Aug 31 21 2021 - Things of September

 

September is something to look forward to here in Niagara.  Compare that with February.  February is more snow and more cold.  September brings change, cooler temperatures in the air, with the warm temperature of the soil.  It brings lots of events that celebrate the harvest - the final crops are maturing and the vineyards are full of grapes. September is a celebration month here. Will there be a Grape and Wine Festival this year?  Yes, there will be a festival.  It is the 70th anniversary.  It takes place September 18 - 19 and 25 - 26.  There's no mention of a parade this year, but Montebello Park and other places will have events. This is also the best month for annual flower bloom.  Growing beside Brian's lilies in the Lilycrest Hybridizing field is an array of annual flowers, grown by Mark, the owner's daughter.  She had planned to send them to market, but got called back to work, so they are unpicked and the field is full of bloom.  Zinnias, Cosmos, and Sunflowers that must be 10 - 12 feet high.   When should you expect apples?  I think September is the time frame for apple picking to start.  I can ask Michelle Seaborn who runs the Grimsby Market.  She has the apple orchards at her Silmaril Farm with a pick-your-own every weekend in the Autumn.   Finally, September is the back to school month in Ontario.  It is interesting for us older people - what we experience is more people out and about:  we see people out in the morning and later afternoon.  School buses are on the roads, children on the sidewalks.  There is congregating in September that is enjoyable.  Even with COVID worries and cautions, we'll see more people out.  Today's picture - found at one of the Niagara wineries.

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Sep 25 2020 - And the Largest Family in the World

 There are families with more wives and children than those of us in the first world bubble can comprehend.  I admit to my own sentiments towards multiple spouses.  I an unable to see this as anything other than a relationship based on servitude, which is a few rungs up from slavery.   

That makes these stories compellingly strange to me in my first world bubble.  Here it is: a family of 181 members - the Ziona Chana family.  There are 39 wives, 94 children, 14 daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren.

Here's the statement about him: "He’s also the leader of the Indian Christian sect called Chana páwl and believes he will soon rule the world along with Jesus."  At one point he says that he accumulates wives to grow his sect. Mr Chana told the Sun: 'Today I feel like God's special child. He's given me so many people to look after. 

"The family is organised with almost military discipline, with the oldest wife Zathiangi organising her fellow partners to perform household chores such as cleaning, washing and preparing meals. 

He even married ten women in one year, when he was at his most prolific, and enjoys his own double bed while his wives have to make do with communal dormitories.  He keeps the youngest women near to his bedroom with the older members of the family sleeping further away - and there is a rotation system for who visits Mr Chana's bedroom.  Rinkmini, one of Mr Chana's wives who is 35 years old, said: 'We stay around him as he is the most important person in the house. He is the most handsome person in the village."

So I seem to be able to rest my case of a story of poor women looking for financial stability.  And the end of the article quotes the son saying that his father looks for poor women in the village to support them.

Now onto the first world and the many children stories.

What about other families that are husband and wife?  "The Bates are an Evangelical American family from Tennessee with 19 children. Parents Gil and Kelly Jo were only 22 and 21 years old when they decided to get married in 1987. They never really wanted a big family, but after having their first baby a year later, they kept going because they loved holding babies. Since then, they’ve expanded until they had their last baby in 2012. They also have 10 grandchildren and are expecting to welcome 4 more soon.  They also have their own reality show, Bringing Up Bates."

Next is "Noel and Sue Radford who met when they were kids and didn’t wait long before starting a family. She was just 14 and he was 18 when they welcomed their first child, Christopher, into the world. They’re the biggest family in Britain with 21 children, and one more on the way. Included in their now 22 children there’s an angel, Alfie, who was a stillborn. They even have their own show, 15 Kids and Counting. The Radfords live in Morecambe, England, in a large house that used to be a nursing home and the parents own and run a successful bakery called Radford’s Pie Company."

Vineyards are full right now. Here's an example.

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Lake Check

November is the month of storms on Lake Ontario.  So if we go to the International Lake Ontario - St. Lawrence River Board website - ijc.org and the weekly regulation summary, it says that the outflow is expected to be the what's in the plan. For the week ending Wed Nov 1 2017 the reading was 74.84 m (245.54 ft) and the average this time of year is 74.56m (244.62 ft).  So it looks like about a foot above last year's levels.  We have a strong wind warning in effect.  With a weather buoy located in Grimsby, we can look at our readings.  The current conditions say that the wave height is 0.1 metres, while other places, such as South Georgian Bay have wave heights of 1.0 metres.  I hadn't realized that there is a temperature measurement in Grimsby - we're at air temperature of 12 Celsius and water temperature of 13C. There are colour charts of the Grimsby Buoy at  windfinder.com. Our spring and autumn lake 'breezes' delay the onset of frost.  This would be of note for our  wine harvest.  It began in September, and concludes in November when later season Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon are picked. Of course the ice wines wait for the frozen temperatures of minus 8 Celsius.  Our pictures were taken last weekend with those 'breezes' quickly moving the brooding clouds past vineyards and fields. The large tractor in the vineyard is a mechanical picker.

Catching Up with Niagara's Harvest

It's a short drive from Toronto to the vineyards of Niagara.  They start in the Grimsby area and continue right to the Niagara River.  These shots were taken in the Grimsby area at Hidden Bench and Angle's Gate wineries.