The Blissful Adventurer - 2012 Blog of the Year

The Blissful Adventurer - 2012 Blog of the Year

Imagine my surprise when I clicked on the link from Cara Olsen to her outstanding blog This Little Light and saw she had selected me among a few of her very talented peers as Blog of the Year for 2012. Cara herself had received the honor and as the protocol dictates shared her love and recognition with other writers she admires in the same vein. Cara, as many of my readers already know, is a novelist/blogger of exceptional mettle and integrity. Her work proves one can have faith and a firm grasp of the human condition and that they are not mutually exclusive. To be chosen by such a talented scribe is truly a blessing in these end of 2012 days. Thank you Cara Olsen. You are blessed and blessed with good taste :-)

If I owe my blogging success of 2012 to anything (besides my wife) I owe it to photography. As a storyteller by nature I have always been equipped with the capacity to recount some snippet of day-to-day usually with a modicum of entertaining banter. When blogging grabbed me by the sack in late January of 2012 it was my images that kept the story alive on the days when I simply had nothing clever to pen. The picture worth the 600-800 words blog became my staple. From photos I derived Haiku, Photo Essays, and the most beautiful breaks and chapter shifts in my fiction.

Photos also have brought Juliet and me even closer to one another. As evidenced by the many images we have shared together on the blog, my wife has quite the eye for photos. Juliet aka Schmee is a painter and designer naturally inclined to aesthetics. She embodies the beautifully feminine as a counter to my lumbering masculinity. Juliet is a daily blissful adventure for me. In these difficult days for our nation I cannot help but feel closer to my talented wife than perhaps I ever have.

This journey in 2012 was the most isolating of my life. I am and have always been a very social creature. 7-10 hours a day alone at a desk expecting to create is new to me still. My fellow bloggers assuaged many of my loneliest days with their comments, questions, and simple likes. I love attention, gratification, and applause. I was a theater major and an actor for most of my formative years. Now, I create in a different capacity and the discipline to do it wanes and waxes. My fellow bloggers are the keys to my waxing. I grow because this community embraced my work, told me where I was going astray, and mostly just let me be the me I am without the pretense of a common work environment. 2012 was the year of the blogger.

Travel, eating, and telling stories. Texas, Italy, Colorado, and California were the primary subjects of 2012. However, it was Asia and Hong Kong that got me freshly pressed! If there is any award more gratifying and ultimately more damning than being freshly pressed I do not know what is in this sphere of endeavor. I would welcome the opportunity again of being featured and I would hope this time I would not get my hopes up to remain so popular and to judge each of my posts on whether or not they received 600 or 800 views.

I went to Italy in the midst of my Freshly Pressed frenzy and the frenzy faded. When I launched my new blog above, the frenzy simply died. It damn near killed me and my spirit to believe my work was simply a quid pro quo entity. I started to consider for a bit the idea of giving up my goal of being a writer because clearly my work was a flash in the pan. My new website which is rarely seen remains my hope for this blog. At the same time I began to post again here on Wordpress because I missed the audience. I missed the daily interaction with friends. I missed the life I had leading up to being Freshly Pressed. Now I am hopeful I can rekindle some of the blogging spirit and energy that got me out of bed each day. I hope my work will once again be appreciated by new friends and shared across the web.

So here I am, Blogger of the Year. I accept this as truth because it is the best year of blogging of my life. My best work as a blogger, writer, photographer, and husband has been in 2012. I am so very proud of the over 150 posts I crafted in 2012. I am proud of the life I lead and the stories I tell.

As usual, I am going to deviate a bit from the rules of the blog. Know if you select me for a blog award I may take it, but I am always going to do with it as I see fit. Rather than issuing my own "Blog of the Year" award. I am going to post tomorrow with my blogs and people of the year and how they make me and this world better.

If you are a Wordpress blogger you do not want to miss tomorrow (which happens to be my birthday)

Huge thanks to all of you for reading me in 2012!

Michael

Hipstamatic Haiku Sunday

Hipstamatic Haiku Sunday is back and bolder than before. Hipstamatic iPhone images post-processed, imbued with magical lyrics and shared in a stream of consciousness format to entertain, prod, and provoke. Enjoy the countdown to the holidays.

scratching away now
solid as before he looks
down upon us in awe

No meal now how or way
should ever finish sans
grappa on the way.

 goaty goaty goaty
standing on the rocky slope
needing sunglasses dim sum want some now
this place was not the joint for
dumplings but another joy one two buckle the shoe
three four drinks on the floor
five six drink all the wine

 walking along the black top
up a solemn hill with strangers
who never look twice at me

iPhone 5 Fun Photo Friday - Sonoma Valley

Old Oaks in Autumn - Copain WInery

iPhone 5 Fun Photo Friday besides being a lovely title replete with alliteration is my first foray into the natural world with my new iPhone 5. Since studying under Sam Krisch (one of the leading iPhone photo artists in the world) for a brief period I feel my universe has opened and I am now capable of creating images that range from the ethereal to the theatrical. This is how my mind works, this is how I see things in the light. All the world is truly the stage and I, merely a player with a piece of technology that finally render my inherent disabilities somehow functional. (more on this another time)

This week on the 6th anniversary of my first date with Juliet I took my iPhone 5 birthday gift from Juliet and ran up to Sonoma with the boys for wine tasting and image grabbing. I was actually fairly distraught most of the day because Juliet was not with me; however, her love and belief in me were the reasons I could grab shots like these on this day made for wine country.

Dank, grey, and cooler than any of us expected I could not help but feel like this was the kind of day that tourists would fear but that I loved. The plants were happy on this day and they offered up the full spectrum of their connections to light, earth, and water for me to capture.

A hint of cloud-break and a stroll to the top of the old vineyard hill revealed more views, a Trousseau planting, and a natural traveler in his element.

We rolled into Unti winery for our 4pm appointment as the light waned. The wines were showing well and their story was equally good. The color of the grape leaves goes magic paint before falling to brown and death.

When we left the tasting room at Unti this was our view over the vineyards. We talked for 10 minutes and then it became this view.

No filter and no post-process was used on this image. Not necessary :-)

I would like to say a special thank you to:

Copain Wines and specifically to Tony, Daniel, Ezra, and Hollie

AND

Unti Vineyards  and the incomparably charismatic Mick Unti

This was an extraordinary day shared with friends. I highly recommend the lovely wines from these producers.

Cheers till next week blissful readers!

Sicily - Theatrical Friday Photos

Roadside Ruins (click image to view full-size)

Sicily - Theatrical Friday Photos - Is a journey across the enigmatic island using photos that conjure emotions reminiscent of the theater. I am more and more returning to my theatrical roots and seeking inventive and resourceful ways to tell you my stories. This is one of them.

We left the airport at Trapani in a rented Fiat Punto our Garmin Nuvi GPS device had not been updated in 3 years, and roads in Sicily are museums for allied bombing runs from the 1940s. Then, there was this structure in its abandoned glory. Nino Rota played in my head and I fought the urge to look for sheep to herd. In reality I barely took enough time to stare at the gorgeous wreck before getting lost a few more times on the roads that go and go yet no distance ever seems overcome.

Deep into our hike in the Parco dello Zingaro nature preserve. (I know I am paraphrasing the name of the place but I just can't write the whole thing every time) we found this man and woman wearing matching bikini bottoms. Sicily is often purported to be a patriarchal society, but from the looks of it I would have to disagree.

The first day we came to the ruins at Selinunte we were turned away by the parking lot attendant. The place was supposed to be open till at least 6PM but since it had rained a little they assumed no one would want to come and they collaborated to frolick and boot silly visitors like us. Of course on our boot day we were with a local who said she and her friends used to come to Selinunte to frolick themselves and I imagine them young, beautiful, smoking, and making poses from the sides of ancient Greek vases. We returned here another day and got these shots.

I wanted to be doing some Aeschylus when I stood in this space. I wanted to hear my voice as Creon telling that little bitch Antigone what's what. Instead I shot the shit with some Spaniards, took some snaps, and walked a bit more than I wanted. I simply could not get in the golf cart with the old people. Although I know one day I will.

We visited Mazzara del Valo. This is a town few books or people ever told me about and I am not sure how it goes unnoticed. In many ways it is the most northern city of Tunisia. I mean this in a flattering sense as Sicily seems to embrace people cast out or down and if you are an underdog you are likely loved here. The large Tunisian population here share their art, their language, and their cuisine. The Catholic Cathedral there is a nice counter to this piece of art below.

I can't help but hear the Dave Matthews lyric "where are you going?" when I see this mural. All along the streets of Mazzara are these amazing murals. Banksy would be proud of what the local immigrants are doing here. The island is all immigrants according to Luca. I like him very much.

Luca is an immigrant from Milan. He built his own water filtration system. He studied English for 3 weeks and speaks it quite well. I think his only vice is smoking and in Sicily it is not a vice or even bad for you. Don't read the lies on the cartons.

This is Nino Barraco, he talks to the vines and they listen. Nino makes extraordinary wines near the ancient town of Marsala. His winery, Vini Barraco is a small space with barely the room to move about. The size of his space is directly opposed to the size of his heart. I have met few wine people in my life as passionate and dedicated to plants and family as Nino. He is talented, kind, and grows every herb I have heard of in his backyard. Seek out these wines and you will be pleased.

I did not meet this guy, he just looked like a badass and I wanted to take his photo. He is right out there on the street cutting meat. Look how shiny clean his ancient scale is. I bet he may have been in on some interesting talks and games of chance in his day. He probably has a cousin in New York.

The town of Erice sits high above the larger town of Trapani. Looking out to sea from atop the walls at Erice one can see the craggy coast of Sicily give way to beaches, towns, and then more crag. This dream image makes me think tropically and want to stage helicopter cams outside of the coffee bar. Absurd is so the norm and especially when buying local cookies.

I leave you where we began. The Garmin whizzed and banged while its pseudo-feminine voice rattled about in its standard equivocations. On the hill to our left were these flowers. I now have 2 shots from here that I love. I like the style. I want to have dinner here even if it is just me and my imagination. It has always been just us.

San Francisco Bay to Sausalito - Fun Photo Friday

Truly a Great American City

San Francisco Bay to Sausalito - Fun Photo Friday is my first post since Thanksgiving. As I am preparing to launch my newest travel venture, working on my book, and diving deep into the coffee, wine, and cuisine of San Francisco I am posting less frequently. At the same time I feel as though what I am lacking in volume I am subsidizing in quality content. I will let all of you decide that for me.

Today's post chronicles an amazing day Juliet and I spent on the San Francisco bay and across the way in Marin county. We had the great pleasure of being guided by Shawndra McCrorey, an enormously talented wine professional working for an exceptional Italian wine import company, Zigzagando.

Shawndra showed us a side of Marin county we may not have found on our own and we are grateful to share these images from this truly Blissful Adventure.

I took the first shot above from the aft deck of our ferry from SF to Sausalito. I am likely more patriotic than most of my readers would know and while the country can often be so divided I am certain that America is alive and well here in the bay.

The first of 3 sailing vessels I shot on this day. The first image is a lovely craft in full sail with the Transamerica building in the background. Notice the remaining morning fog hovering in downtown.

The "Dream Escape" from Alcatraz. This sailor knew the direction to follow guided by the Bay Bridge.

The final sailing image reveals the third segment of the San Francisco bay; the famous Golden Gate. Muted light and a bit of lomo allow us to be present on this boat and wave to the many others crowded together on the other side. We were more than halfway to our destination here.

Notice the texture of the sand teeming with life and keeping time with the tide. This is an amazing beach on this warm day.

My homage to the great LOST. We castaways from the day-to-day moving aimlessly in tune with the sea. Stories are my only art no matter how I choose to share them.

In the dusky shadows below the bridge we dined on great cheese, too-hot shishito peppers, and wines from obscure lands we love. If we are only here till March (which could be the case) living here in the bay will go down as one of the great experiences of our marriage.

Thanks for following all you Blissful Adventurers. Life moves us each day and sharing makes the experience even better.