The underdog wins
A tempest in a teapot was stirred up earlier this year when the VQA announced (by email) that Bruno Francois and his partner Jens Korberg were not allowed to display a “Prince Edward County” address on the website for their winery. Seems the VQA felt this impinged their ownership of the name for the purposes […]
The Battle of Trent River
Everyone has some sort of story about an incident in which the police get involved unnecessarily. The other day, I was told of a 5- year-old who was dutifully schooled to call 911 if an adult “bothered” her. Well, the child was staying with her grandmother and they were horsing around with the water hose. […]
Short
There are those who say if the US ever declared war on Canada, it would be over a precious resource. Not oil, not minerals or lumber. Canada is full of resources, but its greatest is water. Or perhaps, if a global water shortage were ever to come to pass, we will have allowed that water […]
Respect
In 1966, my grandmother passed away. Annie Durning was an immigrant who came to Canada with her family for a better life. Her life in Canada was difficult, but it was better than it had been in Scotland and in her birthplace, Ireland. She was my paternal grandmother. My maternal grandfather attended her funeral that […]
Take me out to the ball game!
The refrain from that great song can be heard across North America on most sunny weekend days throughout the summer. A couple of weeks ago, Hunter whispered to his grandmother that he would like to go to a Blue Jays game. He gets to go to at least one game a year, and it is […]
A golden goose
Last week, we detailed how Vincor had evolved, from strength to strength, to dominate Ontario wine sales. After acquiring vineyards in B.C., Quebec and Ontario, Vincor, along with Andrew Peller Ltd., were given further leverage when they were granted licences for off-site retail stores (usually located at the exit of major grocery chains). Today, Vincor […]
The forced march
The old era is just about over—the era of creating, storing and regurgitating hundreds of different passwords—to be succeeded by the new biometric era. According to the New York Times, most major banks in the U.S. are implementing systems that will allow for recognition of voice, eyes, facial contours or fingerprints as a password substitute […]
Strong women
I’ve never been one to follow professional sports too closely, and the nationalism and politics of the Olympic Games has always felt a little too forced for me. Generally, I’m the type to dread the biennial two-week stretch when the news is overtaken by dramatic stories from the lives of extraordinary people. This year, in […]
Water, water…
This week, I will not mention Donald Trump. Nope. This column is dedicated to all those people who just don’t understand the importance of conserving water and the significance of the current County-wide drought. It’s also for the people who do understand and don’t know how to have a good time conserving. This column is […]
Knee high
Within arm’s length from where I sit, I study a wasp as it lands on the edge of a birdbath. The wasp is soon joined by a second one; a cicada sings from the prairie grasses beyond. The rust-coloured leaves from the three-storey poplar trees blanket the driveway, autumn-like. Stress has driven the poplars to […]