Sunday, July 20, 2008

Janis Joplin and Balloons

Had I read the local paper I would have known that this weekend was the hot air balloon fest. The dogs knew as they barked for most of the morning as nearly a hundred balloons passed over head this morning.

By 10:00 AM the temperatures were already into the low 90 degree range so I spent most of the day inside. We watched a DVD called Festival Express which features a remarkable performance by Janis Joplin singing "Cry Baby" to a huge crowd in Winnipeg so I decided to play around a bit with editing software with the photo of the balloons. I liked the sweep of the roof of the medical center with the balloons above it even before I changed the coloring to somewhat reflect Janis.

Dinner? We grilled veal, loin chops that were marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon peel and juice and chopped rosemary then added grilled corn on the cob and the rest of the asparagus from yesterday.

I also called San Francisco to wish a happy birthday to a very good friend and I gave him three wines to choose among for dinner tonight and with the temperatures in mind he selected a 2007 Verget de Sud Rose de Syrah.
Verget is one of my favorite producers of French wine with most of it being white Burgundy. Since reading the new edition of The Wines of Burgundy by Clive Coates, MW I cannot drink a bottle with out thinking of his description of 'Maison Verget."
"Jean-Marie Guffens is vociferous, rude and indiscreet, irritating rather than congenial. But he has shown with his own domaine Maconnais wines that he not only loves his metier but knows how to do it."
The syrah rose is a vin de pays Vaucluse and is bright, lively, fruity and very dry. For $11 it is excellent. My friend and his wife are going out to an oyster bar for dinner which made me somewhat jealous until the veal came off the grill and the wine was opened. I'm still jealous that the temperature in Larkspur CA is in the mid 70's and they are eating the oysters outdoors on the patio of a restaurant. Life is good, but sometimes it can be even better.

3 comments:

Edward said...

Dan,

Excellent photo of the balloons and a lovely light.
What building is that in the foreground?

Dan McGrew said...

The building is the roof lines of the outpatient, rehabilitation wing of the local medical center.

roscoebeauregard.blogspot.com said...

entering some proze-zak...presently being attacked by one of my cats...reading thru my profile and clicked on IAN TYSON...which led me to your glob...yes, with the help of the cat, it is a glob..and not a blog...scaning down to JANIS...talked to a young woman about a week ago, and told her of my chance encounter with "HER", in SF up on upper grant c.1969..if only I knew it was her within 6 inchs of my lips...french is a small word, and poetry often comes from the hip...

Several years back, in Elko at the gathering someone was talking about our Sweet Janis...from Port Arthor...and how when CBS did their 60 min piece on her...the next eve, the MaREr...mare uh, of Port Arthur came on TV...jumped up and down like a penny costal peacher, attackin CBS for protraying PA as "that" type of town...was a sight to see...was glad I saw both segment...

my blog...(google) roscoebeauregard.blogspot.com....I distaste of VIN crowds in Sonoma...its, prose in Cheeks...so to speak..

e/roscoebeauregard@yahoo.com