“Travels to a Different Time” : 14August1974: Dusseldorf West Germany: All the Way to Dusseldorf with a Sore Ass: A Ride with the Most Beautiful Woman in Europe: Who are the Most Beautiful Women in Europe?

Up at 08:00 to complete the morning ablutions. Paid my 32 schillings ($2.10) for the night. I headed out to a grocery store and bought my breakfast including a litre of milk. My first good milk in two months! I had my breakfast sitting on a park bench. The autobahn was about a kilometre walk and I got a lift ASAP from the most beautiful woman in Europe a lovely Austrian around 25. She took me to the German border and using her great beauty actually arranged a ride with two German guys in a BMV travelling all the way to Dusseldorf. I understand enough German to understand how much they were dazzled by this fair maiden! Zipping along the Autobahn we passed Stuttgart, Bonn and reached Dusseldorf. My ass was sore! I found a bus near the train station that took me to the youth hostel. I know enough German to ask how to get around as I studied it for a year. The youth hostel room was tiny and stuffy. Dinner was some leftover buns and cheese that didn’t travel that well. I used my last Deutschmark for a lemonade. In Germanic authoritarian tradition all the lights were turned off at 23:30.

Speaking of the most beautiful women in Europe I get asked this question by my Canadian friends. North American girls in Europe are immediately recognizable. But my answer is no European country can boast of the most beautiful women. Norwegian ladies are perhaps the most friendly and welcoming. I say to my friends beauty is not everything. It may help in setting off a spark but intelligence warmth and sincerity are what is going to capture your heart and you never know what women can pop up in your travels that can melt your heart. If you are a serious traveler, you may be going in one direction and the apple of your eye the other. Being in transit sometimes is not the best for a romantic relationship.

RKS Film: “Visionary Gardeners”: “Beauty and Delight”

The Canadian television series “Visionary Gardeners” is a five-part series premiering March 7, at 9 p.m. ET on Vision TV and it runs for 5 weeks in half hour segments. It features avid Canadian gardeners with their own vision of what a garden is. You may think the series is about them and their gardens and that is true and of course that is interesting particularly if you are gardener. But these episodes may spark a certain reaction on your part particularly about the artistic and intellectual thoughts behind the plants.

Episode 5 “Beauty and Delight” features the gardens of Brian Bixley from the Mulmur Hills about 90 minutes north of Toronto and Tom Hobbs of Langley, British Columbia. This will be the last episode of the series.

Brian Bixley

Of the 10 visionary gardeners featured in this series Bixley strikes me as the most intellectual considering himself an artist likening a garden to a novel as with gardens and novels they are subject to different interpretations. Bixley strives to “please the reader”. He makes a comparison of a garden to poetry.

Tom Hobbs

Hobbs on the other hand is a businessman operating a nursery for decades with a reputation as a floral designer. He is truly an artist but never says as much.

Both Hobbs and Bixley developed a passion for gardens at a very young age and Bixley reminisces viewing a garden and walking a hedge maze as a child so for him a garden is a variable of memory.

You needn’t be a gardener to enjoy this episode or for that matter the entire series. If you have a passion you often have a vision whether it be gardening or cooking! There is a universal quality to vision and this series focuses on gardening. Certainly you must have a vision about your passions!

If you are not a gardener and have no visions in your life you’ll enjoy the crisp and beautiful cinematography and the musical score is so relaxing.

Episode # 5 airs on April 7th at 9 p.m. on Vision TV but if you miss it don’t fret as it will run for two weeks for Canadians after the episode free at www.visiontv.ca.  “Visionary Gardeners” is a series from filmmakers Ian Toews and Mark Bradley of Victoria, British Columbia based 291 Film Company.

RKS Wine: A Chilean Chardonnay and Viognier Blend Disappoints

It is the first time I have seen a Chardonnay Viognier blend. The less oak that touches the Viognier the better. In this case the blend is 85% Chardonnay and 15% Viognier. Part of the Chardonnay was fermented in oak and the rest in stainless steel while all the Viognier was fermented in stainless steel. The Viognier is intended to gently influence the Chardonnay. Does it work?

On the nose the apple, pear and guava of the Chardonnay is tempered ever so lightly by the peach, apricots and tangerine of the Viognier. The nose does not exactly lead to the conclusion of wine with strong identity but is there some magical transformation on the palate?  Unfortunately the palate is flat and thin and it is as if the blend is irrelevant as neither of the grapes asserts any identity of the weak kneed finish. It is a disappointment to Chardonnay and Viognier aficionados.

(Vistamar Corte de Campo Coastal Blend 2018, D.O. Casablanca Costa Valley, Viña Vistimar, Pelequén, Chile, $16.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 541003, 750 mL, 13%, RKS Wine Rating 82/100).

RKS Film: Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival: “Rules of War”: Kudos for Trying: Results Unknown

With the Russian attack on Ukraine we have been hearing some high-volume chatter about Russian war crimes. According to the Red Cross Rules of War prepared in 1863 and signed by 193 countries the most important principle is that no civilians should be coming to harm. We see what a farce that is in the Ukraine, Syria and in the Vietnam War. It is a shame such lofty principles may amount to no more than pissing against the wind.

In “Rules of War” this Dutch documentary follows Red Cross worker Albert Schoneveld, a former soldier, as he goes into South Sudan to discuss the Red Cross rules of war with “rebel” troops. Schoneveld is an ex-soldier so he strikes his listeners with a ring of credibility. The dialogue and the childlike “village enactment” is somewhat paternalistic from my point of view. The soldiers are candid, intelligent and in principle they more or less agree with the rules but his clarity dims when the discussion turns to armed civilians of which Schoneveld can’t convincingly deal with. He speaks with sincerity and conviction but the last few minutes of the film perhaps illustrate the Red Cross script is missing the point. We see the soldiers with their families eating a meal as the women sing and complete domestic tasks. Is director Guido Hendrikx intentionally communicating to us the answer to education might be for Red Cross representatives to say how would you like your family as civilians to be treated. Why are these last few minutes in the documentary? I think there is a message in there!

These showings are World Premiers. The documentary will be showing on March 24/29/31 and too bad there is no virtual option.

RKS Film Rating 84/100.

“Andrij the Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog ” : Chapter 21: Ukrainian Orthodox Priest Called to Andrij’s Bed

It is Dylan the Westie here with an update on Bob and Andrij The Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog. Bob remains in critical condition at Sunnybrook Hospital after this surgery. I am sorry to have to tell you a Ukrainian Orthodox priest is rushing to Andrij’s bedside to deliver last rites. A world-renowned veterinarian neurosurgeon from California has been sent by my good friend Nicole Kidman to Toronto and will be arriving at Toronto Pearson International Airport within the hour. Buddhists of the world will commence a worldwide Buddhist Kindness and Compassion Meditation to help Andrij at midnight Toronto time. Please keep your prayers coming.

Last rites to be delivered to Andrij

RKS Film: Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival; “The Eclipse”

I have visited Yugoslavia (as it then was) three times in the 1970’s having been from its toes to its head spending most of my time in the republics of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. As a political science student I studied the rise of Marshall Tito from Partisan leader to President until his death in 1980. After his death his presence and repression could no longer be leveraged to keep the country whole as it broke apart in the midst of violent conflict in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I recall as a teenage traveller in Yugoslavia there were different ethnic groupings including Muslims. Slovenia never seemed part of Yugoslavia and had more in common with its Alpine neighbour Austria. The Serbian and Croats rather remind me of the Russians and Ukrainians today namely being at each other’s throats. I wondered back then what the fate of Yugoslavia would be when Tito died in 1980. It was the end of Yugoslavia that the Partisans had claimed in 1943. It did not end peacefully. As early as 1941 the Croatian Ustaše, a ultra nationalistic and fascist organization murdered Serbs, Jews and Roma. A very understandably sore point was the discovery of the death pit in Golubinka where the Ustaše buried and covered in concrete some murdered 600 Serbians. Is it any wonder the hatred of the Serbs toward Croatians festered and grew until Serbia become a murderous and ethnic cleanser? As a traveller and student of Yugoslavia this was all so saddening.

The film starts with Nataša Urban as narrator and director explaining the 1961 solar eclipse that all were encouraged to see as it wouldn’t be until 1999 for the next solar eclipse of Yugoslavia. The narrator remarked who knew there would be no Yugoslavia in 1999.

Urban weaves a personal picture of Yugoslavia from WW2 until its total dissolution. We hear from relatives, parents, and friends what life was like. If you are not a student of Yugoslavia you need not get lost in the fascinating and complex details of wars and ethnic cleansing. View the documentary as a warning, bolstered by a collection of personal experiences about how conflict and hatred can destroy a country and traumatize its people.

Perhaps in addition to “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” there will be one day a song “Don’t Cry For Me Yugoslavia”. If you have travelled in Yugoslavia perhaps you will shed a tear about its violent demise. I returned to Croatia, specifically to Dubrovnik for the 4th time in the early 2000’s and was shocked that the Serbs had shelled it. After hearing about the Golubinka massacre in this documentary I think I understand it but don’t condone it.

This Norwegian film shows at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival on March 31st and April 2.

RKS Wine: Brookwalter’s 2018 Columbia Valley Red Blend from Washington State

The wines of Washington State are a bit like the wines of Lake Erie North Share in Ontario that play second fiddle to the wines of Niagara. Washington State wines play second fiddle to the wines of California. It is not a question of quality but consumer confidence or as our Liquor Control Board of Ontario must be thinking to itself, “Follow the money”.

So what goes with the Brookwalter Readers Red Blend from Columbia Valley in Washington State? For aromatics expect a dense cloud of sweet blueberries and blackberries complimented by lavender and Croatian cherry sok in a creamy context. This creates a harbinger of smooth power like a Mercedes limousine cruising down the autobahn at 220 kms an hour. A grand wallop of richness on the palate. A poster boy for the full-bodied wine club. Blueberries that have been weightlifting and are big and muscular. Black cherries that are on steroids like a Russian gymnast. Medium long finish. Tannins are certainly not brutish. The wine seems to be struggling with its 14.8% alcohol and I would suggest it is built for food and it has enough heft to match venison, wild boar or moose. For something less exotic prime rib with Yorkshire pudding and lots of gravy please!

76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Syrah and 8% Malbec.

(Readers 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon, Columbia Valley, Washington, Brookwalter Winery, Richland, Washington , $34.94 (store manger discount at $24.50), Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 13238, 750 mL, 14.8%,  RKS Wine 91/100)

“Andrij the Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog” : Chapter 20: April Fools Assassination: Andrij in Critical Condition

Hello. It is Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog with Dylan the Westie at my side this evening. While on our evening walk on April 1st with myself and Dylan I say with deep regret an assassination attempt was made on Andrij The Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog in the Bridle Path area of Toronto. Two armed men jumped out of a Lada vehicle and opened fire and jabbed poisoned umbrellas at all of us including three Royal Canadian Mounted Police. I would like to say at this time both attackers have been killed along with two of the RCMP agents in the security detail. Bob has been shot three times and was immediately transported to Sunnybrook Hospital where he is undergoing surgery in critical condition. Andrij has been struck in the head by a bullet that ricocheted off the pavement and hit his US Marine helmet. It did not penetrate the helmet but the impact of the bullet caused his brain to swell and he too is in critical condition and being treated at a local veterinarian hospital. Another bullet grazed his hind leg and there has been a life-threatening loss of blood. Two bullets struck his flack jacket and caused severe bruising. I will update you with further details as they become known. Andrij’s last words before he lapsed into unconsciousness were, “May he enjoy a cup of plutonium tea”. We welcome your prayers.

Bob pictured here with Dylan the Westie who asks for your prayers of support in these difficult times
Andrij the Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog currently in critical condition

“Andrij the Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog”: Chapter 20: Hatred is our Weapon

In the Ukraine can we afford the luxury of not hating the Russians?

Hatred is a powerful motivator especially when you have a knife at your throat that the Russian invaders can thrust and sever your jugular.  And when hatred is intertwined with patriotism and desperation it may save our country. Is it nice, safe and secure democracies that have the luxury of compassion when intertwined with homilies to peace are a weakness the Russian Bear can pounce on? Do I feel any guilt in ripping out The Brute’s throat after his unit fired the shells that killed my master and then tried to trick me so he could slit my throat? No I only feel pride and I would do it day at night to fend off these war criminals. I have seen Canadian and American television show some pity to the poor Russian conscripts thinking they were on manoeuvres and not heading into combat. Yet these “poor dupesters” continue their shelling and murdering. Let the Pope and the Buddhists fail to realize what it is like to kill or be killed. Don’t snicker about the musing of a young dog. But you miss an important point and that is I have been in the middle of it all and seen my family wiped out. Where have you been? Shivering in your boots with what a Tsar threatens. I am no historian but wasn’t there a non-aggression pact between Hitler and England in 1938 and between Hitler and Stalin in 1939? Wake up and smell the coffee.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 12August1974: Bled, Northern Italy and up to Kufstein Austria

Happy 19th birthday! Last year of being a teenager. I packed up which I find a bit of a pain as just when I think I am done I see something I have forgotten to pack. And since my Munich bag broke I really have to cram my possessions, as meagre as they may be in my knapsack. I had a farewell bottle of cold Radenska and took a bus trip to the main highway to stick out my thumb. The ride came real quick and what a birthday present with a 55 year old woman heading up through Italy up to Austria. She had a son my age travelling in Greece so I told her some of my adventures there and what life is like on the road. Hopefully she did not suffer a nervous breakdown. I am a regular Jack Kerouac! One day my travel diary may be a book. What incredible scenery in Austria with everything being so green and the majestic mountains. She left me off at Kufstein and I found the youth hostel which was better than the Yugoslav and Romanian barracks. Since it was my birthday I splurged at a German chain Wienerwald with a quarter chicken, fries, salad and a litre of very good Austrian beer and some waffle cookies at $4.20. Expensive! A glorious hot shower and off to bed after talking with two Canadians in my room. No chocolate cake, birthday cards and I briefly thought how and where Randi was. Sigh! I suppose I can feel lonely for one day?