Musing

I don't think there's a much more appealing prospect than living in a mews house in London. Or at least having one you can visit.


What makes a mews house so appealing is that it is by definition quiet and secluded. It's like being on a little village street in the middle of a city. Certainly a mews suggests exclusivity without ostentation. I suppose most of them are in South Kensington, Belgravia, Notting Hill, and other desirable parts of town. And there can't be a more perfect place for a tryst.

Just try to describe a mews without using the words 'charming' and 'cobbled'.

Mews seems to figure in a lot of movies. In the last few months I've seen mews in the gangster movies I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (Clive Owen) and Layer Cake (Daniel Craig). In the 1989 movie Scandal, John hurt lives--and entertains--in a mews house.


Not terribly compelling?


Suppose you add children?


Okay, but try to resist calling this cobbled and charming.

The Green Hour

A young man was in the tasting room today. He was very excited about the still. It seems he is a fan of absinthe. Posed behind the tasting bar, I asked him if I would have made a good subject for the many artists who portrayed absinthe during the height of its popularity.


Perhaps like this? Or with a hat?
-The Absinthe Drinker, Pablo Picasso -Absinthe Drinker, Edgar Degas



I rather like this one...


And this is quite good. She looks nice and cool.

The main ingredient of absinthe common wormwood (Artemisia absinthium). This woody perennial is related to numerous scrubby plants that grow well in hot, dry climates. Among them are french tarragon (A. dranunculus), A. 'Powis Castle', California sagebrush (A. californica), and beach wormwood (A. stellerana).

Common wormwood grows well throughout the West, grows to 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. It needs plenty of sunshine, little water, and excellent drainage. So far, so good. Other potential ingredients include star anise (Illicuim verum), fennel seed (Foeniculum vulgare), Angelica (Angelica archangelica), Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis), Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), peppermint, coriander, lemon balm, dittany, and juniper. I think I see a garden evolving...

An excellent article by Jack Turner about absinthe appeared in the New Yorker last year. He describes the resurgence of interest that prompted my customer to suggest we should be in the absinthe business. (You can read it here). Why not?



Oh yes, Look what it did to Toulouse-Lautrec.

Whew

This is a relief.

Relax! Don’t feel you have to be too tidy.

I must tell my friends.

Still Here

Victoria Spirits celebrates the arrival of the new Meuller still from Germany. Here's what it looked like:



A lot of pieces. No assembly instructions.


"Hello? Germany? Can you send a wrench?"

Hornby Island

One of the most beautiful trees in the world, often called madrone or madrona, Arbutus menziesii is a Pacific Coast native with a limited range thanks to its exacting cultural demands. I recently heard a woman from Edmonton, Alberta (average Jan. temperature -13.5°C) discussing how she's like to grow one in her garden. Good luck with that. (And get a Western Garden Book).


Arbutus in Helliwell Park, Hornby Island, BC.

What makes the tree most striking is, obviously, is it's vivid, often neon-orange bark, which strips off the limbs to create psychedelic patterns. I love how the trees in these pictures are interlaced with ash-colored dead branches. Then the leaves are such a beautiful deep green.


More gorgeousness.

If climate change comes to Vancouver Island, how will plants that are adapted to very specific habitats fare? Our warm little corner of Canada would look very different without the Garry oaks that grace Victoria's most stately neighborhoods. From what I've read recently, the habitat that supports some of our signature trees is more likely to increase but only at the expense of other species. According to a recent article in the Vancouver Sun (B.C. Climate Change 2050 by Gordon Hamilton and Scott Simpson, June 2, 2007).

-Old-growth rainforests and salmon runs, icons that go to the heart of our West Coast psyche, will be dead or dying off.-The forests on the North Shore mountains will be dying of stress caused by drought in the summer and storms in the winter.-By 2050 giant cedars immortalized in Haida canoes and Emily Carr paintings -- the foundation of 10,000 years of first nations culture -- will be dying of thirst brought on by longer, drier summers.

It's not all bad, though, if you're a farmer (or a winemaker).

-Warmer temperatures will open up new regions of the province to agriculture. Kamloops, not just the Okanagan Valley, could be Napa Valley North. Oranges and lemons will thrive on the Saanich peninsula.-The eastern shores of the Queen Charlotte Islands will be warm enough to grow grapes.-Garry oak, which now clings to the rocky bluffs of southwestern B.C., could be thriving as far north as the Nass Valley.

If the pine beetle infestation is anything to go by, it's going to be a challenge to count on anything. (Infestations of pine beetles that would normally have been knocked back by winter cold have wreaked havoc on B.C.'s lumber industry). I won't be buying B.C. citrus futures anytime soon.

Obligatory Sunset Shot

Sunset on Hornby Island, British Columbia. I know sunset pictures are cliche and what have you. But it IS beautiful here.

Island Idyll

The bald eagle has just been taken off the endangered species list in the the US. Up here on Vancouver Island, we see bald eagles almost every day. On Hornby Island, about 3 hours north of Victoria, they don't seem to be in the least disturbed by humans. I spotted this one on a walk this morning and got within perhaps 20 ft. of its perch without it even batting an eye. But what beautiful creatures.


Look at that beak.