Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Creative Truth Telling...

Wine at Sunset : Provence, FR

This weekend was spent in Provence at the vacation home of a man who is a connoisseur of wine. He and his wife were gracious hosts and we tasted a number of good champagnes (including a LaFitte) and a few good wines. I can't say I'm completely convinced that wine is the staff of life or whatever and I'd still much rather cook with it than drink it, but at least I can finally say I've had a few decent vintages.

That said, returning to work presented a fun moment. I've tried to take a friend's advice--though not always successfully--about not sharing information about myself at work, not opening doors, etc. So today, when one of the department secretaries, a lovely woman from Africa I'll call Cece, said to me, "I noticed you were gone, but I didn't miss you. Did you do something fun?" I didn't give a full-bodied response. (No pun intended.) Instead, I latched onto her prior statement, laughed heartily and replied, "I'm not sure how to take that!"

What I really wish I'd said was, "I was away at a retreat learning the proper application of alcohol as a tool for mitigating the spread of community outbreaks."

Obviously my current job is rubbing off on me. (Also no pun intended.)

:-)

5 comments:

lacochran said...

"I noticed you were gone, but I didn't miss you."

JeezLouise, that's cold. Let's hope it was a lost in translation problem.

Anonymous said...

LOL at Cece. I woulda laughed in her face too.

Also, remember: Just because YOU don't like the wine, doesn't mean it's not good wine...just means you don't like it. Which is fine. Though YOU'RE the one that's wrong, of course. ;-)

We should go on holiday together!!

- Di

Maya said...

Oh, nice shot of the house. I didn't see that angle since I didn't go wandering off in the vineyards (preferring to sit and sip the wine).

Cele said...

Oh that is too good a response to waste.

Janet Kincaid said...

Lacochran: Definitely more of a lost-in-translation moment than anything else! It's part of the fun of working at a place where English is a second or third language for 90% of the staff.


Di: We both had a good laugh at that one. As for the not-liking-the-vino thing, I'm trying to keep that in perspective. I'm sort of sure I'm wrong on this one. Sort of. And yes, we should definitely go on holiday together. Anywhere in particular in mind?


Maya: It was a lovely angle! The vineyards were pretty nice, too, although I got a shock in the butt from M&M's electric fence.


Cele: I'll have to remember to use it one day.