Hello!

Welcome to The Epic! I am launching this blog as a manifesto for and a guide to living well. The title and motto of the blog are taken from the Epicureans, at least some of whom believed in the notion that not one minute of the future was guaranteed to them and that as a result they had the duty to live life to its fullest every moment.

I believe in discovering fun and pleasurable things wherever I find myself each day and I am told I have a knack for unearthing them. My hope is that by sharing in my pleasures and some of my ways of finding them you will begin to collect all the riches that lie in the moments of your life. They are there. Take them! All our lives should be.....Epic.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Corks

I discover them in the oddest places, and always by surprise. My travel kit. My suitcase. My golf bag. My briefcase. My desk drawer. Suit jacket pockets. They feel nice. They often smell very nice. Most important, they have a certain Epic talismanic power.

This power transports me to times and places where laughter, good food and drink prevail. Where the memories (when there are memories) are surrounded by the glow of fellowship and good humor. Times when victories were celebrated. Defeats assuaged. Events memorialized. Deals done. Re-connections established after too many trips away from home. When I finish a bottle of wine at dinner, I always carry off the cork. There are some very pretty frames you can put them in, even a table top under glass. I prefer however to scatter them around my life. To remind me. And to make me smile without warning. Touching an old wine cork provides an instant dose of pleasantness. No matter what the place or time of day.

11 comments:

Main Line Sportsman said...

I use them to hold and organize hooks in my fishing tackle box.

Sandra said...

Great post! What a great way to remember good times. xoxo

Ben said...

What a great notion! I love that you find them everywhere unexpectedly and that each is probably unique and recognizable enough to trigger nostalgia.

I don't drink enough wine for this idea to have much meaning, and I stopped carrying beer bottle caps in my shorts pocket when I stopped having Spring Breaks. I may have to become an oenophile.

vicki archer said...

The scent and texture of wine corks.....the perfect combination to hold great memories....xv

Tish Jett said...

What choice did I have? Obviously I must follow you.

I believe totally in your raison d'etre.

We have a drawer full of corks in our kitchen and lots of them are champagne corks. I hate to throw them away for some bizarre reason. Surely they all represent happy moments.

Lovely meeting you. What a wonderful blog you have.

Warm regards,
Tish

M.Lane said...

MLS, great idea!

P101, thanks!

Ben, perhaps airline sized scotch bottles?

Vicki, thanks so much! They really work that way for me.

ML

M.Lane said...

Tish, what a lovely comment! Thanks so much. I hope you keep coming by The Epic.

ML

The Daily Connoisseur said...

Beautifully written and so true. I always think about a wonderful dinner I had in London when I met up with my cousin there (she's my best friend) we had Italian food- drank Pinot Noir, listened to John Legend and caught up with each other's lives. It was a great night.

Thanks so much for your supportive comment on my blog- As a new mom I barely have time to write the blog and miss visiting my favorites sites like yours. Hope you and your family are well...

Easy and Elegant Life said...

And, although I hope to never move lock, stock and barrel again, they make excellent packing material.

Suburban Princess said...

I love this! I am always finding corks in unlikely places and often I have written the occassion on them :O)

CashmereLibrarian said...

We line our corks up along the windowsill above the kitchen sink; when it gets too full, we throw them away and start over!