Toga! Toga!

Okay. So we were not having a toga party at the retreat tonight. The Women of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church were having a refined and sophisticated wine tasting. NOT.

Well, it started out being fairly sophisticated. Most everyone brought two bottles of wine, one to taste and one extra. Donna Stokes-Rogers concealed the bottles in paper bags with numbers and set out paper bags for voting. We each got two tickets to vote for our favorite wines and the sampling commenced. Let me just say that there is a wide variation in what the women consider a sample. And there were no spitting buckets. Episcopal women do not spit, just for starters. And we certainly don’t waste perfectly good wine.

Of course, there was more food. Oh my goodness gracious, we have been eating non-stop this weekend. Let’s just recap today. Breakfast was scrambled eggs, bacon, English muffins, fruit (who needs that?) and cereal. Lunch involved yummy grilled cheese sandwiches with mushrooms and tomatoes, tomato basil soup, salad (who needs that, too?), and incredible gingerbread cake with lemon sauce. The wine tasting included chocolate truffles and brownies, Susan Miller’s insanely delicious avocado and strawberry guacamole, an assortment of cheeses, and Lori McDonald’s world-famous egg salad sandwiches. And dinner was pork loin and scalloped potatoes. Are you kidding me? Next week it is just going to be sticks and twigs. Sticks and twigs.

So the winners were announced. And the prize was, hello! More bottles of wine. All those second unopened bottles. There was a virtual feeding frenzy among the winners to snag their favorite vino. Or just any bottle with a pretty label. Or just any bottle.

I am sure right now you are either thinking: “What kind of church holds retreats with wine tastings?” OR: “How can I join this church?”

If you’re thinking the first, you can just move right along. It’s okay. If you don’t judge us, we won’t judge you. If you’re thinking the second, come on in. The more the merrier. And we have real wine for communion, which we celebrate every five seconds. Just saying.