Vivant, where are you?

"Flu"? Really? Better "flew," or even (chimney) "flue." Methinks this "flu" has aught to do with a certain recent Saturday eve fuelled by many bottles of carefully chosen and not-so carefully consumed vino roja.

Missed you tonight, V. Does opening night of the fall ball hockey season "have drink"? Yes, yes, and yes.

Yogi for men

Bears in Yosemite National Park prefer Hondas and Toyotas for late-night snacks. According to 186 bear-incident reports, they broke into 26 Hondas and 21 Toyotas, but they broke into only 2 Buicks and 1 Lexus. Because bears rip into cars that contain food, Yosemite Park rangers warn visitors to keep food only in special "bear safes." Many visitors who ignored the warnings found that their cars had been opened like tin cans by the powerful bears.

Yoga For Men:

All at once more relaxed AND more at one with the Spirit Force.
Puff. Inhale. Hold. Hold. Hold...
Blowwwwwww......
Ahhhh....
Godddddd....

Monte Cristo Habana Robusto

Circa Summer 2009
Toronto, Canada
Complemented by day-old Niagara Pinot Noir
"But I don't need the cigar or the wine," he said, "all I need is the cooling evening air and my woman to ease me to sleep later...when the sun goes down."

If the bottle is sweating, then the Piano Has Been Drinking

The Bottle Is Sweating

But I am cool
Here
Outdoors
After the rain
Has cleared the air
And the evening sun
Has taken with it
It's light
And heat

i dont know how this happened.jpg

One minute doing report cards the next friends over for dinner and then smoking in the open june evening air.

Alcohol Free Family Fun?

Golfing and drinking

In the rain.

Drinking while golfing

Though I won't be drinking at the "Summer Solstice".

Beyond the pail/pale

Pictured is yesterday afternoon's pre-TFC prep for the biting winds of BMO field...thanks to Vivant for the match and for the pregame fortification. Sitting here tonight, at the end of my birthday weekend (the last b'day I'll celebrate before hitting 50 (unless I shuffle off this mortal coil before then). Listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage, my favourite radio show and the best thing about Sunday eve 10p-midnight. Little S. definitely has the drink, and so--below--did I, grasped fleetingly between my fingers.

Drinking revelation

I opened up this fine Portugese cheapie (always available for 10 bucks at the LCBO) and realized why I had never stocked up on a so-called 'house wine'. I had always chosen new world wines before (USA, Chile, OZ), but quickly became bored of the candied, predictable taste. So I abandoned the idea and ended up paying too much for wine that I really just wanted to go with KFC.

Then Periquita. Cheap, but with complex earthy tones. Something I'd not likely get bored of. The 'Leffe' of wines perhaps.

In this age of cutting back, I'm adopting this wine as my new house wine. I'll cut wine expenses 50 per cent and enjoy a better bottle in the process.

The key is Europe. When it comes to drinking, I think it still has to be our first stop.

Pinot

Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Bolano's Liver

Mr. Ashdale,

I am reading this morning about the life of a writer you have referred to several times recently - the Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño.

Apparently Bolano died of an unspecified liver ailment in 2003, at the age of 50.

Could the death of Bolano somehow be connected to your focus on the organ of drink?

People say that Bolano's drink of choice was heroin and that he died of it but...

"numerous Latin American and European critics and bloggers have taken the side of his widow, accusing American critics and publishers of deliberately distorting the writer’s past to fit him into the familiar mold of the tortured artist."

What do you think? Was he tortured? And did he have drink? I haven't read him yet. Though now that I recall the size of the book - I am not sure that I am up to another dismembering.

BTW - I am now intrigued by Bolano after reading the NYT piece and finding out he was a literary game player "who played with reality, who cultivated ambiguities and false identities".

One of my favourite writers in this regard is Nabokov - who by the way wrote a beautiful little autobiography called Speak Memory. I'm afraid now that I may have to tackle Bolano at some point, including his as yet unwritten biography. Damn. More f*ucking torturous reading. Why can't a book just be injected into one's head? It would be a lot easier that way and maybe offer a different type of pleasure - perhaps like taking heroin.

> Info Source

All You Need is Aspirin

I love coincidences.

Just after reading Mr. Ashdale's liver post, my son asked me to check the weather on the local newspaper site and the article at the top of the page announced a new breakthrough drug for...the liver.

The drug?

Aspirin:

"Aspirin's anti-inflammatory properties appear to be especially potent on the liver and may well help protect the blood-cleansing organ from the damaging effects of everything from drug overdoses to binge drinking."

Check it out.

Think I'll stop at the drug store after work today.

The hooking technique

I had my check-up last week. The doctor asked, "How many drinks a night?" When a doctor asks that question what does he multiply the answer by, I wondered.

Then followed by a liver exam. Specifically, the hooking technique:

Kinship with great writers who are famous for their drinking

Pinot -

Like you I have found that the comments in the NYT drink blog are almost as interesting as the posts themselves.

Here's a comment (#29) that interests me:

"I have a feeling all good teachers have something to help them unwind, and it seems that for many it happens to be drinking. As an English teacher, I feel kinship with all those great writers who are famous for their drinking."

> Info Source

Teaching and Drinking

I'd like to thank Pinot for reminding me of the superb NYT drink blog.

Yes - Pinot - a very interesting piece on teachers struggling to find a comfortable way to enjoy a drink - like the rest of the world.

I liked this idea:

"Unlike most other professions, this one drains you completely, refilling you with its own insular, infinite concerns. The intensity may ebb and flow, but it never disappears."

> Info Source

Meeting

Meeting #1
I am Drink Club
The Dora Keough
Wed Jan 21, 2009
730-930pm

Purpose: drinking and talking

Greetings Boys.

Thought I'd give this a try.

Early drinks, just a few, during a short time frame (thereby demonstrating our self-discipline) - whenever the mood strikes us. Any of the contributers can call a meeting, any time, perferably at the last minute - and no one is required to show. Totally optional, low pressure situation which in most cases will amount to me announcing when and where I'll be drinking and wondering if you might join in.

One of the benefits of these meetings could be improved content for the site.

Thoughts?

Anyways I'll be at the Dora at 730 tonight.

Love,

JV

Do Backyard Rinks have Drink?

Well, they might. Something about the process of creating and maintaining them does, anyway. Lately I've been spending untold hours in a frozen netherworld at the back of my back yard, preoccupied with boards, tarps, slope, snow, pipes, hoses, leaks, and, of course, weather. All this to provide my progeny with a 20' x 20' sheet of the slippery stuff to play our game on. More ice in my yard than in my drink, lately. But as I stood out there tonight in the -10 night air, my fingers frozen around the hose, swirls of snow gusting off the neighbours' garage roof and hissing gently into the 1/4" of water freezing before my eyes on my ice pad, I felt a special kind of winter peace enveloping everything out there, including me. Tomorrow the rink will echo with the slap-boom of the puck off the stick then off the boards, the grind & crunch of blades digging up the ice, and the clang of the red metal goalposts stopping some object's flight--but tonight it was all slow, quiet preparation. And a few snow-cooled Creemore to lubricate the process.

Vibrating kitty

Not sure why I placed my daughter's battery-operated massage Kitty (a Santa gift) beside this delicious bottle of Argentinian chardonnay, but at $13.50, this bottle is also able to deliver cheap thrills.

A strong buy next time you pop by a vintages LCBO.

Pinot
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Petalos 2006 Bierzo Spain

I am drinking it in Torontocanada in 2009 at 545pm.

Standard bar bathroom hand dryer

Dora Keough. Torontocanada. Circa 2009.

Boys weekend drink

Lots of guys, all full of drink this weekend. Seven friends from my distant past, a black ice skating rink, 5 km of skiing on nearby trails, and now tenderloin gets warm by the fire before roasting. Lots of red wine to come, with some laughs and a few ProLine tickets. Laughing and drinking. Too little of that in life, at least the laughing part. Here's to old friends, and to new. Great to laugh and drink with both.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

America

NY Bar Stays Open Due to Next Depression

A heart-warming story from our go-to news source, The NYT: A bar which would have closed during the old economy gets to stay open during the next economy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/nyregion/06emerald.html?_r=1&hp

This is also further proof that when times get tough, people make room for drink in their lives.

And what is drink? What is our belief?

That drink is not an escape; not an avoidance.

But that drink is inspiration; inspiration that is already within.

And it's nice to have age-old places to go to tap into that.

Father's Little Helper

I am sworn to Mrs. Ashdale that while on duty (M-F, 9-5) there will be no alcohol. Duty? I'm minding the tot. This pledge seems right.

Tot and I were known to visit in local establishments during the holidays to enjoy, say, a pulled pork sandwich, a pint and a bottle of formula. And hey, it's only a stroller walk home.

Parenting at home, around 3 in the aft, those holiday leftovers in the fridge can sure look tempting. Hello there, icewine.

While we're talking about authors, ask your local library for the heartbreaking Journals of John Cheever. Nice guy. Bad drunk.

My sons face looks small

Blonde womans son corks a riesling

Sons guitar lesson

Warsteiner dark and a book. Maverick's pub. A few doors down. Chauffering is not a bad gig with a beer and a book to pass the time.