a Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose

Add comment September 2nd, 2009

Wine Country pt.4

Here’s another angle on the Fess Parker viognier.  From this perspective, doesn’t the glass of white wine look strangely like a fish eye?  The dead gaze of the pupil, the touch of red of a burst artery, the scales that surround it…

Add comment August 21st, 2009

Wine Country pt.3

One of our favorite things to do in Santa Barbara county is to stop by the Los Olivos Grocery and get some tasty prepared foods from their deli to take on a picnic.  From there, we head up to the Fess Parker Winery & Vineyard to eat lunch on their beautiful wrap-around porch, which is exactly what we did yesterday.  We enjoyed a half bottle of the wine-maker’s viognier (pictured above) while looking out on the gorgeous flower gardens and listening to the wind blow through the branches of the old oak trees.  Needless to say, it was a fantastic start to our trip.

You might recognize the porch and the inside tasting room from the scene in Sideways where Miles finds out his book isn’t going to be published and ends up drinking from the spit bucket, though the name of the winery in the movie is tastefully changed to “Frass Canyon.”  To be honest, the many vineyards, restaurants and inns up here advertising their connections to the movie do get a little tiresome, which is just another reason I like going to Fess Parker.  There isn’t a mention of the film to be found anywhere on the premises or on their website.

Add comment August 20th, 2009

Wine Country pt.2

I took this pic on our last trip up to Santa Barbara wine country while driving along the winding back roads that connect the many vineyards.  I saw this lone tree on the horizon with it’s shadow spread out on the carpet of green and immediately thought of the opening credits for one of my favorite TV shows, Six Feet Under.

Add comment August 19th, 2009

Wine Country pt.1

One of my favorite things about living in California is being able to so easily visit some wineries.  For our honeymoon, Kim and I drove up the PCH to San Francisco and ended up spending a few fantastic days at a seclusive little B&B in Sonoma County, which was our first time in wine country and is where I took the above photo.  So with this Sunday being our 6-year wedding anniversary, we’ve decided to celebrate the occasion by taking a trip up to wine country tomorrow (Santa Barbara County).

If you’re ever in Sonoma County though and you’re looking for something to do other than drink wine during the middle of the day, I’d highly recommend finding your way over to the Jack London State Park.  The former home of London and his wife Charmian was converted into a park back in the 1950’s, and it offers a half-mile long trail through the 1,400 acres of gorgeous land, which London used to refer to as his “Beauty Ranch.”  What I found particularly inspiring, however, was in the museum on the property, which contains London’s first rejection letter.  It was here that I learned that the author of The Call of the Wild was rejected nearly 500 times before he was ever published.  I cannot even fathom continuing on as a writer (or in any other capacity for that matter) in the face of such brutal rejection, and yet, if he hadn’t, we certainly wouldn’t know his name today.

Add comment August 18th, 2009