Private Ruben Pearce
A sweet alfalfa breeze ruffles the shadows while a rise of hill opens to plains of corn. Mourning doves haunt the shade of marble headstones here in the village cemetery. “He lived, he went south, he came back home, is the simplest way to put it,” Gerald Collette tells me. Yet neither the story of […]
Wood and wine continued
The story of barrels continues. At first, barrels were constructed from whatever trees were available. Archaeological digs in London’s Canary Wharf have unearthed fragments of barrels containing a wide selection of wood. In Beaujolais, the early monks used chestnut barrels to store and ship wine. Monks in Burgundy were attracted to the sturdiness of oak […]
Can bacteria save Greece?
You know what the current big food thing is, of course, because like me you’ve tried it and you think: how can something that tastes like cheesecake be good for me? I’m talking, of course, about Greek yogurt. On September 3, The Globe and Mail had this to say: “You are attracted by its low-fat […]
Cuppa Joe
If you know me, and some of you do, you know how much I love coffee. It is the elixir of my life. I was a coffee drinker when drinking coffee wasn’t about a photo op or an event and the brewing and serving of coffee wasn’t a sport. Coffee was served hot and a […]
Tiger Cats and Argonauts — true rivals
Classic confrontations between two teams are usually steeped in history. The football game played in Hamilton on Labour Day was a prime example. The Toronto Argonauts travelled down the Queen Elizabeth Way to take on the Tiger Cats in their final Labour Day game at the aging Ivor Wynne Stadium. At the end of the […]
Wood and wine
For the next few weeks let’s explore how the development of the wooden barrel has affected wine and trade. From 300 B.C to 200 A.D. wine and other liquids were carried in the earthenware “amphorae.” Because they were easy to make—and easily disposable—they were ideally suited to a burgeoning trade. The French city of Toulouse […]
From Toad Hall to City Hall
It’s funny, the way life goes about imitating art. In today’s example, the art is my favourite children’s work, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. One of the principals, Mr. Toad (of Toad Hall) is an irresponsible purchaser of expensive automobiles, who ends up crashing them into ditches and scaring innocent travellers. The […]
Summer’s end
Labour Day weekend heralds the end of summer for many of us. Our lives, in the County at least, orbit around the tourist seasons. No longer is it just about that brief time from the two-four weekend until this weekend past. Our summer beaches are filled with people getting their share of sunshine vitamins, who […]
Doodlebug
Beavers have holed up the stream banking slack water; lily pads clothe the drowned forest in lurid green. Sitting on the guard rail of the old train bridge on an August day, I watch as a daddy long-legs spider wades through the shadows of timbers that hang above the playground of tadpoles and whirligig beetles. […]
Armstrong stripped of titles
What is it with all of this weeping and gnashing of teeth for Lance Armstrong? He cheated, he got caught. After years of denial, he has finally agreed to go along with the decision of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. “Today I will turn the page. I will no longer address this issue regardless of […]