Tuesday 28 August 2012

IIDS, GD: Tuesday, August 28th


Among men, it seems, historically at any rate, that processes of co-ordination and disintegration follow each other with great regularity, and the index of the co-ordination is the measure of the disintegration which follows. There is no mob like a group of well-drilled soldiers when they have thrown off their discipline. And there is no lostness like that which comes to a man when a perfect and certain pattern has dissolved about him. There is no hater like one who has greatly loved. -John Steinbeck, novelist, Nobel laureate (1902-1968)


Mark,

Would love to join you. Probably cannot get on my bike until noon. Will that work? G

 Hi Pepperoni!

Trust you and Linda are both well. Did you spend time at Roberts Creek? As I mentioned in an earlier message, Bev/Kev Wittwer will be arriving in Vancouver on August 31st, staying with us for two weeks. We are planning a bbq for them and are hoping to have as many friends they knew from their days at VRC join the party. As of this writing, it looks like the week after the long weekend as Fred Ensom will be in Vancouver. He is living on Vancouver Island now.Given the fact that he is planning to be in Vancouver from the 4th of September, I have suggested that we have the bbq on Wednesday, the 5th, or Thursday, the 6th, unless Tuesday, the 4th, is a better option for everyone. Let me know if you are free as it would be great to catch up and I know Wittwers would be delighted to see you, of course.
 
Anyway, let me know what you think about date for bbq and we'll plan accordingly. Cheers, Il Conduttore!

PS: Do you ever see Reider or do you have a contact number?

 Hi Dunners, We will be away Sept 4 and 5 so Sept 6 is open if that is the night for Kevin Wittwer. Cheers Covey

Hi Lurking and JDM!

Must apologize for not writing sooner. Thanks again for the more than wonderful visit and stay. We certainly enjoyed seeing you both again and much appreciated the "luxury, sheer luxury" of Castillo Naramata, the scrumptious food, the remarkable wine, the scintillating company, the stunning views from "Camelot", the "poifect" weather, the local wildlife and the organic, sustainable produce. The petty bickering between staff and management was but the only imperfection we discerned in Paradise! Once more, thanks so much!!!   Fond regards from Coriandre. Cheers, Patrizzio!Pics: With Barb and Lynn; Lighthall Winery, Organic Farm and B & B! 

Hi Patrick,

Thanks for sending on all the great photos you took. I just attached a couple of them to my friend Hansgeorg in Dusseldorf. I’m going to forward you his e-mail we received this week, with the photos of their renovation. You’ll find it quite stunning. Your visit was one of the highlights of our summer. We always enjoy our encounters with your travelling road show.

Sorry to hear of your mom’s struggle. Whenever the day comes, you’ll at least know you been the Perfect Son, and you’ll have lots of memories of the good times with her. She’s doing a great Mother Teresa imitation, and may even merit a posthumous Oscar. Hugs to Corine, Peter

Hi Patrick,

I thought you might be interested to see the renovation of our friends Hansgeorg and Daniela’s house in Dusseldorf. From the street, it looks like a somewhat modest attached house. The renovation has made it quite stunning. I think they spent about the equivalent of $1M CDN. JDP
 
 After a long interval of silence I thought it more than appropriate to let you have a few lines and fotos of what you saw under construction. The renovated house has kept us busy all through since we moved in on Dec. 22, 2011. It was not just unpacking and finding the space for all the stuff, selecting new furniture, waiting 8 weeks for delivery but it was mainly dealing with a never-ending punchlist of flaws, deficiencies and real problems those little trade contractor geniuses have left for our delight. I am not going to bother you with scratches, indents, spalling, cracks etc. Poor workmanship is only a minor thing, it just drives you nuts when it occurs as a rule. The real disasters leave you quiet with your mouth wide open.

 So let me describe what Daniela has named "operation desert storm" and what is ongoing in our basement since Wednesday as a major ventilation and heating exercise to draw water and humidity from the layers underneath our Jurassic limestone floor where undesired, irregular, and unknown amounts of water have accumulated. One dull plumber´s employee must have taken away the condensate pipes of the heat pump from the funnel and left them hidden behind the oven. Water slowly, for an indefinite period of time infiltrated the basement (i.e. partly living room) floor system with insulation and heating pipes in it. Now we have this monster sucking, heating and drying action ongoing that warms up the whole center and living part of our house to a tropical 30°C but with humidity below 40%, i.e. just desert storm. We try to stay in the cooler peripheral rooms and dine out frequently.

As you can see from the attached photos the changes we brought into our house are fundamental although we only added one room. More transparency, high energy efficiency, better noise protection, enhanced design and virtually everything new except the walls. Probably beyond your expectation after the site visit last autumn.

The other thing that kept us busy (apart from the job) and emotionally focused was my mother´s sickness. Her various health problems accumulated earlier this year until finally her heart was no longer able to support normal physiological processes. After about a year in hospitals, rehab facilities, an elderly people´s nursing home she died 27 April. Finally that freed her of her sufferings and becoming less and less physically and mentally. She was 84 years old.We had two religious services to organize, one in my home town, where she is now buried in the family grave and one at her recent home near Frankfurt where she came from and had lived since 1989. Both ceremonies went well and in the right mood. All friends and relatives can remember her with these positive impressions. Her house we had to empty and move lots of her stuff to our place in Dusseldorf - our third moving within one year.

 We are now in the process of selling her (quite nice) house. The payment is due on November 15. Hopefully everything will work out as planned. With Euro crisis the question where to put the money then is not easy to answer. Definitely we are not keen on any innovative, structured or unstructured, unexplainable bank products. So most probably some other real estate could be prudent, maybe a vineyard in Canada. Or taking controllable risk with equity in a small company. Do you have a good idea?

 Our holiday ambitions have been heavily influenced by those time-consuming activities within the last 1.5 years. No big plans for the next months. What about you. Will you be back in Europe, would you like to see us here again for a few days and then do a joint trip somewhere in Europe? The guest apartment has undergone major improvements and is now very livable. You would not have to stay at the Best Western Hotel around the corner any more.Well for tonight I leave it here. Daniela sends her very best regards and good wishes to you both. Kindest regards, Hansgeorg






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Congrats Katie Maness and Brian, Luca is the cutest baby ever!!!! xxxxxx

 Hi Corrine and Patrick

Glad to hear from you and that you had a good time with Lynne and Peter in Naramata.   I know you didn't pick up ant more wine as there was no more room in the Ford.  We have finished two bottles of the Larch Hills product and must say it is not bad.

It is sad to see Mom in her current condition but she must have comfort with your visits.  Barb and I have both been through this with our parents and 99 is a great achievement.  We trust she is comfortable.  It is our turn next and we just hope we don't have to put to much stress on our family when the time arrives.  One must do everything to the max whilst one can.  We know you and Corrine are in that mode.

We would love to have you as neighbours in Mexico this winter and will certainly try and connect on the Island in September.

Take care and give Mom a hugh from us. Talk to you soon. Barb and Lynn
 












Hope everyone has had a great summer! A little while ago, Patrick Evans, President of Shelter Point Distillery sent me a little "surprise" package of four sample bottles of their product for our cask owners group to sample and provide our feedback.



The labels on these four samples are as follows: # 1 May 15, 2012 New Make Spirit - Never seen a barrel " @ 63.5 % a.a. # 2 Dec. 2011 # 200 63.5% a.a. # 3 Aug. 2011 From Oak @ 63.5 % a.a. # 4 Aug. 2011 # 90 @ 63.5% a.a. Each bottle contains 200 ml or roughly 6 ounces so we really don't have a lot of product to work with. However given that it's all cask strength they may prove to be a bit " hot" so I'll have some water on hand if we want to reduce strength for tasting purposes (or douse the fire ).

Here's what I propose.This Friday afternoon, August 31st 4:30 P.M., the twenty Cask group shareholders are invited to meet me in the West Wing Amenity Room just off the main floor lobby of Phase 2 in Lakeshore Towers located at 57 Winnipeg Street. (Note: If a 5% cask share is held by more than one person, please designate just one representative to attend.) I will arrange to have sufficient tasting glasses on hand and some blank tasting notes.

We'll use the WSET approach to tasting the samples for Aroma & Flavour, Appearance, Nose and Palate. If we have 12 or fewer tasters on hand we will pour 1/2 ounce of each sample starting with the youngest (# 1) and proceed through to the oldest. (# 4) If we have more than 12 people attend we'll divide into four groups and rotate the samples through the groups as long as they last. (the samples not the tasters) I will summarize the collective observations and pass them along to Patrick at the distillery for their consideration.

This type of feedback will help influence how they develop and mature their products including our cask. I think we should be through this tasting within an hour. Please reply to this email as soon as possible indicating whether you can attend or not.

Thanks KevinUnfortunately I am out of the country this week and will not be able to attend. Please portion my share into a perfume bottle so that I may spritz myself to attract the fairer sex ...... If that's not possible, please drink and enjoy!! STAN

Pat,

Hope that your mother is finding peace and comfort – and you too.

I am riding out to meet Mark at the kayak bull pen in Burnaby where we paddled from last time. If you can join me for the ride I will leave here about noon. Let me know.

I may drop by the Islay Inn on route to drop a bag of stuff off for Corinne – destined for the women’s shelter.

Fond regards to C & C, W

Hi, Patrick,

Just a couple of quick notes.  Sorry to hear about Annie’s bad condition, though I had to let out a laugh when I read about the firm grip of her hand.  That’s the good old tough Annie at 98 and 11/12th!  Yet another louder laugh imagining her donning the Mother Theresa look.  It is extremely good fortune for you guys to be home.  Please keep us posted.  I will be thinking about her, and you and Corinne.

More later …  Check my FB – loaded a few new pix with Miranda and Adrian.  Adrian is with us for two more weeks before heading back for Fall semester.  Miranda got guilted into spending the last weekend with us (she now lives in Houston).  Had a fabulous time together! Ruth





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