Drunk All Over...

I just finished reading a fascinating book about something I have loved but not really understood… Natalie Maclean’s book Red, White and Drunk All Over is a must read for anyone who is a wine enthusiast or would enjoy learning more about a topic that has captivated the hearts, minds and palates of people for centuries.. Much like wineries blend various grapes to make a good wine, Maclean takes snips of history, interesting stories, fun facts and personal reflections to make a tasty concoction the mind will savor.
In one of her many adventures Maclean heads to the Bonny Doon winery in the Santa Cruz valley of Northern California. Napa and Somona are the famous valleys of Cali for wine, however San Cruz is a hidden gem with a handful of great wineries. After reading about MacLean’s experience at Bonny Doon I was eager to check it out. I used to drink one of their wines often that I enjoyed for its taste, fair price and creative packaging. You might have seen and drank it. The bottle has many fortune cookie sized messages stuck inside of its clear transparent bottle for reading pleasure and used to be easily assessable.
The creator of Bonny Doon doesn’t have a pretentious cell in his body, something hard to find in wine lovers. Randell pokes fun at the often times pompous industry with quirky names (in French) and labels for his wines. Bonny Doon was also revolutionary as one of the 1st wineries to bottle their wines with twist off caps rather than corks. As a cork collector I understand how not having that part of the wine drinking ritual could cause dismay, however there are reasons to go with the twist off cap. You can read more about this if you like but for now I will leave it at that. Just for the record I still prefer corks.
Luckily I didn’t have to wait long to check out the winery as I was in the bay area for work this week. To get there I drove down the twisting lanes of ice cream road…If there was a flavor that kids sold from a stand on the side of the road it would be called Christmas, which comes from the omnipresent smell of the pine trees that I inhaled as I cruised with the windows down to my destination. I was pleasantly surprised as I pulled up to Doon’s tasting room which is a quaint cottage with a small picnic area. As I explored the inside I was equally impressed by the laid back staff and friendly fellow tasters. I sipped 8 of their diverse wines, had nice conversations with the staff and other visitors, none of which were over snobby or trying to flex their wine connoisseur muscles. After being warmed by the vino and company and getting a to go box I headed back on the road for some desert.

https://www.bonnydoonvineyard.com/index.html

Singapore

Normally I travel through Europe on my way back and forth between India and the US. I decided to break that pattern and head the other way via Singapore to San Francisco. Never visiting the country I chose to take advantage of the route and stop there for a couple days. I have been doing a lot of research on culture lately and to spend some of my time constructively I coordinated a meeting with an organization I have worked with, have always respected and are world renowned for research in a vast array of subjects, The Gallup Organization.


The name Singapore is derived from the Malay word “Singapura” or lion city. It is a home to around 4 million people comprising of mostly Chinese, Malays and Indians. There is also a big group of expats as many large corporations have an Asian/Pacific hub here. Just to give its size some context its population is 1/5 that of Bombay, India and it is one of the world’s smallest countries in geographic size; the US is about 15,000 bigger. It is also the 18th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP.

I felt like Michael J Fox in Back To The Future as I stepped off my 150 seat time machine from India into Singapore. If there were any potholes in the road, I would have bit my tongue off as I was flabbergasted by pristine and lavish environment Singapore provides.

I was lucky to have a friend of mine who worked with us in India and is now living in Singapore show me around the city. It was great reconnecting with Ozana and she offers interesting perspective on life being from Romania, and having lived in the US, India and now Singapore.

Before I knew it the time arrived for me to board my flight back to the US. Not looking into the details and thinking it was a direct flight from Singapore to San Fran, I almost choked on my peanuts when I heard from the captain that we were stopping in KOREA!?! The most eventful part of my hour in Korea was trying to communicate with the currency exchange lady as I tried to get some Won...

So here I am, back in the US.

Things that make you go hmmm...

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired,read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We havemultiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you...

Pass this on, it is thought provoking...

The OSHO Experience

People and things that are interesting can be controversial. Things that are controversial are often misunderstood. I like to form my own opinions though experience rather than someone elses account...Futhermore perceptions often stay fixed when everything constantly changes...Take a father who always sees their daughter as a little girl even at age 30, people stuck replaying the past like a broken record rather than embracing the present or a someone who knows you as who you were not who you have become.

Recently I ventured to OSHO's meditation resort in Pune. His story is a fascinating one some might say interesting...One of the many of books he wrote : From Sex to the

Superconscious propelled him sky high. This was back in the age of Aquarius, bell bottoms, the merry pranksters, and free love. I have heard interesting stories of once upon a time at his centers where people were very open and free with their expression of sexuality. Well those were the 70's and thirty years later things have changed, drastically.

I bring this up due to the fact that before you enter his meditation resort in Pune you must take an AIDS test. Which of course brings people back to the idea that there is a orgy going on inside the gates. His point in doing this was to increase AIDS awareness in the world as he predicted in the early 80's it was going to be a epidemic in the future.

It is also been called "the Armani of ashrams" as it is compared to most ashrams very lavish and expensive. With that cost comes an amazing zen environment with great facilities. There is the omnipresent sound of water, an abundance of flora, conscious design and incredible programs.

During the day everyone wears crimson robes, for an evening meditation white robes and than at night people dress "normally"...this was interesting.

My time there was filled with various types of meditation, dancing, philosophical lectures, a diet of vegetarian food, interesting encounters and an overwhelming sense of actually living as a human being not a human doing.

You can learn more about the center and OSHO @ http://www.osho.com/Main.cfm?Area=MedResort&Language=English