FTDW

We've had a busy month of May!  The weather has been off and on with rain, storms, then a few hot dry days.  We're having the most wet spring weather I think we've had since we moved here.  Fortunately, our property is very sandy and the water soaks in pretty quickly.  The rain has been wonderful for the gardens! 

We have fish in the pond and lots of tadpoles.

Early this month we hosted a young singer/songwriter for an OKLAHOMA HOUSE CONCERT--Merry Ellen Kirk.  The weather was iffy that Saturday so she set up her keyboard in the family room and played for us.  It was wonderful.  If you get a chance, check her out on the internet, facebook, youtube, etc.  She and her brother were on a road trip, heading to California.  We hope they will come back through here on their way home. There are a couple of great things we like about House Concerts -- the musicians are usually on a "circuit" or on their way to another venue, so we can show them hospitality and get to enjoy their music in our unique setting.  The other thing I like is that we get to meet new people, usually make a new friend. 

Drew led a paint party fundraiser for a Relay for Life team, and one for the Watonga High School After-Prom party. We haven't had a Liquid ART evening at the Winery in a while but have been focusing on fundraising for other groups this month.  I really need to post some photos here!

For Mother's Day I pretty much relaxed.  The rest of the week was busy with graduation activities.

We had a "soft opening" for The Oven at Chaparral Retreat and had a great time with friends who came out for dinner.  We will be open generally on Friday evenings anytime we have reservations for at least 10 people.  I'm working on a press release to get out to some tourism media. 

Andy was mentioned as Chairperson of the Watonga Cheese & Wine Festival in a nice article in last month's issue of Oklahoma Today - tourism edition.  He really worked hard last year to get some publicity for the event, and it worked!  Neither of us are involved with the Cheese Festival this year, as we are focusing on our own efforts to develop the Retreat as a tourist destination in conjunction with Roman Nose State Park.  Most people come to this area for the park, and since there is really very little to do in the town of Watonga, we are going to take advantage of the traffic coming out our way. 

FUN TO DRINK WINE!  This past weekend we hosted the third annual OGIC Oklahoma Wine Competition, organized by our friend Brad Stinson from Whirlwind Winery.  Although the Watonga Chamber of Commerce and the Cheese Festival committee have nothing to do with the wine competition, it has been the tradition to feature the winners of the competition in the various categories at the Festival in October.  I have the list of winners but will hold off publishing them just yet.  They have been notified, I'm sure.  We had seventy (70) entries this year and five judges. Tanya, Drew, Jenna, Andy, Brad, and I were all busy all day but everything went smoothly. We invited anyone who wanted to come out and taste the wines afterward but no one showed up.  Andy lit a fire in the fireplace and we sat out on the patio. It was a lovely evening, nice temperature, no rain.  Good times with good friends!

We're having a Tea Party for a group of women today at the house...... I'll write more later!
/linda