Category: wine

June 27, 2019

Finding textures in all kinds of new places!

Texture of an old rooftop in Germany — Texture of a tile roof top in **Breisach**, Germany. Breisach is a fairy-talish town sitting in the middle Rhine River Valley just west of the **Black Forest** and east of France’s **Vosges Mountains**. It’s so beautiful and “old” looking that one can scarcely believe 85% of the town was destroyed in WWII.

TEXTURE: the visual or tactile surface characteristics and appearance of something. (Merriam-Webster)

Fiesta has come and gone and so has my vacation. Sigh… Both were enjoyable – though, to be honest, Fiesta was a boatload of work. Vacation was just…a boatload. Tom and I enjoyed last years river cruise so much, that we decided to do another one. This time we headed off to the Rhine River, starting in Basel, Switzerland.

Interesting fact: The Basel Airport is almost all in France. It has an exits/entrances in both France and Switzerland. It pays to know which country you’re headed to.

Tom in Breisach on the cobble stone streets — Tom standing on Breisach’s cobblestones. Note the pretty rebuilt homes. Beautiful.

Metal cast of the city of Strasbourg, France. — A metal cast of the city of Strasbourg, France. (Sort of Germany; read about the sometimes German/sometimes French **history of the Alsace region of France**.) **Notre Dame Cathedral** is the centerpiece of the city.

Texture of statuary on Strasbourg Cathedral — Such delicate stonework is all over Strasbourg’s Gothic cathedral which also had to be majorly restored after WWII. In fact, the stained glass windows disappeared; Americans found them in 1945 in a German salt mine.

Texture of decorative stonework found in the partly ruined fairy-tale **Heidelberg Castle** in Heidelberg, Germany.

The tenor of this trip was much different than last year’s wine cruise in Bordeaux. That one was a very local vacation covering a lot less distance. It was more laid back and concentrated on the really, really excellent wines that come out of that region of France. It also gave us more time for leisure, leisure which I define at least partly as sketching and journaling. Not so much this trip. Although I managed to finish a crocheted shawl and get some reading done, we were moving too much this year. Some days there were two excursions on shore! They were interesting, but I think Tom and I are into a little more free time on vacation. Not to mention good wine.

Castle stonework and plant texture — This one’s a two-fer. Note the stonework of the castle’s facade as well as the pompom texture of the tree below. Does anyone know what kind of tree that is? It was spectacular. BTW, note that you see through those upper story windows to the sky. Yes, Heidelberg Castle has a lot of ruins about it.

Pompom texture of tree — Couldn’t help it. Isn’t is wicked cool???

The Rhine River cruise – also by Viking – as I said, started in Basel and quickly moved into Germany. Actually, the Rhine runs right between Germany and France’s Alsace region (which is sort of German; read the history as mentioned above) for awhile, and we explored both sides. As the week progressed, we moved fully into Germany and finally into the Netherlands. We docked in Amsterdam where Tom and I spent a couple of extra nights. (After flying back to the U.S., we spent a couple of unplanned nights in San Francisco, but that’s a story for another post. As are my luggage woes.)

Rows and rows of wine vineyards hang on the hills — Okay, this is detail from afar. Look at the rows and rows of vines hanging on the hills along the Rhine. They can be so steep that vineyard workers have to tie up and kind of rappel down to work on the vines.

Succulents at Marksburg Castle — **Marksburg Castle** was a treasure trove of textures, especially as we were seeing it close-up. These succulents are part of the castle’s gardens.

Of course, I have pics to share. You’re seeing them now. Unfortunately, the camera on my phone started to crap out on this trip. I might add that this is the same phone that had over-heating issues last vacation. The difference here is that I didn’t realize how fatal the problem was till the last day – in San Francisco – when the thing shit the bed entirely. I lost some photos. 🙁 Now, I have to purchase a new phone. Did I mention that on top of a European vacation, we just paid for the hardwood floors we’re putting in? Yeah, bad timing. A phone isn’t in the budget for a bit. Luckily, Tom’s old one – the one with a malfunctioning keyboard – was still up for the photography challenge, so I’m carrying it around as an ancillary to my ~~now unloved~~ phone.

Stone texture at Marksburg Castle — Even the walls were texturized!

Texture of wall woodwork — Nice woodwork in the castle’s main bedroom!

Cologne Cathedral seen through a rainy window — **Cologne’s cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage site**, seen through the rained-on window of our ship. Notice how the clouds parted over the church. The heavens opened up when Tom and I were walking around Cologne earlier. Late in the afternoon, the sky cleared producing a beautiful evening.

Mosaic floor in Cologne Cathedral — I actually walked on this floor in the **Cathedral in Cologne**. Incredible mosaic.

Brick texture of windmill — This is the exterior wall of a windmill in Kinderdijk, the Netherlands. Bricks were, maybe 4 inches long at most, the better to be able to make the rounded base of the building.

Bullet strike - wall of Cologne Cathedral. — Although the sandstone exterior walls of the Cologne Cathedral are black and pitted – acid rain requires that there’s constant maintenance and replacement of stone – this “texture” is actually the result of a WWII bullet.

Grasses in the Netherlands at Kinderdijk. — Rain, like wind, is plentiful in the Netherlands. These are grasses that grow in the wetlands surrounding the windmills. Nineteen working windmills are in **Kinderdijk, also a UNESCO World Heritage site**. We were lucky enough to be able to go into one.

Colorful textures of tulips in Amsterdam — In **Amsterdam’s Flower Market** there were, of course, bundles and bundles of tulips. Note the cool black ones in the back

Piles of sea lions on rafts in San Francisco. — My last photo – before the camera really, truly died – is, incongruously, of sea lions dotting rafts while they snooze. I needed to do the same after an 11-hour flight and then two extra nights in California!

So, we’ve muddled through my pics regardless. This first bunch had to do with the different textures I observed on our travels. I hope you enjoy. Give a yell if you have any questions or insights to the photos. And please share your vacations stories here too!

Laura

February 19, 2019

Looking for rug love in the wine store…

Wine bottle label. — I have no idea who the artist is. Maybe you know? But isn’t it beautiful? Okay, wine is beautiful too.

Rug love in the wine store?

I’ll explain. I’m having a busy week. Big surprise, I know. But I was trying to figure out something new and exciting (and quick) to write about when Tom and I headed out to the liquor store. A snowstorm was taking aim at Albuquerque, and we were running low. Before you scoff, I’m from New England and lived through the Blizzard of ’78; snow forecasts = a run to the ~~grocery~~ store. By the way, we got almost an inch and a half today. I know, wow.

So, we’re in Total Wine, and I remember how I’ve gotten rug ideas from wine labels. Some of them are so creative, even beautiful. Then I thought that maybe you need rug ideas right about now. Especially for those of you back east and in the midwest who will live through your own winter storm tonight and tomorrow. Enjoy!

Wine bottle labels. — Another of Sean’s gorgeous and fun wine bottles.

Whiskey bottle label. — Okay, I’ll end with a pic of the elusive **jackalope** gracing this bottle of **whiskey**. Now something like this could make it onto a rug. And don’t lecture me about the pesky copyright laws. I know all about them. Have a great week. Maybe I’ll pour myself a ~~bottle~~ glass of wine now…

September 18, 2018

Statues as rugs?

Statues in Bordeaux. — This…giant head is called **“Sanna”** and was created by Catalan artist **Jaume Plensa**. It’s in **la Place de la Comédie** in Bordeaux. Very cool.

Back to Bordeaux for another week and talking cool statues and sculpture.

Whether you hook rugs or draw or paint or in any way create “stuff,” you’re always on the lookout for other art that just might provide you with some inspiration. At least you should be. In theory. And given that we’re all carrying automatic copying machines around with us (in the form of our phones), there’s really no excuse for not making “graven images” of the things that call to us.

Okay, I admit that I often forget to jot down the artist info or even the name of some of the artworks I see when I’m out and about, but not in a museum or gallery with an identification sign conveniently placed near the object. I had to Google “large head sculpture in Bordeaux” to find out the info above. Enjoy!

That first night walking about the city, we came across the “Monument aux Girondins,” a monument/fountain created to memorialize the local heroes of the French Revolution. The various scenes portrayed seemed almost real in the dark and jet lag after traveling so many hours to get there.

Bordeaux statues. — Why, yes, I do see you pondering what this will mean for our future. Do you think that their wardrobes will contain something we can wear? I mean, better than these bedsheets.

Sorry, sorry! It was the jet lag like I said.

Meanwhile back to real life. These guys were in l’Eglise Collegiale de Saint-Emilion. It’s still a working church though not a monastery any more. Interesting fact we learned: Sincethe Revolution, the Catholic Church no longer owns any of the churches and other buildings in France. It only uses and administers them. Because of such dwindling attendance at Masses in the last decades, the churches do not receive much in the way of collections and support for these marvelous buildings. It’s up to the cities and government to take care of them. It also explains why you can roam at will through them; they are truly tourist sites.

Statues in Saint-Emilion church. — These guys were in the Eglise Collegiale de Saint-Emilion. Never saw anything like them in any of the Catholic churches that I’ve belonged to.

And then there were the carvings in the wall of a wine cellar beneath the medieval village of Saint-Emilion. Who knows when they happened or who made them?

Not Bordeaux statues. — Oops! Sorry about that, Tom. You’re definitely NOT one of the statues, especially carrying those two bottles of wine we purchased.

Bordeaux statue. — Okay, this is my most favorite image of the whole trip. I’m assuming it’s **Dionysus**. I will hook this rug! And I promise that purple will fit in with him somehow.

Bordeaux sculptures. — I shall peel these grapes for you, mon cher. Mais bien sûr, we must have another glass of wine.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop now. Instead we’ll leave the statues and the trip behind for this week and head back into reality…

Tynan (dog) with hooked rug — Tynan brings you this week’s “what’s on the frame.” Hm, looks very primitive doesn’t it? Not like what I usually hook. And yet, and yet… More next week!

Have you hooked something “not you”? Share with us on High on Hooking’s Facebook page!

September 11, 2018

River cruising in Bordeaux – Nature

Bordeaux river cruise — This is a bridge in Bordeaux, clearly an OLD bridge. I include it under the NATURE category, because the Garonne River is a tidal river. For our boat to go under that bridge, the captain had to have exquisite timing. At low tide.

If you’re a regular reader, then you know that Tom and I took our first really GOOD vacation in ten years in early August. No kid, not even the dog. (Don’t feel bad for Tynan; he had himself a fine time at a guild mate’s “doggie spa.”) Amazingly, neither of us had even been on a plane in five years – when we were scouting out Albuquerque before our move here in 2015. If you consider that this year we celebrated 25 years of marriage, you can see why it was time. So, we headed to Bordeaux, yes, the one in France, and boarded a Viking long boat for a wine cruise. And, yes, it met every expectation that we had.

Boat in Bordeaux — This is the clearance the boat had emerging from under the bridge in Bordeaux on our way to **Cadillac**. Thank goodness for a LOW tide.

We saw all kinds of things: vineyards, a big city (Bordeaux), tiny villages, 18th century forts,sculptures, chateaux, and so on. Got lots of pics to share. So many that I blew out my new Dropbox. Guess I have to pare down some. I don’t want to bore anyone, so I’ll post them according to themes. This week we’ll try NATURE.

Ultimately, we cruised along three different rivers near Bordeaux that week. Two met up at at the Gironde estuary not far from the Atlantic coast. Sadly, there were some, but not many, sea and river birds. I never got a good answer as to why that was given the estuary, but it might have something to do with the region’s agricultural practices.

Being in a world-famous wine region, of course, we toured several wineries. There was one which specialized in Sauternes wines – unfortunately, not my favorite, too sweet – but it was beautiful.

Bordeaux wine cruise — A wine chateau in the **Sauternes** wine region.

Mind you, chateaux in the Bordeaux area are not at all like those in the Loire valley. While those are about opulence and architecture, the ones in Bordeaux are more about commerce and the making and selling of wine. Often, there’s not a lot going on inside other than rooms for weddings,banquets, and wine tastings. These are real working farms and wineries. To that affect, see who we found at the one in Sauternes.

Karen Miller of Karen D. Miller Studio likes to post cool close-ups of leaves and trees and things. I managed to get a couple of tree pics for her.

And always, everywhere, things were growing!

But we didn’t have to be on land to enjoy nature’s bounty.

There was the captain of the Forseti. That was the name of our river boat.

Damn, I can get a bunch of posts out of this trip. Next time we’ll talk old buildings or something. I mean, we saw the ruins of a castle from the Middle Ages. You don’t see that every day in New Mexico. Till then, Tynan brings you this week’s rug on the frame.

Tynan presents to you my new “thistle” rug. I started it last week during the workshop that **Sharon Smith** presented to the **Adobe Wool Arts Guild** here in Albuquerque. **What’s on your frame???**

July 17, 2018

She told me to tell you that she’s taking some time off – Tynan

Tynan here!

Tynan the Welsh springer spaniel with a hooked rug. — Tynan here with this week’s “What’s on the frame” (and the blog).Like last week, she’s still working on the dog bone commission. Has she made one for me? I think we all know the answer to that one. Oh, and BTW, she’s taking some time off.

So, you know how she went on and on last week about how busy she is? As if the whole world isn’t over-scheduled. (Right, I’m not overly busy at all; dogs are smarter than the average human!) Anyway, this week she’s soooo busy that she told me I had to write the post up and get it out. Clearly, she was afraid to tell you that she’s decided, what with everything going on, including a nice vacation on a riverboat in France!!! – no dogs allowed – she’s about to take her annual summertime blog hiatus for a few weeks. Look for her again sometime mid-August. In the meantime, she insists that she can be reached and “seen” through the Facebook page, Instagram, and email.

I want you all to know that I did her bidding, but I’m not happy. 1) I don’t get to hang in Bordeaux on a riverboat eating goat cheese and drinking wine. 2) They wouldn’t let me explore the cave I found yesterday. See, we went hiking on an obscenely easy trail in the Cibola National Forest on the other side of the Sandias. (Okay, the master’s still babying his gouty toe.)

Cave off train in Sandia Mountains. — Here’s the mine shaft opening on the **Tecolote Trail (No. 264)** in the Sandias. Contact me if you’d like to investigate it one day.

As usual, I’m leading the way up the mountain. I’m scanning the trail for the usual suspects: bears, bobcats, mountain lions, geckos. Don’t laugh, those little bastards can sneak up on you and scare the shit out of a dog. Anyway, I take a gander to my left and what do I see – no, not a giant gecko, smart-asses – but a cave. Cool! Who knows what kind of snacks might be hidden in there. I adjust course and head for the opening. Cautiously I enter and next thing I know…someone’s got my tail. Damn, I hate that. “Tynan, get your ass out here!”

Turns out it’s an old mine shaft entrance. But who knows who lives in there now? Not that anyone would let me investigate. Chicken shits! They insisted that we take pictures of the cave, but that’s all. Damn. I just want everyone to know that I was willing and brave enough to find out what was in there. Some others…were not.

On that note, I wish you all a good rest of the summer. Like I said, we’ll be back to the blog mid-August. She’ll probably make me write that first one too. I hope that you and your dogs (okay, maybe the cats too) enjoy your vacations even if they’re staycations. And if you’re taking your dogs somewhere cool this summer, PLEASE comment here. It’ll give me more ammunition for next year.

-Tynan