Colony of Two

Sunday, August 26

Wine tasting in the Finger Lakes

Mark and I joined a wine appreciation group! Our first outing was a tour around one of the Finger Lakes, an absolutely gorgeous, pastoral area of NY State. We visited 6 wineries, tasting at each until the wine / heat combination made us very very sleepy.

Our companions were a diverse group of Syracuse-area oenophiles; a fun retired couple, an SU employee, a local winemaker, and a young, active couple. This last couple we soon discovered we'd already met. In the middle of the tour, the woman says to me suddenly, "are you a runner?" I reply in the affirmative. "We've seen you out running, back in the spring I commented on your tattoo as you passed us!" Sure enough, we remembered them. She had seen my tattoo and put the two together.

Besides enjoying wine, we also got treated to some amazing food. Impala pate from South Africa, rosemary walnuts, a great assortment of cheeses and crakers, and prosciutto-wrapped melon. Not to mention the awesome server at the first winery who ran off to get us some dark chocolate to try with our port!

Upon returning to Syracuse, we joined the philosophy gang for a free BBQ at the Grad Student bar, and then headed downtown to Clarke's pub. It's been a very social few days, so today we're recovering. . . if you call a sub-10min/mile 6.4 mile run a recovery! (That one's for you, Dad!)

Needless to say, there won't be any wine involved in our festivities tonight. (Unless we go to the Eucharist service at St. Paul's.) Over and out!

posted by The Hippie Triathlete at 1:39 PM Permalink

Friday, August 24

Salt City redux

We often feel like we're hard to keep track of. Winnipeg, Syracuse, India, Winnipeg, Syracuse. Often we feel like its hard to keep track of ourselves! It's like when you were young (or maybe this still happens to some of you) and at a sleepover at a friend's house. You'd wake up in the morning and there would be a period of disorientation. There would be a pocket of time where you were truly nowhere, completely immersed in the moment and unaware of your surroundings. I think I'm getting the hang of it, but sometimes I have to remind myself where I am with the good old mental atlas. Many people asked us over the summer, "So, after Syracuse then what?" Sometimes I'd like to know too, but more often, I'm happy to offer a simple shrug and a sparkle in the eye.

This fall's inhumanely long drive was shouldered almost entirely by Mark, while I (Jen) nodded off into various unpredictable bouts of boredom-induced napping. The few times I did drive were short and sweet, but somehow long enough for me to get to experience getting side-swiped by a car on the freeway, knocking off our driver's side mirror. (We're ok, but it's not a fun experience.)

This time around, we broke up our trip a little. We had ambitious plans for a day of trail riding in Wisconsin, but were thoroughly rained out...in every state from Wisconsin to New York, actually. As disappointed as we were, it enabled us to get to Goshen a little earlier, and into the cookie-bearing arms of Anna-Ruth. She was a warm host, and we're pretty sure we'll be calling her for a second date. ; )

It's been a nice, easy transition back to Salt City: We scored a replacement espresso machine from Williams and Sonoma (Reason #2 to like Syracuse)*, and are now nose-high in good crema once again. We also stocked up on groceries at Wegmans (Reason #3), with a few liquid contributions from Liquor City (Reason #4). We had a great Mexican lunch today with Paul and Melissa (Reason #5), at the Mission Restaurant (Reason #6). Even the city streets welcomed us back, throwing us into our running schedule with 4.5 miles of sweaty, calf-busting hills (Reason #7).

To Winnipeg we bid a temporary and bittersweet farewell. And to Syracuse, (possibly the most humid, rainy city I've ever lived in but yet with it's own charms) we say a warm hello.

*for Reason #1, visit Jen here.

posted by The Hippie Triathlete at 12:27 AM Permalink