Playing with Images

I was trying to get an image of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.

They were very hazy in the distance on this glorious Sunday afternoon.

The image though, as I took it I knew would not come out very well.

So with my trusty computer in hand, I did some enhancement of the image to bring out the mountains a bit and give it a little artistic quality.

The mountains in the distance were beautiful. The landscape in between was showing the first signs of autumn, with trees beginning to don their autumn finery.

I was standing on the south balcony of James Madison's home at Montpelier. I worked hard to frame the image with the black walnut tree in the foreground.

It was all hard work.

If I was talented as a painter--I might have come up with something like this.

But I'm not.

So I get to enjoy playing with image manipulation programs.

It is still a memory, too.

Weekends Away

Some weekends are really special and reflecting upon them afterwards brings back fun memories.

I mean--9:15 am Sunday morning and I am in a winery sampling wine with Chris and four of my best friends.

If there is a better way to start the day, well it would be hard to imagine. OK--so out on a beach definitely wins hands-down, but this is a close second.

Grapes are beautiful.

Vineyards are relaxing places to walk and enjoy.

And of course, vineyards were not the only places we went on this beautiful Sunday.

We also toured James Madison's Montpelier to take in some important aspects of American History.

It was fun to see the changes in the house as the restoration continues.

But it was a great weekend--and we had a lot of fun and samples many different wines.

I highly recommend it.

Monday Musings - October 11, 2010

1. Happy Columbus Day. Columbus day became a Federal Holiday in 1937. Click the link and read about it--it may surprise you that it is not a uniquely U.S. holiday.

2. I bet you forgot it was a holiday until you went to collect the mail. Surprise--no bills!

3. Did you know there are 10 Federal Holidays?
- New Year's Day
- Martin Luther King's Day
- President's Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Columbus Day
- Veteran's Day
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas (yes, it is OK to say Merry Christmas!)

4. I enjoyed a weekend of wine tasting and history in Charlottesville, VA again this year. We had a lot of fun with friends.

5. The weather has moderated and is awesome. Don't forget to enjoy it. It may be the last before the dark days are upon us.

6. My dog was so happy to see me when we returned this yesterday that she has not left my side since. It was a little tough taking a shower--but we worked it out.

7. Well, we finished the bed exchange with Patrick and Tina. We received a queen bed as our guest bed in exchange for a full. It is now set up and ready for company. And yes--true to form, blood was spilled!

8. And so the week begins. Thankfully, I have a short week--I'm taking Friday off. Chris is off and it's her birthday.

Wine on the Vine

Started Sunday morning in the vineyard.

A beautiful day. Out with friends and sipping wine before 10am.

Afterwards it was off to Montpelier and James Madison's home.

The area is beautiful. The wines are awesome.

The friends are fantastic.

Wine Tasting Saturday

Well it is October and we are out int the Virginia wineries tasting.

We are out with good friends getting int trouble but also finding wines to enjoy.

I'm fact, I found the Thanksgiving dinner wine.

It is a beautiful day out in the countryside.

Does it get better than this? Yes, but only on the beach.

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time ...

The words are magical, are they not?

They remind me of childhood and dreams about the future.

Of knights and dragons, and even of space warriors fighting against overwhelming odds.

They remind me of playing for hours in a fantasy world without too many props on the edge on my imagination where every thought was reality and reality was but a memory.

Once upon a time I was the captain of a starship.

Once upon a time I was the the best pitcher on my baseball team and I won game 7 of the World Series by striking out Mickey Mantle on four pitches. (I guess I never did like the Yankees after all)

Once upon a time my sisters and I along with some neighbors created a series of tree forts from which to protect the area from invading Indians. We shot real arrows made from birch with bows made from birch and fishing line.

Once upon a time I was going to lead the first manned mission to Mars. Well--we see where that went.

It is fun to remember once upon a time--

Not that it could ever be any better than today, living life in real time. But it was fun to stretch the imagination. Once upon a time when I was young and could do anything or be anyone in the universe that I could imagine.

Music in my Ears

Chris told me about it a week or so ago and I really didn't think too much about it.

She noted that I was not listening to music anymore while driving in the car and she was listening to more of it.

I dismissed the comment--I like listening to talk sports radio.

But I recently remembered reading a study that people who listen to talk radio are more likely to be depressed. I went looking for it but could not find it.

That written though, yesterday morning I played music and wound up even singing along as I crawled along in traffic to work.

I felt much more energized when I left the car in the parking lot.

I didn't have a clue what happened in sports the night before--but there was a spring in my step as I bounded across the parking lot to the building . Ready to face the trials of the day.

Of course, it was a sunny day.

I will conduct the experiment over the next couple of days to see if it holds.

I urge you to try it and let me know the results of this unofficial, unscientific study on the effects of music upon mood.

Lists and Rankings and Memories

We are people who love lists it seems.

We pay others to rank things for us so that we don't have to try everything to make our own ranking. Or sometimes it is fun to rank things on our own just to see how we compare to the professionals.

I can tell the year is coming to a close because the rankings are beginning to show up in the mail.

Just this week, I received in my current issue of Wine Enthusiast Magazine the "Top 100 Best Buys 2010.' Yes a list. I look forward to the wine lists. And there will be a lot before the year is over. Some will seem funny before it is over-- "The 100 best Wines without a cork" or something like that.

All through the year, new wines are ranked on a 100 point scale. OK--the dirty little secret is the scale is really from 55-100.

Soon we will see lists of the top 10 movies of 2010, or the worst 10 movies. Every day I look forward on ESPN to the "Play of the Day." And during baseball season the "Web Gems." Or the "Top 10 Plays of the Day" from all sports. I am amused sometimes about how they try to give equal time to golf--but that's a thought for another day. I never see chess in the play of the day, though.

Some lists are much more useful than others. I find that Consumer Reports has good lists of things I might want to buy. And my Scuba magazines ranks everything Scuba--nice to look at, but I'm probably not going to replace my current gear with new gear just because.

What if I tried to rank order list things in my life? I thought about it for a minute. It would be pretty weird.

Bob's Top 10 Favorite Living Dogs
1. Makayla (keeshond)
2. Ben (keeshond)
3. Jefferson (beagle)
4. Florence (itailian greyhound)
5. Ginger (chocolate lab)
6. ?

That went well didn't it?

I want to try another attempt at dog listing:

What about Bob's Top 10 Favorite Dogs of All Time: Living or Deceased

Actually this gets a lot harder.

1. Nufi (keeshond)
2. Makayla (keeshond)
3. Meghan (golden retriever)
4. Spooky (some kind of spaniel/hound)
5. Ben (keeshond)
6. Zachary (Yorkie)
7. Bear (keeshond)
8. Trixie (Shepard mix when I was a kid)
9. Lady (collie mix when I was a kid)
10. Ariana (shitzu)//Rippy (Lhasa apso) (it was a tie for 10th)

Anyway--it gets hard. With the exception of Makayla and Ben, they are all deceased--but their memories linger. Is it useful?

I don't know.

I do recommend the wine list though for for good value wines under $15. The list gives me something to look for when I go shopping.

And we will all likely continue to check the lists for the best buys or for whatever.

Happy listing!

Blahs of Life

Sometimes I feel as if I'm just playing out the string--especially in these days between baseball and hockey. Kind of like what the Orioles did for the past month or so.

It is just tough--two days with no baseball as the playoffs are scheduled to start later today.

The other night it was so bad I mostly watched a chick flick with Chris--"Letters to Juliette." I mean really? I had a Monday night with almost anything to do and I watched a chick flick. If there had been baseball on TV--it would have been on.

It was so bad that I went out and filled up Chris' gas tank in her car for her--just to get a break.

With it getting dark so early now I really don't know what to do with my evenings--except look out the window into the darkness and wish for summer.

I think I need a trip to the beach or something.

I had forgotten how dark it gets so early and we still haven't switched off daylight savings time yet! Ugh!

I just need to strive to enjoy the daylight more. And it is supposed to warm up again as the week moves along. We will struggle to see 70's it seems.

And so I'm just blah!

It is even spilling over into my racquetball--I'm playing totally uninspired. Although last night, in an effort to beat the blahs, Chris had a stunning meal ready when I stumbled through the door after getting thrashed on the racquetball court again.

That was nice and served to chase away the blahs for a while.

But they are still out there. Lurking.

Halloween Village

It is October after all.

Time to really begin the window dressing on seasonal decorations. One of the things Chris really enjoys are her Halloween decorations.

Those of you who know me, know that I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. I like the candy (a bit too much) but that's about it. But, in the spirit(s) of the season we decorate the house because, well, it is a piece of American tradition that keeps us from becoming stogy.

There is so much inertia to overcome in doing anything different these days. It seems the easiest thing to do is nothing at all. And then feel guilty about it later.

We did get our decorations out Sunday and placed around the house to begin to get into the season. We only have a small Halloween village--because it is out for less than a month. But it does get me excited for the Snow Village and its arrival in the house, now scheduled for November 20th.

That of course, begins the Christmas season--with all of its special sets of issues.

For now though--the next celebration on the radar is Halloween. And the nights are getting colder and the days are cooler.

Autumn is fully in control now. I guess we need to embrace it because, as the line from one movie reports: "resistance is futile!"