You can't ride a grape



Even the grandparents get involved in the harvest



When we were in Colmar yesterday we walked through a beautiful hillside of grapevines. We tasted the various grapes and we heard all about caring for a vineyard. The local guide, Jean Claude had a family vineyard that his father lovingly cared for until about 2 years before his death. Jean Claude explained that the roots of the plants got up to 100 meters down in search of water and that gives the grapes their intense flavor. He also showed us how to pick and prune the grape vines. Growing and tending grapes is a lot of work...Jean Claude and his sister sold the vineyard to their cousin because neither of them was fond of the process.

Dar and I had been throwing around the idea that when the horses went feet up we might grow grapes. Sounds very romantic and a nice end result, wine. But after yesterdays education, Dar announced as we were getting back on the bus that he thinks we should forget growing grapes. Tom piped up and announced, "You can't ride a grape!"

Everyone laughed and now, if something unfortunate happens on the bus, someone in the group says, "you can't ride a grape"