Globetrotting grapes
The over 5,000 grape varietals in the world fall into two major categories: Vitis Vinifera, predominant in Europe, and Vitis Labrusca native to North America. Despite this large number of varietals, winemakers tend to create wines from a limited palette. When I have the opportunity to taste something outside this classic range, I usually leap […]
‘Siglo del sebo’
I must say that the sight of a red-bellied woodpecker at the suet feeder this morning goes a long way to consoling the heart; the bird’s crimson- stained hood sparkles against the heavy backdrop of sky. A downy woodpecker holds in place waiting for a turn at the grub with a lineup of chickadees not […]
The Pete Seeger I knew
It was an embarrassing moment. My wife and I had run a rather openly ‘folkie’ household, with many a kitchen music hootenanny session. Our children were encouraged to participate but always seemed to have something else to do. So when Pete Seeger died recently at age 94, my wife and I shed a tear or […]
Wave the flags
Let’s just say, at the beginning of the hype I wasn’t going to watch any of the Olympic coverage. Nothing. No way. Damn that Putin for his intolerant, homophobic ways. I was going to show him. Yup. That’s what I was going to do. Instead of watching the Olympics I was going to do something […]
Olympic Break 2014
I trust that most of you are spending a fair amount of time, even some in odd hours, to catch a few Olympic waves. I also trust that you watched the tribute to The Beatles on Sunday night, the 50th anniversary of their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Flurries of memories danced in the […]
Valentine bubbly
On a recent research trip we stayed in the heart of California’s Gold Country, in the town of Sutter Creek. From the second-storey veranda of our hotel, we overlooked a street scene that came straight out of a Hollywood cowboy movie set. Except the buildings were real. And you could feel the legacy of boom […]
The unbearable lightness of trucks
It’s a big deal. It’s been the bestselling truck in Canada for more than 40 years, bringing in over 40 per cent of the company’s Canadian sales volume, and it accounts for about $30 billion in annual corporate worldwide revenue. It’s the Ford F-150. And it’s changing, big time. Ford announced during last month’s North […]
Home for the advocates
Recently, I was invited to a meeting. If you know me, and some of you think you do, you know just how much I dislike going to meetings—mostly because I end up volunteering to do something I don’t have time to do, or don’t really want to do. Or it’s a meeting of people who […]
FGCU Eagles keep on rollin’
There is something very special about American college basketball. There is a hint of excitement, a buzz in the stands, an expectation of something special about to take place. In the case of the last game against Stetson, the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles wasted no time in getting the fans into the game. There is […]
No dam water
I have been aware for quite some time, through the media, of the potential for severe drought in California. Until you set foot in the state—and see the drab brown shrubs and grasslands that should be verdant green this time of year—you cannot really understand the gravity of their problem. Winter rains have yet to […]