Tatiana Maria's Gift To Me Years Ago Of A NIKON Fun-Touch 5 Lens 29mm AF Camera That Took Many Memorable Photographs Of Wine Owners/ Makers And Fun P

people, Fun People - that's what the headline should say until I ran out of space at " P " !

I just recently found where I had put this NIKON in my office at work and thought I would bring it home so as not to lose it permanently. It was given to me back in 2002 or so I believe by fellow wine-lover Tatiana Maria. She originally was calling on us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue Wines & Spirits ( 202 ) 363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) from GEMMEX ( she was the vice president at GIA : Gemmex Intertrade America, Inc ) and then later as a rep for Billington Imports. I think I first met her in late 2000 when I was changing the wine-window display up front at Cleveland Park on a sunny, beautiful day. She came in with her two sisters Jasmine and Stana : three beautiful young ladies all at once! Wow, that was a lot of really nice eye-candy for me and yet I managed somehow.

Tatiana had her new Spanish and Portuguese releases for Mike and me to try that day I believe. I don't think she had yet the MAULER sparkling Swiss wines for me to try. She did, however have a wonderfully-refreshing ( anyone like banana bouquet ) Castella di Medina Spanish smooth, bright, fresh dry white Verdejo and an equally intriguing, old-style Spanish red from the 1991 vintage I believe that was incredibly tasty and nuanced in flavors and yet incredibly inexpensive as well! What a deal it was and we sold many cases of it before it was all gone.

Somewhere as I got to know better Jasmine,Stana, and Tatiana and I continued to take pictures of them and others at the store it became painfully obvious that I needed to buy a better camera! The visits of the three became visits of just Tatiana. She had paved her way into the hearts/respect, too of many store owners and restaurant owners, I am willing to bet. Stanna and Jasmine had been there for her at first but they had their own jobs. For me it was a marvel to witness how they were there for one another. I valued that commitment almost as much as I valued the quality of Tatiana's wines.

This was a rare observance for me of family literally helping one another in their jobs. The only sister missing was Jewel who I came to meet later at one of Stana's parties that I was invited to attend along with my wife. Four striking sisters all with their own personal charms and personalities, all very nice to me. This was almost too much for me to bear and I am not quite sure how I managed but I did and truth be told I loved it! Thanks Tatiana, Jasmine, Stana and Jewel : you four are incredible. I really do love how you stick together. THanks also for coming in the beginning to our store wine-tasting at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits.

I just finished blogging about owner/ winemaker Jed Steele of the STEELE wines and I know that you three made it to this great first-tasting of Jed's at the store. I have pictures of it, too to prove it. They, however were taken with another camera not the NIKON you would later give/ present me with Tatiana. I'll have to digitalize them and get this on the blogg at a later date. So much to always do! You ladies enjoyed meeting Jed Steele and you came yourselves at other times to pour your selections of wines for our customers. During these tastings of yours with our customers I believe you really began to learn what Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits was really about ; you were a part of it and helped to make it waht it is and always should be : special.

This is what you wrote Tatiana after pouring wines for our customers on two separate occasions :

" Dear Tony , Thank you for having us promote our wines at your store in August and September ( 2000 ) . It was a pleasure to meet your customers, excange views , and work with you side-by-side. You are well respected by many of your regular store clients who value your exceptional service and attention. What a reputation!

Enclosed are photos of our first wine tasting for you to keep in your "photo" album. I hope this to be the beginning of many successful wine tastings at Cleveland Park ". Sincerely, Tatiana Maria.

And it was Tatiana. Sad to say it came to an end when you left Billington Imports. But I am getting way ahead of myself here. Let's go back some in time.

     I do want to mention that Tatiana has another sister that I have also met and who is equally important of course buy sadly I only met her briefly twice and for the life of me cannot remember her name. I'll include it later here.

One day when Tatiana was on her own she came to our office and handed me this gift of the NIKON Fun-Touch 5 Nikon Lens 29mm AF camera. I was thrilled to have such a new, snazzy toy to play with! It's just what I needed to continue preserving these special moments with Wine owners/makers, guests, others in the business, etcetera.

I used this camera a lot and took it to Austria and to Italy I believe. I really got some incredible shots in both countries. I knew however that the end of my NIKON was near in Italy when I had trouble loading the film properly because I had dropped it one too many times and the back was not shutting properly. Perhaps someday I could fix it and get some more shots with it for old-time's sake?!?! I'd like that.

I was resisting the temptation to buy a digital camera at the time and I even had to put scotch tape onto the back side of this loved NIKON to keep it shut as it having been well-loved/used/abused it was slowly coming unraveled and taking more erratic and less clear pictures but I continued on till it's last gasps of film and life sputtered to a crash. It was there for me for many grand events and moments and with time I will get the pictures digitalized so that I may include them here on this blog. Thanks Tatiana. I do really appreciate both your thoughtfulness and your willingness back then to do something concrete to save me from my procrastination/laziness. The world I hope is now a better place ( a bit pretentious of me, I know , but you know what I mean I hope ) because of this trusty NIKON camera.

How are you these days now that you are no longer actively in the wine business? How are your sisters : Jasmine, Jewel and Stana? Say " hello " to them for me and tell them that I wish them all well and that I'd love for you all four to stop by sometime and share a glass of wine with Mike, Santos, Ravi and me at the store, for old-time's sake?!

A bit of real trivia : as I look inside the protective cover for the camera I find two stickers that I peeled off my fruit that I ate and put there : a golden Melinda D.O.P. Nela Val di Non apple #4021 I believe as well as a Favorita bananas Equador banana. Talk about off-the-wall-fruit! Anyway, I am sure they were good and I must have enjoyed them while using this camera.

I'm sure that between now and the time I load the pictures onto the blog that I will remember other important stories and vignettes to include. Until then " be/ stay well " as Agostino an old, favorite customer of ours used to say to us all when leaving the store.

Cheers, TONY