Crafted with pride
Think of Japan and alcohol and you are likely to think of sake. And, while we call sake a rice wine, its fermentation process is actually closer to beer than wine. Why don’t we ever hear of Japanese wine? Climate may be one of the reasons. Even though the main island shares a common latitude […]
The power of sappy movies
Did you catch the news about movies and relationships? The New York Times reported recently on a study conducted at the University of Rochester and published in The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Some 174 couples were involved. One set of couples formed a control group, and it turns out their separation rate in […]
Spring cleaning
So, in my everyday life, I write. I have always written. I can’t think of a time when I wasn’t filling a notebook with writing. Writing isn’t who I am. Writing is what I do. Today, Sunday, while looking out my kitchen window, I’m not thinking about writing, I’m thinking about cleaning. You know, springcleaning. […]
Sam conclusions
It was the morning I heard the shrill cry of the red-winged blackbird that I found the note stuck to my front door. “We’re back” it simply read. Back? That time already? I mumbled to no one. It was signed ‘Liz and Chris’, which sorta meant that my assignment to care for Sam, the Embden […]
Great voices from the past
I had an instant last week when all of the great voices of baseball echoed in my brain. One at a time, naturally, as there just isn’t room for all of them: Vin Scully, Harry Caray, Tom Cheek, Red Barber, Ernie Harwell, Jon Miller, Jack Buck, Tony Kubek, Early Wynn, Phil Rizutto, Bill White, Mel […]
Fine weather makes fine wine
After varietal selection and site location, the most important factor for a vineyard is the yearly impact of weather on the harvest. Temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind and sunlight combine to determine the quality of any given vintage. If the temperature drops below minus 15 for a prolonged period in winter, dormant vines will die. This […]
Just a joke
The April Fools’ joke has a long and, from what I can read, pretty boring history. The point is that it’s still flourishing. So let’s get right to the action, instead of talking about the ancient past. What was my favourite April Fools’ joke? How about the famous 1957 spaghetti crop hoax, where a British […]
Cycling pants
Seriously. One day last week, I dreamed about pulling my bicycle out of its winter hibernation spot and taking it for a spin around the County. As I write this (it’s Sunday), it looks like the snowblower will be the only device hitting the pavement this morning. It is spring, however, and the weather can […]
Spring training
All the talk around the pool, along the beaches, and in the barbershops in Southwest Florida nowadays, deals with the teams that are trying to dance their way to the Sweet Sixteen. Those are the 16 schools of learning that will play for the National Championship of Basketball in the United States. Millions of Americans […]
Sweet maple brew
In ancient times, the region we know as Moldova was inhabited by various tribes, and fell under the jurisdiction of the Roman Empire, and then subsequently the Byzantine Empire. Its location was on a tribal migratory route, making it vulnerable for repeated invasions, in the conquest of territories of the western Empire. Moldova was part […]