Dave and I aren’t the kind of folk who are good at making plans to do stuff. We love doing things with our friends, but when it comes to planning an outing, our imagination rarely exceeds picking out a restaurant. Our time is usually centered around a meal, some wine and lots of laughing. Because of this, it is always extra special when one of our friends invites us to join them in an adventure.
Saturday afternoon our good friends Carol and Chuck asked if we’d like to join them at the Veritas Vineyard for one of its summer “Starry Nights” concerts featuring a Beatles cover band called Abbey Road. Veritas Winery opens its grounds the second Saturday of the month, June through September, and offers live music, a lovely selection of their wines, a buffet if you choose and some of the most breathtaking views of the Blue Ridge you’ll see anywhere. It sounded like the perfect combination; friends, wine, food, Beatles music and the beauty of Central Virginia so we jumped at the invitation.
Carol and I worked out the details of what we’d need to take along; food, chairs, plates, napkins, etc. and at 4:30 yesterday afternoon Dave and I were packed and ready to be picked up. Just before Chuck and Carol arrived I asked Dave if he thought we should bring umbrellas or rain jackets. Our weather has been crazy this summer, putting us three inches ahead of the average for rainfall this year. Dave, who considers himself a weather maestro, said, “No. It’s not going to rain.” Hmmmm. Like a twit I took his answer as gospel.
No sooner had we claimed our patch of green on the lawn just by the winery’s veranda and settled into our chairs when we felt the first few drips that quickly became a bona fide downpour. Luckily, our “neighbors” had just finished setting up an awning. Without even really asking, I jumped up and ran under their shelter and asked if we could please just stand there for a few minutes until the rain stopped. “We have Oreos.” I offered to sweeten the proposal. (Who doesn’t like Oreos?)
No problem. From under the cover we watched umbrellas pop up all over the lawn. Fortunately the Chuck and Dave had grabbed the bottles of wine we’d just opened and we offered to share but they declined. We stood there for about fifteen minutes and chatted with our new friends.
When it stopped raining, we thanked our hosts and went back to our chairs. By then it was almost 6:30 and we’d almost finished our first bottle of wine so decided it was a good time to eat. Carol had prepared an amazing meal of homemade eggplant parmesan and brought, crusty bread. I brought carrots, celery sticks and grapes. We switched to the Veritas Five Star red which went superbly with the tomato sauce. We may have been wet and unprepared for the weather, but we ate very well.
The band began to play and we soon we were bopping and singing along to our favorite Beatles tunes. Naturally we knew all the lyrics. But then, all too soon, the rain came again and we again ran for the neighbors. By this time, introductions were in order. Our neighbors, Ken and Melissa, had driven up from Richmond for the event and were Starry Night veterans. The first time they came, they too had been rained upon. Now, they come equipped with a pop-up shelter, folding table and chairs. Even though we literally never game them the chance to say no to our request for shelter, they did so with great hospitality.
I didn’t have shelter to share, but the one thing we had that they didn’t was cell phone reception. Ken tried several times to contact his sister who was driving up to meet them but AT&T didn’t provide him with even half a bar. Verizon, on the other hand, gave me three full bars so I was happy when after a little coaxing, Ken borrowed my phone, called his sister and was relieved to know she was almost there.
Soon the rain stopped again and we moved back to our table and opened our dessert, a new package of Oreos. Carol made sure Ken got some which was a good thing because it made us feel less guilty when we ran for shelter a third time! Pretty much the remainder of the evening was spent that way; periods of time in our chairs followed by running for cover under Ken and Melissa’s awning.
During one of the breaks in the rain, Carol and I made a list of what we will bring the next time we come because there will indeed be a next time! Despite the copious amounts of “no chance of rain” we had a blast. If we’d come totally prepared we wouldn’t have made new friends and that would have been a shame. Without the rain we wouldn’t have had such a great memory, we probably would have sat in our chairs swatting bugs all evening.
I also learned a very important lesson; not to ask Dave if I should bring something to an outing. If I think I might need it, I’m just going to bring it along!