Browns 6, Bills 3

This was the fourth Thanksgiving weekend I have spent in Prince Edward County after spending the last 40+ in Muskoka. I think I have adjusted. I have learned my way around some of the scenic parts of the County on my bike and the pastoral landscape has really grown on me.

The County is known for cycling - not for extreme mountain biking or serious racing - but for pleasure cycling. An extensive network of lightly traveled roads lead to a multitude of scenic vistas of Lake Ontario and its coves, inlets and bays which extend around the series of peninsulas where the land has been farmed for over 2 centuries. I did a 40km ride each day and took some nice photos at Little Bluff Conservation Area on Saturday and at Point Petre on Sunday in a howling west wind.

Grapes and wine are the relatively new rage in the County and an Australian fellow named Norman Hardie is a rapidly rising star who is generating recognition and credibility for the PEC wine business. His 2007 County Pinot Noir is highly regarded and available only at the winery and in a few restaurants who carry it. At $35 per bottle, I was interested enough to buy 3 - one for the Thanksgiving dinner, one for my dad and one for the cottage this fall. I really liked it but, compared to the Pinot Noirs available from the LCBO, I think it's probably about $10 too much. He has done a great job of building demand for a wine which is made in limited quantities and, hey, I'm glad that I have another bottle. We'll have it with grilled salmon.

Our end-of-season dragonboat team party is next weekend and then we'll be into 4 straight cottage weekends before the weekend of the CAAMP Conference which will require me to be in town. Fall is a great time of year. It's a busy time too - busy in the business world, busy in the academic world, busy in the city and busy in the sports world with all of the major sports in action. Few people take holidays over the next 10 weeks. A lot of stuff gets done between now and the end of the year.