My erstwhile physician shared with me this morning an article from The (London) TImes about martinis. When it comes to booze, nothing says it so powerfully as a martini.  It is not for the pusillanimous.  Nor – until now – would I have said it was especially popular with the younger set. Apparently though there is of late a growing trend among young people towards the martini. It is a dangerous road to follow. My caution is directed not only to the product but equally to the environment which surrounds the martini. The two invite trouble.

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We spent a very agreeable afternoon today with friends on their country estate south of Ottawa sitting in the open air lathered in sunshine chatting and playing with their high-spirited French bulldog Louie. Our rambling conversation about recent mundane undertakings took a sudden turn. Unexpectedly earlier that day our hosts had received from their estate agent an offer to purchase a property they have for sale in the City. Our hosts were too magnanimous to cancel our foregathering in light of the unfolding business transaction. When however discussion spilled upon the subject we were all four instantly consumed by the delectable discourse.

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There are but two ways to deal with obstruction.  Either you go through it or you go around it. Going through a barrier is commonly associated on the one hand either with stubbornness and bullishness or with foolish and resolve on the other.  Going around a barrier is by definition either ignoring the matter or being deceptive and calculating. The elemental distinction is between publicity and privacy; that is, the contrast between fanfare and seclusion.

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Normally I prefer having something spesh to talk about, something moderately scintillating with perhaps a hint of indulgence or novelty. Today I have no such thing. Frankly I am relieved. The sun is shining. The azure sky is clear.  The air is crisp and dry.

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As I assembled myself this morning, specifically as I attached my Apple Watch to my wrist, I reflected upon the mechanical watches and clocks I have owned and the ticking sound they make. This in turn reminded me of the sound made by mechanical automobiles. The sound of mechanism in play is so gratifying that both battery powered watches and electric automobiles are at times outfitted with synthetic reproductions of mechanical movement and sound.  For watches the mere appearance of a ticking minute hand (as opposed to the velvety sweep of a battery powered device) is an achievement.

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The last time we moved was eight years ago when our house precipitously sold within a matter of weeks following its listing with the estate agent. The sale of the house in turn caused an avalanche of activity surrounding the so-called downsizing process as we prepared to convert our 4-bedroom dwelling of about 3,000 sq.ft. and associated belongings to an apartment one-third the size with minimal storage. Today we are convening with professional movers regarding the transport of our now elemental belongings to a new, even smaller apartment at an undetermined time (the new building is not yet fully constructed and the occupancy date is therefore uncertain).

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After what had been a bustling Monday morning – grocery shopping at the new Farm Boy on Hazledean Road followed by Bed Bath & Beyond, Petro-Canada, Staples, Mark’s Workwear and Beckwith Kitchen  – it was perhaps unsurprising that as we passed by Wilson Street and the Mississippi Golf Club projecting into Glen Isle and the tributaries of the Mississippi River we should have openly pondered one of Chef Wendy MacDonald’s hamburger platters with French fries or onion rings. Serendipitously the hour was almost precisely noon.  In our early morning haste to confront today’s retail agenda we had eaten nothing other than a banana or an apple. We were piqued for sustenance!

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Seemingly carrot cake and its creamy white icing are more nutritious than I knew beforehand. And if not wholesome at least sustaining. The unctuous moist cake embedded with nuts and raisins constituted a substantial reward following last evening’s predominantly vegetarian supper. At ten o’clock this morning I was still spinning from its toxic effect as I plied my carcass from the virginal lair and espied through the draperies what proved to be a moderately pleasant Sunday. Instantly I determined to go for a relieving bicycle ride to invigorate myself and perhaps – in anticipation of breakfast – to expedite that best of all sauces for any meal, an appetite! Continue reading →

The MacDonald family – Wendy, Caterer and Chris (son), Chef – with the assistance of Carolyn Durrante launched this morning our first breakfast of the season at the Mississippi Golf Club on the MIssissippi River in the Village of Appleton, Town of Mississippi Mills. As I confessed at the time I am flattered to have a particular breakfast named after me; viz., the “Chapman  Breakfast“. Years ago Wendy discovered it was easiest to confront my insistence upon à la carte ordering (repeatedly of the identical breakfast) just to add another tag to the list of alternatives on the menu. The celebration thus persists of my Dr. Atkins/protein diet of double order crisp bacon, sausage links, three fried eggs-over-easy, cheese slices, tomatoe slices and (exceptionally today) fresh raspberries. Allow me to observe that the breakfast is nonpareil. It is a peerless breakast such as this which invoked the obiter concerning the engraving on my monument stone, “He loved bacon!”

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Our first stop early this sunny Friday morning was Bed Bath & Beyond in Stittsville on the Hazeldean Road. We dealt with an exceedingly pleasant young woman who, although she confessed our particular interest was not within her baliwick, she nonetheless directed us precisely to the products we sought and assisted us in related retail matters.  She had unwittingly put a spring in our step on this weekend prelude!

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. is an American chain of domestic merchandise retail stores. The chain operates many stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Bed Bath & Beyond was founded in 1971. It is counted among the Fortune 500 and the Forbes Global 2000.

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