August Musings

Well somehow the last day of August snuck up on me and I hadn't posted so here goes with random musings.

Okanagan Getaway - once again we were able to take advantage of a friend's largesse and enjoy six days in the Okanagan (there's a place in heaven for them). We get gifted a cottage in Summerland and spend a week or so doing, well, not much. Some time at the beach, some mini putt, read some inconsequential books, watch SpongeBob and catch up on sleep. We also drove up to Kelowna and went for lunch at The Terraces at Cedar Creek Winery to celebrate GrandDad's birthday, great location, very good lunch, passable service, but then restaurant service in the Okanagan is rarely more than passable .

Wife always claims she "doesn't need a vacation" until she's on one and then realizes how important they are. In the past I've always spent a day or to scouring the wineries for hard to find bottles but with the spiraling cost of BC wines I passed this year, just bought a bottle or two for dinner consumption and didn't bring any home.

Okanagan Wines - I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, the price points for Okanagan Wines start too high . Basic everyday wines are in the $20 range and the price/quality ratio is just not there. The best bottle I had while in the valley was Arrowleaf Pinot Noir which is reasonable value at $17.99 but really how many people spend $18 on daily wine ?

If the Okanagan industry is going to continue to grow they need to start marketing "entry level" varietals in the $13-15 range, but when you can sell them for more why bother ? You bother because you want to sell wine in 10 years as well as tomorrow so you need to grow your customer base.

Chris Chelios retires at the age of 48 after 1651 games in a career that spanned 4 decades . An amazing athlete, not without warts, Chelios is easily the greatest American born player in NHL history .

Happy Birthday Frank Robinson and Jean Beliveau, two first class athletes from another era, the era of my youth . Beliveau was so good that even though he played for les Canadiens I liked him, and that is a momentous statement .