Thanksgiving
I know it’s only slightly halfway through July, but I have so much to be thankful for, these days. And I have a bit of a list. Yep, a list of things for which I am thankful, and not one turkey was carved, nor one pumpkin pied. To start, I am most grateful to the […]
The 50 Greatest Dodger Games of All Time
There was a knock on our door last fall, just after we had settled in. It is a long and exhausting journey to Fort Myers from Wellington, and it takes me some time to adjust. I opened the door to my good friend Mike Richey. He handed me a baseball. It had been signed by […]
Barrelling along
The solera system became the norm in Jerez simply because dynastic wars closed off many of their markets. Solera is a method of fractional blending using a minimum of three barrels. Up to half of the wine in the oldest barrel is drawn off and bottled. The remainder in the oldest barrel is then carefully […]
Youth suffrage
The Times’ youngest columnist, Grace Conroy, has just reached voting age, and will be able to cast her first ballot in the next federal election. Anyone who has read her column as she travelled to Chile for a year of exposure to a new culture, language and landscape knows she is a bright, interested and […]
Stone haven
I’ve been building walls of stone. Perhaps it’s the images of the landscapes of summer breezes that guide me. Northumberland County and the Trent Hills—Hastings and Warkworth—tell a soothing story of counter-lines, figures, naked, sleeping beneath sheets, cotton dyed of vermillion and rust and the spilled bullion of early hay. Outbuildings, stitched to the rises, […]
Tracking Woozles
Does anyone remember the story of Pooh, Piglet and their hunt for a Woozle? It’s the subject of Chapter III in the classic children’s book, Winnie The Pooh, written by A.A. Milne and published in 1926. I’m thinking that it has some contemporary relevance. Pooh and Piglet, of course, are buddies. One day, Piglet observes […]
Part of the problem
When we are aware of a wrongdoing and don’t do something about it, what does that make us? Well, it makes us part of the problem. But you knew that, right? When I was much younger, I remember reading an article in the Toronto Star, or maybe the Smelly Telly, about a person who was […]
Canada Day with the Jays
Prior to the game on Canada Day, the roof was closed at the Rogers Centre (known in another life as the SkyDome). The Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox were preparing to take the field for the third game in a fourgame series. Several dozen military types took the field, carrying the largest […]
Too much sherry
Now where was I? Last week, we addressed the beginnings of the wine industry in Jerez, and how wine production and flavour preferences were influenced by various civilizations. Sherry, as we know it today, resulted from the loss of a major market. Up to the mid-15th century, the vast majority of the wine from this […]
Robot ethics
As any true science fiction geek is aware, robots must have laws to govern their behaviour. The law of robotics was a theory created by Isaac Asimov, who was fascinated by the concept of machines who could look like, act like and eventually improve upon their creators. There are four laws the robot must follow: […]