Roundtop 2014

 The Wine Gardner goes to Roundtop

Fall 2014

Warrenton, Texas tends to be the center of activity during the Roundtop Antique Show each afternoon beginning around 4:00pm.  It's the home to Zapp Hall, Royer's Cafe, The Legal Tender Saloon and formerly the world headquarters of The Junk Gypsies (who now call Roundtop their home).

Some people call Roundtop during the antiques festival, the happiest place in the world.  And why not?  You can find gardening goods, arts & crafts, rare antiques and many other one of a kind items.

Maybe the wine has something to do with the happiness.  There are local wineries, wine tasting events, wine shops and many places that offer free wine in the evening. Today someone told me that Miranda Lambert now owns a winery in the area and her father was at Royer's serving up free samples.  I picked up something today that I'll be using tomorrow.  It's a plastic wine glass with a spill proof top that you can drink from like it's a sippy cup and the other is a wine tote that holds 750ml of wine and is great for biking, hiking, backpacking and other events.  Tomorrow I think I'm 

gonna love the wine I'm with.

WINE WEDNESDAY: Wine-o-mania

Like the dot.com bubble, stock market bubble, the housing bubble

and the beanie baby bubble . . . could  a wine bubble be next?

It seems everywhere you go now there's wine on the menu, 

on the shelf,  

in the beer gardens, 

at the theatre, 

at the ball games . . .

at Starbucks

It seems like wine is surpassing beer as the drink of 

choice in many venues

And wine infused food items - 

there's wine-infused popcorn, 

chocolate, 

chicken,

ice cream and now . . .  cheese

Recently at my gourmet grocery store, 

while selecting a wine for the weekend, 

I happened to see this Sartori BellaVitano Merlot cheese.  

The rind was a purple color, so I couldn't resist.  

I paired it with several other cheeses, olives, crackers and of course Merlot 

It was great

Wine and cheese and wine-cheese

I don't know - if this is really a wine bubble

But I didn't sell my house when the bubble burst

And I won't stop drinking wine

I'm in it for the long haul

Bring on the wine-infused cigars

WINE WEDNESDAY: Flea Market Finds

When you see something you like

don't worry about where you will put it

you'll find a place . . . eventually.

On occasional weekends I like to go to my local flea markets.  The mix of vendors changes each time and you never know what you'll find.  

A few weeks ago I visited a flea market I have been to a hundred times and ran across a vendor that I had never seen before.  

I found these great inexpensive wine prints, cut some mats to fit ready-made frames and they're ready to display.  I haven't decided yet where I'm going to hang them but I like the subject.

I can vouch for the first one but I've never been to Paris so I can't speak for the second one - but it sounds good.

I've visited the same flea market recently and the print vendor wasn't there  . . . but

 I'll keep an eye out.

You never know what you'll find that you need to find a place for.

Pachypodium Pandemonium

I changed my mind

I said I was giving up on Madagascar Palms

going with a nice Sago

;

then I read about people that cut the tops off the Madagascar Palms 

to encourage branching

I didn't think it would work on these because the tops were dead

but I tried it anyway and I put the palm in the ground and hoped for the best

two months later I got a little surprise

branches had appeared on two different sides of the palm

knowing that I've got to drag it back to the storage unit for over wintering I moved it back into a pot

each day it looks a little bit better than the day before

so now it looks like I've got at least one of my old palms back

a few weeks later I was in one of my local big box stores

perusing the clearance racks and I ran across a very small Pachypodium 

this is the first time I've seen one of these since I purchased my last two that grew into those giant palms that I used to haul in and out of the storage unit

I think it's already doubled in size since I bought it and put it in a pot

With any luck by next Spring I'll have two thriving Pachypodiums to roll back onto my patio with all of my other garden treasures

It turns out my next palms were a lot like my last palms

now I got a second chance

I guess I'll do it again

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Sunday afternoon is the time to sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor throughout the week.  

Sunday afternoon is . . .

The New York Times and the local Sunday newspaper comics

Pinion wood in the outdoor fire pit or chiminea

Spending time on the patio and cooking outside

Resting your eyes or maybe a short nap

Flea market finds

Fiona Apple on Pandora

Trying a new wine with dinner

Preparing for the week ahead