“For me writing has always felt like praying, even when I wasn’t writing prayers, as I am often enough. You feel that you are with someone. I feel I am with you now, whatever than can mean . . . To me it seems rather Christlike to be as unadorned as this place is, as little regarded.”

From Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

“The only obligation any artist can have is to himself. His work means nothing, otherwise. It has no meaning,” Truman Capote's good advice for any writer.

“Read in order to live.” Gustave Flaubert

“Writing is one way of discovering sequence in experience . . . connections slowly emerge. Like distant landmarks you are approaching, cause and effect begin to align themselves . . . experiences . . . connect and are identified as a larger shape.”  - Eudora Welty

Writing Well and the Writing Life

I'm really looking forward to this Fall's Word Lover's Retreat after spending a long weekend at the Idlewyld in Lakeside. The weather will be tremendous the third weekend in September, and the porch is a perfect place to write. The bench on the Pier Pavilion or a wicker chair with cozy cushions and soft knitted throws in the living room or the top porch of the B&B are all great places to write. Writing in Lakeside will be good this fall. It will only look a little different than this parklike setting I captured ten days ago.

Cuyahoga Valley

The best place to spend late summer lazy days is in the Cuyahoga Valley (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2976198/five_mustsee_places_in_the_cuyahoga.html?cat=16). The goldenrod is shoulder high and the turtles sunbathe in the old canal, once part of the Ohio-Erie Canalway and today an ancient-spirit place of solace. I've often written about the Valley, as a place to reconnect with nature and history.

Millionnaire's Row

Cleveland's Millionaire's Row, along Euclid Avenue, was once a place to stroll on Sundays past iron gates protecting expansive green lawns. The Western Reserve Historical Society has exhibited what Cleveland was like then at periodic exhibits complete with maps showing where Cleveland's monied entrepreneurs lived. Few of the old mansions are left, but Euclid Avenue's residential occupancy rate is up. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5446338/21stcentury_homes_on_clevelands_millionares.html?cat=7

Warm Weather - Summer's Heavenly

And there's lots to do in the city. Check out my ideas at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5495312/five_warmweather_events_in_downtown.html?cat=2.

Markko Vineyards - Lake Erie's First Vinifera Winery

I first met Arnie Esterer, winemaker and owner of Markko Vineyards in Conneaut, on our first Ohio wine country adventure. Arnie, with partner Tim Hubbard, started experimenting with European varietals and French-American hybrids in the late 1960s after purchasing one hundred acres of land, as instructed by Dr. Konstantin Franc of New York’s Finger Lakes. It’s easy to miss the stone gates on the edge of the woods on a dirt road. At the end of the drive is a surprising low, dark ranch house with a non-descript entrance into a tasting room that opens onto a wooden deck. There are no pretences at Markko—it’s all about the wine. The chardonnays and cabernets at the boutique winery are the best in Ohio because they’re handcrafted and estate bottled, and Arnie admits that they are expensive. We always have some Markko wine in our wine cabinet, for special occasions. When I gave Arnie an article I wrote about the winery, he gifted me a bottle of his Riesling, and when I told him I was writing a book about Ohio’s Lake Erie Wineries, he sat me down on his deck with a bottle of his Cabernet and shared his stories. Arnie’s the guru of winemakers in the Lake Erie Appellation, and other vintners like Ken Tarsitano will admit they learned how to trellis vines and craft a decent wine from Esterer. Arnie readily explains how the vines in our region must be kept three feet off the ground to prevent moisture that leads to rot. The dark cellar of stainless steel for his Rieslings and oak barrels for the Chardonnays and Cabernets remind me that the grapes become wine all on their own, and it’s the winemaker’s job to create an excellent, drinkable wine from the results. When we first stood at the counter in the tasting room and tasted dry wines with complimentary cheese, Markko became our favorite Ohio winery because Esterer wants to create the best wine possible from what the land offers, and he does. Read more in my Associated Content article published a few weeks ago: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2979546/markko_vineyard_brings_european_grapes.html?cat=62

Lake Erie

When I was a child, Y swimming lessons were often cancelled because of dead fish in the water. Today, the Lake is so clean I can see my feet two feet down. I've learned to be grateful for northern Ohio's greatest asset, and I wrote about it for Earth Day: http://www.coolcleveland.com/blog/2010/04/toast-the-great-lakes-on-earth-day/.

Wining Again, in Ohio Wine Country

Husband Paul bought me Patricia Latimer’s Ohio Wine Country Excursions for Christmas. We enjoyed many romantic trips to New York’s Finger Lakes region, where the vineyards roll down the hills to the deep glacier-grooved lakes, but Ohio’s wineries were closer to home. In the 19th century, Ohio was the major wine producing state along the Ohio River and, beginning in the 1830s, along Lake Erie and its islands. My sense of adventure was kindled when I began to learn about native Ohio grapes and how wine producers graft the vines to make French-American hybrids like Chambourcin and Vidal Blanc and the European vinifera varieties l love. The stories of Ohio’s wineries all begin with the land—the temperatures must be moderate and the growing season long. One must begin with an acre and plant the vines and see how they do. It’s a leap of faith, the buying and clearing of land and growing grapes, hoping they will produce quantities of juice that can be fermented into wine. The making of wine is as romantic as the hope that a lover will while away the hours on your back porch or a picnic near a pond in the woods, with a bottle of wine. My Ohio wine country adventures began at Markko vineyards. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2979546/markko_vineyard_brings_european_grapes.html?cat=62.

Trembling . . . Vietnam is still too close

When I finally read The Year That Trembled by Scott Lax, I found out what I needed to know about how young men felt on the eve of the 1971 draft for Vietnam. No one wanted to go to Vietnam, and by that time, Vietnam seemed pretty stupid. The Year That Trembled was about five guys, one of whom was drafted and killed during the war. The main character had fallen in love with the wife of the guy who died, even slept with her during the before-the-draft party, but they didn’t end up together. That mistake would haunt him. There were some really good people in the book and Lax did a great job at conveying their goodness in the midst of a messed up world.