Every rose has its thorn
If you have had occasion to visit a European vineyard, especially in France or Italy, you probably remember rosebushes gracing the end of the grape rows. What a marvellous culture that pairs vines with roses. Apart from the visual aesthetic, there is a practical reason, of course, why vineyard managers plant roses in this fashion. […]
2013 Baseball All-Star Game
The 2013 Baseball All-Star game will take place next Tuesday in New York. Major League Baseball has managed to keep up the all-star tradition, and has tweaked the game so that it means something. Unfortunately, the all-star games for hockey, basketball, and football are a joke. Many of the best players will not participate. The […]
Consult me, consult me not
That was a really nifty Canada Day, wasn’t it? I had a bit of a hard time trying to put my finger on what made it so, until I heard a CBC radio host congratulating the civic spiritedness of the people of Ottawa for “coming out” to watch the local events. Hold it a minute: […]
Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…
What better way to spend a First of July! Sit back, relax, and watch the Blue Jays hammer their way to a victory over the Detroit Tigers 8-3, with almost 45,000 friends at the Rogers Centre. It certainly helps to have R. A. Dickey on the mound to start the game for the Jays. But […]
Still wine
During Prohibition the only alcoholic beverages fortified wines such as sherry or port allowed to be sold. The majority of these wines were made from concord and delaware grapes by T.G Bright & Co or the Parkdale Wine Company (eventually purchased by Labatt’s). There was money to be made, all the same. Harry C. Hatch […]
19 shades of ski wax
Just for a second, I thought that Norway had its own April Fool’s Day in June. I was briefly fooled by an article from the Dow Jones news service, which let us in on an open Norwegian secret: there is a huge demand in Norway for what can only be described as “dull TV.” Among […]
Lather, rinse, repeat
The true start of summer is, for me (and LOML) at least, the long, Canada Day weekend. On this weekend I appreciate all of the hard work it takes to run a small business in a small tourist community. Let’s face it, Prince Edward County, is a small touristy kinda place when the long weekends […]
Mis amigos
The rooster calls; the sun glances over the glacialcarved basin bringing signs of daybreak to the plateau above. Down in the ravine an orange tractor creeps between earthen rows; Artemio Medrano Lopez manages the wheel. Seated aboard a mechanical planter hitched in tow, coworker Luis Ramirez Alvarado feeds seed potatoes into the hopper. The […]
Drunkard
Beginning in 1916, the law of the land prohibited the manufacture and distribution of alcohol in Ontario. When Prohibition was finally repealed, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) was formed. Since then it’s been a long road to the more relaxed standards of today. Even though the great sobriety experience had failed, the newly-formed […]
Toronto Blue Jays, June 2013
In a remarkable series of fortuitous events, the Toronto Blue Jays have climbed right back into the fight for a championship, and could emerge as World Series Champions. Their recent winning streak has captured the hearts of Blue Jay fans, and has allowed the bandwagon fans to hop back on, for a while, at least. […]