Wired
I imagine some of you aren’t happy with me, right now. I haven’t lost my mind, with regard to dress codes and what kids these days wear. I’m just saying if we’re in the mood to preach, we should be practitioners. Recently, as many of you know, I’ve been taking a good, long look in […]
Wind in the maple
So finally, after subtle prodding from my son, Luc, we launch the early summer with the building of a tree house. I say we, but really the arrangement is I get to pull together materials—in this case the good fortune of western cedar—and Luc, in cahoots with neighbour and man-ofall- skills Phill—spelled with two Ls […]
A classic confrontation
The general consensus amongst the so-called experts is that the Chicago Blackhawks will have no trouble disposing of the Tampa Bay Lightning in this year’s Stanley Cup final. I beg to differ. I believe it will be a battle, and a fine one at that. The Hawks are favoured because of recent history. They are […]
Take the cabernet
Cabernet franc is one of the five main red grape varietals grown and blended within the Bordeaux region. First introduced into the Loire and Bordeaux wine regions of France in the 17th century by direction of Cardinal Richelieu, it was more commonly referred to by the name of Bouchet until the mid-to-late 18th century. In […]
Different worlds
There are times, reading something or speaking to someone, that it becomes apparent we are all living in different worlds. Oftentimes it’s generational: a comment that seems appropriate to someone 50 years my senior can contain a kind of inherent racism that makes me cringe. Sometimes it’s cultural: an otherwise secular conversation might be burgeoned […]
The County-blot
Mayor Robert Quaiff is expected to announce shortly what has been rumoured for weeks: that the County’s silhouette map (pictured on this page) has been accepted onto the shortlist for the new 2016 edition of the Rorschach Inkblot Test. The announcement goes a long way to making up for the County’s disappointment in losing its […]
Confession of a shameless hussy
There’s lots of foofaraw in the news about young, scantily- clad women in high school classrooms. Back in the olden days, when I was an elementary school kid, girls had to wear skirts to school. Boys had to wear long pants. Now, as far as I was concerned, the whole idea of girls wearing skirts […]
Swirling
Recently, astronomers discovered that the movement we’ve interpreted as spinning for so many centuries is actually swirling. That is, instead of moving in place around an anchored point, the earth, the moon, the sun—the whole galaxy—is in constant motion. We are living in a whirlpool in the turbulent dark matter ocean of the universe. The […]
Sudden death on the ice
When the hockey game ends in a tie, in the playoffs, in the National Hockey League, the outcome is determined by a sudden death goal. It is a wonderful feeling when your team puts the puck in the net. You watch the referee pointing at the puck inside the cage. You feel the warmth of […]
Cold truth
On the morning of May 23, between the hours of six and seven in the morning, frost hit southern ontario—just one day before the customarily accepted severe frost end date of May 24. It was a flash freeze that enveloped vineyard buds and leaves. Vineyard workers employed windmills to stir the air, burned hay bales […]