Blue Tooth Party 2012

Sam's BlueTooth Party manages to outdo itself every year. Plot and Duck drove up this year with The Greats Mushnik and Silent Bill so it was even fun getting there and coming home. Hostess Chef Pickle managed not only to know everybody there but produce three trays of that RIDICULOUS mac-n-cheese as well as more trays of delicious tamale loaf. Mush won a First Prize for her Salade Mushnique, and  Plotnik made watermelon/feta/sumac salad, but the tastiest thing at the whole party might have been those enchiladas several of Sam's employees made. You had to cross a bridge to find them but, man, that was the real thing.

Ducknik sat and listened to these two guys and then decided the guy with the shorts was playing an instrument she would maybe be able to learn to play.

It's impossible for Plotnik to even conceive of putting on a party like this -- 500+ people, hundreds of plates of food, decorating, setting up, cleaning up. But every other year Sam seems to be able to pull it off, even though this year his beloved dog Bela got hit by a farm tractor two days before the party and is in serious condition.

Silent Bill's comment was that the vineyard where Sam lives is like one of those places you pay to get into. It's really impossible to describe how beautiful it is. Maybe giving thanks is one of the subconscious reasons behind Sam's amazing generosity. He's not a tech tycoon or the scion of a wine conglomerate family -- Sam's a dentist. He doesn't have to do this. But he does, every two years.



It has always been Plotnik's contention that how much somebody has means nothing, but what he or she does with it means everything. So many people spend their lives acquiring and never learn anything about life except how to keep getting more.

Mitt Romney seems like one of those people, doesn't he? Accumulate vast holdings and then shoot your mouth off in a derisive manner about those who don't have what you have, who weren't given what you were given, who can't or won't give you what you want.

This has nothing to do with right/left Rep/Dem young/old. This has everything to do with being a mensch. How much clearer could it get?