Partiendo el pan—breaking bread
It’s late on a recent Wednesday afternoon when I climb the stone steps near a building appropriately known as the Ridge, a structure that is the heart of the Closson Chase Winery. On the lower level, the grape harvest is pressed and prepared to be aged for later savouring. The upper storey, my destination today, […]
A Net Negative
day. And in doing so, I just about lost my mind, as well as the goodwill of my family. I noticed it was missing last Thursday morning, just as my wife and I were going out to run a few errands. It wasn’t in its usual place in the outside pocket of my shoulder bag, […]
Nice work
Our family has a little “joke” about my mother. As Mom got older, she’d occasionally forget where she was going with something. For example, one day when I was visiting she told me she was going to bake a raisin pie. My favourite pie is raisin. I didn’t know if she’d remembered the connection between […]
Entering the lexicon
lexicon After a significant and prolonged event such as the 2020 pandemic, there are going to be words and phrases that enter our lexicon on a semi-permanent basis. So let’s look af a few candidates in the early running. “Covid belly” denotes the acquisition of a spare tire as a result of nine months of […]
Pandemic thankfulness
Ah, Thanksgiving!! I love a long weekend holiday excuse to cook, bake and be with the family! Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday, as far as I’m concerned. The fall weather is usually co-operative. It’s warm enough for walks and cool enough for a bonfire. The food is plentiful, and that’s a bonus. The drinks flow, […]
The Big Pivot
You’ve got to hand it to Doug Ford. He has used the gift horse of the COVID crisis to transform his image from that of ‘angry old guy’ into ‘benevolent Uncle Doug’—a regular sort who just happens to occupy the Premier’s office and who has no special knowledge, but who asks lots of questions of […]
I love the smell of sanitizer in the morning
Looks like another lockdown is just around the corner. Double dang. We, obviously, haven’t learned our pandemic lessons. The lesson to continue social distancing, mask-wearing, hand washing and non-essential contact seems to have flown out of the window for a lot of people. Speaking of lessons, I understand it takes a great teacher to deliver […]
Going to Scarborough Fair
My wife just about jumped out of her chair. She had opened up the weekend paper on Saturday, September 21, and there it was. That day was the 39th anniversary of the famous Simon and Garfunkel reunion concert in New York’s Central Park. By 1981, their partnership had been over for some 11 years, so […]
Porch zen
Are the autumn colours more vivid than ever this year? Perhaps I just have more time to stop and enjoy the fall foliage. But truthfully, I can’t remember ever seeing brighter reds, golds and yellows on trees and bushes in yards, along the roads and beside the Trail. Maybe this stopping and slowing down is […]
The first prescription
One recent afternoon I had tea with Ernie Margetson as he guided me book by book through a collection of old volumes. Ernie is a multi-disciplined professional steeped in the history and lore of the County. As architect engineer, I have come to call him the house whisperer. Set Ernie on an old property with […]