# 8 for the Haight family

In 1960, my senior year at Newark High School, my parents decided to build a modern house. 1103 Church Road in Christine Manor became quite a project. The architect was dubious about the western "Ranch Style" home with a 'butterfly roof', redwood and red brick siding with turquoise painted trim.

A kidney shaped swimming pool took up about one third of the back patio, half-covered by the roof. The interior fireplace was massive with a smaller outside grill fireplace connected but open to the patio.

It was quite an entertaining house, with hardwood floors in the living room covered with a huge teal carpet that was rolled up for dancing.
I had a summer job at LeBro Lincoln Mercury as a telephone solicitor. The following summer after graduation, I went to Rehoboth Beach with friend Leilani Snow to work in the restaurant business as a short order cook. We rented a room over the restaurants on the first block of Rehoboth Avenue.[#9] In pursuit of a career in Journalism, I also had a column in the weekly newspaper - "A Bird's Eye View by Robin" mostly a synopsis of social activities going on at the beach.
When it came time to go to the University of Delaware for my English/Journalism career education, I was assigned a room in Kent Hall [#10] with a roommate, Barbara Campbell. She talked in her sleep ... in French! I had asked for someone 'interesting' on my dormitory application. She was the daughter of a DuPont employee from Geneva, Switzerland. Although an American, she had been schooled in French. I have lost track of her.
I did not do well enough in required courses to stay at the U of D; I played too much bridge and studied too little. My choice was to attend the Delaware Hospital School of Nursing for an education that was very suitable for life. The tuition, room and board, books and uniforms was far less than the U of D. $300 for all three years compared to over $1000 for one year at university. I moved once again [#11] to the Nurse's Residence on Brandywine Avenue in Wilmington, Delaware. Nursing students were often employed as babysitters by the Medical Staff. My favorites were Dr. Mette's five children who were bi-lingual and helped me practice German and Dr. Mustafa Oz, Chief of Thoracic Surgery. Dr. Mehemet Oz was five when I first met him. He and his younger sister were brilliant and well-behaved children.

Back East for #6

My parents had divorced and re-married in 1951. My dad was transferred to a Baltimore DuPont pigments plant and we lived in a house at 1924 Norman Road in Glen Burnie, MD. I attended 2n'd through 4'th grades and remember watching Queen Elizabeth's Coronation. My parents took dance lessons from Arthur and Kathryn Murray and appeared on Television as dancers. I appeared on T.V. in the peanut gallery of the Buffalo Bob show with Howdy Doody and Clarabelle the clown. We had an English Setter named 'Ski' and he loved to chew on shoes. We had a housekeeper / babysitter who was later fired for stealing.

 Next move, dad was transferred in 1953 to the Louviers building in Newark, DE where he was one of the first five DuPont employees trained to run the first computer, the "Univac". Those five each trained five other employees and so on until most of the staff at Louviers were computer-literate. Meanwhile, I struggled with math. We lived in home #7 at 530 Papermill Road for $75/month rent. Dad could walk to work. The house on 365 acres was owned by Hallock DuPont. It was a 6 story 1860's house with 18 " thick walls, a slave cellar, a coal steam heater with rattling old cast iron registers, a tin roof over the porch, window seats, and wasps in the attic. We had a black Collie named "Shep", a grey kitten "Misty" and "Liverachee" orange stripe.

The property had an immense barn with 12 " beams, lots of pigeons, a hay stack inside for great jumping and stored some of the farm equipment used by High School Ag classes. They grew mostly corn in the fields surrounding the barn. The Delaware Police push-mobile derby track was a relatively new feature used once a year for races; the rest of the year we had a private bicycle race track and sledding hill.
The Wilbur [Bill] and Vieve Gore family of five: Susan, Bob, Ginger, David and E.[Betty] Gore lived on the other side of Papermill Road and they were the only other Idahoans I met in Delaware. They also had a swimming pool. Bill developed teflon products - Gortex - in his basement and left DuPont to pursue his own business creations.
 I attended 5'th grade through High School in Newark. My parents started the first Fred Astaire franchise in DE. I met Bob in Cotillion Ballroom class when I was 13 and he was 14. I got to go to "Philthadelphia" with mother's teen dance class and dance on Dick Clark's Bandstand. The featured 'stars' were Eydie Gourme and Steve Lawrence.
I met my best friend, Nancy Bonney, in Newark. Her parents were both teachers. More to come ....

Where I have lived

Bob and I were talking about how grandson Christopher has only known us while living in this 1905 Boise Home. I decided to list all the places we each have lived since birth. Niether of us were military brats, so we may not have the diverse numbers some of our friends have accumulated, but we have a lot more than most people. I counted 32 and Bob counted 12.
I was born in Rahway, NJ while my parents rented a duplex apartment there. Dad was attending Columbia in NYC getting his Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering and working on the DDT project for his war effort. 1943. He was transferred to Carney's Point NJ in 1944 and we lived in a house in Penn's Grove. That was where I lost my first baby tooth in eating an apple, my mother got rid of our first set of kittens by re-locating them in the woods behind our house. I locked her out of the house - she had the mailman help her get back in. I remember Dad taking me to a bakery for the best cream puffs I've ever eaten. I had a Tea Set table, chairs, couch and lots of dolls to attend the many tea parties I arranged. 45-47.
In 1946, Mother and I went to live with her family in Wenatchee, WA as she was expecting my sister, Rhea. She wanted her mother near-by for her second delivery - When I was born - it was during WWII blackouts and other scary experiences. In Wenatchee, the Robinson house was next door to a castle with a reflecting pool. Both houses had circular staircases - the castle's had a blue bathtub at the bottom with goldfish in it. The Robinson home had two 'landings' one each over the living and dining rooms.The backyard had a great apple tree with a rope swing and grandpa had Irish and Gordon setters he took bird hunting. Christmas, I remember that my Uncle Bob - mother's 16 year younger brother got coal and a railroad spike in his stocking, because he was 'BAD'. After Rhea Frances was born April 4. 1947, I don't remember Dad being around, but we took the train or drove from the East Coast to Portland, Wenatchee and Idaho a couple of times. In Ketchum, Idaho 1948, I was 5 and we lived in a cottage down the hill from the RR tracks and the sheep drover's path. I attended the one room school house. Sometimes 5 of us neighbor kids would ride the draft horse to school - legs astride, holding on to the child in front. The winter snows were above roof tops and mother worked as cashier in the SunValley Lodge and sang in a trio in the Ram. We had a housekeeper nanny named Mrs. Wright. I learned to ski on Dollar Mountain and how to swim in the Lodge Pool with a chef 'Gus' who pulled me as I kicked and held on to his toes. I also got rides around Sun Valley on the Postman's bicycle. 1949 1'st grade started in September in Ketchum. Then, after ski season, we moved to #5 Sacramento - 2120 Murietta Way - with mother's Lynfield college roomate Frances Cottingham Longworth Robbins and her 3 children: Joy, John and Craig. Mother delivered Leslie Carlynne on Mother's Day, 1950.  I remember the sidewalk gutters flooding such that we could wade knee deep in the streets. Lynn Sherman was my friend and she wore braces on her legs due to Polio. One of the neighbors had the first Television I had ever seen and we got to watch Roy Rogers, Hop-a-long Cassidy, Gene Autrey, The Lone Ranger and Tonto. More to come ...

Apples -> Grapes

This original Apple packing box label was used on lug boxes of Blue Lakes Apples in the early 1900's. The apple 'pictured' is a Rome Beauty - my grandmother's favorite. You can see two of the many medals I.B. Perrine won for his fruit: Nebraska State Fair in Omaha, 1896 and the Paris, France International Exposition of 1900. On the left of the label there is a horse drawn stage coach descending down the north grade hairpin turn road that took I.B. seven years to build - it is still the main road into the Blue Lakes Canyon today. In a small frame on the right side of the label is a depiction of Shoshone Falls [the Niagra of the West] by the Oregon Short Line Railroad.
Apples would have been designated in the lower left blank space for "Variety" and the intended recipient's address in the space marked "To_____"
Many vineyardists I have known say that wherever you can grow good apples, you can grow good grapes. That is why so many acres in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho have been converted from apple orchards to vineyards. Historically, apples of the heirloom varieties produced good crops only every other year. Bankers like to have annual income guarantees when they loan money to farmers. Many orchard farmers could not get loans for apple orchard necessities in the early 70's, but they could get loans for grapes - especially wine grape vineyards. The growth spurt of vineyards was based on a flowering of the trends indicating wine was a good investment for the predicted increase in future wine consumers. Two things about this strike me as sad and funny - a number of heritage apple varieties disappeared or became endangered species.  Bankers would most likely not get any return on investments in vineyards for at least 5 years. Bankers are born Gamblers!

Wine Consumerism

It is often enlightening to read marketing reports of current consumer trends. As the population of 70 million millennials become 21 years of age and start buying alcoholic beverages, their wine habits are more diverse than any previous generation. They grew up with the Ipod and seem to enjoy the random lack of structure that setting things on "shuffle" affords them. They are not easily intimidated by "experts"; they are not afraid of screw tops or wine in boxes. They love to explore the world, take some risks, and drink wine to have fun. They are not likely to plan a dinner with wines matching courses as their parents may have done. They most likely will have a buffet party with their favorite foods on the table - pizza, sushi, wraps, tacos and a side table with a variety of different wines that often have wild names and crazy labels. Marketing to them necessitates visible and audible quick catch unique personality, creativity as well as informational clarity and authenticity.

Only 27 % of people buy and drink luxury brands; 73 % do not. Women buy 75% of all wine, mostly because they plan the household meals and buy wines to accompany and complement specific food.

There are six key wine consumer 'types' : The Enthusiast, who explores and buys with adventure, the Image Seeker who buys only wines rated over 90 to impress others, the Savvy Shopper who loves to find a good bargain, the Traditionalist who sticks with the tried and true, the Satisfied Sipper who doesn't want to know why or how a wine pleases - just that it does, the Overwhelmed who cannot decide without help from others.

A look at which traditional table wines and varietals US consumers purchased in 2004, when, for the first time, Americans led the market, buying over 160 million cases of wine. Chardonnay leads with 41.5 million cases or 26%, White Zinfandel was second at 22.8 million cases. Red blends = 31.5, Merlot = 21.9, Cabernet Sauvignon = 19.7, Sauvignon Blanc = 5.8, Red Zin and Pinot Noir = 3.1 each, Syrah = 1.8, Pinot Gris [or Grigio] = 1.6  and all others = 10.6 million cases.

For more in depth consumer and marketing information, visit Constellation Wine's Genome Project.

“Dandelion Wine”

Pick dandelions from an open field or yard far from any insecticide spraying, and if you can, pick early in the season when the leaves of the plant are still tender. Newly opened flowers are also ideal. You should have a large soup pot with a lid and 2 clean gallon glass jugs, a wire mesh strainer and 2 fermentation locks. 12 clean wine bottles with stoppers - corks, o-ring glass or screw tops.

8 cups whole dandelion blossoms, stems removed
16 cups water
Juice of 1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
Peel of 1 large orange coarsely chopped
Peel of 1 lemon coarsely chopped
2 ¼ teaspoons brewers or Champagne yeast
¼ cup warm water
6 cups sugar
8 whole cloves
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and diced

1. Wash the dandelion blossoms well in a colander. Put them in a pot with the water, orange and lemon juice, and the orange and lemon peels. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 2-3 minutes.Turn off the heat and add the whole cloves and ginger. 

Let cool and sit, covered for 24-48 hours.

2. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let sit for 10 minutes.

3. Add the sugar to the dandelion liquid and stir. Add the yeast mixture as well and stir.

4. Fit a large gallon jug with a funnel and fit the funnel with a mesh strainer. Ladle in the liquid one spoonful at a time, pressing down onto the dandelions as they go into the mesh strainer to ensure all of the liquid is extracted. Dump the dandelion and peels into an empty bowl to allow each new batch of liquid to go through easily.

5.  Fit the jugs with the fermentation locks. Let rest for one week in a cool dark place as the fermentation begins.. 

6. Strain the liquid again into bottles using the funnel.  Then cork the bottles, or use bottles with screw on tops, and store them in a dark cool place for 3 to 8 weeks and up to a year. This kind of wine is best consumed while it is young.

Some recipes call for just petals not whole buds. Fermentation can sometimes stop before it is complete, meaning it’s “stuck.” This can happen when there aren’t enough micronutrients for the yeast. You increase the chance of success by using whole buds because it adds more micronutrients, but you will have a slightly more bitter wine. I’m okay with that, I like a little bitter. But if you’re not, try the petals only. This will require more picking and separating.

Cheers!

Certifications

The Century Club an organization founded in London, with a logical, educational aspect on wine tasting - you become a member by documenting 100 wine grape varietals you have tasted. The Century Club certification is free - however, Mr. De Long sells charts, maps and tasting reservations for the annual tasting/meetings in London and NYC. There are also American Chapters of this organization.

I don't know the details of forming a Century Club tasting group - I know they are relatively new. Here is the link to their website: Wine Century Club. The old Chevalier du Taste Vin and Les Amis du Vin were French "clubs" - I think they may now exist only in France. There are also guilds and courts - Masters of Wine and Master Sommeliers headquartered in London - certification organizations that are based on very rigid testing and writing a thesis related to Wine [MW] ... or the alcohol service business [MS] and are very expensive and prestigious - there are only 20 MW's since 1990 in the USA, only three people in the world who are certified both MW and MS. Doug Frost is the only one in the USA.

American organizations have started widely varied certification programs - for knowledge of wines of the world, qualified wine judges and the organizers expect to make money. I am skeptical that certification will mean much in the future - except that it may be easier to get a job / promotion in the wine business, as Leslie Young has recently been promoted to manager of the CO-OP Wine Shop. To my knowledge, she is the only one working there with certification credentials.