The little things
December. Yup. It’s the little things that are making this December memorable for me. For instance, little did I know we had an extraordinarily talented young lady living right next door. Indeed, our neighbour, along with dozens of her new stage friends (perhaps a neighbour of yours among them), made this past Sunday afternoon very […]
Rum Ruminations
British troops have enjoyed beer and rum rations for quite a long time. Royal Navy sailors received a ration of 4.5 liters of beer, on a daily basis, right up to the year 1665. Unfortunately beer did not travel well, and tended to spoil on long voyages (especially those in warmer climates). Fortunately, the English […]
Home away from home
The Buffalo Bills journeyed to Toronto last Sunday to face the Atlanta Falcons. It marked the sixth occasion for the adventure of a Bills’ home game in Toronto, a home game away from home. As I have noted on previous occasions, I often listen to 550 on the AM radio dial to catch the flavour […]
How I stopped the insanity
December. Geez, I was just getting used to the end of summer and now we’re slip-sliding into the end of autumn and careening into the beginning of winter and Christmas. LOML and I have just made soup with a frozen carcass of the Thanksgiving leftovers. Heck we haven’t even raked up all of the last […]
Parata
The Latin word ‘parare’, which means to prepare or to furnish, crosses language borders to become ‘parata’ in Italian, ‘parada’ in Spanish and ‘parade’ in French. Around the world, there is the Chinese Lantern Parade; Fête dé Noué; The Cortege; Junkaroo—a cultural street dance from Africa; there is also Kattenstoet—‘Festival of the Cats’—in Belgium; the […]
Royal sophistication
There was a wonderful post on the CBC website on November 22, about a recently unearthed Canaanite wine cellar in northern Israel (http://bit.ly/1cbwgEO) This 3,700-year-old site showed surprising sophistication in both the production and storage of wine. Initial analysis shows the winemaker produced a consistently fine wine by adding honey, resins, mint, etc. to his […]
Gridiron in November
Football weather has arrived. Last weekend in Quebec, the Laval Rouge et Or captured the Vanier Cup as the best university football team in Canada, disposing the Calgary Dinos in short order. The temperature was brutally cold, with enough wind to seriously affect the game. The 101st Grey Cup game was played in Regina, in […]
Disaster relief
These days the world seems to be fraught with disasters. A young friend, who was visiting recently, told us his family is living in the midst of the most recent disaster—the aftermath of the typhoon Hiayan. Thousands in the Philippines are homeless, missing or dead, Mike B. and his wife assured us his family was […]
Label gazing
Labels are a wonderful source of information with regards to the wine’s contents, the house, its owner, and the winemaker. In many cases the constituent varietals are all displayed, allowing you to get a feel for the differences, and, best of all, to experiment with similar, but new, wines. Up to the late 1950s it […]
On the road again
Between 40 and 50 times a season, National Hockey League players stuff all of their gear in their hockey bags. The bags are then carted to a truck, loaded onto an airplane, and carried to the next town on the schedule. Fortunately for the players, the trainers and equipment managers are responsible for getting the […]