth vintage of their Syrah that I'm adding to The List. So far, I've added the '02 (at #358), '03 (at #706) and '05 (way back at #39) and there may a couple more still to come.  The 2004 Syrah has been called "the leanest of Burrowing Owl Syrahs" by writer (and fan) John Schreiner, but we found the wine to still be drinking just fine. Perhaps it was because we were drinking it on its own and not comparing it to any other vintages - or maybe it just goes with Groundhog cupcakes - but we had no problem finishing it off.

That being said about the wine, I'll return to the party and give some props for the show that our Hussy put together. I'd never seen Thomas Jones and the Face Invaders before but they put a whole new look to improvisational theatre. Far from scripted theatre, but nothing like the theatre sports I've seen previously, it was an interesting take on the genre. Not as many belly laughs as regular theatre sports, but interesting all the same.

That led into some spirited R&B and blues but Mr. D, Logan and I weren't exactly channeling the whole dancing queen persona at the party. We did, however, strike up a conversation with CBC On The Coast host, Stephen Quinn. The party was being held at the CBC building in Vancouver. So, when he offered to take us on a bit of tour of the studios, we jumped at the chance. Seeing the station facilities kind of puts the radio show in a whole different light when listening to it. I just need to wrangle an invite when Stephen's regular guest, Wine Master Barbara Philip, is sitting opposite Stephen instead of Mr. D - especially if it's on a day when she's bringing samples.

In fact, maybe I need to be the guest myself. I can talk wine and blogs. Really. I can.

But that's for another post. It's time to finish this one off in my game attempt to avoid that "Groundhog Day" feeling of blogging dismay catching up with me all over again.

Funny thing is that, for Groundhog Day, I didn't even hear whether or not we're due for an early spring or not.