Uruguayan Tannat!

Yes there are over 270 wineries and counting in Uruguay. Vines were first brought to the country by Basque immigrants. The signature grape of the country is the tannic Tannat. More Tannat is grown in Uruguay than anywhere in the world.

God bless the so very adventuresome Liquor Control Board of Ontario for taking a huge risk in bringing in this Juan Carrau Tannat. Please do not be frightened!

In colour black cherry. On the nose cherry predominates but there is also some chocolate covered cranberry, earth and pomegranate. On the palate big tannins but certainly not huge. There are cherries, cherry liqueur and a thin coating of chocolate. What strikes me is both the delicious simplicity but a sense of pureness. It demands an asado platter of grilled meats but as we are not in Uruguay you can try your hand at an asados which might include beef, lamb, chicken and sausage. Or keeping it a bit simpler an Argentinian dish which would be a grilled side of flank with chimichurri sauce with a red onion salad.

I was expecting a much rougher and tannic wine that would need a few years to soften but this wine is immediately accessible which may be why the LCBO selected it. Goodness, no need to frighten off customers! Why it is so easy going you can sip it without food. Although I was expecting a tiger I encountered a pussycat. With a Tannat from France I just might say give it a few years in the bottle to soften. With this Tannat it is ready to drink and keep it hanging around for a few years if you like but I do not think it will improve with age.

As BBQ season approaches with vaccines making it possible to invite people over you may want to stock up on this wine and impress the gang with your “unique” find. Yes you are now a wine savant!

Now the bottle says produced and bottled for Juan Carrau so in effect they may simply have bought from a third party and put their name on the bottle? The Juan Carrau name has been a wine producer in Catalonia in Spain for ten generations.

(Juan Carrau Tannat 2019, Las Violetas, Canelones, Montevideo, Uruguay, $18.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 638791, 750 mL, 13%, Robert K. Stephen A little birdie told me so Rating 90/100).

Poetry Corner: “To the Liquor Control Board of Ontario”

To the Liquor Control Board of Ontario

Happy joyful people in your Vintages catalogue releases
but your need for safe profits has me falling to pieces

California you love
the lure of high turnover chokes you with its glove
an easy sale

Where is wine from British Columbia, Quebec and Nova Scotia?
the quality is there but look for them on your shelves and only tokenism (at best) is found
as for consumers you have ghettoized them with your lack of creativity

Take the safe path with your tried-and-true wines
over years and years you have shown no innovation
to the consumers of this great Canadian nation

Is it the insatiable greed of a monopoly?
the lack of courage and guts of its top management team?
the buyers not knowing the difference between the wines of Slovenia or Romania?
are British Columbia wine producers
from some leper colony?

Quebec too risky perhaps with its hybrids and Nova Scotia too?
at the end of the day your behaviour shows to wine consumers huge disrespect
Afraid of direct shipments to consumers might deprive Ontario of its tax?

The bottom line is the amount of jobs and revenue created in Canada if you scale down your
pumping out of European and Californian wines
and focused on increasing Canadian wares on the shelf
I am not buying the argument you make that your private order system gives consumers a truly global choice
We really know what’s going on here

Robert K. Stephen

Counterbalance Collective’s “Pineapple”

Perhaps the raciest of Counterbalance Collective’s efforts at short films. Ed (Scott Murray) and Jane (Leanne Noelle Smith) return home from a party with cupcakes celebrating some event. Innocent and sweet.

It’s all rather normal for a young couple. Enjoyed the party and now time for sleep.

Well Ed and Jane appear initially as happy Millennials but all is not what it appears to be. Isn’t that reality?

Ed and Jane (such innocent and common names) have a bit of a fetish going on! Jane is a domanatrix and gets her whip out but fumbling Ed forgets his usual lines but on they go to sex as the pineapple in the living room gets rumbled around during the sexual escapade. Yes so things are not as they might appear to be as the doors of a domestic environment close to the world. Is this perversion or a different degree of normality?

Whatever it is it works for Ed and Jane. Does it work with you?

Counterbalance Collective challenges societal norms with what might be an outdated version of normalcy.

As our Canadian former past Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau said the state should not be interested in what goes on the bedrooms of the nation. Counterbalance Collective seems to disagree with this? You can see the short here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqeoQ_Hqy0U&feature=emb_logo

Just Like Me Meditation Practice

Is there someone in your life or for that matter in the world that is giving you some grief. It could be an employee at work, a friend that has turned annoying, an obnoxious relative or even a political figure. The Just like Me meditation practice attempts to bridge the hostility gap. If someone is annoying or bothering you have negativity affecting you. Assuming this person has not done you terrible harm or done something unforgiveable the Just Like Me Meditation practice just might enable you to better tolerate this person or perhaps even forgive them.

A sample text of the meditation would be as follows;

Begin by being aware that there is a person in front of you, either in your mind or actually sitting across from you. A fellow human being just like you. Silently repeat the following phrases while looking at your partner.

This person has a body and a mind, just like me. 

This person has feelings, thoughts, and emotions, just like me. 

This person has during his or her life experienced physical and emotional pain and suffering, just like me. 

This person has at some point been sad, just like me.

This person has been disappointed in life, just like me. 

This person has sometimes been angry, just like me.

This person has been hurt by others, just like me. 

This person has felt unworthy or inadequate at times, just like me. 

This person worries, just like me. 

This person is frightened sometimes, just like me. 

This person will die, just like me.

This person has longed for friendship, just like me. 

This person is learning about life, just like me. 

This person wants to be caring and kind to others, just like me. 

This person wants to be content with what life has given, just like me 

This person wishes to be free from pain and suffering, just like me. 

This person wishes to be happy, just like me. 

This person wishes to be safe, strong, and healthy, just like me.

This person wishes to be loved, just like me. 

Now, allow some wishes for well-being to arise.

I wish that you have the strength, resources, and social support to navigate the difficulties in your life with ease.

I wish that you have the strength, resources, and social support to navigate the difficulties in your life with ease. 

I wish that you’ll be free from pain and suffering. 

I wish that you’ll be peaceful and happy. 

I wish that you’ll be loved because you are a fellow human being, just like me. 

Whether your partner is right there with you, or you have brought your partner into your mind, thank that person for doing this practice with you. Give thanks in whatever way feels appropriate. 

Thank you for doing this practice.

How to Grow Rich in Spite of the Pandemic: Part 1: Savings Up and Expenses Cut

I like to see what our neighbours in Quebec are thinking about the pandemic. In the March edition of the Quebec magazine L’acualité there is an article entitled “Comment Vieillir Riche Malgré La Pandémie” which we can translate into English as “How to Grow Rich in Spite of the Pandemic”.

One part of the article can be translated as “When the Pandemic Hit in March 2020”. What did it say? It was about a pianist Jérôme Beaulieu who returned from France after playing in some jazz concerts. He quickly lost 75% of his revenue due to cancelled engagements. He and a singer joined forces to offer handyman/renovation services but he did have some experience as he learnt from his builder father. Like 2 million other Quebecers he took CERB benefits.

By the end of April 2020 one man out of five and one women out of 4 were unemployed in Quebec. The HEC Institute in Quebec noted that 29.5% of Quebec households had a change in the status of employment. Yet weekly wages in the first five months of 2020 were 7.2% greater than in the same period in 2019. 55% of households experienced a decline in household income. So not everyone was on the losing end.

The article gave an example of a man Felix Cadotte that was working in technology and ecology in Sorel Quebec whose job was changed into full time from being part time. He eliminated wardrobe costs, restaurants and sold one of his two cars so he had a full-time job with less expenses which enabled him to accelerate his savings for a new home and a baby on the way! Quebecers were forced into a life of involuntary simplicity and rediscovered the virtues of staying at home and saving. As Natalie Bachand the president of a non profit group promoting savings in Quebec said,” The pandemic has made us realize the superfluous amount of money spent on trips, vacations and restaurants. And when all this disappears we see our real needs.”

According to a June 2020 survey conducted by SOM 85% of Quebecers reduced their consumption and 59% eliminated or cut an important expense. 50% of Quebecers reviewed their budget and financial priorities two thirds of those as a matter of prudence and not  as an obligation. One half of those surveyed wished to be better prepared for the next crisis.

Pierre Leblanc president of a trustee in bankruptcy company Groupe Leblanc noted many had reduced their monthly expenses by $400-$800.

The savings rate of Canadians was 27.5% in the second quarter of 2020 whereas it was 2% in the fourth quarter of 2019 according to Statistics Canada.

Louis-Bernard Dubé a financial planner with iA Group in Terrebonne noted that many people panicked with the fall of the stock markets between the 23rd of February and the 20th of March in 2020 but in six months the markets rebounded to where they were prior to the slump. Dubé noted, “Those that kept a level head and did not sell ended up in the same situation. Those who sold for the most part ended up losing.”

Mutantism on the March: Chapter 11 “All Goes Well in the Dinosaur World Until Their Extinction”

Chapter 11 “All Goes Well in the Dinosaur World Until Their Extinction”

Adjustments to the above world particularly when Squid transformed himself from a squid like creature to a humanoid figure was quite agreeable. He concentrated all his efforts into upping the dancing skills of the dinosaurs. There were some initial difficulties encountered by Squid in instructing the rather clumsy beasts but with his patience and after studying their muscular system he developed a different method of instruction that worked wonders. Audiences loved the new moves and heaped praise upon Squid skyrocketing his reputation so that he was seen at the finest cafes sipping palm brandy with the elite of the dinosaur community. His Know and Chew dance and the Fossil and Footprint dance were huge audience hits. Squid even started writing plays which were received as clever and witty.

Everything was going Squid’s way and the only direction to go was upwards but happiness is but a fleeting situation. A series of drastic events rocked the dinosaur world. A rapid population explosion depleted the food supply. Then a mysterious virus polished off the remaining dinosaur community leaving Squid alone with huge stacks of Lawless Milk records and no pupils or audiences. After weeks of listening to these horrible recordings Squid felt for his own mental health it was time to leave. So one day he transformed himself back into squid like form and swam off.

He did find humanoids and this gave him great hope but to his disappointment they were surly and uncultured quite unlike his dinosaur and underwater friends. They wore animal skins, were dirty and smelt worse than dinosaur shit. They even had the nerve to chase him and threaten him with spears grunting savage mumbo jumbo. Their idea of fun seemed to be hunting and drawing strange drawings in the caves they lived in. When they were not fighting amongst themselves they revelled in roasting large animals that they had killed. Then after big feasts they would dance some bizarre dance by the fire. What clumsy creatures they were.

On a rare occasion some tribes would shyly offer him victuals and even their women! But most often they would chase him with spears. This uncivility was disgraceful to Squid so when he had enough of these buffoons he would transform himself into a squid terrifying them and they ran screaming in terror back to their caves.

Squid eventually found a willing group of savages and attempted to teach them dancing but they couldn’t understand the most basic foot movements and ended up in tangled heaps on the ground. Quite frankly they were more interested in drawing symbols on cave walls than they were in dancing. Well at least they had some interest in art as crude as it was. Hopelessness with his crowd was inevitable. His experiences slowly transformed him from an optimist into a pessimist. If this is what these earth people were like now what on earth would they develop into in the future?

Perhaps somewhere he could discover beings who wanted to dance. So at a crocodile roast at the cave drawers guild he announced his intentions to leave. Nobody really cared anyways. Maybe now they could concentrate on drawing instead of dancing!

CALLEN SCHAUB aims to ease lockdown burden with new Colour Therapy Collections (Press Release)

Montreal-based artist Callen Schaub knows exactly how emotionally exhausting winter can be, especially with lockdowns in effect across the country. After reflecting on his mental wellness, Callen has set out to help others through the medium of his work. Every Friday at 5pm EST, Callen goes live on Instagram and TikTok with his new Colour Therapy Collections initiative.

These live CTC sessions are a social media experience wherein Schaub curates a pallet of colours and paints with them. Callen’s goal for each session is to evoke emotions and engage with his audience to start a conversation about how different colours impact our lives. Every session will serve as a vehicle to explore the emotional significance of different colour combinations while spotlighting alternative ways of improving mental health. 

During his time in lockdown, Callen thought about everything that made him happy and realized he could spread that happiness to others through painting. From his own experiences and his previous exploration of chromo-therapy, Callen learned just how impactful colours can be on a person’s mood. It was from that realization that Colour Therapy Collections was born. 

The live painting sessions use incredibly vivid colors to provoke and explore the full spectrum of emotions. After each session, Schaub uses his comment section to elaborate on the palette of colors chosen and further advocate for the de-stigmatization of mental health. Callen believes that “just because you cannot see it doesn’t mean it is not there” and through the rollout of the Colour Therapy Collection, hopes to make a positive (and colourful) impact on the issue of mental health. 

How Greek are you?

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The relationship people have with the Greek language and culture is a huge topic of great interest to many people involved with the effort to promote Hellenism. The worldwide Greek School, The Greek Online School (https://greek-lol.com/) , and the Hellenic Film Society USA ( https://hellenicfilmusa.org/) have a common goal; to make the Greek culture and language accessible to anyone interested no matter their background or place of origin. 

Τhe Greek Online School and HFS USA have collaborated on the creation of a Greek Language & Culture Survey ( https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPKuWRSp6-4FzUMO24_Z_cz1LWprSZzgdcEZoN-PtTkJ9d6w/viewform) that will help bring answers about the relationship of people to Greece.

The many shapes and forms of “Greekness”

People in Greek communities come from various countries and relate to Greece in a plethora of ways. Everybody has their own special way of being Greek. Some people were born in Greece, others have a Greek partner, their families might come from Greece, they might have just moved to Greece and are looking to learn the language (https://greek-lol.com/) , and some simply love our country and culture and wish to gain a better understanding of it.

Languages are the vehicles to a people’s heart and the Greek language (https://greek-lol.com/news/greek-school-all-over-world/) is at the core of Hellenic culture. That’s why this survey was created; to help the Greek Online School & HFS USA gather and present objective information, compare results and most importantly to help evoke discussions that broaden our perspective and help us get a better understanding of the ways people connect to Greece.

How do you connect to Greece?

If you have 5 minutes please, take the big Greek Language & Culture Survey ( https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPKuWRSp6-4FzUMO24_Z_cz1LWprSZzgdcEZoN-PtTkJ9d6w/viewform ) .

Your help is truly valuable in the efforts to get a better understanding of the relationship people have with Greece and Greek culture. Your answers are confidential and will only be used for the purposes of the survey.

Greek cinema as a language tool and as a warm reminder of our roots

Whether it is a movie from the golden film era of the 50’s and 60’s with all the great actors that your Greek parents or grandparents grew to adore, or a more modern film, Greek cinema can be great and is usually very fun. Just like with every country, there are movies that are a waste of time. But there are also amazing ones that you will absolutely love and watch again and again not only as a way to revise your vocabulary, but as warm reminders of the culture that might be on the other side of the world but is still a big part of who you are. This month’s movies by HFS USA ( https://hellenicfilmusa.org/) are sponsored by The Greek Online School and they are the perfect way to bring you a taste of… Greece.

The Greek Online School offers Greek language lessons to people of all ages and levels of Greek around the globe. Our online community of Greeks and Philhellenes consists of more than 1000 students and our mission is to help people learn to love Greek.

“Come True”: Possibly a Canadian Classic Horror Thriller?

“Come True” initially moves slowly and gains in suspense and explodes with an unsuspected brilliant and provocative finish.

You think you are finally beginning to figure everything out until an unexpected finish turns you on your head spinning with WTF just happened.

A great film brimming with creativity that may leave you with a gasp at its conclusion.

Brilliant imagery and creative writing.

A right on soundtrack.

Being film savvy, you have figured out that the film is about dreams but there is a strange commonality about the dreams in 5 participants in a sleep study. What this commonality is subject to diverse interpretations. You might be intellectually brilliant and figure out the dreams are about the evilness lurking in the hearts of everyone? Or perhaps multiple interpretations are also correct as you try to make sense of the film.

Yes poor Sarah (Julia Sarah Stone) an 18 year old high school student has terrifying dreams about a man in the shadows with gleaming eyes that continually wakes her up in a cold sweat. So she enrolls in a rather secretive sleep study with 5 other paid volunteers. Technology has evolved that permits the researchers to see the images in the dreams of the participants. And at one point the researchers determine a dark figure in the shadows with gleaming eyes is not only haunting Sarah but all the sleep study participants. Now what is going on here. The monster within all of us? The essence of evil in the minds of all humans? Satan lurking in all of us? Director Anthony Scott Burns playing with our minds?

Then a slightly creepy sleep participant researcher Riff (Landon Liborian) tails Sarah with an obvious romantic interest that ends up with his demise as after some lovemaking with Sarah his eyes and life are gouged out by Sarah. This is all after a suspenseful sleepwalking episode by Sarah as she travels in a sleepwalking state towards the shadowy strange figures with glowing eyes that inhabit her dreams and the dreams of everyone in the sleep study. She wakes up in her sleep walking state and runs in terror from the shadowy men with the gleaming eyes and finds herself in bed with Riff after a passionate lovemaking scene but she has poked out Riff’s eyes and murders him. In shock she slowly walks to the bathroom covered in blood. On the toilet seat a mobile rings with a message that will send your head spinning. What that message is might be innovative and a salvation for Sarah or is it yet another dream. Why now does she have fangs like a vampire?

As Burn’s quips, “We wanted to create a dream world that is beautiful and artistic, but deep down you know you shouldn’t be there.”

I am bursting to tell you the final moments of the film but it is so overwhelming and innovative you may ask yourself is this film a dream or reality? A question I’d like to ask Burns but I must refrain lest I receive an answer that might destroy my magical perception of this Canadian film!

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe6F2cp5sHs

Releases across Canada March 12, 2021 on these platforms iTunes, Bell, Rogers, Shaw, Telus, Vimeo on Demand, Cineplex Store

What can we do to support COVID ICU nurses? Can mindfulness meditation help

Last night I watched a short documentary with actual footage of COVID ICU nurses in Arizona. It compliments a documentary by several physicians working in the ER with suspected COVID patients that I saw last month.

Together these short films present a sobering image of COVID attacking the health care system. The film of the ICU nurses was taken with nurses using a body cam.

What was the end result of this? For the nurses there is pain, suffering, fear and often a sense of helplessness. My thought is that may ICU nurses may be on rocky grounds as concerns their mental health and many may be on the road, if they are not already there, to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Banging pots and pans or providing meals can be helpful tools in providing ICU nurses with support and may be indicative of acts of compassion.

But can we use some mindful practices to help these brave souls? These techniques could be called spiritual and ones you have never practiced or thought about and may alleviate the suffering of these nurses and even be beneficial for you. The first technique we can use is a loving and kindness meditation to all ICU nurses throughout the world. I can tell you I have directed this meditation to individuals that are suffering and hurting and it does work. I haven’t done it that often for groups of people. I think what it does is open your heart and mind so the power of compassion is directed and focused.

The text is simple:

  • Choose a comfortable place with minimum distractions where you can practice this meditation.
  • With eyes closed, back straight, and the mind aligned to the present, think of someone you love, someone you don’t like, a stranger, and a group of people you spend time with every day.
  • Keeping all of them in mind, repeat the following words to yourself in silence and complete awareness – ‘May you be happy,’ ‘May you be safe,’ ‘ May you be healthy,’ ‘May you be at peace.’
  • Take as much time as you need to repeat the words. You only have to make sure that you say them after realizing what they mean and feeling them from inside.
  • Once you have finished repeating the words, end the session by saying, ‘May you and I be happy,’ ‘May you and I be safe,’ ‘May you and I be healthy,’ ‘May you and I be at peace.’

Now if you are an ICU nurse or any healthcare worker is undergoing suffering and pain that is unbearable and is making you feel psychologically unwell it may be advisable to seek psychological help. If you not at that point perhaps it is time to practice self compassion. If your negative emotions are out in the open try not to be like a dog chasing your tail by worrying, by being afraid, by being angry or by being gripped in fear. I suggest you may wish to accept these negative emotions as being part of you. I think that if you accept them without judgement you may cease running from them or avoiding them. You have let the genie out of the bottle which may not be pleasant at first. Once you have accepted these negative emotions and how they are making you suffer you can then exercise some self compassion realizing you have been suffering and as a human being you need to nourish yourself with some self compassion. I am not suggesting you can chase away the demons but you can peacefully exist with them so they are no longer demons.

You may find it beneficial to exercise self-compassion several times during the day. Perhaps you can visualize this as “leaning into your suffering”. What is occurring is that you are opening your heart and perhaps this will make you more vulnerable but my hope is that you recognize this vulnerability and deal with it. If you keep running from your suffering this means you are not dealing with it.

And if your heart is big enough perhaps for your ICU colleagues you can give a loving and kindness meditation as described above.

If you want to share the ICU nurses’ experience you can see it here https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/opinion/covid-icu-nurses-arizona.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwAR0OqTML7TWeZHH_GU3TpRsH5_09LioHLiTsoBj6TxCBmzGOBZ5xQWqnAaE