RKS Literature: “Trimalchio’s Feast”: Trimalchio’s Wife A Magpie with a Rough Tongue! (Petronious)

“Who was the woman running around this place? ‘Trimalchio’s wife’ he told me, ‘Fortunata is her name and she counts her money by the sackful. And before, before what was she? You’ll pardon me for saying so, but you wouldn’t have touched a bit of bread from her hand. Nowadays-and who knows how or why- she’s in heaven, and she’s absolutely everything to Trimalchio. In fact, if she tells him at high noon it’s dark, he’ll believe her. He doesn’t know himself how much he’s got, he’s so loaded-but this bitch looks after everything; she’s even in places you wouldn’t think of. She’s dry, sober and full of ideas-you see all that gold-but she’s got a rough tongue and she’s a real magpie when she gets her feet up-if she doesn’t like you she doesn’t like you.”

RKS Literature: “Trimalchio’s Feast” : What’s on the Menu (Petronious)

“After our applause the next course was brought in. Actually it was not as grand as we expected, but it was so novel that everyone stared. It was a deep circular tray with the twelve signs of the Zodiac arranged around the edge. Over each of them the chef had placed some appropriate dainty suggested by the subject, Over Aires the Ram, chickpeas; over Tarus the Bull a beefsteak: over the Heavenly Twins testicles and kidneys; over Cancer the Crab, a garland; over Leo the Lion, an African fig; over Virgo the Virgin, a young sow’s udder; over Libra the Scales a balance with a cheesecake in one hand and a pastry in the other; over Scorpio, a sea scorpion, over Sagittarius the Archer, a sea bream with eyespots; over Aquarius the Water-Carrier, a goose; over Pisces the Fishes two mullets. In the centre was a piece of grassy turf bearing a honeycomb.”  

RKS Literature: Letter from Mozart to Father 3July1778, Paris: Mozart Muses on Life and Death

“I feel comforted  because I know that God, who orders everything for the best, however contrary it seems to us, wills it so; for I believe-and I won’t be persuaded otherwise-that no doctor, no individual, no misfortune, no accident can give a man his life or take it away, God alone can do that- once our time has come, all remedies are useless, they hasten death rather than prevent it”.

RKS Poetry Anthology: “Junkie of sorts”

Junkie of sorts

Up the highway flows the citrus juice

From Florida

Anita Bryant

The pusher

Scores a hit

And all are satisfied

Except the Orange Bird

Who weeps in lament

For she can’t talk

And

Is forced to sing at gunpoint

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Poetry Anthology: “Surfing the COVID Waves”

Surfing the COVID Waves

The more the COVID waves surf the beach of life

The more power and constraints placed on individual liberty

In the name of public good!

Elected representatives and top echelon medical bureaucrats now turned into sharks

Dismembering and attacking those who fail to tow the party line

Vilified like the sharks that attack the surfers like the sharks they are?

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Poetry Anthology: “Rin Tin Tin’s Revenge”

Rin Tin Tin’s Revenge

Salivated madness

Molar maliciousness

Lunges at your neck

Hungry claws tear your veins

hot satanic fumes

Muffle your screams

The blood pumps steadily onto the pavement

Licked up enthusiastically by man’s best friend

At the moment rabid

Robert K. Stephen

RKS Literature: Letter from Mozart to Father 9July1778, Paris: Dissolute Court Musicians and a Shamefully Intoxicated Haydn

“I couldn’t help laughing at your account of Haydn’s drunkenness, -if I’d been there, I’d certainly have whispered in his ear: ADLGASSER. But it’s a disgrace that such an able man should be rendered incapable of performing his duties and only have himself to blame for it-in a post that’s in God’s honour-when the archbishop and the whole court are there-and the whole church is full of people-it’s appalling-this is also one of the main reasons I detest Salzburg-the coarse ill-mannered and dissolute court musicians-no honest man of good breeding could live with them:-instead of taking interest in them he should be ashamed of them.”

RKS Literature: Letter from Leopold Mozart to His Son 4December1777, Salzburg: A True Friend is One of the World’s Greatest Wonders

“My son to find one man in a 1,000 who is your true friend for reasons other than self-interest is one of the greatest wonders of the world. Examine all who call themselves your friends or who make a show of friendship and you’ll find the reason why this is so. If they’re not motivated by self-interest on their own account, then they’ll be acting in the interests of some other friend whom they need; or they are your friends so that by singling you out they can annoy some third party.”

RKS 2026 British Columbia Wine: 2021 Volcanic Hills Magma Red from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley

Volcanic Hills Winery is located on the Southeast slope of Boucherie Mountain a 60-million-year-old dormant volcano.

It is a blend of Pinot Noir (51.4%). Marechal Foch (14.3%), Gamay Noir ( 7.4%),  Merlot (21.4%) and Cabernet Franc (5.5%). Each varietal was fermented and barrel aged in French and American oak for 14 months then blended.

Aroma: Black cherry, raspberry, red plum, chocolate covered cherry bon bons. Definite oak influence; perhaps too much

Palate: Firm. Lean.Tannic with controlled acidity. Very little fruit: perhaps faint raspberry therefore lacking much of any telltale Okanagan Valley character. Tannic finish.

Personality: Bland, unimpressive especially when expecting excellence one might expect from Okanagan Valley red wines.

Cellarbility: Drink now.

Food Match: A “Friday night wine”.

Price: $30 CDN.

RKS 2026 British Columbia Wine Rating: 79/100.

(Volcanic Hills 2021 Magma Red, Okanagan Valley, BC VQA, Volcanic Hills Winery, West Kelowna, British Columbia, 750 mL, 14%).