My friend Charlie
Charlie Lemmex will close up shop at the end of September. He is planning to watch the Yankees and the Red Sox at the Rogers Centre, then go quietly into the night. Charlie has attended a few ball games over the years. He has worked in media for more than 30 years. He told me […]
The sommelier’s duty
It seems strange now, but in the North America of the early 1970s, sommeliers were as rare as happy dispositions are in the service industry of southern France in September. Unlike today’s wine stewards, whose job is to sell wine, the great sommeliers of the past were instrumental in the purchase of the wine for […]
Only human
Last week, letter writer and colleague Ramesh Pooran called me out on my column, which highlighted a young female politician who was forced to step down after a heated online exchange she had been involved in as a teen was revealed. Pooran wrote that indiscretions made by young people should be given some leeway, and […]
A bit of a smell
We normally honour a person’s last wishes without much thought. We will happily play a Frere Brothers’ song at Muriel’s funeral, or scatter Donny’s ashes on the Loyalist Parkway. If the wishes seem a touch irrational, no big deal, as long as they are basically harmless. However, the innocuous sounding last wishes of a recently […]
Walk this way
Labour Day is behind us and Saturday, September 12 brings the Parkinson’s SuperWalk in Belleville. This will be the first time I will participate in the fundraising event, and I’m doing it for a number of reasons. Oh, you want to know why I’d walk for a cause? My late mother-in-law had Parkinson’s disease. While […]
Greetings from a spider
There is wonder in a spider’s web, drenched in the fog of early morn; an untouched quiet of heavy dew drifting off the lake and now resting on our island. Then, in a breakthrough, the sun throws light over tall grass, onto high branches, over windrows close and far away. Nearby, a leopard frog stirs […]
Storytellers
I have a nice job. I write about things that are happening in this lovely and lively little place I’ve taken to calling home, and I get to learn things and meet people I otherwise never would. It really is a pleasant task. But journalism isn’t all nice. There are members of the profession much […]
A perfect complement
Not only collectors and connoisseurs plan a dinner around their wines. Family gatherings at Thanksgiving, birthdays, weddings and Christmas all present an opportunity to pair a treasured bottle of wine with an exceptional meal. Wine collectors will routinely use such gatherings to drink some of the older wines in their cellar before the wines begin […]
The rational and irrational shopper
You may have noticed that Sears and Wayne Gretzky are teaming up to introduce a new line of clothing this fall. “Wayne Gretzky!”, I exclaimed to my wife. “He must be at least 50” (he’s 54, in fact). “Who the heck is going to buy a line of clothes endorsed by someone over 50? How […]
Goodbye summer
I am sure I’ve asked this question before, “Where the heck did the summer go?” September is here, already! Geez, Louise. I promised I would not complain about the heat and the humidity of July and August, and I did not. I promised I would get out, enjoy my yard, my family, my community and […]