What’s in a glass?
When last together we we leaving Venice in the 1300s in the company of rogue glassmakers, who risked life and fortune to spread their craft across Europe. They were successful: for the next two centuries, glassware production centers sprang up throughout Europe. Glass production, however, remained a labor-intensive process. In 1676 George Ravenscroft discovered that […]
The Canadian Football League -2012
The Canadian Football League kicked off last weekend in the season openers. This is the year that the league celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Grey Cup, culminating in the big game in Toronto in late November. There will not be frozen tundra, nor great billows of steam pouring off the players. There will be […]
A thing of beauty
It is a history of the egg preceding the chicken. The manufacture of glass began around 4,000 B.C., and we generally accept that winemaking began about a thousand years later. Prior to the invention of the drinking glass, the common drinking vessel was fired clay (pottery). The privileged “lahdee- dah” had to make do with […]
The legend from Deep Gap
If you ever came close to putting a sandal on a foot during the period between, say, 1960 and 1975, chances are you wanted to be a folksinger. And if you wanted to be a folksinger, you wanted to play guitar. And if you wanted to play guitar, you wanted to play like Doc Watson. […]
Leave it to Beaver
I just received another perky missive about how simple life was when my generation was younger. You know the email I’m talking about. How we all survived bouncing around in the back of a pickup truck and drank from a garden hose and how our “June Cleaver” moms used to cut chicken, vegetables and bread […]
Doodlers at heart
“I don’t get it. Why would the Arts Council bother with a show of photographs? Anyone can take a picture.” If I’ve heard this or a version of it once, I’ve heard it a dozen times in the past three years. People who ask are referring to the CLIC Eastern Ontario Photo Show. Why would […]
The etiquette of the pancake breakfast
As they have done for eons, the Friends of the Wellington Heritage Museum are holding their self-styled “Famous Canada Day Fundraiser Breakast” on Canada Day at the Town Hall. It will run from 8-10:30; it will cost $8 for a regular breakfast and $6 for a small breakfast, with a dollar saved on an “early […]
Somewhere in the mists
As outlined previously, the wonderful palette of today’s grape varietals is the result of cross-hybridizations done somewhere in the mists of time. The development of new clones and vineyard management continues to evolve. Perhaps the most widely regarded of Ontario wines would not exist but for the introduction of a new variety of vine in […]
National Hockey League draft – 2012
For many young hockey players, the annual NHL Draft is just another stepping stone on the way to a career in the game. For others, it has proven to be the highlight of their careers. Personally, I seem to have better things to do than sit in front of the television set and watch players […]
Crossing the Falls
It is estimated that more than a billion people watched Nik Wallenda’s crossing of the Niagara River, at the Falls. In my humble opinion, such a feat deserves a word or two from these gnarled fingers. As most of you know, Wallenda is not the first to cross the Niagara River. A certain Jean-Francois Gravelet, […]