Memorandum Monday

Sneaking in at the very end of Monday for a wave to Sian and other memo keepers with a look at their weekends—and perhaps a bit of learning something new. We had a particularly lovely weekend in Niagara-on-the-Lake with our friends. The weather was truly amazing—almost summer-like, and we enjoyed every minute of it. 

On our way into town, we stopped at one of the local parks along the Niagara River, and I hopped out to take a few photos.

I loved the door and the brick work on this house at the edge of the park.

We arrived on Friday afternoon, and had tickets for an evening performance at the St. George Theater downtown.

Typically we get tickets to the musical production. This year’s was Sweeny Todd, and all of us had already seen it. It’s a bit dark for a second take, so we decided on one of Shaw’s plays, Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Frankly, it had been quite a while since we’d seen one of his plays, and we’d forgotten that they can often be a polemic–which this one certainly was. We were hoping for a bit of humor, but none was to be had. The acting and sets were, as always, first rate, but we think we’re done with Shaw as a playwright. 

Fortunately, Saturday held much better experiences. We visited a new winery, recommended by our bed and breakfast hosts, called Big Head. The wines are a little pricier that some, because they are made with the appassimento process of drying the grapes before pressing them. This is the second winery in the area to use this process. We discovered Foreign Affairs quite a few years ago. Both wineries produce wonderful wines, well worth the increase in price, especially since we save them for a special occasion. I love the logo for Big Head.

We made a stop at Foreign Affairs as well to pick up two bottles of Sarah and Adam’s favorite wine, and discovered something new in the front of the winery.

The owners found this huge moose in a yard in northern Ontario, along with a whole collection of like-sized animals. The moose is one of the Canadian animals featured on their wine labels, so he found a new home.

Nearly every fall, I get a wonderful photo of grapes hanging on the vines. We didn’t see any grapes on any vines at any of the wineries. Finally I asked, and discovered that because the summer had been so hot and dry, the harvest had just been completed. And yes, it was earlier than usual.

Here you can see Lake Ontario beyond the vineyards. I liked the reflection of these same vineyards in the winery window.

 

It was so warm, we were able to enjoy lunch on the patio at Lake House.

And although we chose to eat inside, it was still warm enough at night to eat outside if you preferred.

Regardless of the weather, and our satisfaction with the theater, we always have a wonderful time in Niagara-on-the-Lake. We’ve been going with our friends for over 15 years now, and we’ve yet to tire of it.