Ride on
So, you’re reading this and The Ride for Heart 2013 is history. Thirteen thousand people rode for Heart and raised over $5 million. With your generous donations, I brought over $1 000 to the game. I rode for research. I rode for Heart and Stroke education programs. I rode for everyone who has heart disease […]
Birdsong
Its 10:30 Thursday night. The half moon and northern borealis hang low in the sky as the coarse Army Reserve Road unravels before our car headlights. Pamela Stagg is at the wheel. She brings the station wagon to a stop, lowers the window and shuts the engine. We sit and listen. The surrounding outback is […]
Terroir
Terroir defines a unique combination of soil type, climate and topography. For wine, it is important to the health and survivability of grapes during the growing season. At harvest it affects the minerality and “brix” (sugar level) of the grapes. Winemakers throughout the ages have recognized that certain parts of their vineyards have special attributes. […]
Memorial Cup 2013
The Halifax Mooseheads entered the Canadian Junior Hockey League 19 years ago. Their quest for the Memorial Cup came to fruition last weekend as they defeated the Portland Winterhawks 6-4 in Saskatoon to capture the title. The Mooseheads were led by Nathan Mac- Kinnon, who, along with a hat trick, also assisted on two other […]
Just a number
Last week a friend, who has just had an extended stay in a rehab centre following back surgery, suggested I could write about the downside of growing old. She and the LOHL had a rough go of it, that’s for sure. Her husband had only just begun to manage on his own after suffering a […]
Scenes from the Roadshow
I have to confess I’ve soured on Downton Abbey. All right, so the lead actor wanted out of the show. But couldn’t they have sent his character on a prolongued prospecting trip to South America instead of doing away with him at the apex of his happiness? So what’s my favourite show nowadays, I ask […]
Never say never, Sens fans
The Ottawa Senators entered the last minute of play down by the only goal scored in the game, up to that point. Erik Karlsson, the brilliant young Senators defenceman, was sitting in the penalty box, allegedly for slashing. He and Matt Cooke were duelling for the puck, when Cooke’s stick broke. Hardly a slash. Nonetheless, […]
The penalty box
It’s been a bad week for the skating Senators. Maybe they’ll win game four tonight. But even if Mike Duffy laces up and scores a hat trick to save the series with the Penguins, it’s hard to see how those highly paid masters of sober second thought, the non-skating Senators, can mount a comeback in […]
Angel’s share
If oxygen is so critical to life in general, what impact does it have on the life span of wine? The answer was little known until the the rebirth of scientific reasoning during the Enlightenment of the 1800s. Prior to then, wine was transported in barrels, and was thus over-exposed to oxygen. This, of course, […]
Green, green grass of…
Maybe I’m hard of thinking but I never really understood the sensibility of carbon offsets and the purchase of carbon credits. I, like most of you, understand the little form a person fills out online, at the completion of which the carbon footprint calculator spits out a dollar figure. No problem with little online calculators. […]