Remembering tea with Grandma.

I guess I will have to find out for myself what the fuss is all about. I have read about it, and even watched a short National Film Board documentary about it, and now I will have to try it. King Cole Tea. The company’s roots are in Sussex, New Brunswick and many Atlantic Canadians are fiercely loyal to King Cole Tea. So I am having it for breakfast today. I am not sure what great tea tastes like.
Tea is part of my heritage. I grew up in a home where the tea pot was on the stove all day.

When I went down home to visit my relatives, they all drank tea. All the time. I remember summer afternoons in Mira in Grandma’s kitchen, having hot, sweet tea with fresh cow’s milk and cinnamon rolls. Other times, Grandma would make perfect tea biscuits topped with butter she made herself from the thick sweet butter cream. The seemed to make the chore of milking the cows every morning somehow worthwhile. At my Dad’s funeral, the reception was held at the Mira hall. I remember the ladies there serving tea with sandwiches. The milk was already added to the tea. They didn’t ask; that’s just the way they served it. I don’t know how good tea should be, but it should be reassuring; comforting.

Unbelievable!

Every now and then when I feel like some cooking inspiration, I go to YouTube and find a recipe. It can be amazing how well some people can cook. So today I picked up some pork chops. Then I checked out YouTube and found a guy pan frying pork chops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr8MyKoNBYY
He seemed to know what he was doing, but I gotta tell ya, I was put off by his kitchen ... it was not the cleanest I have seen. I figured, OMG this guy is a slob. In the early part of the video, it looks like he hasn't cleaned his stove in a month! So he may know cooking, but I wouldn't eat in his kitchen! LOL

Holidays

One of the good things about having a few years of experience at work is that I have a tonne of holidays. And as they like to tell us at the office, if you don't use them, you lose them. So the boss sent me home early this week, to take Thursday and Friday off and make a long weekend. I still have about three weeks of holiday time left that has to be used up before the New Year. so I am here listening to some Motown favourites, reading, drinking tea and enjoying the day. I have to admit, I can only take so much of this before I get bored. I am too nosey. If there is something happening in town, I like to snoop around. Oh well, back to the book.

My new teapot!

So the day started with my decision to buy a tea ball. I get tired of tea bags that break open in boiling water sending tea leaves everywhere in the teapot. And then there's loose tea in my cup. I figured a tea ball would do the trick. You know, you've seen them. They're made of metal, about the size of a big egg. They have many tiny little holes to let the boiling water in. You place tea inside, the snap the ball shut and put in the boiling water in a tea kettle. Well, that was the plan. So I went to the tea shop at the mall. Figured that would be a good start. The sales clerk said yes, and proceeded to show me the tiniest little metal ball you can imagine. It was smaller than a golf ball. She said it was good for one cup of tea. I smiled, thanked her and shook my head, no thanks. After checking Sears and Stokes, I had no luck. Next stop was Winners, which always seems to have a good selection of kitchen thingies.
Well that's where I found my new tea kettle, all shiny and fancy. And right next to the kettle was a perfect tiny little tea strainer. Now that's something my Mom used. Mom and Dad used to boil their Red Rose by toss a big handful of loose tea into the teapot and then use the fine mesh strainer to catch the leaves as they poured their tea.
I bought the teapot for $16 and the strainer for $5. I rushed home and made a fresh pot of tea this afternoon. Here's the good part. I checked the price of the teapot on eBay. It was $41. Okay, I know I didn't really need this, but I am glad I bought it. And now that I know the price, I feel so much better.

Phones are necessary, but annoying ...

Well I survived my first week with my newest cellular phone, a BlackBerry Classic. There were some glitches and I have spent part of my Saturday morning working out the bugs. One of the problems is that many of the apps (applications in real English) keep running in the background. Of course that made my data usage go way up, and that means more dollars for the phone company. So this morning I went through the phone and deleted several of the apps… things like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and a bunch of others. I use my phone for talking, sending texts and checking e-mail. There was even an app for writing stories. Jeez, these people must think we’re all 11 years old. And music! Hell, I hardly listen to the car radio anymore. As if I am going to stick little plugs in my ears to listen to music. I can listen to stereo music at home. I almost expected to see a toilet paper app spitting out little squares of paper. The one thing I do like is that I can log in to my computer and activate the phone ringer. That will help when I lose the phone under a pile of newspapers on the dining room table.

Neil would like this ...

I think Neil would be impressed. I have been enjoying many non-Corporate beers this summer. This English Bay pale ale is a Vancouver product, from a city where people seem to take craft beer pretty seriously. I know Neil does. He likes pale ales. He also told me that craft beer is more about the recipe and freshness than about the corporate beers, which he says all seem to taste the same. Imagine that. A son teaching his dad about beer! Anyway, I had this beer with supper tonight and it was pretty fresh and crisp and enjoyable with mashed potatoes, beef and gravy. Doesn’t get much better than that eh?

So, it's September ...

Hard to believe September is already here. Although I do like it. With the start of the new school year, it seems like everyone has the idea of a fresh start on their minds. People seem energized and ready for whatever comes next. A good attitude with fall and winter on the way. I was pleased to spend some time last weekend with Jennifer and her family in Val Caron. It was a great visit because I needed some peace and quiet. A really nice thing is that Jennifer has become so talented in the kitchen. She amazes me with her cooking skills. It was nice to see the boys again too, even though they were here in Timmins for the last week of August, for the Kayak Festival. I got a kick out of bringing the boys around town. They seemed to enjoy meeting some new people.

The boys met our local mayor, they met some friends from the TV station and they even met the moose outside the hunting store.
I am pleased to see such a change in the boys in the sense that they like to have fun, like any teenagers, but they also have a definite serious side. They're bright guys and I just hope I can live up to whatever their expectations are for a grandfather. This is new stuff for me. They don't fall for the old "pull my finger" joke anymore.
Anyway, I am looking forward to fall. If only for the milder weather. Our summer has had a lot of rain, and according to a lot of people, it has been gloriously hot, hot, hot. Whew, I tell ya, some of those hot days were scorchers. I would hide out in my apartment. This was not whiskey drinking weather. I even went to the liquor store and bought some pre-mixed margarita drinks. How's that for a manly beverage? Yeah, I know it's a girly drink but they're cold and sure quench your thirst. I have also been drinking quite a few craft beers this summer. Some are pretty good. I got so tired of the same old, same old taste of the corporate beer so now I experiment.

A bit shocking for some ...

Folks who have not been in Timmins for awhile might wonder how things are changing with the new Hollinger open pit mine. I snapped this shot this morning in the parking lot by Feldman's and Shopper's Drug Mart. It shows that the berm surrounding the mine pit is closer that some people might imagine. It is a bit shocking to some people right now, but in 10 or 15 years from now, the berm will be completely covered by grasses, shrubs and trees. It is going to interesting to watch the change.

Trump in the dump...

Well I spent part of the morning drinking coffee and reading the New York Times, among other things. Of course, I got caught up on the antics of Mr. Trump at the debate in Cleveland. I am amazed that Americans, who are so aware of common sense, would put up with Mr. Trump who does not seem to have much respect for the U.S. political system. Canadians have much to be thankful for. Our political leaders do not always inspire us, but they're usually a pretty common sensical, and bright, group of people. I am confident Canadians would not put up with the likes of Mr. Trump as a political leader. Yeah yeah, he can be okay to watch on a TV show, but really, you don't let someone like that in government. In my fantasy political debate, I can imagine Mr. Trump going up against Stephen Lewis, Pierre Trudeau, Robert Stanfield or even John Deifenbaker. They would leave Trump, in the dump, on his rump! LOL

The dollar

I know I should be happy that the Canadian dollar is down. It's good for exports. I am not any sort of economics person, but I am aware that a low dollar is good for our natural resources; things like lumber and mining products. That said, I am not pleased since I am a person who likes to buy stuff online. And the United States has the best selection with online stores such as L.L.Bean. But with our dollar at 74-cents compared to the U.S. dollar, I am out of luck. L.L.Bean has been sending me all sorts of urgent e-mails, inviting me to enjoy up to 10 per cent off. Still not good enough. Oh poor me, eh!

Story gave me goosebumps ...

We were talking in the newsroom this week about famous journalists we had met over the years. One of the guys had met Bob Woodward of the Washington Post. I was impressed. I have to say the most famous for me was a fellow who anchored at CNN in the 1990s and was very highly regarded by his peers. His name was Bernie Shaw of CNN and many other well known new agencies. I met him at a broadcast convention in Toronto in the late 1998 or 99. When I say I met him, I mean it was a social gathering and there were five or six of us standing together, making small talk. We shook hands, said hello and chatted. I told Mr. Shaw I admired his work. I asked what his most memorable story was. I expected him to tell us about the night he was hunkered down on a 9th-floor hotel room in Baghdad at the very moment the Gulf War was breaking out in 1991. He gave a live account as the bombs and missiles were falling. As incredibly exciting as that was, it was not his big story as far as he was concerned. Shaw said the big story was when he was in Memphis in 1968, the evening that Martin Luther King was shot to death. As he continued speaking, he told us the most amazing story. It was sometime after the shooting that Shaw told us he was approached by King's widow, Coretta King who asked Shaw to stay with her husband's body while arrangements were being finalized. King's wife did not trust the FBI with the body of Martin Luther King. What an incredible story. We stood there, utterly silent. I was amazed to hear this man recount this bit of modern history, right in front of me, from his own personal experience. I had goosebumps.

Things sure change eh?

What a change eh? This is the area of Vipond Road in Timmins, the one that separates Schumacher and the old town of Timmins. With the new mine in place, Goldcorp has installed a massive berm, about 25 metres high to surround the entire open pit. This week, they began a hydro-seeding project to add grasses and vegetation to the berm. This is going to become a permanent part of the new landscape of Timmins. On the other side, once the mining is done, there will be a new lake.

A moment of appreciation ...

I rushed into my apartment this afternoon for a quick sandwich and a coffee before heading out to a meeting at city hall. I stopped dead thinking I was in the wrong place. The breakfast dishes were done. The bed was made. The cupboards were closed. The place looked really, really tidy. I had a sudden moment of appreciation. Yup, daughter Jennifer dropped into for a visit this weekend. It was so nice having company. Thanks Jenn!

Elections were fun ...

One of the fun things about news work is planning for election campaigns. I don't think mainstream Canadians get caught up in politics as much as reporters do. We were just discussing this afternoon how NDP leader Tom Mulcair will be touring Ontario as a run up to the October 19th election. I mentioned to the news gang that I remember covering NDP leader David Lewis in the '74 campaign, with Trudeau and Stanfield. To this day I remember that I was more star struck by the veteran journalists on the campaign bus than with Mr. Lewis himself. I was a cub reporter on a hot summer morning who got on the bus north of Kirkland Lake and we were doing a quick tour of the riding. The first guy to say hello was a very tall, smiling and forceful fellow who handed me a beer (It was before noon)and asked me if I wanted a bologna sandwich with or without mustard. It was reporter Henry Champ of CTV news. He would become a superstar foreign correspondent with NBC News. Also on the bus was Mike Duffy, then with CBC Radio and Mark Phillips of CBC TV, who would become famous for his work with CBS News, all over the world. I don't know how these guys managed to get their work done with all the beer and joking around on the campaign bus. It sure was fun.

People talk

One of the things I so enjoy about Timmins is that people talk. I was driving back from the grocery store this afternoon, along a quiet residential street and there was a former well-known police officer out walking his dog. I rolled to a stop, said hello and we ended up yakking for a good 20 minutes. Of course anyone following the news in Timmins this year would know what we were talking about and so it was that we threw ideas and opinions back and forth, and it was just the best thing to do. I know that some of the things I said might eventually filter through the department, and he knows some of the things he said might eventually be mentioned in a news story. That's okay. Sometimes, that's how stories get told. The other thing was in the grocery store, my quick trip to pick up some vegetables and juice became an hour-long gab session with other people I bumped into. Saturday afternoons are not the best time to do anything quickly.

Pluto

With all the strange things that go on in the world, I am always amazed when NASA reminds us there are worlds beyond our own. I was amazed this week to see the new images of the planet Pluto along with information about the size of its atmosphere. Pluto is so much smaller than Earth, but the atmosphere is much bigger; but it's mostly nitrogen so you can't breathe it. Here is something interesting from NASA. If you weigh 180 pounds on earth, you will weigh about 11 pounds on Pluto. Cool.
I cannot help but think that some day, people from our planet will move to other nearby planets to live. I don't know how long it will take before than happens, but I am pretty sure it will happen one day.

Never saw this before ...

We had some thunder and lightning in Timmins Saturday night. It appears lightning caused a house fire and also split open this hardwood tree. I've never seen this before, and so I snapped a photo. One fellow on the street suggested it might have been caused by the intense heat of the lightning cooking the inside of the tree to the point that the sap was boiled, steam was generated and the pressure exploded all the bark off the bottom portion of the tree. It also scattered several chunks of wood all around the yard, the street and neighbouring driveways. Bizarre eh.

Guilty pleasures

I watched a movie this week where the lead actor, John Travolta, was lighting a cigar. Oh my goodness, I suddenly stopped listening to the movie and just focused on the cigar. I LOVE cigars. I wish I could smoke one, but I am sure that if I did I would be so tempted to begin smoking again. Anyway, the scene in the movie was about 30 seconds long and you could tell that Travolta was really enjoying the moment. It is one of life's guilty pleasures to pick up a cigar and inhale that fabulous smell of dry, cured tobacco and to anticipate the first puff of smoke once you light it. And then the smoke is sweet and it lingers around your head and takes over your senses for a few minutes.  My mouth is watering at the thought of it. I think I am going to have a cigar ... on my 80th birthday.

One of those days ...

Today is one of those hot summer days that so many people enjoy. The sun was high in the sky and there was barely a breeze at noon, but I could hear kids out there shouting and playing despite the heat. I am betting the beach down by the lake was packed. I stayed in all day reading, except for a brief trip to the recycle bin. Oooh I could feel the heat beating down and I began to sweat within minutes of stepping outside. A couple of the older neighbour ladies were sitting in the shade, so I had to say Hello. Of course they were the kind of people who just loved this weather and the heat. Maybe there's something about getting older, that you get colder.  I don't know yet!
Well I have made a big jug of iced tea, and I was going to have fried chicken for supper, but to be honest I don't feel like cooking. Did I mention that I broke my Nestle boycott for one product? Yeah, I am not proud of it, but I like sweet iced tea. I looked all over for a non-Nestle product, but I found a non-sugar product called Nestea Zero, which I like very much. I mix it with my own ice tea and it is very refreshing. Oh yea, it also tastes quite nice with bourbon and a bit of lemon.

Happy July

July has been miserable so far in Timmins. It was cold last week ... so cold and rainy that everyone was wearing jackets. No worries, it will get better. I am thinking at least the bugs aren't bad. Here's something funny. Visited a house last week where there was a party. A good friend was coming through town, and she invited many of us out to see her. So I did. I always bring a few beers to enjoy and I always leave several behind. I figure it is a small gift for the party host. So I had my three drink limit after about four hours, and decided it was time to go home. All good, except I forgot that I had pulled out a brand new bottle of Muskol lotion (bug dope) and left it at the party. Arrghh. I hate that. I don't mind leaving the booze, but that bottle of Muskol cost $6! Am I cheap or what eh?
That reminds me... I have the camera-buying bug again. I have been checking out prices on new photo equipment. Some of the prices are pretty amazing. I am also looking at UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that can carry a camera. Amazing stuff. Yup, drones are gonna be the hottest new thing.  A bit costly right now, just over $2,000 ... but I am watching the prices closely.