Christmas night wine

On the Christmas night dinner we opened a bottle of wine from the Wachau valley in central Austria. It was the 2007 white smaragd ( full body wine with 13 % of alcohol ) from a famous producer Joachim Janek. The wine was made from Gruner Veltliner grapes. It was very nice, with with a pleasant light bouquet, very well-balanced flavor, very discreet feeling of micro-bubbles at the start but somehow lacked the final "touch" to make this wine outstanding.
But the wine did its job very well in a very different way. It flashed back our memories to the summer days of 2008. The days we spent at the Jamek winery in Austria tasting wines, talking to the producer´s daughter about wines and visiting the Wachau valley. The full story can be found here.


25.12.2009.
Maciek.

Merry Christmas everyone

Thank you all for visiting and commenting on my blog. I wish you a Merry Christmas !
Be good !

Maciek.
24.12.2009.

The star of Bethlehem.

Star of Bethlehem, like a candle in the darkness, brings us hope and happiness.
Wishing you all happy pre-Christmas time.




Maciek

Shot during our Christmas gingerbread cooking
20th of Dezember 2009

Happy Xmas ? Not for all !

A "little misfortune" had happened when we baked and decorated our Christmas cookies this year: a broken leg !

Wishing you all happy pre-Christmas time !


Maciek.
15th December 2009.

Mosteiros beach in November.

The Mosteiros beach ( Azores islands ) - just blowing wind and heavy dark skies.

Maciek.

17.25 local time.

25th of November 2009

Our garden colours in mid-December

Not much joy and sun this December in our garden.

From the top left:

Citron mini-tree,
Spike Lavender,
red, beginning to flower Bougainvillea,
Pink Camelia,
Green pepper and
Doux Très Long Red Pepper.




All pictures taken on the same day, December 8th, 2009.





Maciek

The land of cows and volcanoes

View from Paul viewpoint to the north. A small "swimming pool " inside an old volcano.

A good thing about Azores Islands ( from the photographic point of view ) is that there are no so-called "magic hours" ( 1 hour before the sunrise and 1 hour before the sunset ). At these particular moments there is a "magic light in the air", something that makes the landscape photography at that hour so unique.

H owever on the Azores Islands the weather conditions are so dynamic, they can dramatically change within minutes and the light can stay "magic" all day long.

On that particular day I climbed the Paul viewpoint. It was almost a mid-day so hopes for a nice landscape photo were thin. To my surprise at the top I found a nice diffused and filtered light.

Maciek.

Azores Islands - Unspoiled nature spots

One of the little-known unspoiled nature spots on the island is this two-step waterfall called Salto do Prego, near Ribeira Grande village.


Maciek
Nikon D80
Tripod
Shot during my November flight to Azores Islands.
Self-portrait.
28.11.2009

Turn off the TV ! ( I´m back on Azores Islands )

When I stood and took that particular picture of the sunset at the Mosteiros beach ( Azores islands ) I wondered: "Why are people watching TV ? The nature itself is so beautiful."
In front of my eyes there was something special going on in the sky.

Maciek.

17.15 local time.

25th of November 2009

Photo trip to Central Portugal ( day 4 )

I got up early to see the sunrise over the Serra Estrela and the Spanish mountains.

I drove east and after 2 hours begun a steep climbing to reach the Serra Estrela mountains. Located at 2000 meters, the highest peaks give you a panoramic view over mountainous Portugal-Spanish border.

Next morning I got up early to see the sunrise-

After the night low-level nimbostratus clouds were gathering in the valley but the sky above looked pretty nice only with some cirrus clouds painted in the morning light.

Maciek.
Nikon D80
Tripod
Auto-shutter.