Thursday, or Thereabouts - September 6, 2018

On this day...
      ...A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

White lace and promises

a kiss for luck...

...and we're on our way.

We'd only just begun.

Three years later, we cleared the land on a property on Cherry Street.

And built a house.

September 1978

1978 - With Gramps the Engineer

May 1980 - Norbert and my Dad

May 1980 - Mom & I

Then we got a dog of course: Sheba our first German Shepherd.

Children took a little longer, but arrive they did.

January 1985

March 1985

March 1987

Christmas 1987

We grew, we traveled.
.

Austria 1996

Spain 2005

We walked two dogs across the rainbow bridge when their time came, Sheba and Sasha.

#3 - Sophie is keeping us in line these days.

Sasha

Sophie

Cuba 2012

The house got a make-over and then a sunroom.

Wedding bells rang out again, and we grew some more.

June 2011

July 2015

July 2015

So here we are in 2018, 43 years later and still traveling together.

Iceland - June 2018

"Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talkin' it over, just the two of us
Workin' together day to day
Together, Together."




Songwriters: Roger S. Nichols / Paul H. Williams; performed by The Carpenters













©2018 April Hoeller

Labour Day - September 3, 2018

No moaning here, except perhaps about the heat. It's been 30°C (nudging 40 with the humidex) for too many days this summer.

I suppose I'd best be somewhat reserved in my lament - January might hear me and unleash MINUS 30 for weeks on end, then pass the chill along to February and March. Teeter-totter weather is the new normal...









Today is a day of rest.

Today is a day of gratitude for the work and workers who keep this country functioning.

Today is a day of celebration of freedom:

the freedom to choose our work, 

the freedom to choose our leisure,

the freedom to write.

Tomorrow morning the pace of life rev's up again:
          7am will NOT be blissfully silent,
          my windows will resonate with the rumble of school buses;
          the 3pm 'rush hour' will be back -
          a convoy of those same buses returning their precious cargo home.
       

Tomorrow, the rhythm of my day will be picked up and transported by that fleet of yellow rumblers, out of lazy summer mode and into active mode. There's work to be done: jobs to be started, jobs to be completed, and dream jobs. It's time to get back on track.

But today is a day of gentle anticipation of the harvest of delights that lie ahead.
It's like New Year's Eve all over again, minus the hype and the carousing.

Make the most of it.
Cheers!

©2018 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - August 23, 2018

The vineyards of Niagara wine country are calling me and next week my love and I will answer.  This is an annual pilgrimage for us, set to complement our wedding anniversary in early September. I'm pretty sure that out of 42 such celebrations there have been at least 30 drives over the Burlington Skyway through Stoney Creek and on to Beamsville, Vineland, and Jordan Station, then over the Welland Canal and into Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL).

We always take up residence in NOTL - because there is more than just wine in wine country. There is the Shaw Festival. When not seeing plays, we set off on wine tasting and buying tours.

It used to be a very simple itinerary, one that did not require much planning at all, but in forty+ years wine has come of age in Niagara and the list of wineries is nothing short of eye-crossing.


Over 100 great and small wineries offer up the classic cool-climate varieties such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc flourish here, and the region now boasts over 46 thriving varietals.

Angel's Gate Winery

 So this annual pilgrimage takes some planning, about a week of planning. I research wine awards and wineries. I inventory our wine cellar to see what we need, and I review the tasting notes I've made (if we hated it, I'm not buying that wine again and if we loved it, I want more). All of this research comes with me and I take my papers with me into every winery we visit; not so much as to impress the staff as to signal that I am seriously interested in more than just sampling some wine - I'm there to buy.

Hernder Estate Wines

I do not profess to have wine connoisseur's palate or experience. I'm often at a total loss as to how to describe the kaleidoscope of flavours I taste in a wine and I've never experienced the length and breadth of elements extolled by the winemaker. There is great rejoicing when I discover that the winemaker and I agree on just a single note. In other words, I am an amateur, albeit an organized one.

Winemakers can always be counted on to make the best of any year, come wind, come weather.

And did I mention the food?? Ah well,  that's pretty special too!
Breakfast, Lunch, Supper, and even Dessert.

It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it!
Salut!

 ©2018 April Hoeller