Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Pimp Daddy shows off
his wine glass holder

On Saturday, The Gryphon and I attended the 16th Annual Great Tastes of Pennsylvania Wine and Food Festival at the Split Rock Resort in Lake Harmony.

This is a little bit of a misnomer, since the emphasis is on wine. There were a few food vendors, selling things like dip mixes, cheese and salsas, and there were the requisite festival food vendors, offering culinary choices ranging from funnel cakes and French fries to veggie wraps.

We had been invited by the Costumer, who along with her husband, Agent Smith, planned on attending. She sent out a group e-mail, and at the end of it, we had a nice but not unmanageable crew, including Pimp Daddy, the Genealogist, the Dormouse and two friends who have previously had no nicknames.

I shall attempt to correct this oversight with a caveat. Sometimes nicknames are obvious to me, and other times they are a bit more difficult.

As you might have noticed, a good number of them come from Alice in Wonderland, one of my favorite childhood books, with which, given my name, I naturally feel a connection. These nicknames primarily went to some of my oldest college buddies, with whom I used to run around and create strange realities as members of the Monty Python Society. The exception to that is the Court Wizard and Agent Smith, who had previously been dubbed with those nicknames, making those choices obvious. Also, The Gryphon, who I met through some of my oldest college friends and whom I wrote about in the infamous Alice's Adventures in Otakon Musings.

However, there's a dearth of positive female characters in Alice in Wonderland, other than Alice herself and relatively unknown characters such as the Red Queen, so for my female friends I'm often forced to come up with another solution. Sometimes I draw from pop culture, such as with the Warrior Princess, who reminds me of a modern-day Xena, or The Paper, whose avid book reading and forthright independence remind a lot of our friends of the lead character from the anime series Read or Die.

When no pop cultural reference seems readily apparent, I tend to go by something I know about what the person does or enjoys doing. So, therefore the Genealogist, who is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and who is constantly recounting her latest discoveries about her long and interesting family history. Or the Costumer, who impressed me so much with her abilities as a costumer for a community theater production that she earned herself a nickname.

And Pimp Daddy, well, he's just the Pimp Daddy.

So my apologies for not coming up with something more creative, but I'll dub one of these unnamed friends the Comptroller. He's been friends with many of my friends since college days, but he was a senior the year I was a freshman, and I didn't get to know him until years later. Ever since I've known him he's been involved in the financial aspects of Otakon, serving as treasury secretary, for example. His current position is Comptroller, so unless he objects or can offer a better suggestion, that's his new nickname.

The other friend I'll call the Viking, because I've always been struck by his fair hair, blue eyes and pale skin. He's a very tall guy and would no doubt be very terror-inducing, should he choose to wear a bearskin and helmet. I have no idea whether he has Nordic ancestry or not (maybe the Genealogist could find out), but unless he objects, that's his new nickname.

(front from left) me, Pimp Daddy, The Genealogist, The Costumer, The Viking
(back) The Gryphon, The Comptroller, The Dormouse, Agent Smith

I didn't mean to ramble quite so much. That's what happens when I'm doing this in front of the computer, rather than dictating it into my mini tape recorder during a dog walk. However, it's raining today, so this is what you get. One of these days, I'm going to create a separate page for Musings listing all the nicknames and explanations for how I derived them.

So, back to my story. We all met at a pre-designated winery at about 1 p.m., and despite having a little trouble finding a parking place, The Gryphon, The Dormouse and I, who were carpooling, got there almost precisely on time. Within a short while, we'd all gathered and were off wine tasting.

At the admission gate, they actually give you a wine glass embossed with the name of the festival, so that you can taste the myriad wines. Immediately, I was thinking, "This is going to be a good day."

It wasn't until about my third or fourth winery where one of the employees explained that you should start with the dryer wines and work towards the sweeter ones ("Otherwise, it tastes like vinegar.") I thought that simply eating a cracker in between would do the trick. Besides, it gave me more excuses to eat the Wheat Thins I'd brought in a bag (which are so yummy that I never, ever stock them in the pantry for fear of moments of weakness). But I'm not a big fan of dry wines, anyway, so I was primarily trying sweeter, dessert wines and fruit based wines.

Whenever we stopped at a particular winery, we'd discuss whether anyone wanted to order some bottles. If enough of us wanted some, we could fill up a case and often get a discount. One of us would order the case and pay for it, and then it would be held for us to pick up at the end of the day.

I let The Gryphon figure out which wines to get for the two of us. I simply told him what I liked. After all, he's the foody, and he has a clearer idea of what he wants. Plus, he was also the one with the money, since I was on the tail end of a paycheck and my primary contribution for the day was buying gas and chipping in for small things like food.

Speaking of food, we all started to get pretty hungry by about 2 or 2:30, so we decided to take a break for lunch. Since everyone wanted different things, we agreed we'd make our food purchases and then meet at the picnic tables. Looking through the food options, I was drawn to a place called Cosmic Catering. Sure enough, they offered vegetarian options, so I got a veggie wrap. I'm not a vegetarian — I eat fish and poultry — but vegetarian food is often a healthier option, especially compared to, say, deep fried chicken.

Turns out that the tables were on the slope below the performance stage, where a band was warming up. The band was George Wesley and the Irietations, a group I used to see in State College on occasion. It was cool to chill to their reggae-influenced vibe again.

When everyone was ready to do some more tasting, we hit a new section. I had everyone stop to take the group picture you see above. First I took one of everybody but me, and then someone insisted I had to be in it, so I handed the camera to a guy who was wearing a walkie talkie and asked him to take it. He seemed a little tipsy, but he managed to pull it off. The original photo was framed a little oddly but, when cropped, turned out nice.

Some of the wineries had an interesting theme, such as one called Allegro Vineyards, where all the wines had a musical theme. And then there was Long Trout Winery, which is run by hippies and calls itself a "Unique Bohemian Wine Boutique." All those names were funny, often derivative of pop culture, such as Purple Craze or Smoke on the Water. I tried a few of them, but most of our group weren't impressed. If there hadn't been such a big crowd around their stand, I would have sampled more.

I got a little tired of the wine tasting, so The Costumer and I were checking out some of the clothing and craft booths. She and I were drawn to some of the same clothing booths but were reluctant to buy anything without being able to try it first. I did end up getting a cute patchwork knee-length skirt, though, because while it didn't have a size marked on it, it had an elastic waist and I could tell it would fit me. Sure enough, when I tried it on at home, it worked perfectly.

I also purchased some handmade soap (which I love) and a funky, colorful, inexpensive necklace. As I returned to the group, they were sitting on some large rocks waiting for somebody to finish making a wine purchase. We listened to the beautiful strains of live pan flute music coming from a tent next to us. You could see the performer through a hole in the T-shirts they were selling, so I snapped a picture. He happened to look my way as I took it.

I also snapped some photos of my friends sitting on the rocks, of which the best one is probably this one of The Comptroller and The Genealogist.

The one thing I never really got was a photo of anyone drinking wine. This was primarily because there wasn't really an opportunity. Most of the time, you only got a little splash of wine, and that was gone within second. I suppose I could have staged something, but I never got around to it.

By this time, it was about 5 p.m. and we were all pretty tired and hungry. Fortunately, my feet still felt great, in my brand new Tevas. I bought them last week and had them shipped to me overnight, knowing I'd need comfortable shoes for the festival. I seriously have to write a thank you to the company and tell them how awesome they are.

The rain that had been threatening to stick around all day barely made its presence known, and when I bought the skirt, I happily shoved my rain jacket in the bag so I wouldn't have to carry it over my arm any longer.

We agreed to meet at the hotel where The Genealogist, The Comptroller, The Viking and Pimp Daddy were staying to divide up the wine, which The Comptroller picked up, since he has a pickup truck suitable for stowing numerous boxes.

After the wine was suitably divided, we retired to their hotel room and discussed where to eat dinner. We settled on the hotel restaurant, since it was convenient and seemed to have a variety of foods.

I ordered a pan-seared tuna, which was overdone. So were the vegetables. The baked potato was good, though.

We all chatted about numerous things, such as work related stories about recent projects. The Costumer told me she's interviewing for a supervisor's job in the state office for which she works. If she gets it, she and Agent Smith will be moving to the Northwest corner of the state. I told her, honestly, that I wish her luck but I'd miss them if she got it. She grew up around there, though, so for her it would be like going home. Plus, the living expenses are a lot cheaper there.

The Genealogist told us about all the bureaucratic complications revolving around her work on a submarine that they're making at the boatyard where she works. I don't envy her the task.

After dinner, we returned to the hotel room for more socialization until people started leaving. The Genealogist told me about the trouble she'd been having trying to get proof of some of the Revolutionary War era ancestors she's finding. I don't know how she keeps all this in her head, but I suppose it's like anything else; when something is important to you, it tends to stick.

By the time we left, both The Dormouse and The Gryphon were pretty sleepy. But I'd had plenty of sleep the night before and had no trouble driving home.

Our dog, Una, greeted us at the door cheerily. She's been visited twice by our dog walker, so she seemed content and well cared for. She never questioned why we brought a box of clinky bottles inside with us, and I'm sure she wouldn't have understood even if I explained. Then again, a day of doing nothing but eating and drinking? Maybe a dog could appreciate that.

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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