Don't Know

What happens the day after do nothing day?  Could it be a day of something and knowing about something?  Today isn't Epistemology Day, though.  There doesn't seem to be a day that celebrates the theory of knowledge, of knowing.  It could be Ontology Day - that's the study of existence.  No day of celebration there, either.   So perhaps the day after doing nothing is the day of knowing nothing or not knowing something. We can trace this back to the Greeks.  "You don't know what you don't know," and  "Wisdom is knowing what you don't know."  These are attributed to Socrates. Modern variations on this: "Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do".  Jean Piaget "Knowing what you don't know is more useful than being brilliant".  Charles Munger So today we can be practical, as it is Ditch New Year's Resolutions Day or we can wait for tomorrow and celebrate Thesaurus Day. We're looking at the historic house at Peninsula Ridge Winery.  These are pictures from previous winters.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes

What is the feast of the seven fishes?  It is Italian and is celebrated as a Christmas Even tradition.  Mario Batali says that it is what Italians do when they say they're fasting.  Course after course of luxurious seafood dishes - often as many as seven, ten or even thirteen.  Some do seven for the sacraments, some do ten for the stations of the cross and then there are the 13 for the apostles and Christ.  Seven is a number well-known in the Bible.  One article says that the number seven occurs more than 700 times in the Bible.  Can you imagine that in every region of Itality - 20 regions - there is a different culinary tradition for Christmas Eve dinner.  So much diversity.  This is an ancient tradition of eating fish on Christmas Eve - dating from the Roman Catholic custom of abstinence from meat and dairy products on the eve of some holidays.  The tradition is now considered an Italian-American one with people sitting down to La Vigilia - "The Vigil".  There is a long list of what Central and Norther European Cultures eat for Christmas Eve, with many traditions. This tradition commonly has 12 meatless dishes representing the twelve months of the year. The variety of the dishes is fascinating - some start with sauerkraut soup and finish with poppy seed desserts. Sauerkraut Christmas shows up in a lot of European cultures.  There's Swedish, Slovak, Polish, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and even a Christmas Kraut with a bit of cinnamon or cloves. Christmas Eve in the U.K.  This is considered a free-for-all without culinary traditions dating from ancient times.  Why is that?  Take the example of Christmas in Scotland - it was banned after the Reformation, and Presbyterian ministers visited their 'flock' to check that they had no festive foods in the house.  Christmas wasn't a public holiday in Scotland until 1958.  So close geographically, but so distant culturally from European customs. This is last Saturday's picture of the ancient apple trees in front of the Daniel Lenko winery in Beamsville.  I finally stopped to get some pictures.  Today, the scene will be the winter orchard with the apples will be covered in soft, fluffy snow.

Niagara's Purple Stuff

I worked at the Welch's Grape Juice factory for two summers.  When grape juice was being bottled, the factory smell was a combination of grapes and hydraulic machinery, and that's what I found yesterday at Foreign Affair Winery.  They were processing cabernet sauvignon outside, and were kind enough to let me take some pictures.  What a lot of purple stuff in those big bins.  I bet those big bins are worth a lot of money. I don't know what was happening in the process of grapes going from one bin to another.  And the workers were busy working. The internet information is about wineries and not grape processing.  I expect that might be too mundane for most people.  I'll have to go and ask about the grape to wine processes.  So it is American Thanksgiving today.  As with last year, it can be celebrated with orange Poinsettias - a new hybrid to take advantage of the Thanksgiving's proximity to Christmas which has the poinsettia flower as its floral tradition.  For those of us who prefer variation from the red and white, there's a beautiful hot pink hybrid this year. We saw it at the Poinsettia Trials two years ago and are pleased to see it in production. An American Thanksgiving joke: John: What did the turkey say to the computer? Will: What? John: “Google, google, google.”

Tonight's the Night - Will Everything be All Right?

We wonder if Tonight's the Night when everything will be all right. There's a 2016 Election Countdown Clock online.  It tells me it is not available at my location.  The headlines below it want you to click on sites based on these tantalizing headlines.  Which one would you choose to look at?  Math Trick to Win any Lottery (7-time Lotto winner spills the beans) 20 Photos that Donald Trump didn't want released to the Pubic Hillary Clinton's leaked IQ will shock you! Trump's IQ will shock you! Another countdown site had this teaser headline: Stephen Hawking's prediction shocked everybody You can find the article here. Stephen Hawking's 'prediction' isn't about the election but that 'we can now access 100% of the brain'.  We are to order our supply of Focus Nutra Intellgex to make it happen. Our pictures today are of the scenery along Locust Lane with the Hidden Bench vineyard.  Then we stop at the Mike Weir winery to see the Toronto skyline across the lake.

Is Googling Fun?

"If you Google ‘Zerg Rush’ Google will eat up the search results." So I gave it a try and small o's came across the screen and 'chewed up' the search results, one by one, and then completed with 2 giant Gs.  I find that Google enabled an Easter egg for the search query “zerg rush”, which would launch a playable game with small “o” characters that destroy search results if they are not clicked with the mouse pointer.   How many of these little games are there on Google? According to Anne Lu of IBTimes: "Many of us agree that Google is the best and most powerful search engine there is. It’s so widely used that people “Google” something, but they don’t “Yahoo!” it.  It has a clean and simple homepage (no annoying ads), and is fast and user friendly. But probably the best thing about Google is that it is simply fun. Here are ten of the best Google tricks, tips, Easter eggs, and secrets that make online searching cool." Our pictures today give a sense of the wonderful Thanksgiving weekend weather we had -  big blue skies with clouds over the vineyards.

Peninsula Ridge - Photogenic in any weather

What could be better than the headline on the online  CBC news 'Snowy owl ppotted soaring by Montreal traffic camera.'  It is a great shot of the owl looking directly into the camera with the characteristic curiosity of an owl. Take a look "here" if you hare interested. Today we see the difference in temperature and snow cover in the pictures of Peninsula Ridge Winery.  The tones and colours are so dissimilar in different weather, and different skies.

Niagara Scenes

This is Southbrook Vineyards on the Niagara Stone Road.  As it faces south in an open expanse, it has reflections of the sky all through the day.  This is the reflecting sky at sunset.  It is an imposing  structure - the wall stretches 200 metres long and is periwinkle blue in colour.  It changes in the day's light from the deep blue we see here to a dove grey in bright light.  In front of the building there usually are ponds reflecting the wall and building.  

Jack Diamond is the architect and the building won the 2009 International Architecture Award.  Looking out from the winery, one sees the Skyway that stretches over the Welland Canal. The picture shown here was taken in the spring of 2012 and the flowers in the field are dandelions.  

13th Street Winery

Hi everyone,

This little seating area is between the greenhouses and the barn at 13th Street Winery.  It is located in St. Catharines, in the heart of the Niagara Wine Region.  The winery was purchased by Whitty Farms some years ago, and they have located the winery at the tomato and blackberry production greenhouses.  My mother and I really like this location as it is next door to where good friends, Jake and Marg Litke, had lived for many years.  The winery owner, Doug Whitty, knew them well, so we have a great chat when we see him. He knows the story of the Mennonite Exodus, but turns out to have been of Irish descent.  His great grandfather was orphaned on the boat coming over to Canada and had to make his way in Canada alone as a child - a wonder of accomplishment with the farms that he accumulated.

There's a bakery cafe in the barn and the winery is in an elegant white building on a hill.  Last weekend was Passport Weekend, so the winery was abuzz with visitors.  This coming weekend they are unveiling the new bacon butter tart…I wonder what wine they will pair that one with.  

The winery is located on 4th Avenue just west of Seventh Street.  Exit the QEW at Seventh Street, go away from the Lake (South) and the signs will point you to the Winery.

Here's more:

http://www.13thstreetwinery.com/bakery_marketplace/category/whitty_farms

Don't forget to look at the wonderful orchards along the route: