Oh Me Of Little Faith

I have made a habit of being overseas for defining parts of memorable test series with Australia. In 1977 I was camped at the snout of an unmapped glacier in Iceland and thus missed the return to test cricket of Geoff Boycott and the emergence of the force of nature that was Ian Botham. Four years later I was coaching basketball (yes I do know that sounds implausible, in fact risible) in Massachusetts when Botham almost single-handedly wrested the Ashes from Australia. Communications being what they then were we relied on World Service reports relayed from base camp in Iceland and in 1981 my mate JRS posted me the press cuttings which I would read aloud to my fellow English counsellors at Camp Half Moon.

Well here we go again but now the internet makes the scores readily accessible. Last night I shared with you my instinctive fear that England might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I woke today to find that Australia were already seven wickets down so my trepidation moved on to the Cardiff weather perhaps saving the Aussies. By the time I had finished a splendid breakfast the game had been won. Will my return home be a bad omen? If so I have decided where I am going to stay - at the Kriselle Cellars vineyard.Dave's Oregon Office

Terroir and tasting room

We discovered their sauvignon blanc last night and today we paid the vineyard a visit. We tasted: the 2014 sauvignon blanc (perhaps even more attention grabbing than the 2013 we had already encountered); the rose; a cab franc/malbec/cabernet sauvignon proprietary blend; the malbec; the cabernet sauvignon; and the tempranillo. All admirable but that sauvignon blanc is the star. It seems they can sell all they make this side of the pond and my internet explorations suggest no UK distribution. Which means we will have to live off the memory of their modern and friendly tasting room with its mountain views and fresh fired pizza. Just to round things off there was live blues music from Rogue Rage Duo (Big Will Macfarlane, bless him, would have loved it) and the retired gentleman who shared our table was the former Attorney General for Nevada, a job which entailed having armed guards. Now that's a real lawyer.

Tonight it is Antony and Cleopatra at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival which as any fule kno is Shakespeare's finest play so they better make a good job of it. All I have to decide is which teeshirt to wear for the occasion.