Free agency
If you go to an NHL game at the beginning of the season this fall, you may hear yourself muttering, “Pass over that program, Mabel, I don’t know any of these guys”. As is often the case in early July, quite a few players have jumped to different teams in the wake of early free […]
Healthy fruit
Vineyard managers are working overtime right now, working to preserve their rows of vines. The constant rainfall a few weeks back required proactive spraying to prevent mildew and other such blights. Now we finally have the necessary heat units, but coupled with mind numbing humidity, constant attention is required to ensure healthy clusters of fruit. […]
Ode to a turtle
I may sound like Walt Disney But I want to put a name To the saviour of the county Who’s rocketed to fame There’s one small limitation That has to do with rhyme There isn’t much to work with No matter how much time So I’ll have to call you Myrtle And I mean no […]
Clean your plate
“Too soon old. Too late smart.” I don’t think my father was the author of that statement, but it was something he said on many occasions, with regard to his life and how he conducted it. It was also an offering to the rest of us. He didn’t want his family to wait too long […]
Six days on the road
Mark ‘Hammerdown’ Redmond runs a barbershop in a building made of hard Kingston limestone. That’s a good thing, it takes that kind of a structure to contain the energy that drives within its walls. Especially on a Friday afternoon. I spot a poster-size image of musician Peter Rea as I climb the wooden front steps. […]
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 […]