{ Bottling }

Last week we went back to Gallagher's to bottle our beers. First up was the porter Mike and I made...and let me tell you, the first taste of it was not good. We were all a little petrified inside {"We made sixty-six bottles of this garbage?!"}, but we smiled and nodded and told each other it tasted good. {We were lying. All of us admitted it when I brought it up later!} Apparently the stuff at the top of the barrel often doesn't taste great; after we'd filled a few bottles, we tasted again, and it was really good!

It never ceases to amaze me what people do for love. Perhaps a better way of expressing the same sentiment is, what personal transformations are possible for the one you love. I very much dislike beer till I met Mike and found out he like beer. I gave it another shot, for his sake...and another...and another...and eventually I realized that I was no longer grimacing and squinting and trying to swallow really fast before I could taste it. I liked it. Whaddaya know!

Note: Mike has had similar success {at least that's what it looks like to me!} with Thai food. Veggies and fruit, not so much. Oh well. Maybe that takes longer to grow on you than intoxicating beverages.

In this photo Joanna is filling bottles while Luke and Mike cap them. It really wasn't a four-person job, but I made myself look useful...and I took pictures.

Three really cute dogs showed up shortly after us: Sparky, a Dalmation; Zeke, a Boston terrier; and a German shepherd whose name I don't remember. Joanna was convinced that Sparky was in love with her. I think, in reality, Sparky loves everyone, especially if you have pizza. We had pizza, and when I was eating a slice, Sparky planted himself in front of me, turned on the puppy dog eyes, and kept offering to shake hands with me. It was hilarious.