The peerless Señora Weinhaus has two long term friends, Greg and Jeanne. She met the both of them when all were taking classes in Reiki some 20 years ago. In fact she has two other long term friends from the same class, a retired meteorologist from Sicily named Vincenzo and his partner Maury. Despite living in this country for 50 years Vince still has a fairly thick Italian accent, but I believe his command of English is better than mine. You will not find many other folks more interesting to converse with than Vincenzo. Maury hails from Brazil, but I thought him a native North American the first time I met him as his accent is so perfectly Midwestern. Maury can give Vince a run for his money in the conversation department… when he can get a word in edgewise. That is always a bit of a feat with Vincenzo.
That was quite a bonus for taking a class, to end up with 4 such friendships that have endured this long.
Greg’s passion in life is as an amateur winemaker. He has been winning awards for his endeavors over several decades now. One of the best wines I have ever tasted came from his cellars. Some time ago he had created a batch of port. When he brought a bottle of it over to our house for a dinner party we were having it had been aging in his bodega for over 10 years. It is horribly trite, but the only way I could describe this bottle of port is as heavenly. The closest other wine that I have sampled that elevated me to such celestial levels was a bottle of ice wine that went for $80 a split some 14 years ago. Obviously, I think highly of his wines and his wine making.
Jeanne took an early retirement from AT&T 8 or 9 years ago. When she did so she launched a second career as an author. She has had many short stories published. She has also self published a few novels. Her novels can be classified as women’s fiction or perhaps, perhaps romance novels. Her short stories, on the other hand, are of a more general nature. And for this reason they talk to me a little more. I’ve read a couple of her short stories that have really stuck with me. When you read as much as I do that is something special. Even her stories that do not embed in my psyche are always entertaining. I sometimes think she should have retired from AT&T a wee bit earlier to pursue what is obviously her passion.
She very recently (July, 2020) has had a short story included in an anthology that everyone is familiar with, The Chicken Soup series of books. This particular one is entitled Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Dogs: 101 Tales of Family, Friendship & Fun. If you are a lover of dogs then this is a must have book. Anyone who has ever been owned by a dog will have a story that might have been part of this anthology. They will certainly find many stories in this book that they can relate to. I’ve not YET read all the stories but Jeanne’s story was very touching. It exemplifies the magic that dogs frequently bring into our lives. Dogs truly do aid in maintaining our mental and physical health. It does seem to be the special calling of golden retrievers to do so.
Get yourself a copy, you will not be disappointed.
I have included links to the Chicken Soup website above as well as link to the book on Amazon. For more information on Jeanne and her work visit her website Jeanne Felfe
You can also visit her author page on Amazon here: Jeanne on Amazon
Keep well.
Aaww…thank you so much for your kind words.