Candy Floss, Parades and Horse Pucky
Like most people, there are times when I find it incredibly difficult to just get something done. This week my mind is all over the place. Should I write about our friends south-of-the-border? Should I say something about the County Fair? Should I write about how no matter what you do the brown stuff will […]
Back to it!
Wow! September is happening. Right now. It’s time for back to school, back to work, back to wearing shoes, back to bagged lunches and back to regular bedtimes. I like September now that LOML and I are retired because we don’t have to be bothered by most of the back-to’s that define a lot of […]
Gardening on a budget
One of the biggest challenges I have with landscape design and gardening in general is being patient when I am trying to envision the end result. It’s so easy to go into a nursery and buy all of the plants already matured so that you have an instant garden. Unfortunately, my financial planner disagrees. So […]
When the water runs out
Recently I wrote an article called Good to the last drop about water usage by Canadians. In the article I spoke about the fact that Canadians have more fresh water than almost anyone else on the planet and that for us, it’s considered a cheap commodity. I stand by this messaging as I still see […]
All about oak
There is a decent sized contingent of wine drinkers for whom chardonnay is undesirable because of the “oaky taste”. When I seek to further clarify, the precise feature of dislike is its butteriness. The buttery notes have little to do with oak, but can be accentuated by the barrel. They result from a second bacterial […]
Put it in a pot
This is the time of year when I personally think the containers in a garden really start to out-shine the perennial beds. The potted plants have really taken off with the sun and the rain and now our patio planters are getting all the praise. This also happens to be the time of year when […]
Connected and disconnected
First of all, most types of dementia are not hereditary. While having a family member with dementia, particularly a first-degree relative like a parent or sibling, does increase your risk of developing the condition, it doesn’t guarantee you will get it. So, if Mom or Dad or Grandma or Grandpa had some form of dementia, […]
Good to the last drop?
I was recently asked at a speaking event why I’ve been so vocal about not liking grass in the yard. The reason I’m not a fan of grass is not the plant, but the homeowners that care for it. Grass requires more time, money and resources than anything else we can have in our outdoor […]
Bottle sizes
The standard wine bottle size is 750ml or about five 5oz glasses. It wasn’t always this way. But thanks to Napoleon and his quest for standardization and taxation, the 750ml bottle size became a way to simplify trade and calculations. The main trading partner of wine with France at the time was England, and the […]
Losing control
If you read any of the letters pages in our two County newspapers, you will see a trend. Not a happy trend. There’s lots to fight about, and lots to fight against. Though the passion is there in the writing, most of us are entering an endless cycle: Repeating the same arguments over and over. […]