Staying "Open"

I'd love to know why my brain seems to work so well when I'm trying to drift off to sleep. I lie in bed with enough words and thoughts rushing through my brain to fill ten blogs and them BOOM, I'm asleep. Where do the thoughts go? I can assure you they don't remain in my head because when I wake up in the morning all those lovely blogging ideas have disappeared! Trying to recreate the words became so incredibly challenging that I had to open a bottle of wine. Or, it could be that the name of the bottle was calling to my subconscious....the name of the bottle is OPEN. How appropriate...the wine that tells you what to do! I think I'll go back and buy a case! Then, every time I want to have a glass of wine, I'll be able to say it was the wine talking! "Open", is a Merlot, and it has some excellent qualities. First, it is a BC VQA wine from the Okanagan Valley. The back of the bottle quotes Albert Einstein..."the mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size" and it challenges the drinker to "FREE YOUR MIND, EXPRESS YOURSELF, AND ABOVE ALL BE OPEN". The bottle also states that this Merlot pairs perfectly with steak, dessert and hard cheeses. Unfortunately, my fridge was bare of hard cheeses and steak...but I did have mint Girl Guide cookies. Do they fall under the "dessert" category? I believe they do! Thus, I paired two mint cookies with my glass of wine...ummmm, I should also mention the small (ish) bowl of sour cream and onion potato chips that I also "paired" with my wine. In my humble opinion the wine, cookies and chips all came together like a beautiful choir of singing angels and encouraged me to blog, blog, blog. I will definitely be going to get another bottle. The price point is also lovely, at $9.95 a bottle, I believe I shall buy three...or perhaps five is a rounder number? After all, I'm trying to keep my mind "Open" and I might need to share a bottle or three with my friends.  I love the idea of having an open mind. With so many diverse people living in Canada how can one not want to experience and soak up all the culture that is waiting to be appreciated? With the current styles of tattoos? Or piercings? Head coverings? Hairstyles? Opinions? Foods? There is a never-ending supply of interesting, intriguing, visually stimulating amount of "STUFF" poking out of all aspects of society, just waiting to be soaked up and enjoyed by anyone who will take a moment to stop and appreciate it. Want to step back in time? Sit down and talk with a senior and they will take you back to an era so very different and in some ways so much simpler than today that you will yearn for a Coke that costs a nickel and Saturday night date night. Wonder what the younger people are thinking? Sit with a 21 year old that listens to CBC and has an opinion about Justin Trudeau and his Liberal party.....yes, there are young people today that have an opinion about politics and even voted in the recent election! I know this because my son was one of them. Okay...I have a sudden urge to tell the truth here...I actually ate 4 mint Girl Guide cookies...they were so good! Aaaaand....back to diversity! The politics just make you want more wine. It's the photos, the art, the theatre...all the wonderful people and opportunities to open your mind and allow yourself to be transported to a different place and contemplate what someone else's life is like, or what it's like to live a different type of life. Anyway you look at it, opening your mind is always rewarding and thirst quenching!

Cheers!

The time for wine....is always!

After several (many several) months of not writing a single word, but very often thinking about it, I am sitting here, at last, attempting to put my thoughts on this page. I love writing. I've missed writing. Almost as much as I miss drinking wine when I decide I should cut back...almost. In my head I have grandeur visions of waking at 5:00 am each day and spending an hour writing....or is it that I wish to get up and start drinking wine? Hey, I subscribe to the "it's 5:00 somewhere" belief! So today, I will write and drink wine and all will be grand! I will head over to the home of my good friend and we shall have a long overdue visit over a nice glass of red wine. It's somewhat amazing how you can spend long periods of time not doing something and then, when you finally do it again, it feels like you've been doing it all along. Whether it's writing, or drinking wine or finally seeing a friend after a longtime, the feeling of happiness is fabulous. The conversation flows, the wine flows, the words flow....it's like you never stopped. It's exactly what people say about riding a bicycle! There are so many different types of wine, just as there are many types of friendships. Some friends you see regularly, spend time with, are close with all the time. Others, you are close with but don't get to have regular visits. So when you do have a chance to try a new wine or make a new friend, embrace the opportunity. Say hello, twist of the cap, pull out the cork, extend your glass and drink. You may just find a new friend or a new favourite wine or just a new experience that changes the way you think or the way you feel or the way you view the world. Cheers!