Swirl, Sniff, Taste. Cheers!

I love wine.  My mother is probably rolling over in her grave in Angle Hill Cemetery as I type this.  She has probably rolled all the way down the hill now by the little house with the chickens in the yard next to the cemetery. My mother did not approve of alcohol.  She drank when she was young.  But from the time I turned seven and my sister was born my mother never drank alcohol again.   But I will say it again.  I love wine.  If I became ill and had to give up sugar, candy, cakes, or bread I would survive.  I would miss them but I would survive.  If I never drank another glass of beer or scotch again I would miss it but I would once again still survive. Coffee?  I have already given it up.  I drink Sanka now.  I sleep better that way.   When I am old and in the rest home and not recognizing any of my family all I ask is that you visit, tell me your name, and bring me a glass of wine.  I will appreciate it and although I may  not remember your name, I will know your the nice one who brought me some wine.

If my mother was still alive and reading my blog this would be the image she would have in her mind.

Any of my online friends reading this will realize that in reality I am just sitting at my computer wearing my Eric Cartman pajamas's having a glass of wine and musing on my blog.

When I travel you can usually find a glass of wine nearby.  We visited our friend Sue Taylor in Scotland a few years ago.  Mark was worn out from jet lag.  Me?  I had a glass of wine.

Our good friends Tom and Joan have a frog who drinks wine in their yard.   I like their landscaping.

I love the fact that I can buy a bottle of wine with my dog's picture on it.

When we visit my home town we always take friends to the Vineyard, a great wine bar in Havre de Grace, Maryland.  They have a lovely lounge with a fire place.  And it's not busy on Saturday afternoons.  So when I visit with friends we have the place to ourselves and we have fun.

Ona and Lila at The Vineyard

My daughter Katie and I at the Vineyard

Ona and I at The Vineyard

Grand Cru in Belvedere Square Market in Baltimore is another favorite wine bar.  Mark and I are friends with the owner and managers.  We feel at home there.  One of my favorite photos of Mark and I was taken at Grand Cru.  I use it as my Facebook photo quite often.  

Frequent Facebook Photo of Mark and I

And much like the Vineyard, we take our friends to Grand Cru with us also.  Our friend Ona once again joins us in some fun in the photos below at Grand Cru.

Ona with Mark and I at Grand Cru

Ona at Grand Cru

Ona and her husband Bob at Grand Cru

So when do I recommend a glass wine?  

If you go through a nasty break up and need to get yourself back together buy a ticket to Budapest and have a glass of wine.

Alone finding my smile again in Budapest 

If you get married to that new love two years later buy two tickets to Santorini and  put a bottle of wine on your balcony.

The wine is only two feet away in Santorini

If you're out Christmas shopping with your sister go to Frederick, Maryland and have a glass of wine. And yes Mom, Shelley drinks wine too.  

Mark, Shelley and I Chrstmas shopping in Frederick.

In this topsy turvy crazy world, at the best times and the worst times.  Find some time to relax.  Find some friends and family and have a few laughs.  Tomorrow could be better.  Tomorrow could be worse.  But for the moment take a deep breath.  Smile.  Have a glass of wine.

                    

                                                  Swirl, sniff, taste.  Cheers!

Artists and Models

 I have never really given a lot of thought about being a good photographer.  It is just something I do for fun.  I am not a professional by any stretch of the imagination.  I have never used quality equipment.  I have never studied photography in school.  However this morning I was taking some time to look through some of my old photos I have taken over the years and have decided that perhaps I should take my photography a little more seriously.

Photography has been a hobby of mine since childhood.  I got my first camera when I was nine years old.  My sister Shelley was my model when I took photos with that first camera.  I would take her out and pose her in bizarre places and take her photo.  I never thought much about it at the time but looking back now I realize that I did use some creative imagination in those old photos.  I remember taking this photo above by  putting Shelley down inside this old house foundation in our neighborhood and telling her to reach out like she was trying to crawl out of a pit.   Looking back now almost fifty years later I am impressed with the way this photo turned out.

This is a photo I took in 1963 of Shelley.  Something in my warped little head thought this would be a fun photo.  We had a little black puppy at the time whose name was Susie and she was behind Shelly in the photo.  But I didn't take the dogs photo.  I took one with the dog behind her making it look like Shelley was tied to the dog house.  Shelley never really questioned what I was doing or why I was doing it.  She was just always the willing model.  

Of course every photo was not creative or unusual.  Some were just photos of that I snapped on the moment like this one of Shelley with her doll carriage.  But still looking at it now I am finding it a much better photo than I had realized.   It does tell a story of sorts.  

This photo was taken of Shelley at Ocean City, Maryland.  It's not set up or posed.  But looking back it today I really like the way it turned out.  It's just a little girl on the beach looking down at her feet oblivious to everything around her.   And once again it does tend to tell a story of some sort.  

I am not sure who was more responsible for these photos me or Shelley.  I took the photos but she was the willing model.  Who is to say who the creative one really was?  

I still love to take photographs.  I always joke saying give me a 16 gig photo chip and somewhere on that chip you will find a good photo.  Perhaps I should have taken it all a little more seriously over the years.  Maybe I should have been a photographer.  But then it would have stopped being fun and become work.