All Week, Non-Stop World Cup Blues: Monday, June 16th!

I learned long ago that being Lewis Carroll was infinitely more exciting than being Alice. -Joyce Carol Oates, writer (b. 1938) 

2014 FIFA World Cup, Group G, Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador

Germany national football team

The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association, founded in 1900

 Portugal national football team
The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in association football and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal.

Hi GI Java Jane!

Glad to see that your run-in with Big Bully hasn't made you less aggressive on the loot front! Didn't ride on rainy day Saturday but enjoyed a good one yesterday. Flamin' joined us for wonderful Father's Day meal and after dinner we decamped to her place as they have a gargantuan flat screen and we watched season finale of Game of Thrones in high def, surround sound splendour! Cheers, Patrizzio!  

Pics: My Father's Day presents, a chic new Canada Day cycling T-shirt, (Too, too good to actually wear, of course!), and a paper bicycle, (cut-out card), fabulous for international travel! (You can borrow this instead of collapsible Montague residing in Valence!) 

Hi Raymond! Glad to hear that your run-in on Yew didn't result in any injury or damage. As you say, we all need to be "extra vigilant" and take nothing for granted, anywhere, anytime with respect to vehicular traffic but also as far as other cyclists and pedestrians are concerned. Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Hi Yukon Gold/Quiet Lake People! Glad to hear that your merry-go-round is whizzing at the speed of light! You are fortunate to be out of the city at moment as seems as if the unhinged are on the rampage! Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Hi Camel Valley Winery and Trail People! No need to have sent arrival date. Cora Lee was planning to camp out at the airport from the beginning of September until she hit right flight! Sounds as if you have been making up for lost time, cycling and walking, (not to mention tippling!), after painting frenzy! Not sure if puncture was not self-inflicted, however. Sounds quite suspicious to me!!!  

Fondestos to you both from a still sleeping Coriandre. (She was up at 4:00 am and read in living room until 6:30 am when I came into kitchen and then headed back for a few more hours of snoozing!) Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Hi David and John! Just to remind you, the bbq with Pat and David Coffaro is still on for Thursday, June 19th, anytime after 5:30 pm, with about 20 people.  Look forward to seeing you both! Cheers, Patrizzio!

Patrick I can't make it as I will be in Washington State. Apologies Hi John! Will miss you but understand, of course. Cheers, Patrizzio! much appreciated

Hi Patrick I found out last week I need to make a Kelowna run on Wed-Thur to arrange power of attorney and some other items for my mother. I'll be coming back , hopefully Thursday afternoon. Will try to get there but it depends on how much I can get done by Thursday noon. Aging parental units can be a real challenge. David 

Hi David! Understand the responsibilities you mention quite well. You are welcome, anytime that evening, if you are able to pop by. Cheers, Patrizzio!

 Thank you for your generous support! Lets hope we have a beautiful sunny day for the 5K!!!

If you would like more information about the 2014 Scotiabank Charity Challenge at the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon & 5k, or would like to join me at this event, please click on the link below:

https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/startup.aspx?eventid=132129&langpref=en-CA          Thanks again for your support. Chloe

Pat, Can't say we've ever had a problem with chicken and it is usually washed ahead of cooking, but some interesting points in the Telegraph article (if it comes through). Nice looking t-shirt. Ray 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinkadvice/10902773/How-to-prepare-and-cook-chicken-safely.html

Hi Raymond! Thanks for tips on chicken. Good to know.

I had to take a quick ride to FedEx on Broadway and Cypress to xerox copies of our Harbour Terrace Canada Day BBQ this morning so I popped into reckless on way home. Talked to Larry and he had just heard, from Paul's sister, that he is now off his ventilator and can speak. Apparently he was cracking a few jokes so obviously he is on the mend. Early days but at least some very significant improvement. Errando stats: 3.53 km over 0:13'59 for an AVG 15.2 km/hr. 

Just waiting to hear from our friends, Pat and David. They are driving up from Bellingham and will call once they are settled at l'Hermitage downtown. We'll collect them and take them for a brief overview ride of city: through downtown to Stanley Park and then out to UBC, perhaps coming back via Queen E Park. Cheers, Patrizzio! 

Hi Pat, The subject is the wine you brought here for dinner in December -way back then! The estate is called Domaine de la Cote de l' Ange and they make about 3 other CdP cuvees using different varietal blends and vinification methods. It goes back for centuries in origin. The current boss is Corrine Gasparri along with her husband who is not called Partrick, actually Yannick. Here is the Domaine's website: http://www.cotedelange.fr/

Have fun reading! There are all kinds of related websites. Cheers, Willy. 

Hi Free Willy! Thanks for sending along info on Domaine de la Cote de l'Ange. In fact, Corinne was in tasting room when we visited and her husband, Yannick, came by as well. He was in the middle of la vendange so didn't have time to chat. Was wondering if you might have noted % alcohol on bottle. Not a big deal but if you have it please jot it down and bring it on Thursday if not too, too much trouble. Thanks. I assume you know how to find us but just in case you need reminding I've attached directions. Cheers, Patrizzio! 
Stats for today's ride:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/522416542#.U5-35ZTY2hg.email

Out to UBC Forsshore Hill for two climbs and a campus wide dipsy-doodle for basic outing of 51+ km. 

From Red Fortress by Catherine Merridale. Nations routinely underestimate the length, cost and carnage of the wars they enter. Of particular note were the grotesque miscalculations made by royal families across Europe on the eve of World War I. The absurdity was particularly evident in the preparations of the naive Empress Alexandra of Russia, wife of the even duller Nicholas II, both of whom were famously murdered only four years later in a basement in Ekaterinburg:
 

"And then, without a thought for art or bread, Russia entered Europe's war. 'Let the unity of the Tsar and His people become yet stronger,' Nicholas II declared in his manifesto. 'Let Russia rise as one person.' Like those of every other European nation, his subjects drank deep on such rhetoric, forgetting other troubles for one final, fervent season. Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot on 28 June 1914. On 23 July, Serbia received an Austrian ultimatum threatening punitive war. The Serbs appealed for Russian help, and St Petersburg, dreaming of Slavic brotherhood and Balkan influence, responded. Russia's general mobilization began on 30 July. In August, Moscow put out its national flags, began collections for the war effort, and cheered each new batch of recruits as they marched past the Kremlin walls. ...

 

"The Kremlin's status as an imperial palace, the property of the tsars, allowed the Romanovs to put it to a novel use. In 1914, the empress Alexandra ordered that a hospital for officers should be created somewhere on the Kremlin hill. The concession to mere citizens was a serious one, implying profanation of the consecrated [Kremlin] ground, but the idea was to emphasize the sacred nature of this war. There was also something intimate, a direct personal link, in a hospital that bore the empress's name. Fifty beds were envisaged, though a contingency was proposed 'should all of these be occupied'.  As the first casualties arrived, the empress requested that she be informed of each officer's name and the details of his wounds. The impression that these men were almost family could only have been reinforced at Easter 1915 (and again in 1916) when each of the patients in the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna hospital received a personal gift, a small china egg, hand-decorated with the imperial coat of arms. 

 

"What started as a noble act, however, soon became absurd. Russia's war was a disaster. The troops were brave -- their courage in the face of death was legendary -- but they were not prepared to fight this bitter war. In the first year alone, their losses were about four million men. The soldiers fell to better-equipped and better-led opponents, to poor port networks on their own side, and to the ebbing of morale. If the empress had taken the time to read the reports on 'her' officers, she would have been alarmed at the details of shell-wounds, head injuries amputations. 

 

The Kremlin hospital began its life in the spirit of Marie Antoinette's toy farm in eighteenth-century Versailles, complete snowy palace linen on the beds, but it ended in chaos and squalor. The plight of the casualties was desperate, their numbers overwhelming. Distracted by problems at court, the empress lost interest, leaving the enterprise to Moscow's city government." 

 

Red Fortress: History and Illusion in the Kremlin, Catherine Merridale, Metropolitan Books, Henry Hold and Company, LLC, 2013