Meditation In Suedburgenland Takes On Many Interesting Shapes And Guises.

You know, a yoga mat is optional!

Meditation in one of its guises. Naturally wine is a part of it and contrary to popular belief, it isn't always necessary to sip a glass to become reflective. A sunny and warm day in February means being able to go about pruning the vines. Gumboots were a must because it was rather muddy and even a light weight would have sunk into it...The only heavy machinery I lifted was this pair of pruning shears.

As a relative novice, I still stress terribly about which twig to give the old chop! Golly gosh darn it, I kept on thinking about the outcome of a wrongly chopped vine...less wine to sip in Autumn ...My mum showed Bob and I the art of pruning and each year we retain more knowledge. There are the legendary Super Pruners in the village, who merely go through the vines and chop, snip and cut, while someone else goes after them and disposes of the cut vines ( No mean feat trying to separate the cut vines from their uncut cousins...those tentacles are hooked solidly on the wires ).

Bob was in his element...he was so quick this year and was yards ahead of me. He's on his way to maybe, possibly and certainly be inducted into the league of Super Pruners in the future.

Have you also noticed how breathtakingly divine
most vineyards ( worldwide ) are cosseted by beautiful surrounds? Nature in top form and you can understand why it classifies as a type of meditation and definitely a privilege...the sun is on your cheeks and the only thoughts bouncing around are whether to cut this or that vine.
A in the moment type of eh, moment.

Now for the other gentle meditation: our area in Südburgenland is a mecca for bird life. The trees and shrubs are teeming with birds of all sorts and who needs Twitter, when you have the real tweets outside your front door?

Life here is so tranquil and nice, that even the odd bird or two is entranced by it...This one seems to be meditating.

Biggi