Usually I have something to share at the outset. Something cheery. But as the garden is on its last legs, as the month slips toward Halloween and then we deal with the changing of the clocks, it seems that any pretense that the year isn’t beginning the final act is fading fast. But… but… before all that, there is one more bit of baseball. One of the most exciting ALCS runs ever now turns into the World Series between a startlingly strong Blue Jays against the defending Dodgers led by th...| abetterbeerblog427.com
Once again, take a moment to consider the words recommended this time every year, the words of Mr. J.Keats first posted to blog twenty-two years ago:| A Good Beer Blog
There are good views out there. Lots of golden hour sunlight finishing up the days as we face the reality that, yes, winter is coming. Out and about that evening, I saw a frog and a hedge of jewelweed – but you’d expect that, wouldn’t you. I like how the angle of the shadow makes something of a right angle with the tree. I didn’t notice that when I took the photo. But even saying that makes it too artsie, less just see-ie. Similarly, writing about hops, Jeff wrote about a limitation b...| abetterbeerblog427.com
It’s been a busy week but not really in the beery sense. Guests and heirs have come and gone – and even bought a $14.99 beer on the way out via an airport bar at Montreal, as illustrated sub-wonderfully perhaps. A last bit of summer visting and the shedding of the last loonies and twoonies. Which means the home is quieter here at this end of the week compated to the other. Which is good. But quieter. At least I have my tomatoes. Did I mention my tomatoes? Definitely illustrated sub-wonder...| A Good Beer Blog
August planting is underway. With any luck there will be peas in late September and October. And maybe baby carrots. You always think that the plantin’ is done once you are in full pickin’ mode… but no. No way. Still ten weeks to a frost that kills. Or more. Plenty of time for peas. By the way, I learned something through the month and a half of drought, humidity and heat that now seem to have finally broken. Tomatoes do not turn colour until it cools a bit. So while the peas are doing ...| A Good Beer Blog
What does that headline mean? More BrewDog financial disclosures? Another exposé of some distasteful behavious be a well known brewer. Nope. Not this week. No, the real news is it’s my regular quinquennial colonoscopy day! Today!! When I got the call I laughed “YES!” into the phone much to the clinics receptionist’s surprise. This’ll be my fifth. Or maybe sixth. Lost count. It’s good to have your innards examined, folks. And trimmed by the little clippers that show up on screen o...| abetterbeerblog427.com
What does that headline mean? More BrewDog financial disclosures? Another exposé of some distasteful behavious be a well known brewer. Nope. Not this week. No, the real news is it’s my regular quinquennial colonoscopy day! Today!! When I got the call I laughed “YES!” into the phone much to the clinics receptionist’s surprise. This’ll be my fifth. Or maybe sixth. Lost count. It’s good to have your innards examined, folks. And trimmed by the little clippers that show up on screen o...| A Good Beer Blog
Welcome to August. No rain to speak of. Not for weeks. Lawns look like Nabisco Shredded Wheat testing plots. I’ve spent days and days schlepping the garden hose and watering can all over the estate. Which has reminded me of how wise it was to buy 6,500 square feet of land back in 2006. Once upon a time I had four acres to take care. Now? No mow no mo… practically speaking. As a result, I have barely looked at the beer news which is good as there is barely any beer news these days. That ...| A Good Beer Blog
So… today is Leap Day Thursday but tomorrow is March. The second event is more exciting to me even if it doesn’t happen only every 28 years. Careful readers will know that I’ve coaxed along those plants right there down in the basement, a bit of chlorophyll green under grow lamps since November. Click for the deets. But the thrill of knowing I am going outside on Saturday to actually plant actual pea seeds under thermal cover is palpable. Palpitational even. Spring. You know, baseball a...| abetterbeerblog427.com
The last day of July. It’s one of the first endings of the year. Well, there is the end of winter but no one regrets that. And the switch from late spring to early summer never really leaves a ripple. But… July. Spent the other evening watching dusk arrive at a nearby conservation area, listening for bobolinks and kingbirds as they snabbed a few last bugs out over the field. Saw a raven. Heard it croak. Mr. Nature. That’s me. Five Saturdays to Labour Day. But even that date’s lost i...| A Good Beer Blog
Raspberries. I’ve let them run a bit wild but for about one week you get a pint or so every second day or so, coming in waves as long as the squirrels stay away… which they seem to be, thanks to the foxes. Speaking of pints, I bought beer last weekend. No, really. I haven’t really had much laying about time but I added to my tariff transition coping mechanism by buying a few cans of Miller High Life. Unlike Maker’s Mark and all the other bourbons*, you can actually buy Ontario-brewed ...| A Good Beer Blog
As you know, in Canada we like a politician who drinks a beer. It’s practically mandatory of you are going to win an election to show that you know how to pour, how to drink and how to sit in a tavern as time trips along. So it was good this week to see recently elected Canadian PM Carney put less recently elected British PM Starmer to the test in an Ottawa tavern:| A Good Beer Blog
Midsummer. This week. It’s now been 48 days since the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox is still a whole 45 days away. Mid. Summer. I blame public education for the false impression. The months of harvest are really just getting in gear. Moved: school should only be held in the months which are not summer gardening months. Approved. And Pete‘s #1 beer is exactly right. Beer after garden or yard work. Except… beer during garden or yard work. Or after coming back from the hardware ...| A Good Beer Blog
Well, well, well. I entered the first day of my 62nd year today. No trauma. No big plans. Not like when you hit 25 or 40. Those were panicky birthdays. Feeling like middle age is coming too fast. Now that it is here… who cares? All one has to do is consider the alternative and sliding that bit closer to two-thirds of a century is mighty fine by me. Change is everything. Even the bird feeders are put away now. Winter is not coming. Not quite yet. So have one for me if you are having any at a...| A Good Beer Blog
Did you know that there are five Thursdays this February? FIVE!! I thought I was done for the month today – but I am not. It’s leapday Thursday next week. This will be only the third one in my lifetime, now in my 61st year having lived through this experience in 1968 and 1996. The fifth since the 1800s. The responsibilities for next week’s update have suddenly loomed ominously. Am I up to this rich and rare Thursdayness? The very first leap day Thursday since beer blogging began? Better...| A Good Beer Blog