Windham Winery
Today the boyfriend and I went to Windham Winery. The weather was so nice, we sat outside to enjoy our bottle of riesling and some nibbles for lunch. We brought the laptop to do some writing for our wine blog. Windham also has wireless internet access that reaches outside. Very nice. It was a wonderful afternoon. Here are some photos from our visit to Windham Winery.
Hairy Ass
Found this on Craig's List. Like a hairy ass? Would you like to wake up and see that in the morning? Or even before going to bed?
Lesbian Friends
On Sunday the boyfriend and I went to Linden Vineyards to participate in a once a year barrel tasting. We invited some new friends to join us at the winery. Caroline and Keri are new friends of ours. Caroline is French and has a family history in the wine industry. We were so glad to have them join us.
Of course this made me wonder if many gay men have lesbian friends. I'm sure many do but I don't have any. The boyfriend met Caroline through his pet sitting job and they hit it off by talking about wines. From there we made the plans to go to the barrel tasting. We had such a nice time with them on Sunday. They were easy to talk to about the wines and things going on in our lives. The boyfriend and I enjoyed spending time with them so much that we've decided we must cultivate this friendship and do more things together. There are a couple of photos from our visit to Linden below.
Do you have many lesbian friends?
Caroline, Keri, and the boyfriend at the regular tasting.
The boyfriend, Keri, and Caroline enjoying the barrel tasting.
The boyfriend gets a taste of the 2005 Boisseau.
Of course this made me wonder if many gay men have lesbian friends. I'm sure many do but I don't have any. The boyfriend met Caroline through his pet sitting job and they hit it off by talking about wines. From there we made the plans to go to the barrel tasting. We had such a nice time with them on Sunday. They were easy to talk to about the wines and things going on in our lives. The boyfriend and I enjoyed spending time with them so much that we've decided we must cultivate this friendship and do more things together. There are a couple of photos from our visit to Linden below.
Do you have many lesbian friends?
Caroline, Keri, and the boyfriend at the regular tasting.
The boyfriend, Keri, and Caroline enjoying the barrel tasting.
The boyfriend gets a taste of the 2005 Boisseau.
200th
Show Notes:
Here it is! Show 200 and the 1 year anniversary of ArcherRadio. A big thank you to all who sent audio comments to include in the show. And of course a big thank you to all the listeners who continue to support ArcherRadio. Thank You! Call the listener line: 1-206-666-1876
Show #200
Show Length: 45:00
File Size: 41.4 MB
New Orleans Eight Months Later
Earlier this evening I returned from a five day trip to New Orleans with the boyfriend. His family is from New Orleans and were happy to provide us a place to stay. We had a wonderful trip and his family is very nice. I really enjoyed getting to know them and spending time with them.
While we were in New Orleans we were able to see much of the city and surrounding areas. His sister basically gave us a Katrina tour. By no means is New Orleans back to normal. There are parts of the city that are abandoned. Many businesses haven't returned. Everyone is looking for workers. The city far from recovery. The news reports of the damage do not show the real picture. You simply must see the damage up close to realize the devastation from hurricane Katrina. Here are some pictures from our trip. Click on the photo to see a larger view of the photo.
Here's a photo I took while in the car driving towards the city. You can see in the lower right hand corner all the FEMA blue roofs. There are still thousands of roofs that look like this.
Here is a photo shot from the car showing the Superdome. As you can see they are still working on fixing the roof. From the sign you can see they plan to reopen in September.
Here's a photo of one of the levee breaks. You can't see much but here you see them fixing the levee.
One of the areas we toured was St. Bernard Parish. As with all other areas touched by Katrina, a distinct water line can be seen on all the buildings. The line shows the highest point the water reached. It's very eerie to see this line all over the city and outlying areas.
As part of our tour we went into the city. Here's a photo of Charity Hospital. It was damaged so heavily there are plans to implode it. This will be a loss to the city because many of the city's poorest residents were able to get their healthcare here.
After visiting the city we went to the lower 9th ward, which I'm sure you heard about during all the hurricane coverage. Here are some photos from the lower 9th ward. The place is abandoned. No one has moved back. Street after street is deserted. You won't see any water lines because this entire area was under water. You can see the marks on the houses where the officials searched and left their findings on the buildings.
This is Fats Domino's house. He lives in the lower 9th ward. He has begun to fix the damage to his house. You can see his trumpet player cleaning the fence.
The amount of destruction that took place is overwhelming.
This was just one of the many houses we saw with identifying marks showing that someone died right in their home. This house was different because family members and loved ones returned to create a memorial to Dorothy Holloman.
We went to many different parts of the city. This photo shows Ann Rice's old house. She no longer lives here.
Here's another view of the city from the car.
On Friday we went to the French Quarter. This is St. Louis Cathedral. You might remember George Bush standing on the lawn in front of this cathedral a few days after the hurricane.
Here's a view inside St. Louis Cathedral.
While in the French Quarter, we went to the farmer's market. Not many of the farmers have returned. Most of the shops sell tourist crap. Here's the boyfriend looking at all the spices sold at one store.
Here's just an interesting view out of the windows of the cafe where we had lunch.
Here's one of the famous balconies.
Here we are at the famous Cafe Du Monde
Here's the boyfriend enjoying the beignets and coffee. I had never had them before but thoroughly enjoyed them.
On the last night before I left we had a big traditional Good Friday feast at the boyfriend's sister's house. They had tons of crabs, crawfish, and gumbo. Believe it or not, I ate a crawfish and tasted some of the gumbo. I survived.
While we were in New Orleans we were able to see much of the city and surrounding areas. His sister basically gave us a Katrina tour. By no means is New Orleans back to normal. There are parts of the city that are abandoned. Many businesses haven't returned. Everyone is looking for workers. The city far from recovery. The news reports of the damage do not show the real picture. You simply must see the damage up close to realize the devastation from hurricane Katrina. Here are some pictures from our trip. Click on the photo to see a larger view of the photo.
Here is a photo shot from the car showing the Superdome. As you can see they are still working on fixing the roof. From the sign you can see they plan to reopen in September.
Here's a photo of one of the levee breaks. You can't see much but here you see them fixing the levee.
One of the areas we toured was St. Bernard Parish. As with all other areas touched by Katrina, a distinct water line can be seen on all the buildings. The line shows the highest point the water reached. It's very eerie to see this line all over the city and outlying areas.
As part of our tour we went into the city. Here's a photo of Charity Hospital. It was damaged so heavily there are plans to implode it. This will be a loss to the city because many of the city's poorest residents were able to get their healthcare here.
After visiting the city we went to the lower 9th ward, which I'm sure you heard about during all the hurricane coverage. Here are some photos from the lower 9th ward. The place is abandoned. No one has moved back. Street after street is deserted. You won't see any water lines because this entire area was under water. You can see the marks on the houses where the officials searched and left their findings on the buildings.
This is Fats Domino's house. He lives in the lower 9th ward. He has begun to fix the damage to his house. You can see his trumpet player cleaning the fence.
The amount of destruction that took place is overwhelming.
This was just one of the many houses we saw with identifying marks showing that someone died right in their home. This house was different because family members and loved ones returned to create a memorial to Dorothy Holloman.
We went to many different parts of the city. This photo shows Ann Rice's old house. She no longer lives here.
Here's another view of the city from the car.
On Friday we went to the French Quarter. This is St. Louis Cathedral. You might remember George Bush standing on the lawn in front of this cathedral a few days after the hurricane.
Here's a view inside St. Louis Cathedral.
While in the French Quarter, we went to the farmer's market. Not many of the farmers have returned. Most of the shops sell tourist crap. Here's the boyfriend looking at all the spices sold at one store.
Here's just an interesting view out of the windows of the cafe where we had lunch.
Here's one of the famous balconies.
Here we are at the famous Cafe Du Monde
Here's the boyfriend enjoying the beignets and coffee. I had never had them before but thoroughly enjoyed them.
On the last night before I left we had a big traditional Good Friday feast at the boyfriend's sister's house. They had tons of crabs, crawfish, and gumbo. Believe it or not, I ate a crawfish and tasted some of the gumbo. I survived.
Vertical Tasting
Last night the boyfriend and I went to Gray Ghost Winery for a vertical wine tasting. We got all dressed up because it was black tie optional. Neither of us have tuxes so we wore coats and ties. A vertical wine tasting is when you get to taste several different vintages of one wine. Last night we were able to taste 10 years of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Gray Ghost wine library. None of the wines are currently for sale to the public. We tasted Cabernet Sauvignons from 1993 through 2002. While tasting the wines we had a wonderful dinner. It was cool to compare and contrast the wines from different years. I decided the 1993, the 1995, the 2000, and the 2002 were the best vintages. The boyfriend had different choices because we enjoy different characteristics of wine. We had a wonderful evening enjoying the wines and the foods and the other people sitting at our table. Below is a picture of us when we got home from the tasting. We had planned to take a picture of us all dressed up but it didn't work out. So here we are at the end of the evening.
Saturday Photo Shoot
I know I haven't updated my photo galleries in a long time and I'm planning to do so in the summer. As most of you know, I turn many of my photos into artwork to sell on eBay. Today my artist friend, Bob came over and we had a photo shoot with a model we've worked with before. We think we got some great shots. I think I'll be able to create so beautiful pieces of art. Here are just a couple of the photos. Check out our eBay auctions.
Spring Break is Back
It's spring break time again. I'm off until Monday, April 17. I'm so glad I have a week off. This year is killing me. I can't wait for it to be over. This might be a time I catch up on my blogging. I know I haven't been a regular blogger lately. I really need to get back to recording what's going on in my life. Over spring break the boyfriend and I are going to New Orleans. His family is from that area and had damage to their house from Katrina. They have since renovated and are all doing well. We will be visiting them from Tuesday to Saturday. I'm sure I'll be seeing some very disturbing damage from Katrina. I plan to take my camera of course and the video camera to capture all the things I see. I'll share them next week. I am taking the laptop so that I can write while I'm there. However, there won't be any blog updates since internet access is still very spotty there.
The scary part for me is getting on a plane. I haven't been on a plane since 1999. My grandmother died in 1999 and I had to fly to Indiana for her funeral. The flight there wasn't too bad but the flight back was scary as hell. The turbulence was almost unbearable. I vowed then that I wouldn't get back on a plane. But now that we are going to New Orleans, I have to break that vow and get back on a plane. I just hope there isn't any turbulence. I also hope the other people on board don't mind me holding onto my boyfriend during the entire flight. Friends have suggested drugs or drinks to calm me down but I don't think I'll do either. I'm just going to do my best to stand it and hope nothing happens.
Art on Saturday
Lately the boyfriend and I have been visiting lots of wineries and tasting lots of wine. We have been writing articles for an online news site about our experiences at the wineries and about the wines we have been tasting. This weekend we decided to take a break from the wineries and do some in town activities.
On Saturday we took the metro to the National Gallery Of Art East building in Washington, D.C. to see the Cezanne in Provence exhibit. Paul Cezanne died in 1906. This exhibit marks 2006 as the centenary of his death. The exhibit focuses on the works he painted in and around his native Aix-en-Provence and celebrates the landscape and rich associations it had for him. We took our time and studied each painting. We noticed several had places where the canvas wasn't touched with paint at all. We noticed many of the buildings were off angle and looked like they were leaning. We aren't sure if this was on purpose or how they actually looked at the time. Either way, we thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit.
After the Cezanne exhibit we decided to walk across the street to the West building and see the Dada exhibit. I saw a story on the CBS Sunday Morning show last weekend about the exhibit and was interested in seeing it. Dada is a movement of artists who were expressing their feelings of the social climate of the time through their art. This exhibit features paintings, sculpture, photography, film, and collages from many European cities. All of these works were created in the midst of World War I. Once we began to see the works, I did not really care for them at all. The boyfriend liked some of them. I did get a few ideas to try with my photography. I'm probably not describing the art or the movement very well so you can read more about it here.
After Dada, we walked all the way down the mall to the tidal basin and took in the views of the Cherry Blossoms. The peak bloom was Friday so there were literally thousands of other people there to see them as well. Even though I've lived in the DC area all my life, this was the first time I've seen the blossoms up close. They were beautiful and it was worth the walk.
The boyfriend in front of the cherry blossoms.
We were very tired from walking all over the mall and we still have to walk back to get the metro home. The metro was packed and people were being shoved in the cars like sardines. We decided to bag the metro and take a cab back to where we parked. It was well worth the 15 bucks. We were exhausted.
The boyfriend in the cab.
Even though we were very tired, we really enjoyed taking in the visual sights of the day. The Cezanne exhibit was wonderful, the Dada exhibit left me thinking, and the cherry blossoms were beautiful. We had a wonderful day. We ended the day by going to our favorite wine seller and bought a case of wine. What a wonderful day!
On Saturday we took the metro to the National Gallery Of Art East building in Washington, D.C. to see the Cezanne in Provence exhibit. Paul Cezanne died in 1906. This exhibit marks 2006 as the centenary of his death. The exhibit focuses on the works he painted in and around his native Aix-en-Provence and celebrates the landscape and rich associations it had for him. We took our time and studied each painting. We noticed several had places where the canvas wasn't touched with paint at all. We noticed many of the buildings were off angle and looked like they were leaning. We aren't sure if this was on purpose or how they actually looked at the time. Either way, we thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit.
After the Cezanne exhibit we decided to walk across the street to the West building and see the Dada exhibit. I saw a story on the CBS Sunday Morning show last weekend about the exhibit and was interested in seeing it. Dada is a movement of artists who were expressing their feelings of the social climate of the time through their art. This exhibit features paintings, sculpture, photography, film, and collages from many European cities. All of these works were created in the midst of World War I. Once we began to see the works, I did not really care for them at all. The boyfriend liked some of them. I did get a few ideas to try with my photography. I'm probably not describing the art or the movement very well so you can read more about it here.
After Dada, we walked all the way down the mall to the tidal basin and took in the views of the Cherry Blossoms. The peak bloom was Friday so there were literally thousands of other people there to see them as well. Even though I've lived in the DC area all my life, this was the first time I've seen the blossoms up close. They were beautiful and it was worth the walk.
We were very tired from walking all over the mall and we still have to walk back to get the metro home. The metro was packed and people were being shoved in the cars like sardines. We decided to bag the metro and take a cab back to where we parked. It was well worth the 15 bucks. We were exhausted.
Even though we were very tired, we really enjoyed taking in the visual sights of the day. The Cezanne exhibit was wonderful, the Dada exhibit left me thinking, and the cherry blossoms were beautiful. We had a wonderful day. We ended the day by going to our favorite wine seller and bought a case of wine. What a wonderful day!
