Christmas Letter

December 11, 2023. St Marys

This note is late – Christmas season is upon us and there’s much to do. So, we’ll try, but fail, to keep it brief. Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to this year.

January. Started with an eventful trip to Ottawa for Gord and Leslie’s “Hair of the Dog Party” (a sort of NY Day Levee/Jam session). We were all pretty tired of COVID restrictions and were looking forward to finally being with people and a return to normal. We hadn’t seen Gord or Leslie in a while and met with Vince, Eva’s beau (Eva is Gord’s youngest – more on her later). Unfortunately, soon after we find out that one of the guests had come down with COVID and shortly after we had the same. Which meant for a pretty crappy January.

February. On the plus side, we thought, we’ll recover and we might as well go to Austin, TX (we hadn’t been since 2020 when the pandemic began). We had arranged a place for February and had made a reservation for 2024 (we are definitely going this winter). Unfortunately, our Honda had other ideas. A major computer component failed, the car was not safe to drive, and the dealer couldn’t get the part and might not be able to get it for some time (computer chip shortages were affecting all sorts of supply lines). We were without the car for a month or so, we had read about others in the same boat who were without for 6 months! But by mid month we were back on the road. For Reg’s birthday (1952) we had a naughty weekend in Niagara and a conducted tour of the wine region. The tour was a lot of fun – there were 7 of us and Reg was the only guy! Later that month there was a fancy Emily Murphy fundraising event at the Café Buffon in Stratford and the BOOM-X one man stage show by Rick Miller at the Grand in London. Sadly, February was also the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine; worse yet, not much has changed there. We continue to reach out to our colleague in Kharkiv.

March. We went to the Stratford Chef School’s Graduation Dinner at the Bruce. With COVID behind us we made a trip out of the country to visit our friends Deborah and Jerry in Ann Arbor, MI. There we met a gaggle of wild turkeys in their yard who were proudly flaring their plumes as they court the hens.

April.  We met with Andy Szilard & Pat at Museum London for lunch (Andy was Reg’s prof and thesis supervisor in Computer Science at Western). Peter & Colleen, who had worked with Reg at IT/UWO were dealing with an aged parent and were able to visit us as well. The Beefsteak and Burgundy wine club came out of hiatus with a dinner at the Baseball Hall of Fame here in St Marys.  We went to see our favorite country band, the Rizdales, at the Richmond Tavern in London. But Kate came down with a mysterious illness – it turned out she had a blood infection (a sepsis, hospital for 3 days) and this delayed a planned ankle replacement surgery which was to happen in May.

May. It’s a good thing Kate didn’t have her surgery for we had several visitors. Alison (Kate’s childhood chum) and Barry (her partner) came to visit from Winnipeg. Chris, or No.1 son from Germany, came on a trip to a conference in Florida. We put him to work helping with the garden and moving plants outside. It’s been a year since Reg had his knee replacement surgery, he’s much better but still not 100%. Reg’s wine club met at the “King of Pigs” – a favorite Portuguese restaurant in the east end of London. To top the month, we went to see Grievous Angels at an afternoon gig at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Charlie Angus (NDP MP and leader of the Grievous Angels) and the band were in fine fettle.

June. We both have a regular weekly get together with friends. Kate’s group continued to meet outside throughout the pandemic even in winter. Reg’s group, a “Bunch of Old Geezers”, are not made of such firm stuff and met regularly with Zoom. But with the warm weather regular outdoor gatherings resumed. June is also the month for Pride events. We attended a parade in Stratford and an outdoor Pride event with the Friends of the Library (the library has been doing a Drag Queen Story Time). At the Stratford Forum they had several Pride events. We saw “Agit-Pop” again and enjoyed it just as much as the last time. Our sister-in-law Judy came to visit and a grade school chum of Reg’s, Sam Bell, dropped in. Sam, who lives in BC, is quite the character and has led an interesting life working in the mining industry around the world. Reg had not seen him since high school, there were lots of stories to tell.

July. Over the summer we caught quite a bit of theatre and many Festival Forum events (e.g., CBC Ideas recorded for a week). There’s a small professional group in Stratford, the “Here for Now Theatre”, that started during the pandemic when the Stratford Festival shut down. They first staged small productions outside on the lawn at the Bruce Inn. This year they set up an event tent at the Stratford Perth Museum with a small stage seating an audience of 50 or so. This year, they did the best theatre we had ever seen in quite some time: “The Myth of the Ostrich”. If you ever see it playing, do go (it also fit with the Women/Pride theme). We had our friends Erich (from Reg’s UWO years) and his partner Lisa down to see “Grand Magic” at the Tom Patterson Theatre (a $100M rebuild which was to open in 2020). In November we had them back to see “Spamalot” (more on that in a moment).

Our gardens were lush this year with lots of plump wild blackberries and currants for Reg’s jam making. We had a huge garlic harvest and made Garlic Scape Pesto when the garlic flowered. Our tomato garden was especially productive – we’ve just finished up the last of tomatoes which were picked green at tend of season and left to ripen when the frosts came.

August. Our anniversary is on the 2^nd (it was our 43^rd) and our brother David and his wife Gail celebrated their 50^th this month. Reg’s brother Tony and his wife Pat from Victoria BC came out to visit, for the 50^th anniversary), and stayed with us for a bit. We arranged a Dixon Cousins’ reunion (Reg’s mom’s side of the family) while they were here. Reg took Tony and Pat on a backstage tour of the Tom Patterson Theatre and we four went to see “Spamalot” (the Monty Python musical/revival play) at the Avon in Stratford. It was so much fun (we went with our coconuts to participate) that we went again later when tickets were very reasonable, and then again with Erich and Lisa in November on the last night! We also took Tony and Pat to see “The New Canadian Curling Club” at the Huron County Playhouse, Grand Bend (it’s part of the Drayton Group). We had seen the play when it premiered in Blyth several years ago.

Kate had her ankle surgery in late August at Victoria Hospital in London. This did not go as planned. Her recovery was very painful with many visits to ER here and in London where many different casts were tried, then removed. Ultimately, she ended up in a plastic boot that she could loosen (even remove) at will. The swelling aggravates a pre-existing condition and caused further nerve damage.

September. Kate is coming along, she’s “Not dead yet” (a reference to a bit in “Spamalot”), but struggles continue with casts and recovery. Reg attends a funeral in Markdale for our cousin Ruth Wheildon (Dixon side). Kate could not attend but does have her friends over for a tipple on our deck which is lush now with lots of flowers and greenery. Kate and Sam (her work colleague) wrap up the data collection phase of a study that has been upended by the pandemic. They want to get some data on attitudes and behaviours of male bar-goers in London. During the pandemic most bars were closed!

October. The annual Thanksgiving Gathering of Reg’s family in Walter’s Falls (his childhood home) is Kate’s first “long” car ride. It’s about 2hours due north of us and Kate is comfortable enough in the back seat. But the gathering is somewhat subdued -- there aren’t as many in attendance, the weather is crappy, raining and cool. Kate is uncomfortable with her foot down and we head home early.

Back at home we are preparing for the first frost and clearing plants from our deck. Many we give away (Reg divides plants in the spring, gets them to thrive during the summer, and saves only a few). Over the summer Reg had bought a vintage camera (from the 1960’s), had it restored, and shot a first roll of film. He found a place in Stratford that would develop the film but his first roll jammed the processing machine and was ruined. He’s not been deterred and continues to collect vintage film camera gear (for no good reason, it’s entirely senseless).

Our niece Eva and her partner Vince have a baby Eloise this month. She’s the first great niece/nephew on Kate’s side of the family (Reg has many with the great and great-great designation). But all family are equally great. Gord and Leslie are especially chuffed to be grandparents.

At the end of season, we saw “Much Ado” at the Stratford Festival. We’re not great fans of Shakespeare but this play was updated with lots of contemporary changes. We really enjoyed it. When Kate’s surgery was originally scheduled for May we had deferred much of the theatre events until late in the year. Some of these, e.g. the Margaret Atwood Forum event, she missed.

Kate, who is chair of the Board for Optimism Place (a women’s shelter in Stratford), had a retreat near Goderich where we stayed overnight. On the way we dropped in to Maelstrom Winery near Clinton to sample their wares. We hadn’t been in some time (hadn’t been anywhere in some time!) and gosh they’ve improved and expanded. We’ll have to go there sometime for lunch. Reg spent the day of the retreat tromping around the area taking film pictures with his vintage camera – these actually worked well and were developed without the machinery jamming.

Kate has been retired for several years now and the closing of their office in London has become a reality that cannot be ignored. Kate and Sam worked closely with their colleague Sharon who has just announced her retirement. The office space at the UWO Research Park is no longer viable and will shutdown soon.

Local theatre by the St Marys Community Players can sometimes be outstanding. Their fall production of Norm Foster’s “Opening Night” is one of their best in years. In partnership with the Friends of the Library (Reg is the current chair of the FOL) we had a dinner theatre event with dinner at the Westover Inn that was very well attended. Shortly after the play, which is staged in the Town Hall Auditorium, the FOL had another successful Fall Book Sale.

November. The first snow of the year was on the first day. Reg has been tending to the “Thai Greenery” which grew to over 12’ in our garden – it’s hanging up drying in the basement but there’s a lot of greenery and not much “killer bud” to pass on to family and friends.

You might be excused for wondering what year it is: the Rolling Stones have a new album out and the Beatles have a new single. We go to a Westland Gallery opening and a Mexican restaurant in our former neighborhood. Our old home looks much the same but the trees have really grown.

Reg’s obsession with vintage film camera gear is out of hand. He’s bought a Black Nikon F2 (eBay) and then later in the month a black Nikon F (but he already has a silver Nikon F). That makes three entirely senseless camera, and assorted gear, when we ought to be down sizing! He promises to quit but we’re not convinced.

We went to dinner with our friend Joan at the last night of the Braai House in Stratford. A “braai” is a South African wood fired grill/BBQ and the food here is unique. This is/was one of our favorite restaurants (we took Chris when he was visiting) but, unfortunately, they are closing.

Late in the month we made an Ottawa trip to stay with Gord &Leslie. We met up with Eva, Vince and baby Eloise. Paula, Eva’s sister (the postie from New Brunswick), was visiting as well. We met up with Judy again and together we watched the “Barbie” movie which we all quite enjoyed. We met up with Peter & Colleen on our way out of town and have arranged to see them again, and perhaps stay with them, when we’re back for the “Hair of the Dog” party at New Years. Fingers crossed.

December. This year we’ve been trying to spiff up the front entrance to our house. We had replaced the door and the post on the deck and had been waiting on a landscaping crew to redo the steps and deck (it looked tired with the original shabby outdoor carpet). While we were in Ottawa, we got an email note from them saying, “We’re starting your project tomorrow”. This seemed pretty crazy as we weren’t there and there were decisions we hadn’t made. Nevertheless, they had a plan and moved forward with replacing steps, concrete driveway slabs, etc. We were somewhat distressed, especially when we got a panic call from our neighbor telling us that someone had driven a cart or bike through the wet concrete. Nevertheless, problems were addressed and we are happy with the result -- it really looks nice.

We moved Kate out of her office reclaiming some of her gear (desk, printer, etc.) for office space set up in the basement rec-room. We had gotten rid of the basement pool table earlier in the year (we could not sell or give it away and ended up paying to be done with it) and have recarpeted that area. Our plan is to redo the guest bathroom, we’ve got fellows who will do it, not today but someday soon. After that, we can recarpet the bed room.

Lastly this month Shane MacGowan (Pogues), the singer and writer of many fine tunes, has died proving that, apart from advertising, “Guinness is NOT Good for You”. He was an incredibly good writer and performer in the 1980’s but spent the last decades in an alcoholic fog. The funeral service, there’s lots to watch on YouTube, was quite the event. You would have thought that it was an Irish Pope and not an Irish poet who had died. But his music lives on and many tears have been shed. We’re sure “A Fairytale of New York” will be a Christmas hit again this year. And rightly so. 

Senseless Collection

Collectable but senseless

My entirely senseless vintage Nikon collection. I only wanted one (and truly needed none), the chrome F Photomic FTN (eBay), and had collected a few lenses (28mm, 50mm, 135mm, and 35-105mm again on eBay), but then there was a good deal on a F2 (eBay from Japan) and soon after a black Apollo F came up (local dealer) that I could not resist. My wife says it's cheaper, and safer, than my vintage motorcycle fixation. But it's still senseless when film is so expensive and film labs are so hard to find. Nevertheless, I love the history, the fond memories of these solid beasts that were the state of the art, and the silly Rube Goldberg mechanical linkage between meter and lens. My Canon t6i is far easier to use, makes better images, and one of these will have to go. I like the black ones and will sell the chrome version.

From a posting to "Nikon F only film" Facebook group.

Middle Aged Rock & Rollers

Click image for more photos ...

Saturday was a rather rainy day which meant that a lot of the St Marys Heritage Festival events were cancelled or postponed; e.g., the Friends of the Library were supposed to be downtown for the street fair which was rained out. One event that was rescheduled into the Town Hall was a planned live music event which was to happen outdoors at Cadzow Park.

Kate and I went to the show which started late in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the show was rather poorly attended with mostly family and friends in the audience. I helped a bit with taping up some of the cables and they asked "Which family are you from?". Kate was only able to stay for the first act; I stayed for all three performances which wound up just before the fireworks event. Fortunately Kate came to get me after the show as it was raining by then. Photos in the album capture some of the event.

The opening act was the "York Street Thought Process". They're a  young local duo described on their Facebook page as "an Indie-folk duo project created by Rachael Frankruyter and Jaron Camp". Jaron we know a bit — we had arranged a 40th anniversary party back in 2020 which, unfortunately, was cancelled with the pandemic. He was to provide the sound equipment and perform at our party. He organized the equipment for this show; there was a lot of gear and it had to be set up on fairly short notice (the library was in the hall most of the day). 

Jaron's dad is Sean Camp who took our anniversary photos. His grandad is Bev Camp — known around London as the "Dancing Cowboy". I talked with Jaron, mentioned that Bev was probably in the city dancing to the Rizdales that afternoon  at the Richmond Hotel. 

Jaron and Rachael are just back from a trip to Newfoundland and mentioned some recordings that they had made there. They performed all original tunes — some individual works, others as the duo. Jaron has graduated from a jazz program at Humber and the influences are apparent. Rachael has a sweet voice and plays with an emphasis on simple melodies.

"The Bone Radlers", the second act, are another local duo (Chet and Aimee) who sang together and played with guitar, ukelele, harmonica and "ugly stick". They opened with a version of Steve Earle's "Galway Girl" and closed with a version of the Great Big Sea's "The Night Paddy Murphy Died" accompanied by the rhythms of the ugly stick. This was a fun band playing cover tunes that I really enjoyed. They have a good following and for good reason — they're far more than competent! They're quite professional. I recognize Chet as having been a member of another local band, the Corduroy Gordons, who have disbanded with some members moving away from the area.

"Roy's Garage", which closed the evening, is a Southern Ontario bar room staple who have been playing together for many, many years. I did not know them or their music. They played loud competent covers of rock and roll staples. They had definitely put in their 10,000 hours.  They're all mature guys — the youngest might have been 40, the oldest looked to be well over 70. To call them middle aged would be generous. 

The show was pretty exciting as rock and roll can be. I took a lot of pictures and even went up on the stage to get some pictures from behind the band. I enjoyed their set which went smoothly; it was a shame there weren't more there to appreciate the music. I spoke briefly to one of the singers (there were two, one seemed to specialize in AC/DC tunes and even had the T-shirt to match) to say how much I enjoyed the show.

I can't find out much about this band on line but bumped into a couple of old references (from the Zurich Beanfest (2018) and a Christmas gig at the Hub (2022), Stratford) that are similar:

“They don’t fix cars and they don’t ride bikes…but they are the soundtrack for those that do”.

With over 20 years in, Roy’s Garage (created by Darryl Romphf) is still running on a full tank, entertaining and energetic as ever.

A Southwestern Ontario bar room staple, the Roy’s always serve up a refreshingly strong cocktail of good time Country & Rock n Roll, full throttle with the tires smokin'.

I see that they will be playing at the Windmill Campground (just north of St Marys) on September 3.  

A final comment/observation: it's odd how folkies switch and tune instruments before each tune. Middle Aged Rock & Rollers (who are so damn cute) come with a stack of guitars but never switch instruments or spend much time tuning. They just get up there and play! Those 10,000 hours have polished their performance.

See also

• "For Romphf, it's the circle of music" (2107) from the Waterloo Record.

Nikon F Photomic FTN

Cameras, cameras, cameras ... I've been a long time amateur photographer starting with a plastic Diana 120 roll film toy camera back in grade school in the early 1960's. More properly, Kate and I just take a lot of photos, especially travel photos from our adventures captured in this blog. So, let's say that counts as being an amateur photographer. Over the years we have had a lot of different cameras; mostly single lens reflex (SLR) progressing from 35mm film to digital since 2004. But there have been some digressions to other film formats.

Today, July 10, I bought a Nikon F Photomic FTN 35mm film camera on Ebay, pictured above. The camera is vintage circa 1970 -- from the serial number I understand it was made sometime between 7/67 and 9/67 when I was a lad of 15. I thought I'd write a bit about the cameras that we've had, the ones that got away, or that didn't live up to expectations, and try to answer Kate's question: "Why in God's name did you buy that!"

The short answer is the Nikon F (1959-1973) was the first 35mm single lens reflex interchangeable lens system camera that got pretty much everything right. Before that the popular cameras were rangefinders (or boxy point and shoot cameras). The Photomic series (the Photomic T, then Photomic TN and finally Photomic FTN) was the first SLR with a built in light meter, with through the lens metering, coupled to permit open aperture viewing with stopped down shooting. It was the photojournalist camera of choice in those years. It was, and remains, a milestone in photography  — a camera I've always wanted to have and hold.

Toy Cameras —

Back to my history .... I've already mentioned the plastic Diana 120 roll film camera which would have been around the early 1960's. I don't know what became of that camera but I did experiment with another one around 1980 when I played with street photography. I recall the Diana was totally manual, you guessed the focus and exposure. It took crappy out of focus pictures and it was expensive, especially for a kid, to buy the film and then have it developed and printed. Over the years there has been an art cult around the "soft focus" effect which is a result of the cheap plastic lens. I never produced any "art" and I never liked the "point, shoot and hope for the best" method. In later years fell in love with SLR photography. The Nikon F Photomic is an historical landmark camera in SLR (Single Lens Reflex) photography.  It was the first integration of mechanics and electronics.

My first camera, as an "adult" in the early 1970's, was a Polaroid Swinger Model 20. Again, this was a toy that was expensive to use and produced pretty crappy results. I seem to recall that it used messy roll film that you peeled apart after exposure. Polaroid went out of business (bankrupt in 2001) and, even if I still had the camera, you cannot get instant photography film for it. Kate's parents had a Polaroid SX-70 Model 1 folding camera in the 1980's. It was a lovely camera, we have digitized some of the photos they took, but again it was expensive to use. It's expensive to buy now and I don't think you can find film anymore (actually you can but it's frightfully expensive).

The 35mm SLR Divide —

My first "real" SLR camera was a Praktica SLR, (35mm film, match needle exposure, with the M42 screw lens mount, East German manufacture), which I bought in the late 1970's while working as a Teaching Assistant after my Masters. I can't recall the model designation, it might have been a Praktica LTL. I never had lenses beyond the 50mm lens that came with the camera. I did a bit of black and white photography, not much, but a bit. In grad school, I started a Ph.D. in Philosophy around 1986, there were a number of friends who were "into" photography. They helped to shape my aspirations. I recall my friend Howard who had luckily found an old Leica rangefinder at a garage sale and Neil who had a Canon AT-1 SLR (an modern match needle exposure). There's a contrast there between the collectable (the Leica) and the functional (the Canon). My Praktica was the cheap but serviceable middle ground. I recall that my friend Martin, he's in Germany now, had a Zenit SLR (Soviet manufacture) which was a very similar.

I travelled to England in May of 1979 for a biking holiday staying with Martin and his family. One day, while in London, the camera slipped off my shoulder, fell to the pavement and the prism housing ended up cracked and dented. The camera still worked ... sort of but I ended up replacing the camera body with a Cosina. That was a somewhat better camera manufactured in Japan — but still a screw mount M24 that would use the lens from my now broken Praktica. I can't recall the model designation, it might have been a Cosina CSR (or CSL, or CSM. I didn't hold onto that camera very long.

The Auto-Exposure Divide —

On my return from England, in the fall of 1979, I traded in that screw mount Cosina for a Canon A-1. This was a top of the line interchangeable lens (the FD breach mount) 35mm with built in light meter, Aperture Priority (you set the F-stop), Shutter Priority (you set the shutter speed), manual and program mode (the camera does it all). It was a great camera and a gigantic leap forward in technology. A lot of my punk photography of the early 1980's was taken with this camera. Shortly thereafter I bought a Canon AE-1 Program (Shutter Priority) and accumulated accessories and a few lenses — I recall having a Soligor 135mm/f2, a Canon 35-70/f4 (which I loved), an early Vivitar zoom, a Sigma 16mm fisheye, power winders for both and a Vivitar 285 flash kit. The Canon AE-1 I gave to another niece when technologies changed and I had a Canon 630 (more in a moment). The Canon A-1, with the 35-70/f4, Kate fell in the ocean in the Algarve, Portugal in 1999 and it was ruined. I gave it to my brother Paul who used it as an "objet d'art". It was a great camera, the only thing missing was auto-focus.

Diversion: In the 1980's Kate bought me a Yashica A twin lens — another 120 roll film camera (not the MAT-G with the winding crank; this was pretty basic with a winding nob). The MAT-G had a built in meter, mine was "by guess or by golly" exposures. This was a twin lens camera that might have been popular in the 1950's. I found it awkward to use but do have some images taken with that camera. At that time we had a basement dark room and developed the film ourselves. I seem to recall that when I got bored with it we passed it on to our niece Paula, who was experimenting with photography. Recently I have scanned some images taken with that camera.

The Auto-Focus Divide —

In the late 1980's camera technologies had advanced to include auto-focus. The A-1 and AE-1 where manual focus with automated exposure modes (Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority). Kate got me a Canon EOS 630 (it might have been a 620, again I can't recall the model numbers) around 1990 when the camera came out. This camera had autoexposure and autofocus as well as auto film advance. Canon was slow off the mark with auto-focus but this camera worked very well for me throughout the 1990's. Of course this new technology required a new lens mount (for the camera to communicate with and control the lens motors which managed the focus and aperture stop down). The older mechanical FD lens mount was replaced with the all electric EF lens mount. We ended up with several Canon EF lenses: a 50mm/f1.8 (the kit lens which I still use), a 20-35mm/f3.5-4.5 (which I gave to Chris when I moved to the current EF-S cameras), a 28-80mm/f3.5-5.6 and 70-210/f4 zoom.

Diversion: An interesting camera from this era was the Yashica Kyocera Samurai X3.0 35mm Half Frame Film Camera AF (circa 1990). It was an advanced amateur camera with a good zoom range and auto everything. It had an odd shape — most often people would think it was a movie camera. This would produce reasonable prints, I never was happy with the small slides. Unfortunately one day we left it somewhere, probably a restaurant, and didn't even notice it was missing for quite a while. It was an interesting film camera but never became popular.

I upgraded to a Canon EOS A2 in the late 1990's. This was a top of the line camera for Canon with a wickedly fast film advance. I bought a vertical grip which oddly it didn't include any extra batteries. The Canon F1 and F1(new) were professional grade sturdy workhorses at that time but this camera outperformed them in automation. A friend had the A2E which tracked where you were looking in the frame to select the focus point. I didn't go that far! This camera served me very well until 2004 when, on our second trip to Australia, we went digital with the Minolta A1. The last time I shot film would have been in 2005 with this camera. On a trip to Las Vegas and area when we discovered we had left the charger for the Minolta A1 in Cuba.

Diversion: An interesting sideline during the 1990's was the Canon ELPH (1996). This was a very interesting design that did not take off. It was ultra compact, auto-everything, with an unusual film format (APS film is similar to 35mm but smaller). It was drop in film loading and, when exposed, the film canister was the storage device. You never touched the film. At the time digital cameras were becoming more popular and it was often mistaken for one. The Canon EOS A2 and the Canon ELPH where the last film cameras we used. Our digital Canon PowerShot SD1100 (circa 2008) was an 8MP camera with a similar size and shape.

The Digital Divide —

In March of 2003 we made our first trip to Australia via Hawaii when Kate had a conference in Fremantle (a suburb of Perth WA). We were away for a month an shot 35mm film which we transported with us. Shooting a roll or two a day meant that film occupied a lot of luggage space. The next year Kate had a sabbatical leave January-June (2004) to work with colleagues in Australia and she insisted that we were not going to pack that much film. We moved to digital with the purchase of a Minolta Dimage A1 (6MP) in November of 2003 which served us well for several years.

The Minolta DiMage A1 was an interesting camera well suited for travel. It came with a fixed lens (you could not change the lens). Fortunately the effective zoom range (if translated to a 35mm camera) was 28-200mm/f2.8-3.5 so there wasn't much need of another lens. It had a built in flash, a rear viewing screen and an electronic viewfinder. It was auto-everything and even had auto image stabilization. It used Compact Flash memory cards which were quite large physically (the SD cards common now are much smaller) and quite small for storage — this was the period when you'd strip your memory cards onto your computer every night. I was never too keen on the electronic viewfinder, it was quite a compromise from real through the lens viewing. And it was an awful pig for consuming power. The first day in New Zealand the battery went dead on me. I learned to leave the camera powered off when not in use and bought a batty pack grip. The DiMage A2, with a larger image sensor at 8MP came out shortly after I had purchased this camera and not too long after that Minolta went out of the camera business.

In June of 2007, on a trip to Budapest Hungary, digital catastrophe struck. Our DiMage A1 failed and Kate's laptop, where we had been stripping the memory card, had a hard disk failure as well which meant we lost pretty much all of our photos from that trip. I did have the camera repaired but soon after purchased a Canon Rebel XTi (10MP) marking our return to SLR photography and the Canon EF lens mount.

Diversion: We returned from a trip to Cuba with Paul and Judy in March of 2005. Unfortunately we had left the DiMage battery charger behind (we replaced it). Later that month we were in Las Vega and area using the Canon A2 film camera — that would have been the last time shooting film.

The DiMage A1 was a life saver later too. It was used on our 2015 trip to Alaska and the West Coast when our Canon EOS REBEL T4i failed (and was repaired soon after).

During the Pandemic much of our film and print archives were digitized. This is discussed in a Digitizing Photos blog post of 2021. But that reminds me that most of our Wedding Photos (1980) were digitized in 2005 on a Minolta DiMage Scan Dual II. That was a film scanner I had picked up used on Ebay. I used it for several years but it ultimately became obsolete and no longer supported on my workstation.

The digital Canon Rebel XTi, purchased with Airmiles credits, came with a "kit lens" (an EF-S mount 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6), used CF memory cards (like the DiMage) and would accept the same EF lenses from the 35mm film cameras we had — the Canon EOS A2 and Canon EOS 630. The image sensor on this camera, and the serveral Canon Rebels we've had since then, are all "cropped" sensors smaller than the 35mm format. There's a 1.5x magnification (the 18-55mm format translates roughly to a 28-80mm lens on a 35mm camera). EF-S mount lenses are designed to cover the smaller sensor format. EF mount lenses cover the larger 35mm format. They both have exactly the same mechanical format and electronic connections. 

Diversion: Canon has always had advanced amateur point and shoot cameras. There are several we've owned and several we still have. A couple of odd ball vanity cameras in this area are the Canon Powershot G10 (14MP) circa 2008 and the Canon Powershot G11 (10MP) circa 2009. These are hardy cameras, really well built, and very much old school with dials to set ISO, shutter speed and exposure compensation. They have a built in zoom lens and are reasonably fast. They're good travel cameras which, at the time, were very expensive. I had lusted over them when they came out but they were out of reach. However, I've bought both in the used market in recent years. The G10 I passed on to a niece when I got the G11 even though the newer camera has a less pixels (10MP vs 14MP).

These days we're using — 

These days, since 2019, I'm shooting with a Canon Rebel T6i (24MP). The 10MP Canon XTi was ruined by night dew one August 2012 when we camped at a Fred Eaglesmith festival. It was replace by a Canon Rebel T4i (18MP) that we purchased with Airmiles. The T6i I bought used from a fellow on the Facebook Market Place. It came with a 18-135mm/f3.5-5.6 IS (Image Stabilizing) lens which has become my day to day lens. We also have a 10-18mm/f4.5-5.6 IS lens for the wide angle and a 55-250MM F/4-5.6 IS for the extreme telephoto — but the 18-135 is more often than not good enough. Recently we have a 7 Artisans 8mm/f3.5 manual focus fisheye lens for the really wide angle and I've been playing more with flash photography having recognized the grainy effects that result from shooting at extremely high speeds under available light (band shots). We're also using a Canon GPS device, again a Facebook Marketplace deal, which fits on the flash shoe of the T6i. This adds location data to the EXIF data (date, shutter speed, ISO, F-stop, focal length, etc.) which is helpful.

Of course we take a lot of photos with our cell phones and have used several point and shoot cameras over the years including: Kodak Easyshare C340 (5MP),  Canon PowerShot SD550 (7MP), Canon PowerShot SD1100 (8MP), and a Canon PowerShot SD1200 (10MP). No doubt there are some I've forgotten and where these are I no longer know. I just searched and find we still have a Canon PowerShot A3500 IS (16MP) and a Canon Powershot Elph 350 HS (20MP). They are both very good point and shoot cameras (the Elph 350 was the only camera I used on a 2017 trip to Sheffield) but they are tucked away and seldom used. The cell phone has replaced them.

The Race —

There are a couple of developments we can see in this history. Firstly, there's a history of automation from the mechanical cameras we started on through to the digital cameras of today. That's a history from simple meters, through to automated exposure, then to autofocus and "smart" focus and exposure. All of that has been made possible by the integration of computer chip technology.

Image quality in a digital camera is, in many ways, determined by image size — how many megapixels (MP) are in the image? In the early days 35mm film would produce better images than the digital counterparts. You can see from the above that there has been a race from 5MP cameras on through the years to the 24MP Canon Rebel T6i that we're using today. I see there cameras today with much higher density — the Canon EOS R5 (a professional grade mirrorless system camera with commensurate pricing) is 45MP and the Google Pixel 7 cellphone is 50MP!! But how much is enough?

I am more than happy with the cameras we have.

This is a work in progress ....

Scam: Dad I need you!

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I had an interesting conversation with a scammer today. I got this short text message on my phone (shown at left) from a fellow pretending to be my son and in dire need of my financial help. Of course those who know me know that we are childless. My first reaction was to just laugh it off but then I thought, why not pretend that I'm being taken by the scam and see what I can find out. So I responded by text messaging to the number he had provided. If you click on the image you can see the dialogue that followed.

The initial message came from 224 214 0017 and asked me to text him on a different number. That number, 226 786 0736, if believed, is a local Ontario number. As far as I know it's easy enough to forge a number but I think it's harder to have a text messaging dialogue on a forged number so perhaps it really is a local number. Perhaps it might not be a burner phone and could be traced. Or perhaps it's someone off shore ... that's a problem for the police to figure out.

Anyways, I pretended that it was our dear son "John" who is often getting into trouble (e.g., "Your mother is worried sick", "You're not in jail again", "Are you still taking those pills:,  etc.). I was sympathetic to his problem — the story was his phone broke and he couldn't get into his bank account. I pointed out that "Lisa" at our bank (his and ours too) had always been helpful and she would sort things out unless "... did you screw her around too?".  He never caught on that I was yanking him around.

Ultimately, after much back and forth (e.g., he wanted to know my bank and I replied that we both used the same bank with "Lisa") he ultimately gave me a CIBC bank account number, branch, name and address of the account holder in Scarborough and I promised I'd run down to the bank and send $8,765.00 to that account. Which, of course, I did not. "John" promised he'd be over to see me on Thursday to pay me back. And of course I've not heard back from him since.

I called the branch of the CIBC bank where the scammer had asked me to send the money (John advised that for goodness sake don't mention this conversation when you talk to Lisa!). The fellow I reached at the branch was singularly unhelpful and wouldn't even direct me to another number where I could report the problem. I went to the CIBC web page and found the number for reporting a fraud; again this wasn't helpful. When I called the CIBC fraud number they wanted me to enter my CIBC bank account number and I don't have one. So, I gave up on informing the bank. There isn't a branch in town or I might have gone in and found a local "Lisa" to help me.

As the final closure, I called Stratford Police and have sent them the screen captures from the album. The officer I was talking to was helpful and said he would file a report and send it on to the folks who deal with this (I suppose that's province wide rather than local). He was, of course, concerned that I had not been taken in by the scam and that I had not given them any of my financial details. And I had not, all he had was my cell number. I thought that having identified a local bank in Scarborough they might be able to trace the account to a person. He cautioned me that the bank account might have been set up on line with bogus credentials to be used as a transit point with any deposits made quickly transferred out. But sometimes crooks make mistakes, are young, dumb and naive. I hope the police followed up on the report and found someone. I hope banks involved in these scams do better.

Ah well, perhaps nothing will come of this. But it was fun wasting his time.

Ps. We love you John!

Agit-POP!

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We went to a Saturday matinee performance of Agit-POP! at the Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford with our good friend/family Judy MacDonald who was visiting from Ottawa. It's a very interesting/challenging multi-media performance by Pearle Harbor (her nom du guerre). We were to the same performance last year. This time it was not as well attended but it was still lots of fun ... and thought provoking.

Agit-POP! was at Stratford June 15-17 for a limited run. In the Forum events it was described as 

"She's baaack! Superstar drag comedienne Pearle Harbour returns with her doomsday cabaret Agit-Pop! Think Judy Garland at Carnegie (on acid) – laughs, tears, a whole lotta makeup, and the pop hits of David Bowie, Britney Spears, Roy Orbison and more, as you've never heard them before."

I used my Canon G11 point and shoot, rather than my phone or camera, and tried to be discrete.

Ps. the café isn't opened for afternoon Forum events, damn! We had hoped to have a lunch there overlooking the river.

See also the Agit-Pop! Pearle Harbor web site.

St Marys Pride

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The St. Marys Pride event was this afternoon (Sunday, June 11) at the Milt Dunnell Field (the "flats"). The picture at left, from the Stratford-Perth Pride parade of last week, tells a story -- these Pride events are a joyous celebration where everyone is welcome. The Friends of St Marys Public Library were there with an information booth set up with the St Marys Public Library. We had lots of visitors who dropped around to show their support for diversity, equity and inclusion in our community.

If you click on the image there are some photos from the St. Marys Pride event. We were there to support the St Marys Public Library and their important inclusive vision. It was a great day with everyone enjoying their time together. The weather held ... mostly. Many thanks to our community and the many FOL members who came out to support and celebrate diversity.

Stratford Pride Parade

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On Sunday Stratford-Perth Pride held their annual Pride Parade and gathering in Upper Queens Park near the Festival Theatre. Kate and I came out for the parade which started at the Tom Patterson Theatre and wandered along Lakeside Drive to a series of events held in Upper Queens Park. 

It was a wonderfully warm sunny day, a perfect June day for a parade. There were lots of colorful costumes including several cute dogs (usually I hate dogs at public events but these were well behaved). Participants were welcomed by the organizers, the Equity Director from the Stratford Festival and the mayor of the city (Martin Ritsma). It was well attended — there were young and old, rich and poor, all matter of human kind including the local MPP (Matthew Rae). It was very well attended and everyone was having fun gathering together and celebrating diversity, equity and inclusion. Something to be proud of.

Kate and I had attended a similar parade, perhaps the first or second, some years ago pre-pandemic in Stratford. This parade was even better attended. With our recent mobility issues we were unable to walk in the parade route or take part in any of the events in the park. But we're glad were able to participate in our own small way.

Next Sunday, a similar Pride event will be held on the Flats in St Marys and we'll be there.

Grievous Angels

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On Sunday Kate and I drove to Toronto (it's over 2 hours each way) for an afternoon performance by the Grievous Angels (Charlie Angus' band) at the famous Horseshoe Tavern on Queen St E at Spadina. Just down the road a bit from CAMH (Kate works for them) at College and Spadina.

Note: Charlie Angus is, and has been for quite a while now, the NDP MP for the huge riding of Timmins-James Bay and do not confuse this band with a similarly named "Grievous Angels" from Tempe, Arizona. The band name is an homage to the 1974 Gram Parsons album.

We follow both Charlie Angus (for the politics) and Grievous Angels (for the music) on Facebook and had seen tickets advertised some weeks before the event. We had tickets but might not have gone with our recent mobility problems. But, Kate was game for the drive Sunday morning and we set out early for the 1pm show arriving early enough to get excellent front row seats. The lady we joined at our small table warned us that the view might get obscured by dancers but that never amounted to much. It was mostly a listening audience and, while busy, was not too crazy. Most of the audience were at or near our age — aged punks and radicals who lean to the left.

It was a lovely sunny day, quite hot for the time of year, but a good day for a drive into the city. My intention was to drive up Spadina and drop off Kate at the bar while I would find nearby parking. I missed the Spadina exit from the Gardiner (it's been a while since we've been to "the city") and ended up coming up University Ave then across Richmond. Fortunately we found street parking right across the road from the Horseshoe on Queen St E. — how very convenient for us. As it was such a sunny day the streets were busy with pedestrians seeing and being seen strolling and in the cafés and patios open that day. We left the sun and entered the dank and dark of the infamous Horseshoe Tavern.

We arrived to a bit of a lineup within the bar — the performance area is in a much larger room at the back divided into roughly equal seating, dancing and standing areas. We got a beer (for me) and a soda and lime for Kate who was "on the wagon". Charlie greeted his fans standing in line and Kate told him that Grievous Angels was our "Desert Island" band for many years (we still love "One Job Town" (1990) and the voice of Michelle Rumball). He replied, "No, we were signed with a different label". These days they record and publish on their own label. Politics has kept Charlie busy but I think the pandemic gave him a chance to write and reach out again to his music. He seemed to enjoy playing with the band, they were tight, able and well rehearsed, and oddly his voice has improved over the years!

Once we had a table I checked out the merch table and bought their second last CD, "The Great Divide" (2013), and a copy of Charlie's recent book, "Cobalt", about the mining history. Their latest release, "Summer Before the Storm" (2021) was only available as an LP and I don't play or collect vinyl. I had listened to it a bit on iTunes and have since bought it and "Hanging Songs" (2003) from the Grievous Angels web site. They are currently working on a new album "Last Call for Cinderella" which, I think, will come out next year. They have an extensive catalogue (there are about 8 albums; we've been following them since 1990) and the show featured several new tunes from this forthcoming album.

After the opening act, Charlie did a bit of a reading from another book he's working on, the subject seems to be his recollections and reflections on life as a punk in the 1980's and how we really need to return to that mind set. That book will come out next year as well.

The opening act, Hayley and The Pirate Queens, was a small 3 piece punk band fronted by Hayley Austin (guitar and vocals) with Tim Hadley (bass) and Nathan Mahaffy (drums). The music is sort of power pop punk girl band. The sound was a bit mushy, as it was for the Grievous Angels. A photographer near me asked me if the sound was bad, I said it was but it went with the punk ethos. I enjoyed the set, would have liked it better if I could have made out the words to the songs. Kate sat with her leg up in the car so she would be up for the Grievous Angels. We texted back and forth, and I let her know when Charlie started his reading. She returned for that and we stayed until the bitter end.

The current band consists of Charlie Angus (vocals, electric and acoustic guitar), Ian McKendry (newest member on electric guitar), Peter Jellard (founding member on fiddle, mandolin, guitar and accordian), Tim Hadley (long time bass player with Grievous Angels and Stompin' Tom), Nathan Mahaffy (drums), Janet Mercier (vocals) and Alex Bell (piano and vocals). Tim and Nathan are the rhythm section that formed the backbone for Hayley and The Pirate Queens and they often open for the Grievous Angels. There seems to be a connection to Belleville, where Kate went to high school and where her parents lived until their death.

We enjoyed the show and recognized some of the tunes. Many were new to us from this album in progress. Janet Mercier and Alex Bell shared lead vocals on a song about Barcelona from the new album. Alex on piano was hidden away at the back of the stage with Nathan on drums. The band got the crowd up dancing to the "Gumboot Clogeroo" from "Toute La Gang" (1989) and to "I Fought the Law" (made famous for us by the Clash (1979)). As might be expected, many songs are about mining, resource industries and hard times. There is a political bent.

The band played two sets with a brief intermission. I went out to feed the parking meter near 5:00 during the second set and when I returned the dance floor was hopping but the show was winding down. I've shared these photos on Facebook and even got a mention from Charlie himself.

It was good to see live music again by one of our favorite bands. We don't get to the Horseshow and Toronto very often. I recall seeing Jerry Jeff Walker, Eric Bogle, Billy Joe Shaver and Robert Earl Keen at this venue but those were years ago. This was our first time seeing Charlie Angus and the Grievous Angels.

Chris, No. 1 Son

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Our No. 1 son Christopher dropped in for a visit on his way home to Dresden, Germany from a conference he had been to in Orlando, Florida. Chris is a wonderful young fellow whom we have known for many years (since Nierstein in 1994). He's the son of my one of my best friends — Martin who was in graduate school with me back in the late 1970's. Chris thinks of us as his No. 2 Mom & Dad, we affectionately call him our No. 1 son. For years now (since 1979) we have called Chris' gran, Martin's mom, our No. 2 mom. It's all a bit of a joke given that we don't have any children of our own. Martin says we're trying to steal his family!

We are really grateful to Amy, Chris' wife, who probably would have liked him to dash home immediately after the conference. They have three kids that need tending and one of their cats had a nasty episode that required veterinary attention — hard to do on a weekend with three kids in tow! Someday, when the kids are bigger, perhaps the whole gang can come for a visit. Chris says they might do that now if we were to pay for business class seats for all of them. I suppose it would be cheaper for us to visit them in Germany. We're of an age where business class is the only way to fly.

Chris first visited with us here in Canada back in 2005 for our 25th anniversary and we visit one another on either side of the big pond whenever we can. Last year he stopped in around the same time on a similar conference trip to Florida. This time we picked him up at YYZ (the Toronto airport) on Friday afternoon and returned him to the same on Tuesday afternoon. I greeted him at the airport arrivals area with a sign in German: "Willkommen aus dem Gefängnis zu Hause" (Welcome home from prison). He was the only one who read the sign but he didn't get the joke! Is Florida a prison?

During our visit we had some adventures including the 20th Anniversary of the Rizdales at the Richmond Tavern in London. One night Chris and I stayed up late playing "Pick a tune" and rolling up some Widder Wowie that I had grown in our garden. Chris tries to turn me onto Jeff Beck (yes, he's a great guitarist, but no, it's not my style) while I try to turn him onto Country & Americana (yes, that's a nice song but it's not Jeff Beck). There's no winning there.

We had several interesting meals including a Sunday lunch at the Bluebird Cafe in Stratford (I might have told Chris about the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville but that would be a futile attempt to bring up Country & Americana music again). On the way home from the Bluebird (it's a really nice restaurant, highly recommended) we stopped at the garden center in Sebringville to load up on plants and things for the garden.

On Monday we put Chris to work bringing plants out of the house onto the deck and outside for the summer. I got the seedlings planted in our garden — tomatoes, jalapenos and habaneros. Chris likes hot peppers and grows them as well. He got to sample some of my pickled habaneros which I find blindingly hot ... and they are. Chris tells me the trick to them is to take out the seeds and only pickle the flesh which, while hot, is tasty and bearable. I'll have to try that. There's also that advice about wearing gloves while seeding the peppers, to not rub your eyes, and to be especially careful washing your hands before going for a pee!

That evening, after our hard work in the garden, we went for dinner in Stratford at the Braai Bar. We thought we were going to the Braai House, which is upstairs with a nice outdoor patio, but ended up in the down stairs bar/patio (ie. the Braai Bar). We ate in the patio area rather than inside which has been redecorated but has more of a dark bar feel than a restaurant. The downstairs used to be called the Keystone Alley, this is a recent change over. Chris and I shared a huge grilled "Tomahawk Steak". The Braai House is one of our favorite restaurants. It specializes in South African food — a "braai" is a wood fired grill.

On our last day we put Chris to work again. We're getting our basement re-carpetted and had to move all the furniture out of the way. With Chris' help we got it done. I couldn't have done it otherwise.

Many thanks to Amy, Charlotte, Sebastian and baby Emily for letting us share some time with Chris.

Rizdales - 20 Years

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Saturday afternoon at the Richmond Tavern in London and the Rizdales are celebrating the 20 year anniversary of their first show as a band and their first LP release "Another Payday Night" (2003). There's been some changes, but they remain as the pure country couple Tom and Tara Dunphy with Blair Heddle on guitar, Steve Crew on drums, and Oscar Macedo on bass. We had dropped in a month ago to see them, we had so much fun, so here we are again. Feelin' good to be feelin' good again.

Our No. 1 son Christopher is visiting from Germany. We're sure he'll like the show (he keeps trying to get me to like Jeff Beck, I keep trying to get him to like Country & Americana). We've talked with our friends Sam and Al who are also keen on the show; we meet at their place for some pre-show drinks and a nosh. Sam and Al are friends of the band, Sam used to perform with a group called Julia Propellor in the 1980's. 

I drop off Kate and Joan (Al's mom) at the bar and find a place to park. The others are walking over from Picadilly & Colborne. Later Kate finds a closer spot in the parking lot next door to the club and I move the car there so she has a place to rest a bit. Parking in the city is expensive but this is convenient and worth it.

We arrive to the show getting there a good half hour early. But there are no seats at all in the main room with the stage.  I learn later from an acquaintance that he arrived an hour early and got the last seat in the main room. It happens to be by the stage. He sees me shooting photos but we've never really met face to face (turns out he's a friend of Al's and was talking to him). We end up in the room next door where there's a couple of tall stools and the pool table. In the main room it was standing room only with a very crowded dance floor once things get rolling.

Frank Ridsdale, who was also celebrating a 20th anniversary of sorts, was the opening act. He's an accomplished long time player in the London scene having founded the band Uranus which led or started the punk scene of the late 1970's on into the 1980's. Uranus was one of the first bands who got into play at the Cedar Lounge. Today Frank Ridsdale, accompanied by Blair on electric, sounds an awful lot like Van Morrison to me — that's a good thing.

At the break between acts Chris and I walked over the the London Music Hall of Fame on Dundas Street. I wanted to show him some of my photos on display from the punk shows of the early 1980's. There are still several on display and a few in a collection of mounted photos and posters. It turns out I have taken him there before.

We talk a bit with Tara and Tom before their set. Tara thanks me for the pictures taken and posted at the last show. Al knows all the band members and brought them a round of Jack Daniels during their set. Al no longer drinks, but when he did he was a bit of a terror.

Outside on the street I'm wearing a Wabi Sabi's T-shirt and greeted by Peter Tangredi (of the Wabi Sabi's) who admires my shirt. I admire his early work with Crash 80's and Suffer Machine (we were talking about Peter and those bands with the guide at the Music Hall) and follow the Wabi Sabi's. I see Peter later on the dance floor and he's obviously having a great time. The Rizdales have recorded his song "The Legend of Bobby Orr" (2023) and play it during the second set. The "Dancing Cowboy", Bev Camp, is another fellow we know who lives for these Saturday afternoon shows.

In the washroom (you only rent beer for a short time) I'm talking to some of the guys. We're all enjoying the music and are pleasantly surprised by the diversity of the crowd. There's young folks and old geezers, rich and poor, and a surprising connection between the punks of our youth and the country and Americana fans of today. See the exuberance and ages of the dancers in the photo above.

Back at the Richmond we stay for the first set. I grab a few pictures but it's a bit of struggle to get near the stage. We might have stayed longer but Kate needed to be off her feet.

Congratulations to the Rizdales and the Richmond Tavern for 20years of great country music. We'll be back ...

Postscript: I read from the Rizdales Facebook posting for the event: "Come celebrate our 20th Anniversary which is also the 20th anniversary of our debut album, Another Payday Night. Available ONLY at Rizdales shows." I've been after that record for years now. Maybe we can get a copy!

See also:

• The Rizdales on Facebook.
• The Rizdales web site (includes online store).
• Richmond Tavern on Facebook.

Feelin' Good Again!

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Well, the pandemic isn't really over yet ... but. We've had the bug, the weather is warm again and the Richmond Tavern has The Rizdales playing their residency (3rd Saturday of every month). It's an afternoon show, so all the better — no need to stay up late to catch some music. This is the first live music we've been to in a very long time.

The show is from 3:00pm until 6:00pm at the Richmond Tavern which is in the core of the city. It's the last of the old time beer halls divided down the centre into two rooms — what would have been "Mens" vs. "Ladies & Escorts". 

We arrive early as Kate has banged her foot and we need to get a seat. We find free two hour parking on Richmond Street right across from the tavern and are in plenty of time to find a good seat. They're doing a sound check and setting up their gear as we arrive. The bar isn't too busy yet and there are some regulars we recognize — like Bev the dancing cowboy. We talk briefly to him about my photography gear and his son, Sean, who is holidaying in Ireland and who we know from St Marys.

We had arranged back in 2020 to have the Rizdales play in St Marys for our 40th Wedding Anniversary party but with COVID that was not to be. Tara and Tom greet us and are pleased to see we've made the jaunt into town. We explain that we've been avoiding honky-tonks during COVID and are only now feeling comfortable being here. Besides we've had COVID and now are "safe as houses". But of course, nobody is really safe at all.

Tara tells us she's had COVID at least twice but tests herself regularly as she also performs in long term care homes. I remark that they've had a recent anniversary and they recall that we're now working on our 43rd. We all agree that we ought to have a 45th anniversary party. Tom has a snappy "Day of the Dead" shirt and comments on our tees — Kate wears an El Mercado (Austin), I wear a Cigar Box Band (San Antonio). We explain that we've not been back to Austin since 2020 but have reservations for next winter. They're big fans of Austin too and even have a song about their "Austin Honeymoon". 

Tara tells us she's written a song for us inspired by a reference to "My Sweet Baboo"! We've not heard it yet but look forward to hearing it sometime soon. I guess we'll have to have that 45th wedding anniversary party.

The Rizdales are: Tom Dunphy (guitar & vocals), Tara Dunphy (fiddle & vocals), Blair Heddle (electric guitar), Steve Crew (drums) and Oscar Macedo (bass). For today Blair was away and Doug Dietrich (pictured above) filled in on pedal steel guitar. Doug plays with Tom's Classic Country which has a residency here as well.

We were only able to stay for the first set — happy to hear some Loretta Lynn, Ray Price, and more. The dance floor filled and everyone had fun. Our friends Sam and Al arrived after we had left and stayed until the end. They, like us, really enjoyed the set. The event, and our return to the Richmond, reminds me of a Robert Earl Keen song "Feelin' Good Again" (1998):

So I strolled across old Main Street
Walked down a flight of stairs
Stepped into the hall
And saw all my friends were there
A neon sign was flashin' "Welcome come on in"
It feels so good feelin' good again.

COVID may not be over but it feels so good to be feeling good again! 

See also:

• Previous Blog Posts (since 2006) on The Rizdales.
• The Rizdales on Facebook.
• The Rizdales web page and merchandise.

Why do you blog?

 

People sometimes ask me, "Why do you blog?".  ... with apologies to Bill Watterson the panel was recently shared on The World of Calvin and Hobbes Facebook group.

Niagara Wine Tour

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For my birthday this year (I turned 71 on Sunday, February 19) we spent some time in the Niagara Wine Region. We often do a wine tour on my birthday and the last few years during this pandemic it's been a private tasting in a geodesic dome at Fielding Estates Winery on the Beamsville Bench, other years it's been where ever we happen to be travelling. The photo at left is from the wine tour on Sunday. Kate took the picture, she's not in it; the women pictured with me are Trystan and Diana from London, then Maddie, Chloe and their mom Carolyn from Whitby.

With the current COVID wave in remission, and us somewhat protected having just got over a bout of it, we felt we might safely entertain going out to some restaurants and touring with a small group. Our plans were to stay in Niagara Falls and to do a conducted wine tour on the Sunday so neither of us would have to drive. We booked a room at the Marriott on the Falls in Niagara Falls for Saturday and Sunday and a conducted tour on Sunday.

We had a great time and tasted some very fine wines. The following is a summary of some of the highlights. Or at least the highlights I can remember .....

Saturday: Lunch at Vineland Estates

On Saturday we drove over and had reserved a table for lunch at Vineland Estates Winery (another Beamsville Bench winery). They have a lovely restaurant with a view out over their vineyards, with Lake Ontario below in the near distance and, on a good day, you can spot Toronto across the lake in the far distance. 

We've been to the winery several times over the years and we had been to the restaurant before but it was many years ago during a very snowy Christmas break with a friend who I had worked with at the University of Waterloo. It wasn't very busy back then, but it was today. In the very large main room of the restaurant there was a large gathering of their wine club. We were in the smaller room to the side which wasn't as busy and was reasonably quiet. 

We had arranged that my brother David and his wife Gail would meet us for lunch. They live in Hamilton and this area is an easy reach for them. An alternate we had considered was Peninsula Ridge but we had been there not too long ago. I wanted to try this restaurant again and we're quite pleased that we did.

While waiting for David and Gail to arrive (we were early), Kate and I shared a glass of their unoaked Chardonnay. It was light and crispy, an ideal example of what an unoaked Chardonnay should be. Kate, it should be noted, prefers the oaked Chardonnays which are more in the California style — more flavors of pineapple and buttery in the mouth. That's fine, and it has it's place. For example, Lindeman's Bin 65 is our house Chardonnay and there's always a stack of the far more expensive California Chardonnays waiting in the wine cellar. But with salads and most foods the unoaked versions are more to my liking.

Kate asked for and they found an Oaked Chardonnay that she enjoyed with her dinner. It wasn't on the menu but the gracious server found that a bottle had been opened. Kate liked it a lot. The pours were generous and the stemware was fresh for each wine.

When David and Gail arrive they ordered a glass of wine as well. I think they ended up swapping wines. We ordered a bread appetizer to share with olive oil and balsamic on the side for dipping. A whole loaf of their wonderful bread came with a bit of black olive tapenade (at home we sometimes make our own), some ricotta lightly flavored with lemon zest and some pickled red onions served on a large slate. This appetizer was worth the price of admission, so much so that when we left we took a fresh loaf back to the hotel with us!

The menu had a prix fixe option of three course meals of your choosing but dishes could be ordered individually which is what we did. Kate had an Oaked Chardonnay with her trout and beets, I had a Pinot Meunier with the pork belly and cassolette, David had the soup and a chacuterie plate (it was huge!) while Gail had the squash soup with a bread pudding for dessert.

The meals were all gourmet/chef quality. The servers were professional, gracious, knowledgeable and helpful. The table was set with a crisp white table cloth, proper silverware and the wines were always served in fine fresh stemware. It was what I would call "fine dining" and it was reasonably priced. When it was time to clear the bill I offered to split it with David, he wanted to treat us and, although we argued a bit, it was only a bit. 

For wine, I was really interested in the Pinot Meunier having never had it in all of our travels. I'm aware that it's one of the wines (with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) found in the classic Champagne blend but hadn't seen it on it's own. The server, who was very gracious, kind and knowledgeable, told me it was a lot like Pinot Noir. That's my favorite grape — it makes a red wine that's subtle and not overpowering (like the "Meritage" blends popular in the region, California Cabernets, or the overly jammy Australia Shiraz sold here in Ontario). I ordered a glass and was pleasantly surprised by what I found.

We were going to pick up some of the wines we had enjoyed with our lunch at the Vineland Estate wine store as we were leaving but the wine club had the same idea and we didn't want to join their crush. We promised our selves that we would return later. [This counts as the one that got away.]

180 Estate Winery

After our long lunch with David and Gail, we parted ways and thought we might drop in at another winery or two on our way to Niagara Falls. We stopped in at 180 Estate Winery, in part because we'd never heard of, and in part because we didn't have any maps with us, but we didn't stay long. They have a nice sunny sheltered restaurant/tasting area and we might have stayed but the tasting involved 8oz. servings and we'd had enough already. Instead we bought a bottle of their Bourbon Barrel aged Sauvignon Blanc to take back to our hotel.

We were looking for Oaked Chardonnay (for Kate) and Pinot Noir (for Reg) and ended up asking one of the servers for her recommendations. She recommended several nearby wineries and suggested we try Westcott Vineyards which specializes in both — we got a map of the wine region and took up her suggestion.

The 180 Estate Winery is below the Beamsville Bench (on the flat plain by the lake well beyond the Niagara Escarpment), Vineland Estates is on the bench (on a sloping step just below the escarpment) and Westcott Vineyards is above the bench on top of the escarpment. These have different terroir, suitable for different wines, because of the soils and the weather. There are only a few wineries on top of the escarpment and Westcott is, in my opinion, one of the very best. Vieni is another and we had stopped in on our way to our lunch. Unfortunately there were a couple of tour buses there, it was very crowded, and we did not get to taste anything.

Westcott Wineries

At Westcott, it's a small boutique winery with a cosy tasting room. There are only a few cars in the lot, but the room is full with folks enjoying the wines. The wine steward managing the room, a young lady, tells me they politely decline the tour buses; they're far too small. I note that some of the guests today are travelling with a Uber driver. We're on a mission though and don't spend a lot of time chatting. We taste a couple of their Chardonnays (an Estate and a Reserve: yum!), then a couple of their Pinot Noir (an Estate and a Reserve: yum again!) and we purchase all four. They are impressive wines and exactly what we were looking for. Not cheap, but very much world class wines.

I note that some of the vines at Westcott are wrapped or under cover of some sort and the wine steward tells me that here, on top of the escarpment, wind and frost are issues and that part of the vineyard is subject to frost and freezing damage. Hence the blankets. 

It's been a mild winter so far. In our travels this weekend we discover that everyone who had plans to make ice wine has had a tough time of it — for many it's not been cold enough for long enough to freeze the grapes to make it. Some places had managed to pick some icewine during cold snaps in November and December but there's a lot of fruit still under nets. Others have told us about vines budding too early with the warm weather in January. Buds freezing off is another vaguery of the weather for wine growers.

Marriott on the Falls

We struck off across the country to find our way to Niagara Falls where we have booked a room at the "Niagara Falls Marriott on the Falls" (not to be confused with the "Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview" which is right across the street and only a stone's throw away). Both are on top of the escarpment with good views of Niagara Falls just below. We've paid extra for a guaranteed room above the 22nd floor and are given a corner room on the 24th floor for the view. We read somewhere that there's supposed to be a beer/wine tasting that comes with our room but we never figured that out. [Another one that got away.]

When we arrive it's way too cold and windy to do any exploring outside. The parking lot is full with cars parking where they ought not, but I find a place at the far end of the lot after unloading the car. We were able to get checked in pretty quickly, but we see later that there's a long queue at the check in. I wonder if they found any parking? Kate thinks the hotel is busy because Monday is the "Family Holiday" in Ontario. She checked out the pool at the hotel but there are a lot of kids and it's pretty small, too small to do laps. So we never get in a swim.

There is a Milestone restaurant at the hotel (we like to say "mill-eh-stone-en" in a fake Italian accent, a joke we picked up from Louis) where we might have dinner. There are lots of restaurants nearby but that evening we stay in our room munching on snacks we've brought with us, tearing bits from the loaf of bread we bought at lunch and drinking some of our wines while watching regular commercial TV — mostly home renovations and chef challenges. We don't have regular TV at home and keep reaching for the pause and rewind buttons that we're used to. And why isn't regular TV subtitled?

When it's dark the two falls (the "Horseshoe Falls" on the Canadian side and the "American Falls" on the other side) are lit up with lights that are changing colors. It's interesting, not terribly exciting, but interesting. At 8:00pm though there's a big fireworks display between the two falls that lasts quite a while. We're high enough that we're sort of looking down onto the fireworks which seem to be happening in the gorge between the two falls. Kate tells me she arranged this spectacle especially for me, I think she's pulling a fast one.

We asked the doormen the next day about the fireworks in hopes we might see them again that night. We are told they are scheduled irregularly over the winter season. They think it's just on Friday and Saturday nights and the timing depends on the park service. We were lucky to be in last night to catch the show rather than off at some restaurant for dinner.

Before falling asleep we order a room service breakfast for delivery early next morning: a pot of coffee, orange juice, pastries and some sausages. Kate has her juice, milk and breakfast cereal that she's packed for the trip — she's not much of a breakfast person. 

Sunday: Wine Tour

© Richard Peterson/Shutterstock

Sunday morning we have breakfast and my birthday in bed. Kate has brought some prezzies for me including a wind chime from Lyric Flowers, some licorice all sorts, a USB power supply/shelf and a very funny card: "Happy Birthday to a rare bird!" as shown at left. But mostly, the birthday celebrations today are the wine tour with the Community Transport Group which will pick us up at our hotel at 11:15am.

We have booked the Half Day Wine & Cheese Tour - Niagara On The Lake Wine through Viatour (a Tripadvisor company). There are several tours one might take. We picked this one as it was advertised to serve a small group. We didn't want to be carted around in a huge bus. It turned out to be a very small group.

We were waiting in the lobby, talking to the doormen about the fireworks, when we receive a phone call from Chris, our driver. He's waiting across the street at the other Marriott hotel and could we please come over and meet him there. It's not far but Kate is struggling with a bad ankle, she's using a cane, and we vow that we will be dropped off at our door. Chris, our driver, tells us there's only one place where he can park his van and it's in front of the other Marriott. He does drop us off at our door on our return and kindly helps with carting in the box of wine we purchased over the day visiting wineries.

In any case, we're on board and are met with a young mom and her two daughters who are staying at this Marriott. They have driven down last night from Whitby with a stop for a show in Toronto: they are Carolyn, Maddie and Chloe. They're celebrating the Maddie's birthday, she turned 23 on Saturday. We tell her we're celebrating mine today. So she's an Aquarius and I'm a Pisces — we're on the cusp of the two signs.

Chris tells us there's one more pickup where we are joined by two young women from London: Trystan and Diana. Each group is identified by where we've come from (Chris introduces us: "London gang, here's the Whitby gang and over here's the Saints from Saint Marys"). So, this is a small group. There's seven of us and I'm the only guy! That's the gang of us above at RiverView Cellars Winery, minus Kate who took the picture.

Our driver, Chris, is keen to educate us. Chloe, one of the young women, is taking a wine course at the local university and is keen to know more. Chris will interrupt our conversation with some important lesson that he's sure we need to know. He points out the various wineries we pass along the way, stops to show us videos from his phone of starlings waiting to pick grapes, he points out the grape netting to protect the ice wine from the starlings, the mounding in the fields to protect the grapes, the skins and seeds returned to the soil, and much more. Some, with tongues hanging out aching for some wine, will say he spends too much time hectoring us with useless information. Let's get to the wine tasting!

We stopped at four wineries on our tour and all are in the Niagara on the Lake area below the escarpment, a short distance north of Niagara Falls. We visited Lakeview Wine Company (actually a large consortium of several wine labels), Nomad at Hinterbrook Winery, Reif Estate Winery (where we had a cheese pairing) and RiverView Cellars Winery to end our day before heading home. Here's a quick summary of each.

Lakeview Wine Company

The Lakeview Wine Company is a large consortium that markets wines under many names: Lakeview (of course), 20 Bees, East Dell, and Fresh Wines. Only some of these are found at the LCBO and then only some of the portfolio under those names. Chris explains that the deal with selling through the LCBO requires 1) that you produce enough to deliver to all the stores, 2) that the price be the same as at the winery and 3) the LCBO gets half of the selling price. Now I don't know if any of that is true, but if true, you can see that selling direct from the winery has some advantages.

We often order on line through the LCBO and sometimes order direct from wineries (I recently bought a small case of Chateaux des Charmes Sparkling that Kate liked). Pretty much all of the wineries have clubs where they'll send you something each month. We buy wine from around the world and we are members of the Ontario Wine Society (Niagara Chapter) so I don't see a need to sign up with Lakeview or any of the wineries.

We have a private tasting in a glassed in room at the very back. We try several wines including a Cabernet Franc icewine that's thick, almost syrup. We're told that everyone in the region is having a problem getting their icewine off as the weather has not cooperated. We're offered some light rose to cut the icewine but I can't see why one would do that. At other wineries we sample some Vidal icewine.

Maddie, one of the young women in our group, is dutifully sticking her nose into the glass and sniffing deeply — she manages to snort up some of the wine into her nose!

We end up buying an 8% Mindful Rose (Kate thinks this will help moderate the calories and alcohol), a couple of 2016 Crooked Pine Late Harvest Cabernet Franc (half bottles but only $8.50), a 2020 Serenity Pinor Noir Rose, a 2017 East Dell Pinot Noir and a 2017 Syrah.

Nomad at Hinterbrook Winery

The remainder of the wineries Chris, our driver, stands back and the wine steward at the winery shows us around. Chris tells us that some wineries have complained to the tour operator that he's a little too pushy. Kate says he seemed a bit "shirty" about that.

Chris points out a nearby red barn and tells us that they make appasimento wines here (see more below) but we never tasted any. This is a new winery for us, we've not been before.

The wine steward is interesting. We try to identify his accent and he tells us he's from Ukraine and speaks several languages (English, Ukraine, Russian, German, and more). He's quite knowledgable, we understand he has a PhD., and we learn a bit from him. We taste a couple of sparkling rose wines and he explains the charmat method (the wine is fermented in a closed vessel to capture the effervescence as opposed to Champagne which has a secondary fermentaion in the bottle) and how sugar levels in sparkling wines are muted by the carbonation. These are wines to be enjoyed now, they are not for aging.

He tells us the popular story about Marie Antoinette: the champagne coupe was apparently shaped to fit her left breast. He acknowledges that it's just a myth. He then ponders the model for the champagne flute.

We taste a Pinot Grigio, which usually I find as a pretty bland wine, that I really like. It has a bit of grip to it and we buy a bottle. We taste their Bordeaux Blend, a 2018 Wanderlust Meritage, and he corrects my pronunciaion error — it's "meritage" like "heritage". We buy both of these. They're both bottled in expensive slim but heavy Bordeaux style bottles with proper corks — no screw caps here!

Chris hurries us along as we have more wineries to see and a schedule to keep. We could have stayed much longer talking to the wine steward. He was really interesting. But Chris, our driver, interrupted several times to hurry us along.

Reif Estate Winery

Reif (say it like "reef") Estate Winery is just outside of Niagara on the Lake along the Niagara River. We are escorted to a private tasting room where we have our wine and cheese combinations. It's just a very small snack (3 small pieces of cheese with 3 small crackers) but a welcome bite that goes well with the wine. Some of us skipped breakfast and are starved and a little tippsy.

We taste several wines and they're all quite nice. The steward is a young woman and the group engages pretty well with her. 

We bought a couple of "The Magician" which is a kiln dried Shiraz/Pinot Noir blend. We didn't taste this wine but I'm intrigued by the style — it ought to be interesting. The grapes are first dried in what I assume to be tobacco barns (not a "kiln" as like a potter's kiln). In Italy this is known as "appassimento" style made famous by Amarone wines of the north.

RiverView Cellars Winery

This winery is on the Niagara River just a little south of Reif. We've been tasting quite a few wines by now and are a bit giddy. The gang poses with me for the picture above and Kate buys some chocolate. The wine steward wasn't as engaging as some and I can't recall anything special about the wines. But I suspect that's largely because we're somewhat saturated with the various tastings.

We follow along the river back into Niagara chatting and having a great old time. The gang sings "Happy Birthday" for Reg as we drive by the Whirl Pool Gorge.

Sunday Night

That evening we go to Milestone's (say "mill-eh-stone-eh") at our hotel and order a dinner to take back to our room. There's no fireworks in the gorge tonight.

Monday: Returning Home

On Monday morning the wind has subsided. We check out of the hotel and drive down for a quick view of the Horshoe Falls before heading home via the QEW. My intention is to take the Expressway to Hamilton, then up the mountain, across the Alexander Parkway, then the 403 to Woodstock and the Embro Road home. But it's a lovely day and other ideas come to mind.

Kacaba Vineyard and Winery

We pulled off the QEW at Jordan Station with the intention of finding a place for lunch. Driving along King Street at the foot of the Beamsville Bench we stop into Kacaba Vineyard and Winery. We note their sign saying, "We're Open and have an award winning Syrah!". We turn around and head back to them.

It's not busy, it's early Monday morning, and we have a tasting with a nice young wine steward. She tells us there's a $25 fee for the tasting but they will waive it if you buy some wine. The place has expanded quite a bit since our last visit and now has a huge tasting room. She takes us to a private table/tasting station where we share and sample a few wines. All are very impressive. The whites are lovely, but a touch too cold. She agrees and tells us the fridge at that tasting station runs too cold and there's no adjustment on it! They must have their own stemware washer as each tasting is served in a fresh glass. The stemware are large, made of fine glass, and the pours are more than ample. 

We're looking for that special Oaked Chardonnay (for Kate) and Pinot Noir (for Reg) and are not disappointed. I think we ended up tasting 5 or 6 wines (well beyond what the tasting includes). We end up buying a 2018 Oaked Chardonnay and a 2020 Estate Chardonnay as well as a couple of the 2021 Susan's Sauvignon Blanc. The steward tells us that their vineyard was planted in reds and, while I enjoy their Pinot Noir, I am gob smacked by a 2019 Proprietor's Block Syrah and a 2018 Reserve Syrah — we buy both. A few years ago I brought back a Peninsula Ridge Syrah that I had found at a tasting. These are only the second Syrah I've ever had from Ontario. They're lighter than Australian Shiraz (which is often too "jammy") and cleaner/fresher/less earthy than the French Syrah. We are impressed and decide we'll set these aside for a dinner with our friends Carol and Bob.

As we're checking out, we had picked 5 wines, the steward says, "You know if you order a case (of 6) you get 15% off?" — that's how we ended up with the two Sauvignon Blanc to round out our case. She was an excellent steward and a good salesperson as well. And they have lovely wines, do sample them if you're in the area. At this writing there are five (5) Kacaba wines at the LCBO but all the ones we purchased are only available at the winery.

They kindly try to help us find an open restaurant and make some suggestions. However, it's Monday of a holiday weekend and we can't find anything open. We even called Peninsula Ridge, where there's a restaurant, but it was closed that day. So we continue on home driving along Mud and Fly Roads on the top of the escarpment.

Bottom Line Summary

This note is a lot longer than I had intended. Let me close off and give a quick summary of lessons here:

1. Take a wine tour, you'll make some friends and taste many fine wines. 
2. The quality of Ontario wines in the Niagara VQA is stellar. There's lots of really great wines.
3. I'm particularly impressed by the several Syrah we tried.
4. Enjoy a nice chef quality meal at an Ontario Winery.
5. The wineries we were most impressed with were smaller and off the beaten trail.