Playa del Carmen

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Kate and I left the cold and snow of November for the sun and beaches of Playa del Carmen on the Mayan Riviera. We flew Air Transat, the holiday package was through them, out of Toronto on the Monday afternoon of November 10 to Cancun where we were shuttled down the coast about an hour or so to our all-inclusive resort, the Reef Coco Beach, very near the heart of town Playa del Carmen. We were there for a two week vacation and returned on November 14.

If you're brave enough to venture into the photo album at left you may be bored with too many sunrise/sunset photos like that shown. Every morning I was up to catch the sunrise; likewise every evening for sunset.

Our intention was to find a comfortable place where it would be warm and we could do a bit of snorkeling, swimming and have a fast internet so we could work on our photos and this blog. We're not resort types, we'd much rather visit an interesting city (like Austin) or a country like Australia, but have been to resorts like this before. When my brother Paul lived in Halifax (he's in Thailand now) we used to meet up with him and Judy for a week in the winter at a Caribbean all-inclusive resort (e.g., see Cuba (2005) and Mexico (2006)). That worked well then, we would visit and explore a bit together.

This resort is in, or at least very close to, the city of Playa del Carmen. The resort is on the beach with the city right behind us. To the north there's a large public beach, Playa coco beach, with some fenced off rough bush land (probably soon to be developed as yet another resort). To the south it's miles and miles of resorts right on the beach. The beach at our resort is somewhat protected by a nearby reef that we had hoped to swim to. Unfortunately many, many fishing and diving boats use that reef as a shelter — it's a bit of a busy harbor or anchorage for the many boats in the area. This meant swimming out through the boats would be dangerous at best (cf. Kirsty MacCall and her death at Cozumel). And, while most days were calm in the morning, the wind would regularly pick up which made for choppy waters. We often noted sailboarding and kitesurfing on the large area to the north of us.

With respect to the beach, to add insult to injury the resort has a fenced off swimming area to keep those boats away. The water quality within this fenced off area was awful with plastics, wipes and other crap floating about. And to add insult to that injury the beach, when we arrived, was awash in heaps and heaps of sargassum (a prolific seaweed and a problem throughout the Caribbean).  To give the town and resort credit there were staff and machinery out every day to clean up the seaweed. I had thought their battle was a lot like the myth of Sisyphus; I am surprised at how effective they were!

All of the above means we didn't swim much in the ocean. Every day we'd go down to the dive shop and ask about snorkeling. They were always sending out scuba divers and they always promised us that they would send us out tomorrow, another day when it's not so windy, the weekend looks better, etc. That never happened. We did end up going out on a short catamaran tour out of a resort some distance to the north of us at Playa Maroma. Oddly, they wouldn't let me take any pictures with "that camera" although they were keen to sell us pictures they had taken. Oh yes, and I couldn't get my go-Pro wanna be under water camera to work. Sheeet!

We paid extra for better seats on Air Transat to accommodate Kate's mobility problems. The seats had a bit more room and were a little less crowded; but only a little. On long flights, like to Europe in June, we pay for business class seats and Kate insists on lay flat sleeping pods for overnight trips. Part of this trip was to see how Kate might fair on a daytime flight to this part of the world — we're thinking of a long stay trip to Central America this winter. Kate survived (obviously) but it was not easy for her.

We arrived very late in the evening of November 10; I recall it was around 10:30 or 11:00 at night. Kate was in considerable pain having been up and about for 12 hours. The shuttle, which we were told would drop us off first, drove through Playa del Carmen to the very large gated community of Playacar on the south end of the city before returning us, the last passengers, to our hotel on the north end of the city. This was a needlessly long an bumpy ride through the rough streets of Playa del Carmen and resort lanes of Playacar.

We were given a room with two single beds on the top floor above the hotel reception as far as possible from the ocean. This was not the partial ocean view room we had bargained on and paid extra for. We were not happy and there was no other room for us at that time of the day. It might have been worse, we met a couple who spent their first night at another Reef Resort (actually a hotel) in the city center. The next day we meet up with a resort Hospitality Manager/Liason, Yullianna, who appreciated our problem and helped sort things out. She found us lolling on the beach and took us to a much nicer room, with a king bed, close to the shore, a very good partial ocean view, and overlooking the pool. We were moved to this room after it was vacated and tidied up that afternoon.

That's when we discovered the very loud music system designed to entertain, motivate and exercise guests around the pool. Why does the music have to be so feckin' loud! "ARE WE HAVING FUN YET!" "Well I'd be having more fun if I didn't have to yell to be heard!". I don't think we're crabby old geezers and I don't think your having fun with LOUD MUSIC should impede on my quiet relaxation. We met a regular who had an ocean view (to avoid the loud music at the pool) and he tells us he and is wife have a running battle over the loud music. They even circulated a petition and have posted nasty reviews in hopes of getting the noise abated if only a little.

Here's an odd thing about the noise. Next door is an exclusive restaurant/pool area that's part of our resort. You need to pay an extra $30US per day, per person to go there. During the day it is a quiet oasis with it's own pool overlooking the ocean. At night, even there, they crank up the music. God knows where you go to escape the noise.

On hotel rooms, apart from the very large ocean view apartments, which cost a lot (well outside our reach) I really don't think there's much of a difference. There's about 300 rooms, all inward facing, where there's a largish pool, the building is in a U-shape, mostly 3 stories, with the open end to the beach. At the one end there's a garden area (taken up mostly by an unused min-golf), then there's the pool with the swim up bar, and at the beach end another pool that's a bit deeper. In the deeper pool (it's only maybe 5' deep) they do some scuba training in the morning; the rest of the day it's exercises, water polo and dumb games.

The resort has a buffet restaurant (for all meals) across the pool from us, a quick stop hamburger and chips kind of stand by the shallow pool, and three "restaurants" upstairs on the second floor above the buffet where you make a "reservation for dinner". They are Italian, Mexican and Japanese themed. We tried all three and liked the Italian restaurant the best (we had dinner there 3 times). 

There is an odd funny story about the Japanese restaurant. This is one of those affairs where they cook in front of you on a large flat grill (I think it's called a Teppanyaki) and juggle their knives, spatulas, food, etc. We had been to one before, many years ago, in London with Jack and Doreta. Anyway, the night we were there the chef is doing his shtick (with lots of flames and odd sexually suggestive food arrangements) when one of the servers announces that it's the chef's birthday today. The server leads us in song, "Happy birthday to you!". I even add in a second verse, and got a few laughs:

May you live a thousand years
May you drink a thousand beers
Get plastered, you b...ad boy
Happy birthday to you!

Anyways, a few nights later we're at the Italian restaurant (they all share a kitchen and washroom area) and what do I hear people singing, next door, in the Japanese restaurant? Why they're singing "Happy birthday to you!" What an odd coincidence; odd that the same chef should have two birthdays! Does he have one every night?

When you arrive one of the things "The Reef" (ie. the resort company) wants you to do is sit for a morning sales pitch where they try to sell you on investing in a long stay — here or at another development (they have three and might be working on another). One of the rewards for doing so was a fancy dinner set by the seaside. We declined both. Although we did meet a Canadian who had invested in 60 weeks at this resort which he's been spreading out over several years. He gets an ocean view room that faces the ocean, just down the hall from ours, that avoids the noise and music around the pool. I don't think I'd like to come to the same resort every time; especially this one.

The food at the buffet was fine (never quite hot enough for me) and the staff were friendly. We'd often meet up with a server, Deyadira, at breakfast, she'd serve us coffee and would always joke with us asking if we wanted tequila with our breakfast. We'd decline but promised her that on our last day we'd try a "Tequila Sunrise" and we did. We got talking to her a bit; she tells us she works every day (I guess resorts jobs are pretty good in the pecking order) and is early in a pregnancy. We congratulate her and wish her well. Kate was talking to one of the young chefs at breakfast who was making breakfast omelettes. She tells us she's on an internship, is grateful to be there, and doesn't get paid at all!

On the pay issue, although I suppose resort staff are paid well by Mexican standards, I rather doubt it's paid well by our standards. We were encouraged by friends to bring some cash with us and tip the servers. This we did regularly, at meals, at the bar, taxis and for the domestic who cleans our room. We saw that others did the same (not a lot, but some). We had quite a bit of Mexican cash with us in fairly large denominations. We found it impossible to get bills changed. At the front desk the smallest bill they ever had was $500MX; we were aiming to drop $50MX here and there as a tip but found it difficult.

But people don't come to all-inclusive resorts for the food. We came for the drinks. There was a small bar with a quiet sitting area at reception, another swim up bar at the pool, a bar at the buffet restaurant and, by the dive shop, a small bar that opened in the evening — we called that one the "Dive Bar". We were regulars at the pool bar; Kate devoted to pina-coladas (more dark rum please) and Reg toyed with various Margaritas (blended, on ice, less sweet, no salt, even straight tequila with a slice of lime, and sorry we don't have any Mezcal).  With our meals we'd usually drink their house white — a Spanish plonk a bit more drinkable than their house red.

Most days we'd loll around the pool, drinks in hand, maybe trying to work on the computer, until the entertainment came out and the pounding disco drove us away to the deck by the sea at the "Dive Bar" where we'd play Mexican Train. That's a simple tile/dominos game we brought with us; our friend Joan introduced us to the game years ago. It's fun, requires some thought, but the winner is often by luck. One day a guest walking by enviously asked if we had got the game at the resort. "Sorry no, we brought it."

Working on our laptops, tablets, etc. to sort photos and write in this blog was difficult. The screens just aren't bright enough when sitting outside. Our balcony might have been nice but then there was the loud "music" that would drive you away. And who wants to work inside?

There were a couple of parties around the pool at night. One night there was a staged show with fireworks, another night there was a wedding party. That was a small group but they were keen to party hard.

In other posts I talk about the Street Art work I found and our visit to a local Frida Kohla museum/gallery. There's also a 3D-Museum of Wonders that we went to see downtown. We had been to one in Chaing Mai Thailand a few years ago and thought it might be fun. Unfortunately the entry fee was way out of line, we declined.

From the beach you can see large cruise ships and the resorts on Cozumel; a large island in the distance that shelters Playa del Carmen. In the evening the glow from the lights on the island lights the sky. At first I thought the large structures on the horizon where mountains on Cozumel. It turns out they were the massive, mountainous cruise boats.

We took a taxi to the Cozumel ferry terminal about 3km down the beach from our resort. One morning I had walked about half way there to the Muelle Constituyentes pier. The ferry terminal is a bigger deal by far with many high speed boats dashing back and forth. There's a park area, Parque Los Fundadores, with entertainers and lots of shops, and lots of lots of hawkers. We rode over to Cozumel, pooped around for a while, and didn't see much of the island. Apparently there's very good snorkeling around the island. We met an English couple (newly wed and Jehovah Witness) at the Japanese restaurant who had done a day long catamaran tour that stopped at 4 different snorkeling spots on the island. We might have liked that but couldn't see us lasting the day.

Years ago, in 2006, we had been to a much larger resort way out from any town, the Bahia Principe Luxury Akumal, which is closer to Tulum. We had taken this resort because it was smaller and in the town. Because it was small you were not able to get away from the hub-bub. We avoided a large resort so we wouldn't have to walk great distances to restaurants and events at the resort (for the Bahia Principe we brought our folding travel bikes so Kate could get around).

Street Art

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Playa del Carmen is an odd city with some beautiful modern buildings but there are also some terribly crappy areas. Some of each are found on our resort's doorstep.

I'm a fan of street art and there is an abundance around the city. While we didn't leave our resort very often I did get out a few times and captured some of the street art. Some of it is political, much of it is very well done, very little of it is the ugly tagging graffiti you sometimes see elsewhere.

While not "art" the store front "My Fucking Restaurant" is one of the oddest I have ever encountered. I really like the devilish creature pictured at left.

Greetings from Canada

While basking in the sun we remember that all is not well in this world. I write to our friend Igor in Kharkiv:

"Greetings from Kate and Reg. We hope this finds you. (sic!)

We haven't written in some time but you're often in our thoughts. As winter settles in Canada and Ukraine this is yet another tough season ahead for you and the war in UA. Today we're escaping the cold in sunny Mexico but return to Canada soon for the Christmas season. You cannot so easily escape the hardships of winter and war.

We see that Russia continues their daily barrage against the civilian population and energy infrastructure throughout UA. I hope you are safe and doing well in spite of all that and can be comfortable this winter.

We are pleased to see long range strikes into Russia with locally developed drone technologies. Congratulations there. We see EU members continue and escalate their support with aircraft, missile defence, access to frozen Russia assets and more. Much more should be done to support UA and end this war.

Trump, the Lyin' King, continues as an embarrassment to the free world, a fickle friend to NATO and UA, and an obvious Putin Puppet. Recent US "peace" plans seem to be, yet again, a capitulation to Russia that cannot be supported.

War can easily end; all it takes is for Russia to leave!

For many years now we have escaped winter for a month or so in Texas. Not so this year.  We have sworn never to return to the US until fascism is defeated and sanity returns. That will be a long time, but we are hopeful.

I must go now. We pray for a UA victory, a unification with the EU and NATO, a rightful just peace in our time.

Stay strong, you have friends even in the darkest hour. As Churchill said early in WW II, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Slava Ukraine!

Heroyam Slava!

Next summer, or a summer soon enough, I hope we can share a drink together on the sunny beaches of UA Crimea.

XO K&R"

And a few hours later Igor replies:

"Dear Kate and Reg!

Your thoughtful and empathyc messages always lift my spirits.

It's always nice to feel the support of friends.

This winter in Ukraine will be truly difficult.

The gas supply is working without interruptions, so my house is warm. But the electricity is intermittent for six hours, twice a day. So, I bought a gasoline generator. Along with the electricity, the water supply is also cut off.

But Ukrainians are a resilient and resourceful people! Today, I built a makeshift water tower in the attic of my house :)

I'm sure we will overcome all difficulties and prevail!

And then, of course, we'll meet in Ukrainian Crimea :)

Best wishes,

Igor"

We are so pleased that we can still connect, he's still there: alive and kicking. I reply 

"So glad our message found you. We can't imagine the hardships your compatriots are experiencing. It's like some bad movie.

We hope for and believe in better days.

Until next time. 

Your faithful feckless friends from Canada"

And Igor signs off a smile :)

Frida Kahlo

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Kate has discovered that there's a Frida Kahlo gallery/museum in Playa del Carmen (see Museo Frida Kahlo Riviera Maya on Facebook). It's an opportunity for us to get out of the resort, see some art and some of the city. We have a taxi pick us up and drive us near the museum about 20 minutes away near the city center. 

Taxi rides run $200MX for most destinations in the city; that's about $16CA, but we usually just divide by 10 to figure out the exchange. 

There's a modest entry fee and we are given a conducted tour with a young woman who tells us the story of Frida Kahlo's life on display in series of exhibits. I knew a little bit, that she had lived her life in pain, but it turns out I knew very little. She had childhood polio which crippled her one side and as a young woman nearly died in a tram crash that crushed her spine. Throughout her life she had many surgeries and many cumbersome braces to "fix" these problems. But nothing ever worked, she lived a life of pain.

This is more a museum than a gallery. There are no original works of hers but several digital copies on display. I understand that she only painted 150-200 pieces in her life; that's not a lot for an artist of her renown. But like many artists her fame is largely posthumous. One of the recreations in the museum was a physical replica of her bed (cf. pictured above which broke records in a recent auction):

An arresting self-portrait by Frida Kahlo, featuring the artist slumbering beneath a tangle of vines in a carved canopy bed with a skeleton reclining above her, set records at a Sotheby's auction on Thursday night in New York. The 1940 painting, called El sueño (La cama), sold for $54.7 million, the most expensive artwork by a woman ever auctioned. It also broke the previous auction record for Kahlo's work. — See NPR article 2024/11/19.

The tour guide, noting Kate's mobility issues, finds a wheel chair for us and leads us through the museum. There aren't a lot of patrons today. We learn of her birth, her family, her childhood, travels to the US and Europe, and much more. For much of her life, because of the polio and tram injuries, she painted from her bed as in the picture above. That explains why many of her works are pictures of herself; she was painting from a mirror hanging over her. Her uni-brow is a well known feature of these paintings. She was adamantly proud of who she was and how she looked.

She had an interesting, eventful life, nonetheless. She married the same man twice, Diego Rivera (an likewise famous artist), had several lovers, she was bisexual, a communist (there's a connection to Trotsky), and an advocate for Mexican traditions in art (like the day of the dead folk art) and dress.

One of the exhibits was a day of the dead altar; we've seen these in Austin. On the altar are several offerings, Mezcal and Tequila, and several large skulls. We are told by the guide that one of Frida's favorite candies was the "Day of Dead" sugar skulls. There's a picture of her holding a life size candy skull. Our guide gave us a couple of small candy skulls as souvenirs of the museum.

Frida Kahlo died in 1954 at 47years of age after a lifetime of pain. Apparently her last recorded words were written in her diary shortly before her death: "I joyfully await the exit — and I hope never to return". I also have read of an other equality poignant ending, 

Shortly before her death, Frida said: "When I die, burn my body. I don't want to be buried. I spent a lot of time lying down. Just burn it!" On July 13, 1954, the rain said goodbye to Frida Kahlo, who for her funeral had been dressed in a typical Mexican and with her right hand resting on her chest. Her body was cremated and her ashes are kept in the Casa Azul in Coyoacán, the place where she was born. Her last painting is exhibited at the Frida Kahlo Museum. It is an oil painting that shows several pieces of watermelon in very bright tones. In one of them, and next to her signature, it reads: "Viva la vida. Coyoacán, 1954, México".    — See Handmade by Paola Pizzaferri on Facebook.

With the fuss about the auction, only a few days ahead, Noelle, our gifted artist niece, posted on Facebook one of her digital works commemorating Frida. I really like that work and have left a copy in the photo gallery above.

P.s. this Museum/Gallery in Play del Carmen should not be confused with the Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacán, where Frida was born, lived and died, which is a much larger proper gallery with original artworks.  Nevertheless, I'd recommend visiting this museum when in Playa del Carmen.

Hayes Carll

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Kate and I went to Toronto on Tuesday to see Hayes Carll and his Gulf Coast Orchestra (guitar/banjo, bass, percussion/drums, mandolin/violin, and keyboards) at the Horseshoe Tavern. He's touring to support a new album, "We're Only Human" (2025) but the show dives deep into his catalogue. We were there only recently to see James McMurtry with Gord and Leslie. In Austin, Hayes Carll is considered by many to be the next best thing since sliced bread — although I believe he lives in Nashville these days (sort of like Guy Clark who was famous in Texas but lived and worked from Nashville). I understand that Hayes Carll is married to Allison Moorer (see "That's the Way Love Goes"), another singer in her own right, whom he "stole" from Steve Earle. If you like Americana you should know of him.

We've seen him live a couple of times in Austin but only at award shows and that sort of thing — we've never been anywhere where we could catch a whole concert. In Austin he plays large halls. He sold out the Horseshoe in Toronto, standing room only, perhaps 300-400 patrons. He has fans here and could probably sell small concert halls in Toronto (which would be nicer for us).

We booked an overnight room at the Chelsea Hotel (Yonge and Gerrard). As it happens it was the cheapest and we have lots of fond memories from staying there over the years. The intention was to arrive early in the day and enjoy a bit of R&R; especially at the pool. But then our next door neighbour's dad, Bill Armstrong, had died and the funeral mass was that very afternoon. Bill was the father to Dianne (of Dianne and Chico), Gloria (of Gloria and Al) and Danny (of Dan and Wendy) and we had spent lots of Christmas Eve's with all of them, next door making music, drinking and chatting. We knew and liked Bill and his extended family — so we couldn't miss the funeral mass. That made us pretty late leaving for Toronto; but it still seemed workable. So we went to the funeral but skipped the internment and reception afterwards and instead headed out for Toronto.

Our plan was to get to the hotel by 6:00 and check in. Reg would immediately take an Uber or cab to the Horseshoe and stand in line to make sure we got good seats, and Kate would lie around resting until the show was ready to start. She hadn't decided whether to go for the fronting act, Aaron Raitiere, or just go for Hayes Carll. The traffic was awful, we ran into a parade (National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), and it was looking like we wouldn't get to the hotel until 6:30 or later so we decided to park the car near the Horseshoe, and Kate would take an Uber to the hotel and come back later. Reg would have to watch his drinking since he would need to drive back to the hotel later. Kate had a nice Uber driver from India; Reg arrived at the Horseshoe at 6:30 and met some nice people early in line and of a like mind. He was, like, 4th or 5th in the general admission line. Good plan — doors open at 7:00, show starts at 8:00 with Hayes Carll on around 9:00.

However, when Reg got in, there were no seats, absolutely none. It was standing room only. The best he could do was get a standing spot at stage left by the speakers. It seems they sell VIP tickets, which gives early admission, and they sold so many of these that the VIP's took all of the seats. We could have bought VIP tickets but we weren't particularly interesting in the various perks — there was no mention about seating. So we texted back and forth but in the end, we couldn't figure out how it could work for Kate to go at all. For one thing, for her to get in, Reg would have to lose his spot by the stage in order to meet her at the entrance with the cell phone app that would get her in. Plus, Kate, with her ankle injury, couldn't stand for that long. So she missed the show entirely. Reg stayed and enjoyed the music very much — both acts — but came home with every part of his body aching from the prolonged standing. Plus, he could only have one beer while there, the one he bought while in line, because if he left to get a beer, he'd lose his spot. But being up front he got some good pictures and really enjoyed the music. He took notes of the songs performed and some of the chatter that form the basis of the following.

Opening Act: Aaron Raitiere

The opening act at 8:00 was Aaron Raitiere, who hails from Danville KY, see his YouTube Channel. He was quite the hit coming up on stage and immediately grabbing the audience's attention. He was wearing a "Turtle" green hockey shirt and started the show with a "Go Turtles" holler with the audience. It turns out he didn't bring any "merch" to sell so offered to auction off his Turtle shirt to the highest bidder over $200 (is that Canadian or US dollars?). Hayes told a story later about another time time when Aaron toured with him without bringing any merch; instead he did sketches of Hayes with titles like "Music Righter" and did quite well selling these — Aaron did better than him!

Aaron is an interesting multi-talented performer/artist and has quite a few co-writes (including with Hayes). Hayes tells us that at the 2025 CMA awards (coming up November 19), of the songs nominated for "Song of the Year", Aaron has co-writing credits on 2 of the 4 songs: “4x4xU” (Jon Decious, Aaron Raitiere, Lainey Wilson) and “You Look like You Love Me” (Riley Green, Ella Langley, Aaron Raitiere).

• There were a lot of jokes and some very brief one-liner humorous songs. One line I've written down was "I'm so miserable without you, it's just like you're here" and that seems to be from a 1992 song by Billy Ray Cyrus.
• Another drunken doped up story song is "Armadillo" (Aaron Raitiere, Jon Decious & Parker Twomey) from Miranda Lambert's album "Postcards from Texas" (2024). The premise of the song is telling a tall tale to your partner when you've arrived home late, stoned and drunk. The excuse is "Met an armadillo with a gun, that's where I was last night".
• Aaron is quite self deprecating and describes his schtick as singing "Songs about boogers and such". There's a song about ADHD and being OCD (he likes these acronyms). See "ADHD Hypomanic Alcoholic Son of a Bitch" (by Frank South, Aaron Raitiere, Colin Raitiere circa 2012) on YouTube.
• This ties to a song about "Cold Soup" from the album "Single Wide Dreamer" (2022) that tells the story of the homeless; perhaps those with ADHD or OCD?
• "You're Crazy" from the same album has the notable lines "And I don't know what else to call it, baby, you're crazy. 'Cause if you had any sense you'd a left him by now".
• "Dear Darlin'" is a breakup letter from the same album. Things are not going well; the notable line is "Cussin' you in cursive, hope this letter makes you cry".
• Kate had found a Youtube video of "Single wide dreamer" from that album. Notable lines include: "Single wide dreamer in a double wide world" and "He works extra hard to not work too hard". The video is cartoonish.
• Someone in the audience called out for "Jesus Jenny" (performed by Ashley McBryde & Aaron Raitiere, writers Aaron Raitiere & Jon Decious) from Ashley McBryde's concept album "Lindeville" (2022). There was a reference to the line "Titties popping out of your turtleneck" but he didn't do the song
• Aaron did perform "Excuse me, you look like you love me" which I mentioned earlier. If you chase the link you'll be taken to a 2024 version with Shelley Fairchild. It's a silly story about bars, gals, guys and closing time pickup lines .. that don't work (at least for guys it doesn't work). The song has been recorded by several artists.
• Aaron refers to Uber, the ride share system, as Hubert, my dog. He played for a little over half an hour and was quite a treat. A lot on the gallows side of humor but well worth a listen.

I'd encourage you to check out Aaron Raitiere (here's his YouTube Channel) there's lots to listen to. "Live at the Basement" (2021) is a good sample of what I saw. If you like a mashup of John Prine, Kinky Friedman and Shel Silverstein he's your guy!

Headline: Hayes Carll and the Gulf Coast Orchestra

After a short break Hayes Carll and the Gulf Coast Orchestra came on stage at around 9:00. The touring band is: Thayer Sarrano on keyboards, Mike Meadows on drums/percussion, Noah Jeffries on fiddle/mandolin, Scott Davis on guitar/banjo, and Jared Reynolds on bass. I didn't catch where all the members were from. His colleague on electric guitar (and banjo) was a high school classmate from back in Houston. The bass player was from Nashville, I think the drummer was from Austin, there was a fellow on mandolin and violin, and a young woman on keyboards who was from Nashville.

• The electric set starts with "Drunken Poet's Dream" from "Trouble in Mind" (2007). I think that's a cowrite with Ray Wylie Hubbard. Lots of notable lines, but I like: "Well, she laughs for a minute 'bout the shape I'm in. Says, "You be the sinner, honey, I'll be the sin".
• "Faulkner Street" from "Trouble in Mind" (2007) is a tune I'm not familiar with. It's a fond remembrance of his drunken early times. The chorus is: "Trouble in mind. How'd we ever lose that time? Livin' for the best. Leavin' all the rest behind".
• "What I Will Be" from "We're Only Human" (2025) is a turn around from those drunken days and talks about living a quiet life by the ocean. Notable lines: "I am what I am. An insecure mountain. Long-winded fountain of useless advice" and "From now until the end; I'm gonna be what I will be."
• "You get it all" from "You Get It All" (2021) is a love song, a ballad, that he often sings solo on guitar. Tonight he did it with the full band. Still a lovely song.
• "If I May Be So Bold" from "What It Is" (2019) is a Highway 61 tinged rocker. I'm not sure what it's about. The chorus includes "There's a whole world out there waitin'; Full of stories to be told; And I'll heed the call and tell 'em all; If I may be so bold".
• "Any Other Way" from "You Get It All" (2021) is another cowrite with Aaron Raitiere. Features violin and reaches back to classic country. I like the lines of the chorus "There ain't nobody; Who knows how life's gonna happen; Only thing to do is live it 'til it's gone". Hayes tells us about Aaron's CMA nominations and the merch stories.
• "High" from "We're Only Human" (2025) is a a slow one; likely about enjoying the moment with some libations or drugs. But it's also about being content and comfortable with where he is now in life.
• "Progress of Man (Bitcoin & Cattle)" from "We're Only Human" (2025) is a co-write with Aaron Raitiere. A great word play with some biting commentary: "The world's gettin' turned on by assholes and racists. And it's all for the progress of man". The title reminds me of a Townes Van Zandt song, "For the sake of the song" but only in the title.
• "Stay Here Awhile" from "We're Only Human" (2025) , another slow one, was introduced with a story about being comfortable in life in Tennessee and watching a blue jay building a nest out the window (the Toronto Blue Jays had just recently won their division title and that got an audience response). "Let me be that blue jay, Knowing I belong. And no matter what lies on the road up ahead; May I always have my song".
• They did a rockin' version of "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" (a Tom Waits song made famous by the Ramones) which appeared, as a much more gentle tune, on "Trouble in Mind" (2007).
• "Down the Road Tonight" from the album "Little Rock" (2005) is another Dylan/Highway 61 spoken word mouthful telling the story of wild times on the road. The line that stuck out to me was "My first girlfriend works at Hooters". I'm not familiar with this album, it's not on Youtube, but gosh, it's 20 years ago!
• "I Got Away With It" is a slow one from "We're Only Human" (2025) that tells the story of a broken relationship where he's at fault. "And I acted like some kind of stranger. When she desperately needed a friend". He may have got away with it but lives with regret.
• Hayes was talking about Fred Eagle Smith, how he had helped him out when he was touring in Texa. He mentioned Roger Marin and Darcy Yates who where both here tonight. He talked about a cross country tour of Canada where gigs where missed, and long days spent travelling to the next gig. Someone from the audience called out for "Bible on the Dash" (2012) with Corb Lund. Another funny tune spearing Christians. He didn't do it tonight. He told a story about touring in Canada and the border hassles — inadvertently they were caught with an orange on returning to the US. They were fined and crossing borders thereafter meant he'd be stopped and searched. Border services in the US (ICE and CBP) have been arseholes for a long time.
• "I got a gig", from the album from "Trouble in Mind" (2007), tells the story of his young days starting out at Hurricane Bob's on Crystal Beach Texas where getting a gig was an accomplishment. There's a banjo prominent in this tune with his friend from Houston, his electric guitarist.
• "What it is", from the album of the same name (2019), is one of those songs of regret and hope for the future. The chorus includes: "And what it is is right here in front of me. And I'm not letting go".
• "Good People (Thank Me)" is another co-write with Aaron Raitiere from "We're Only Human" (2025) . It's become a popular sing along with a simple story and easy chorus: "Thank God for good people, thank people for being kind". We were all encouraged to sing along (unlike the encore).
• "KMAG YOYO" from "KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories)" (2011) is a rocker with Dylan like spoken lyrics (cf. "Johnny's in the basement, mixing up the medicine, I'm on the pavement, thinking about the government") that tells the story of a young fellow who signs up and ends up in Afghanistan ... selling heroin and going down some strange paths with the CIA. The acronym KMAG YOYO is "Kiss my ass good-bye; you're on your own."
• "To Keep From Being Found" from "You Get It All" (2021) is another nice tune I hadn't really listened to before. It's another sad story about the hard life touring and travelling and loves lost. A line that leaps out to me was "I ain't ever going back to Texas. I'll pay the cost, Of being lost, Just to keep from being found".
• "Nice Things" from the album "You Get It All" (2021) is funny commentary on our world — God comes down to earth and she meets all sorts of dumb things we do: pollution, drugs and a hypocrisy.
• "One Day" from "We're Only Human" (2025) is a quieter tune with a hopeful. "One day I'm gonna get there. right where I belong."
• The set ended with "We're Only Human" (2025) from the album by the same name. This is another quiet reflective tune, a little sad -- "We're only human, nothing more".
• For the encore, Hayes came on solo, without the band, just his guitar, to sing "Beaumont" from "Trouble in Mind" (2007). A lovely rueful story of a failed romance "I could not wait forever, I hope you understand". A couple of guys behind me seemed to love and know the song by heart; they sang along ... loudly. I wished they had just sung quietly for themselves.
• The encore ended with the band returning. They did a couple of rockers, "Hard Out Here" and "Stomp and Holler" both from the album "KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories)" (2011). Both songs about touring and living on the road.

We have been listening to Hayes Carll for several years now. This show impressed me with the depth of his catalogue and the quality of his song writing. If you like a bit of John Prine, mixed with a large dash of Highway 61 Dylan, lots of blues and Ray Wylie Hubbard then Hayes Carll should be on your must-listen list. Here's his YouTube Channel.

See also Hayes Carll on Wikipedia.

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.

Lake Florence

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We were in Victoria, BC for the wedding of our great nephew Mordecai (Cai) and his partner Gillian (Gil) on July 12 which happens to also be the 80th birthday of Reg's brother Anthony (as a child he was and remains "Tony" to me). It was a fun wedding; we were so happy to be able to attend.

We had rented a hotel room by the inner harbor where we had stayed for Tony and Pat's wedding back in August of 2021 but, having reconsidered, we found an AirBnB on Lake Florence which was much closer to Cai & Gil and Tony & Pat. Had we stayed downtown we would have been closer to Ellen and Ken. Noelle and Grier where there for a week, stayed nearby, and spent quite a bit of time with Ellen.

I am surprised to see that Victoria is a large sprawling city (actually a city of independent towns). Lake Florence is a quiet woodland oasis; you easily forget that you're in the city. It looks and feels an awful lot like cottage country.

The lake is quite small; Kate can easily swim to the other side or each end. Me, not so easily, but I probably could/might make it. Because it's a small lake there are no motor boats; that helps to make it very safe for swimming. Most cottages have a dock that detaches and is powered by a small electric trolling motor. It's quite funny to see a dock putt-putting at barely walking speed crawl across the lake with passengers lolling on a couch or comfy chairs with an umbrella for shade. Our dock detaches as well but we never try it. There's also stand up paddle boards and other toys for us to try. However, we just enjoy the swimming.

Our AirBnB is a private well appointed room on the lower floor of a largeish residence under tall trees. There are several similar units. Our host runs a yoga retreat here. They have a friendly dog and odd collection of garden knick-knacks scattered around the grounds.

A short distance away you're in a California modern setting with shopping malls and multilevel condos. There's a supermarket nearby that we frequent. Cottage country with big city perks!

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 heading 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 had to run 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.

Cai & Gillian Wedding

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We were in Victoria, BC for a few days to attend the July 12 wedding of (our great nephew) Mordecai and Gillian (his partner of several years). They were married in a lovely wooded outdoors setting overlooking the mountains at the Owl Grove — a short distance out of Victoria towards Sooke. The wedding party included Eleanor their lovely young daughter as a "Flower Girl". Gill's sister Megan was the Matron of Honor and Megan's daughter was also a flower girl.

Jeananne walked the aisle with Cai to give him away. That was cute and meaningful.

This was very much a non-traditional wedding. The officiant was quite the hoot! We enjoyed the service, the location, and were duly impressed with the bridal party.

The reception, after the wedding, was at the Metchosin Community Hall where the bridal party came storming in to the music of Blur, Song No 2 (the infamous Woo Hoo Song). That was a nice touch. There was lots of good food, speeches, jokes and games. But we ducked out early. We're no longer the party 'til you puke gang of our youth.

It was a well organized event, the bride and groom were both glowing. As were parents on both sides and grandmother Ellen (our sister). Noelle and Grier came out for the wedding and stayed the week visiting with Ellen. We flew home Tuesday morning after a brief visit to Ocluelet and the west coast of the island.

Dresden

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We did a bit of jaunt around England and Germany before Kate's KBS conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

After our visit with Martin and Tina in Oppenheim we took a direct train from Frankfurt to Dresden, in the former East Germany, where our No. 1 son Chris (Martin's son), his wife Amy, and their three kids (Charlotte, Sebastian and Emily) live. Chris picked us up at the train station (he also drove us to Berlin airport at the end of our visit). We stayed in a nearby hotel.

On the first night we had a BBQ outdoors at their home which looks over nearby vineyards on the hillside above them. This was also Charlotte's 8th birthday. We had last seen her when she was just a newborn in Nottingham (see notes on Sheffield, 2017). The children were a little shy but we soon made friends. Sebastian reminds us so much of the impish but fun child Chris was when we first met all those years ago in Nierstein, 1994.

On the Wednesday Chris and Amy took us into Dresden to see the Neumarket town square which has been restored. The kids were off to a nearby school. You may know that Dresden was fire-bombed (February 1945) during WWII; a terrible act of war on a civilian population that today would/should count as a war crime. The horror of it all is memorialized in Kurt Vonnegut's book Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death (1969). I recall reading the book many years ago.

When East and West Germany were reunited (1989-90) a lot of money from the west was used to restore Dresden to it's past and current glory. The Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), an iconic Lutheran church in the Neumarkt square, is famously restored -- it was an international effort (1994-2005). It had been completely destroyed in the fire-bombing of 1945, left as a pile of rubble and a memorial to war (and evil of the west) during the communist years. You can see the stained old stones against the new. These days it's a memorial to the reconciliation of the two warring sides.

We shared an Italian lunch on the Neumarkt square and tromped around a bit. The square is huge and there's lots to see. There's a grand opera house, lots of statuary and fine buildings. Were we younger we would have enjoyed wandering around this part of the city. It's obvious that it was an important and rich powerhouse before the wars. It's pedestrian friendly with lots to see including a river, the Elbe, running through it.

Kate wrote a note to Chris and Amy describing our long standing relationship:

"I'm just going through our pictures from Germany and Glasgow and looking at some of the pictures of our visit with your family and it came into my mind — how did we get so lucky to have Christopher for a friend? And then through you, we get to spend time with Amy and your wonderful children. The pictures reminded me what a lovely time we had with you and how much fun your kids were (they seemed to really fancy Reg)."

We hope to see our Dresden family again on this, or that, side of the big pond while we still can.

Ps. the lovely photo of Kate with the Frauenkirche above was taken by Amy. 

Case Study - MWQ Transport

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In 1969, when I would have been 17 years old and in grade 11 at the old OSCVI school in Owen Sound, I took a course on "Business Organization" with a Mr. DeBoer. Part of the requirements for the course was to do a case study of some business. I chose to do it on my father's business — Maurice Quinton & Sons Transport — which operated out of our home in the village of Walter's Falls in Grey County, Ontario. I recall that I did very well on this assignment, mostly because I followed the guide we were given — organize it this way, cover these issues, include this material, etc.

My father squirreled this report away and it came into my hands as part of his estate and papers when he passed away (1914-2012). Yesterday Kate discovered the single copy of the report while cleaning up her files. Today I've scanned the document as a series of pictures; they are a somewhat hard to read as the paper has yellowed and the ink has faded. But here they are, warts an all (many spelling mistakes), with Mr. DeBoer's comments in red. Someday I hope to restore the text and will share that. For now, the images will have to do.

I have written before on dad's company, e.g., see blog entry "Maurice Quinton & Sons Transport" (2021). If you dig around my blog you'll find lots more about my family.

March Forth!

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Tuesday, March 4, is another nation wide 50501 protest. We are at the Texas Capitol and it's our last day in Austin before heading home on Wednesday. We gather to protest the current administration and "March Forth Against Fascism".

We took an Uber to the event and left our cameras at home. These pictures are from our cell phones. I was worried/hopeful that the protest might descend into a riot. There were lots of news reporters and photographers there — I even asked one fellow if he'd share his photos with us. There wasn't a riot although there was some talk about guns and the right for protestors to "bear arms" even there at the state capitol. Not a path I'd want to take.

There is some awareness of the threats and insults 47 has made against Canada — tariff wars, border disputes, threats of annexation, 51st state, "governor Trudeau", etc. I talked with one fellow who had a sign about the tariff dispute, identified myself as Canadian, and discovered his partner was Canadian as well!

Friday past was the disastrous televised White House meeting with President Zelensky (see NPR Report) where Putin's Puppets made it clear where they stand — they don't stand for democracy and treat Ukraine as an extortion opportunity (give us your rare earth minerals, we'll give you up to Putin). The history of cease fire violations by Putin was not something 47 & Vance would hear. The idea that you cannot have a cease fire without security guarantees was a notion that these puppets would not let Zelensky argue. They seemed to have no awareness of the Budapest Memorandum (1994) where Russia, the UK and USA promised to protect UA sovereignty in exchange for giving up nuclear arms. So much for security guarantees. They didn't even seem to understand that this war started in 2014 (Trump thought the annexation of Crimea was 2015, Vance corrected him). The event was an embarrassment but there are many who still side with 47 and Putin. GOP OMG WTF! It was a terrible day for us made all the worse by the news that a dear friend Don had passed away back home in hospice care back in Canada.

There were lots of Ukraine flags; someone was giving out sun flowers (a UA emblem); and I wore my MUGA T-shirt — Make Ukraine Great Again. A popular MAGA translation at this event was "Morons Are Governing America". There were some of the same speakers from the last 50501 protest. A good sized crowd came but we wished there were more. There were some great signs, check the photos above.

After about an hour of people gathering and listening to speeches we marched down Congress. Kate and I trailed the group and, with our aged injuries, could not keep up. It was a very windy day and our hats and signs kept getting blown away. There was quite a large police presence in cars, on bikes and motor bikes, and, ominously leading up the rear, a group on horse back. Fortunately the police presence wasn't required; no riot ensued.

Can it get any worse? Well, yes it can get worse. And apparently it will get worse. We are distressed to see this sad state of affairs in a place where we have so many fine memories.