Sunday Stills the Next Challenge: Alcohol

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© irene waters 2014

When Ed prompted  “So, whats your poison? If you don’t drink that’s fine, this challenge can be any beverage that includes alcohol be it beer,wine or hard liquor. You can also do advertisements or establishments or how about vineyards or breweries or even distileries….” I thought of the regional wines we drank in Germany, Switzerland and France. There, our relatives had allegiances with their local vineyard and they had no thought other than to buy their wine from them. The bottles we looked at in the shops ranged from the hugely expensive such as these two bottles to the cheap wine in Spain which they sold in huge plastic containers.

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© irene waters 2014

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© irene waters 2014

Back home we too patronised our local winery which a Hungarian viticulturist owned. We had discovered on a visit (they were always very generous with their tastings) that they also did a Hungarian goulash lunch with wine for a very reasonable price for a minimum of ten people. How could we resist. We organised a group and had a wonderful day sitting among the vines imbibing. We discovered that his wife, who cooked the meal, had escaped Hungary, gone to Canada and trained as a rocket scientist. She found as a woman she could not get work in either Canada or the US so moved to Australia. Here she met her husband and I guess the rocket science went out the window. That’s why I love finding out people’s history  as you don’t expect to find a woman with a pHD cooking the luncheon goulash.

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

Christmas time is always a time when a bit of Christmas cheer goes a long way. Champagne, wine and beer seem to be present in great quantities throughout the period. For me, I’m the driver. They don’t have to designate me as I gave up alcohol over two years ago now. I only gave up for a couple of months but found I felt so great I have never had the urge to drink again so my poison is

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© irene waters 2014

the long black coffee. Yum

 

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About Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist

I began my working career as a reluctant potato peeler whilst waiting to commence my training as a student nurse. On completion I worked mainly in intensive care/coronary care; finishing my hospital career as clinical nurse educator in intensive care. A life changing period as a resort owner/manager on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu was followed by recovery time as a farmer at Bucca Wauka. Having discovered I was no farmer and vowing never again to own an animal bigger than myself I took on the Barrington General Store. Here we also ran a five star restaurant. Working the shop of a day 7am - 6pm followed by the restaurant until late was surprisingly more stressful than Tanna. On the sale we decided to retire and renovate our house with the help of a builder friend. Now believing we knew everything about building we set to constructing our own house. Just finished a coal mine decided to set up in our backyard. Definitely time to retire we moved to Queensland. I had been writing a manuscript for some time. In the desire to complete this I enrolled in a post grad certificate in creative Industries which I completed 2013. I followed this by doing a Master of Arts by research graduating in 2017. Now I live to write and write to live.
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7 Responses to Sunday Stills the Next Challenge: Alcohol

  1. Sherri Matthews's avatar Sherri says:

    Ahh…the long, black coffee! Well, we all have to have our poison and you know mine… 😉 I loved the fascinating story about the Hungarian women who trained as a rocket scientist. It really is wonderful isn’t it to meet new people and learn of their histories. So interesting. Great post my friend, really enjoyed it 🙂

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  2. Charli Mills's avatar Charli Mills says:

    I seem to like poison in general–yours looks marvelous. Love the winery meal; it looks so laid back and a great time for good food, conversation and wine. I agree with Sherrie–that’s a great story about a rocket scientist!

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    • Thanks Charli. It was a superb day which I will treasure. Good friends, good wine (hungarians make it without any preservative) and a view into life of the female rocket scientist at a time when women were supposed to be in the kitchen with the kids hanging off the apron strings.

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  3. I have too many poisons – good wine, rich coffee, and a deep bourbon. Loved the pictures of people having a good time together.

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