Sunday

Once again, I've been seriously slack about keeping up with the blog. My days have been super busy, and blogging is something that's easy to leave undone.

Today has been a blur of multi-tasking: Lowe's, Home Depot, a last-minute search for hardwood charcoal, cooking, chores, etc. I neglected to think about the fact we might want some chilled white wine this afternoon, so I dropped a bottle of riesling in a ice bath for a quick chill.

When I pulled the bottle out, it had shed its label, but I like the way it looks now.


It looks very simple and refreshing, which it definitely is. It's a wonderful glass of wine for a busy afternoon: crisp flavors of apple and pear with just a hint of sweetness. Lovely.

We picked this bottle on a recent trip to the Asheville Wine Market. The price tag soaked off as well, but as I recall it was around $14 for a 1 liter bottle.


I've got a pork shoulder on the grill and there's slaw to be made and much more to be done, so I need to keep this short. Hope everyone is having a good Sunday.

I know I am.

Cheers.

Playing in the Dirt

Whew.

I spent the better part of the morning working on my garden. I planted nine tomato plants, seven basil plants, two eggplants, one squash plant, one zucchini plant and one mystery plant in the squash/zucchini family that was donated by a kind neighbor.

I've washed off the sweat and dirt, and this is going to be a short post because I need to fix lunch (and feed the cat before she starves to death which she is indicating is imminent). Some studies have shown that playing in the dirt can improve your mood. I'm inclined to believe it because I feel pretty good right now.

My garden is a humble endeavor, but hopefully a couple months from now we'll start reaping the rewards of my efforts. I'll no doubt add on some plants in the coming weeks as room allows. After that, I'll be providing tender loving care and anxiously awaiting our bounty.

Hope you're having a great Saturday wherever you are.

Dig Deep

One of the curiosities about winemaking is that the best grapes do not grow where you might expect. Although grapevines may thrive in fertile soil and perfect weather, the best wine grapes come from less than ideal locations.

Grapes grown in rocky soil with imperfect weather conditions develop more depth and character than their coddled counterparts. You can make wine from those grapes grown in ease, but it won’t be as good as the wine from vines that had to really work to produce grapes.

It’s easy to see the correlation with other aspects of life. Adversity and stress build character. Too much adversity isn’t a good thing, but a life of leisure rarely creates depth and character.

It’s important to keep challenging oneself throughout life, both mentally and physically. We all need to step outside our comfort zone occasionally.

I was reminded of this when E and I joined a gym after a much too long hiatus for both of us. Although I don’t relish the 5 a.m. trips to the gym, it feels good to challenge my body. It’s a small thing, but it’s been a nice change of pace.

I get stuck in a routine all too easily. My weeks frequently look startlingly similar: the same schedule, the same rituals, the same meals, the same wines. The weeks turn to months and the months to years. I need something to shake up my life from time to time.

One reason grapes develop more character in poor soil because it causes their roots to dive deep into the earth in search of nourishment.

Here’s to diving deep in life.

Cheers.

The IOU Project

This is a totally random post. On second thought, most of my recent posts have been rather random.

I was just contacted by these folks, and I don't claim to know anything about what they're doing. However, it looks interesting, and the video itself is stunning from an artistic standpoint.

It's worth a watch.

Spring Fever

This is a difficult time to be a blogger living in South Carolina.

It isn’t easy to get behind the wheel of the laptop when it’s a gorgeous spring day. This is the time of year when my mind is on everything but blogging.

Another reason I’ve slacked off from blogging is the lack of inspiration I get from the wines I’ve been drinking. They’re good – but they're often good in a familiar, homogenous way.

I was reminded of this when I read this article about the demise of California cabernet sauvignon. I would suggest that the same phenomenon is changing wines around the world – and not necessarily for the better.

Maybe we’re just getting what we’re asking for. While the United States has surpassed France as the world’s largest consumer of wine, we’re enjoying it differently than in the past. Fewer people are drinking wine with food.

I’m prone to this myself. Even though I’m an obsessive geek who agonizes over wine and food pairings, I still enjoy a big, plush, round red wine that doesn’t need food to show its stuff.

It does make me sad to see so many wines go to a New World style driven by the desire to score big ratings. Perhaps naively, I’m hoping that with more people drinking wine some of those people will start demanding something different, which will translate into more interesting wines in the stores.

I doubt, however, it will happen anytime soon, which means I won't have to drag myself off the porch to write about it.

Food for Thought

Today I'll leave you with this link without any commentary.

Regardless of your perspective, it's a topic worth considering.

Me and Julian Assange

This post has nothing to do with Julian Assange. It’s about writing for the web.

I’ve been blogging for over four years now, and I’m still a little clueless about the way things work in the blogosphere. I write because I like to write, and I write about things I care about. The finished product is something I want to feel good about.

Some posts are inevitably better than others. However, I don’t write a bunch of junk just because I think it will get hits. I also don’t write provocative headlines to get hits.

When I started blogging, I naively thought that good writing and consistent posting would earn me some readers. Over the years, I’ve gained and lost quite a few readers, but I’ve never picked up a large following. Part of that is my fault for being deficient in the consistency department. I guess another reason for my low readership is not playing the game correctly.

For lots of bloggers, the key to success is to write posts with little or no substance and give them catchy titles, like “Your Mom Thinks You’re a Loser!”

Actually, I’d read that post, because I’m not sure which side of that fence my mom falls on. But she loves me, dammit!

If you’re blogging in an effort to earn money, clicks equal cash, I suppose you do what you have to do. I’m still clinging to the outdated idea that content quality matters.

I’ve got blogging on my mind, because of this article in The Times about blogging and how it’s changing. My regular readers know I'm also struggling with what the future holds for Brim.

Writing anything of any worth on a regular basis is hard work, and blogs are no different. I can relate to the feeling of pouring time and effort into something and having very few people pay attention. Recently I’ve gotten some very nice compliments on Brim, which really does mean the world to me.

I write because I have thoughts, ideas and opinions that need to see the light of day. I write because I want to share the things that bring me joy–and sorrow. I write because I am a writer, and that’s what we do.

Just the other day, I stumbled on this article from The Times Magazine about how Amazon is peddling narrative nonfiction. It gives me hope that maybe good writing isn’t dying a slow death. It also makes me think more seriously about getting a Kindle.

I especially like the last line of the story. It's something I often say.

Thanks for reading.