Greener pastures!

The beauty of being part-time empty nesters is that my wife and I can occasionally pack up and see what kind of trouble we can get into without a whole lot of effort. For example, last Saturday we spent some time at a small winery that my wife likes, Franklin Hill Vineyards, near Nazareth, Pennsylvania.

I was reminded of the color green throughout the day:

—The green that feeds our stomachs. We marveled at the cornfields that we saw driving into the winery. There’s an old saying that corn should be “knee high by the fourth of July.” It used to serve as a benchmark for the success of a corn crop. Technology and genetics has made it outdated but I still couldn’t help but be amazed how high the corn stood. Yes, this has been a good year.

—The green that feeds our soul. Of course, we enjoyed looking at the vines, the grapes, and trying some of the wine and other concoctions they sold. Why yes I’ll take a wine slushy orange creamsicle on a hot August weekend.

—And then yes, on the way home, we stopped and went shopping for a few things our son needed before he headed back to college.

Green like the color of money. Of course, in between loading up the car with junk food, I checked out a huge 85 inch screen TV. “Hey honey, look at this deal?”

“For his room?”

“Him? Oh gosh no. For me!”

Yea, she just kept walking away.

However, I was able to get her to look at the life-sized skeleton playing a violin. It would look cool in the front yard for Halloween, but that was a miss too. Finally, she at least paused when I said we needed to get rid of our expensive plates and dishes and just go with Philadelphia Eagles green paper plates that I saw at the end of an aisle.

Now, I suspect she liked the clean-up and ease, but hey, I’ll take whatever I can get.

Oh life is a crazy journey. You have to take it with a grain of salt and enjoy it for all it’s worth — no matter the color.