Lynn River Farm

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Last evening (Thursday) the local Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club (St Marys Stonetown #227) held an evening members and guests dinner event outside at Lynn River Farm. The location is slightly north and east of Stratford not too far from Shakespeare. A big yellow school bus had been chartered to get us safely there and back  as we don't want any DUI drivers. There were a little less than 20 of us; we would have liked to have a few more.

There had been a similar event here last year. I'm not sure how/why I missed that one. In any case, although the weather leading up to the event had been cool, it was a lovely warm night for us (last year it had been quite cool). We ate outside under a tent overlooking a pond (actually a gravel pit that had filled in with water). There was a small sail boat docked on the water. There's some livestock wandering about, including some geese, and some turkeys penned up/fenced in. It's a well tended rural environment that handles special events. It's advertised as a "Countryside Dining Experience".

As the evening progressed we saw a hot air balloon pass by in the distance and enjoyed a clear night with a lovely orange sunset. 

We had a lovely 4 course dinner prepared on site with locally grown ingredients. Each course had a matching wine our wine steward for the club (Jere) had selected. For the main course, a lasagna pasta, a red wine was served blind and the game was to determine what the wine was, what it cost, etc. Tom had select the wine which turned out to be a reasonably priced Chianti Classico Reserva by Melini which matched well with the pasta. I guessed that it was a Sangiovese, didn't catch that it was a Reserva, and therefore missed out on the price point. The winner of the game is tagged to do the same at next years event — i.e., he would have to select a wine and speak to it next year.

For the dessert our president Claire had selected a brandy that he thought was particularly tasty and a good value. I'm not usually a brandy drinker, but he was right on both counts.

One of the very nice things about the location and the evening was the ability to have a conversation not only with your immediate neighbors but also with chums across the table and further away. Many times restaurants are far too noisy to be able to have a conversation — flat walls echo noise, music is cranked up, etc. Outside at the farm conversation flowed easily.

With Jere's help here's the menu and wine pairings we had that night

• We started with a Burrata Board served with dry Tawse Sparkling Riesling (Vintage 370361): homemade sourdough and focaccia; whipped herb butter; fresh burrata with hot honey; fresh tomatoes and ground cherries from the garden with balsamic carrot top pesto.
• Salad course was Roasted Honey & Lentil Salad served with VQA Burnt Ship Bay Sauvignon Blanc (LCBO 517185)
• Entree course was a Sausage & Beef Lasagna, home made pasta, on a alfredo and pesto sauce. Served (blind) with the Melini Chianti Classico Reserva (as above) and an Antinori Pèppoli Chianti Classico (Vintages 606541)
• Dessert course was a sticky toffee pudding with a homemade hone ice cream. Served with a brandy (as above)

I recall the Burnt Ship Bay being particularly impressive and good value. The meal was excellent with lots of locally sourced products. 

Many thanks to Lynn River Farm, Claire, Jere, Tom and others for organizing a great evening. I'll be back ...

James McMurty & Betty Soo

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Gord and Leslie came to visit us for some theatre (especially MacBeth at Stratford). We have arranged to meet with them in Toronto and went to see James McMurtry (with a band and fronted by BettySoo) at the Horseshoe Tavern on Queen near Spadina. Both James and BettySoo are artists we've seen many times on our winter stays in Austin TX (search this blog); we usually we see them as solo acts.

Gord and Leslie arrive by train from Ottawa, we drive from home with our car.

Tonight, on this tour, James is performing with a full band — electric guitar, bass and drums. BettySoo accompanies him on an accordion for a few songs as pictured! We had seen her this winter at the El Mercado Sunday Morning Purgatory Players gig and she said then that she was just starting out on the instrument. James we've seen many times as an early evening solo act at the Continental Club Gallery (Austin) where he has a long standing residency. He also plays late at night once a week downstairs at the Continental Club with a band — perhaps these guys he has tonight. Of course these residencies are interrupted when he's on tour. When in Austin we much prefer to see him as a solo act and early in the evening. We're not long ball hitters anymore.

Doors open at 7:00pm, BettySoo comes on around 8:00 and there's a break before James around 9:00. Kate misses seeing James, at the break I take her back to our AirBnB via Uber, and I miss perhaps the opening tune of James' set. The audience wasn't very attentive to BettySoo but were very attentive and supportive of James. Many times the audience would sing along! One neat trick James does here (and at the Continental Club) is to sing one song without any electric amplification. That quiets down thing; people stop yacking to listen closely to what he has to say.

James did songs from across his catalog (he's touring to support his latest album "The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy" (2025)) but can reach back through to his first "Too Long in the Wasteland" (1989). Of course he did Choctaw Bingo; a big hit. Given the times we are suffering through with the Lyin' King in Washington I'm surprised he didn't do at least some protest songs. But then he's not known for that ... well, there's We Can't Make It Here Anymore (2007) and Cheney's Toy (2008) but they are now quite dated.

I like seeing acts here and have over the many years seen some of our Americana heroes —  Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Joe Shaver, Robert Earl Keen and Eric Bogle (Australian Folk). The setup is pretty good but there aren't many seats; Kate needs to sit down and get off her feet. There is a largeish "dance floor" in front of the stage but that's filled with a standing room crowd who block the view for those sitting down. We met our friends Tom and Tara from London who have grabbed themselves a spot right at the stage left. They were just  a few feet from the performers. Tom has posted some of his pictures to Facebook.

I got my pictures by wheedling my way through the crowd to the front. With a camera in hand people let you do that. Pretty much all my pictures were taken with a flash and bounce card. Someone in the audience seemed to think using a flash was forbidden. If it was nobody, other than her, said anything.

We stayed overnight at a two bedroom AirBnB condo near Bay and College. Gord, Leslie and I stayed up late after the show and at least one of us had a painful hangover the next day.

Next week we will return to see Hayes Carll at the Horseshoe — another TX Americana singer/song writer that we follow.

See also — on YouTube James McMurty and BettySoo.

45th Anniversary Party

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On August 2, 1980 Kate and I were married. In London, on the campus of the University of Western Ontario. This year marks our 45th anniversary. We had planned a celebration of on our 40th — we had a venue, guest list, music arranged, etc. when the COVID pandemic hit. So that party was cancelled.

This year we decided to have a bit of a party later in the month to celebrate with friends and family. The model would be a kitchen party, a Cèilidh, with some food, drink and some informal music. The pictures at left are a reminder of that event. I'll add some comments now and come back later to fill in a bit more.

The party was held on the afternoon of Sunday August 24 at the Riverwalk Commons here in St Marys. The Flour Mill catered the event and provided a server to help keep things organized. We got a liquor licence for a special event and provided the beer, wine and soft drinks. 

Our houseguests for the weekend were Alison (Maid of honour), Kate's brother, Gord (groomsman - Reg met Kate through Gord), and his wife, Leslie, from Ottawa, and our niece, Paula, from New Brunswick. They were amazing in helping to set up the venue in the morning: we moved tables around, made a memory table, put up some of our art pieces and photos. Our photo albums of the wedding, 20th and 25th anniversary parties seemed to interest many of our guests. One piece of art we hung and cherish was a wedding present painted by Barry Foster, a grad school/club colleague. The figures in the Egyptian styled painting include us and our cats at the time (Isis and Osiris). Unfortunately we've lost track of Barry. Wedding photos were taken by another colleague, Neil Farnsworth, who passed away in Hawaii several years ago. Photos from our 25th were by our No.1 son, Chris, and Paula was kind enough to take photos at this party (here's a camera, go nuts and take lots of pictures).

One thing we did not do was a slide show. The venue has a large screen and we were encouraged to show pictures. We both felt that would be too much like a funeral. And, people tend to get fixated on a TV. Instead we had a table of memorabilia: albums and clippings that Kate had prepared after past events.

Our friend Danny provided an anchor for the music. He was joined by Gord on bass and guitar, Rob on harp and guitar, Paul (our nephew) played along as well. Kate and I interrupted the music at several times to murder a ballad or three, with Kate playing her guitar. The picture above has Gord accompanying me on the Billy Joe Shaver song, "I couldn't be me without you". A simple song with heartfelt lyrics that I sang near the end of the event.

I couldn't be me without you
Together forever, where ever we are
I couldn't be me without you

We were thrilled that some of our friends and family from afar were able to celebrate with us. Joan (bridesmaid) and Ron drove from Belleville, Leo (classmate with Gord and Reg) and Glennice drove in from Peterborough area and visited with us the Saturday night. My best man, Mike, and his wife Jacquie, from Owen Sound, had hoped to come but were unable to attend — Mike is recovering from a fall where he broke both feet. Peter and Colleen, my workmates from Western University years, came down from Ottawa and stayed in the area for a few days taking in a few plays in Stratford. My brother,  David and wife, Gail, and their two daughters (our nieces), Bridget and Alison came from Hamilton area with their families (Bridget's husband, Jean Paul and son Quinton) and Alison's daughter, Kara. Another niece, Noelle, came from Toronto with her husband, Paul (who also joined in in the guitar playing), daughter, Grier and her partner, Lorne. Kate's nephew, Mark, and wife, Donna, came to the event from the Guelph area.  

We were pleased that some London friends came, including Andy (Western, Computer Science) and Patricia, Peter and his partner Angela. Sam (Kate's long-time colleague and friend from ARF/CAMH) and Albie made a special early return from holidays in the north just to be with us, and Sarah (CEO of the St. Marys library) and Joe made a special trip out from the city just to share this day with us.

We were also pleased to entertain friends from St Marys and area: Heather & Mark, Gary & Cathy, John & Joan, Gretchen, Jan & Bill, Jan, Tracey & Darrel, Janis & Doug, Jane & Bruce, Steve, Nancy, Sylvia & Rob, Ena & Dennis, Jenn &Tim, Dave, Roger & Barbara, Dorothy & Peter ... no doubt I've missed a few.

If you wander through the photos you'll get a sense of the party. It was intentionally an informal event — there were no fancy outfits and no speeches. There were over 60 guests who came over the several hours. It was quite busy there for a bit. We tried to greet everyone but were unable to have any lengthy conversations (e.g., it was only later in the week that we realized the Peter and Colleen were having their 20th wedding anniversary!). Danny kept the music coming with help from Rob and Gord. As mentioned, Kate and I interrupted a few times to sing some songs we had "rehearsed".

I love music but can barely carry a tune. We interrupted Danny and I opened with "Wilder Than Her", the Fred Eaglesmith tune I had sung for Kate at our 25th (Chris helped that time, Gord helped this time). Kate and Paula were laughing as I seemed to invent my own melody. Sorry about that!

Together we sang/butchered "Marilyn & Joe", the Kinky Friedman song. I recall singing this acapella at Peter and Colleen's wedding — they had no recollection of the event (nor does Kate). That would have been a good time to also recall that it was their anniversary coming up!

We sang/butchered "San Antone Rose" (Susanna Clark), and "In Spite of Ourselves" (John Prine). Fortunately Danny, who we had shared our song selections, led us on "45 Years From Now" (Stan Rogers). I closed with "I Couldn't Be Me Without You" (Billy Joe Shaver) and persuaded Gord and Leslie to do their version of "Once Every 100 Odd Years" (Silver Hearts). I wasn't able to persuade Paul and Lorne to play something (they're both able), or Sam, and we ought to have cornered Paula to play a tune or two. She does an excellent version of "Down Home Girl" by the Old Crow Medicine Show.

The party ended as planned around 4:00. We tidied up what had not been eaten (the caterer brought in a bunch of takeaway boxes -- they would have had to toss it all), we gave some away and took a lot home. We had seriously overestimated the drinks; probably by a factor of 10! I had opened a 5 litre Chianti (2017) and we had barely touched it. Back in our yard we closed the day eating leftovers and drinking up the Chianti with the gang staying with us and our neighbors Darrel and Tracey. We wouldn't want that wine to go bad, eh?

We are well stocked with food, drink and memories.

Gord and Leslie left on Monday morning dropping Paula off at Pearson Airport; Sam left on Tuesday flying out of London. Reg came down with a cold, he had been fighting it for a few days, and spent the day in bed.

It was a great day, a day to make memories. 

"It took me years, to get those souvenirs"

45th Anniversary

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Saturday night, August 2, and the notorious '63 Monroe are playing at the Richmond Tavern in London with Limits of Approach. For those who might be keeping track, today is our 45th wedding anniversary, and we went to see '63 Monroe this night 45 years ago at the infamous Cedar Lounge (which, had it survived, was just a block away on the corner of King and Talbot). We had the band play for us at our 25th Anniversary and we simply must see them again tonight.

We're not long ball hitters anymore and worried that the band might not come on stage until midnight (bars are open to 2:00am these days). We're in communication with Peter, Markii and Scott. Scott tells us we're in luck as they're doing a first set at 9:00pm, followed by Limits of Approach, and then they do their last set close to midnight. So it's a go, we'll come and take in the first set.

We arrive in good time, I'm worried that the room might fill, but we get a good seat near the stage and have a parking spot right in front of the hotel. Peter visits with us for a bit and, as the band tunes up and does their sound check, we are centered out as the happy couple celebrating 45years who came to see them on their wedding night. They open with "At the Boot" which they dedicate to us. The Cedar Lounge was sometimes known as "The Boot".

It was a fun way to celebrate our anniversary. We ought to have stayed to the bitter end but would have paid dearly the next day. We met with several of the old gang (one of the pictures is by Olivia Rose Cairns — the daughter (sic!) of Debbie, a young friend from those days. She's off to Scotland shortly and we tell her a bit about our recent adventures in Glasgow.

Here's another summary. Kate writes to our friend Alison in Winnipeg (she was with us 45 years ago; Neil, our photographer has passed away):

It was great to see them (it was our 25th when they played for us). They did two sets with their first set at 9pm so we were able to see them and be home by 11! We didn't stay for the middle band although they were supposed to be pretty good. Pete got up before they started playing and pointed us out in the audience and talked about how we used to feed them and give them Reg's homemade beer (which was kind of him — I didn't think we fed them that often — but he was a kid — just 19 at the time). Scott even dedicated the first song to us ("At the boot"). I think they were quite chuffed to be reminded that we went to see them on our wedding night and that they are still playing 45 years later (to the day). They have done other shows but we felt that we had to go to this one. We've invited the three guys from the band that we know to our anniversary party.

The really sad thing for Reg was that he came home and immediately loaded the pictures onto his computer from his camera and as he was messing with them, he accidentally deleted them all. He spent hours trying to get the photos back but no luck. 

Most of the pictures in the photo album Kate took with her cell phone, some are cribbed from others (Amelia and Olivia) who posted on Facebook. I took a lot of pictures on my Canon t6i with a flash and I'm sure many would have been great. However, I managed to accidentally erase all them from my computer and could not recover any! Oh fur Dumb! I was up for hours trying to recover pictures from the memory card and from my computer to no avail. There's a moral here: don't erase memory card or computer copies until they are all safely in the cloud.

Kate asks if maybe I ought to have been shooting film?

Dixon Cousins' Potluck

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When I was young, and even into these "Kate years", we used to gather with my mother's siblings for a "Dixon Summer Picnic". Now all of my parents' generation are gone, there are no aunts and uncles anymore, and the summer picnic petered out many years ago.

A few years ago we were at Casey's funeral in Stratford — Casey is a cousin by marriage to Dianne; Dianne is just a little younger than me and lives nearby.  Dianne and I share many childhood memories — regular Sunday visits to our grandparents in Markdale and much more. 

At the funeral lots of cousins gathered, some from quite a distance, to pay their respects. We don't see one another unless there's a funeral. And I thought, this is feckin' stupid, we need to gather together more often to share memories, stories of family and some laughs while we're still alive and kickin'. Funerals are not enough! Of course everyone agreed. So we started the Dixon Cousins' picnic again and have hosted it now for several years at our home on the Wednesday before the August 1st long weekend.

The idea is for we cousins to gather. If there are children or grandchildren or etc. visiting they are more than welcome of course (that's Teresa's cousin from Uruguay in the photo). But the focus is on we cousins who shared a childhood together. As all of us, save for Gordon who is the youngest, are now retired we decided to do this mid week and leave the long weekend for immediate family events. It's been fun to reconnect and to share memories and updates over an afternoon potluck. The first year everyone brought enough food to feed everyone else; I've tried to encourage that a dish or two is more than enough. And for god's sake, don't bring beer and wine, that would be like "coals to Newcastle".

This year traffic over Toronto and construction on the 401 around Milton made it difficult for some. Frank and Jane got away early, they're in Eastern Ontario, but were nevertheless delayed several hours. Likewise Walter and his family were late but made it anyway. People have that kind of devotion when it comes to funerals; it's good they're able to do the same for "we the living".

Much of my family are far away. Tony & Pat made it one year for Dave and Gail's 50th anniversary. They're visiting here from BC later in the fall. Dave and Gail came from Hamilton; Paul is far away in Thailand; Ellen is getting on for travel; Dale, I have only recently discovered, has relocated near Windsor. And Larry is gone.

In the intervening years we lost Barry and Nancy. They are missed but I confidant they would be please to see the gathering continue.

See also photos from Dixon Cousins' Potluck (2023); Margaret Quinton - Grandmother's Album (2021); or just search this blog for "Dixon".

Thamesview Farms

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Last evening (Thursday) the local Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club (St Marys Stonetown #227) held it's annual summer event outside at the home of Derek and Amy on the grounds of Thamesview Farms overlooking the Thames River here in St Marys. Our president Claire is pictured, the album contains some photos of the location, some of our guests and the servers. I am a current member and past president.

Stonetown is a men's club, originally formed by Pierre after a sabbatical visit to Australia many years ago, but tonight we had wives, partners and invited guests attending. Kate was feeling a bit tough and couldn't go; I took a mutual friend in her place. I'm told we had over 50 in attendance. Usually our meetings are around 24 devoted pissants (or sometime wine connoisseurs). Some events are just tastings, this event was a much more than a tasting with hors d'oeuvres, a full meal and dessert complemented by wine at every course.

Our wine steward Jere selected an interesting flight of wines to explore starting with a Spanish bubbly (Segura Viudas Cava Brut, LCBO #216960), moving on to a Spanish white (Paco & Lola Albariño, Vintages #35004), then a Cote du Rhone (E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône, Vintages #259721) and finishing with a light Italian frizzante (Batasiolo Bosc D'la Rei Moscato D'Asti DOCG, LCBO #277194). As always there was plenty to drink and good food to share. Some of the dishes were from local produce from Derek and Amy's farm — pasture raised beef rand maple syrup in the dessert. The chef, Eli Silverthorne, who has done this other years, did another stellar job — preparing on site and away from his kitchen must be difficult.

A good time was had by all and the weather held for us. It had been threatening rain all day and even misted a bit while we arrived. But it cleared to become another beautiful night in a lovely location.

Ps. These photos (mostly from my Canon T6i and my cell phone) have been augmented with some taken with my Nikon F4S film camera. I have C41 film developed locally but I scan it.

Tony's Birthday

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One of the nice things about coming to Victoria, BC for the July wedding was it happened also to be my brother Tony's 80th birthday. His birthday is July 12, which was the day of Cai and Gillian's wedding! 

The morning of the wedding we had Tony and Pat over to our VrBO rental on Lake Florence where we had a bit of a celebration before heding out to the afternoon wedding. We bought a cake, with candles for Tony to blow out. We gave him a funny card, a tin of all sorts liquorice and a framed collage of some family photos. We think we saw him shed a tear. We shared a ride with Tony and Pat to the wedding.

The next day, July 13, there was a family birthday party arranged at Pat's daughter's home high on a hill across the lake from us. They are a very nice family, friendly, and put on a great meal for everyone. We stayed for a bit but headed out after the cake as we were on our way to Long Beach and Ocluelet on the west side of the island. Google tells us that's a four hour drive and we want to get there before dark.

There are pictures in the album of Tony and Pat, Ellen, Noelle and Grier, and many of Pat's family.

Ps. We always associate July 12 with the Orange Parade (King Billy, Battle of the Boyne and all the Fenian troubles). I've also just learned there's another reason to celebrate July 12; Google AI tells me

July 12 is celebrated as World Paper Bag Day to promote paper bags as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic, highlighting their biodegradability, recyclability, and positive impact on reducing pollution. The date also commemorates the inventions related to paper bag production, including Francis Wolle's 1852 patent for the first mass-producing paper bag machine and Margaret E. Knight's 1870 invention of the flat-bottomed grocery bag.

Now isn't that funny! Something else to celebrare.