Disclaimer
“This is a public service announcement. This is only a test. Emergency evacuation protest. May impair your ability to operate machinery. Can’t quite tell just what it means to me. Keep out of reach of children. Don’t you talk to strangers.”—Green Day, October 3, 2000, Reprise Records. When did we turn into whiney, litigious jerks […]
His name is Ronald
We laughed. We cried. We sang (well, she did). We laughed a bit more. We cried again and I think we wrote a screenplay or at least a book, which could become an award-winning documentary. Okay. The documentary part wasn’t my idea. Friday last week was an awesome kind of day for me. I jokingly […]
Another gift from the vine
Archaeologists tell us that primitive wine, made from wild grapes, can be dated to around 8,000 B.C. By 5,000 B.C., random gathering of wild grapes evolved into specialized cultivation to provide food and produce wine. Use of the vine spread throughout the ancient world, inspiring cultivation of other crops that enabled early societies to settle […]
Take me out to the old school ball game!
I am not about to begin this column by berating the game today. As is the case with all professional sports today, I remain steadfast in proclaiming that the games today are far superior to those of yesteryear. The players are superior. They are in top shape all year long. They eat well, they work […]
Scotland’s best kept secret
As we found out on Robbie Burns’ Day, whisky distillation has a long history in Scotland. Prior to 1860, however, it was illegal to sell any brand of blended whisky in the United Kingdom: only single malt whisky could be sold. Single malt whisky, however, was an “acquired taste” that did not cater to a […]
Baseball perfection 2012
Amidst the excitement of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a spectacular gem took place last week in Seattle, Washington. Phillip Gregory Humber, a journeyman pitcher from Nacogdoches, Texas, pitched a perfect game. It was the twenty-first perfect game in major league baseball history, and the first since Roy Halladay blanked the Florida Marlins in 2010. At […]
Unkempt
It’s time for my April moral dilemma again. The spark to provoke it is the annual uprising of those prolific yellow weed-thingies: dandelions. They are all over my lawn, and so I again pose myself the Shakesperian question: to weed or not to weed? I’m all over these day-to-day moral dilemmas. In March, I was […]
It’s only the first round
We are only in the first round of the hockey playoffs. There has been more sizzle, more controversy, and more physical play in the past week than we have seen in many a playoff year. The intensity was always there. Year after year, fans began to tune in to hockey once the playoffs began. Players […]
Gimme, gimme
Saturday was a “first” for me. Ya, I’ve been asked if I had a cigarette I could spare or a “light,” but Saturday was the very first time I saw a beggar on the streets of Picton. Yup. The very first time. A woman of a certain age was sitting on the bench next to […]
A legendary spirit
Normandy has been renowned for its cider and beer since as far back as the eighth century. The first distillery, however, was not established until the mid-fifteenth century, on the south bank of the river Seine in the area now called Basse- Normandie. From their already-famous dry apple cider, the Normans an equally legendary distilled […]