I don't have time for detailed reporting right now. Below is our favourite meat seller in Fez. Note the goats heads giving shoppers the evil eye at the bottom of the photo. I'm busier than the proverbial paper hanger right now, trying to get the vineyard and gardens back in shape, but have to fly to Athens on Saturday for a few days of meetings, back Thursday. Then I have to den myself in my office for much of June to complete reports from my China trip. Some retirement! Cheers, Peter
Patrick, thanks so much for responding to our newest offer with an order for 2014 pre-harvest futures! We just wanted to send you a quick confirmation to let you know that we've processed your charge card on 5/28/14 in the revised amount of $384, extending the extra Dave's Wine Club discount, and we'll also take care of the sales tax on this order when you or someone else picks it up for you here in CA when the time comes.
pick up the wine?
As for our visit in just a few weeks, we've changed our minds again and think we will end up staying the 4 nights in Vancouver, possibly with the addition of a ferry cruise over to Victoria on one of our days there - assuming there are ferries running between the two and that it would be fairly easy to arrange. I assume that such an "expedition" might take a full day, so we may do that on our third day before we "check in" to the Annexe at the Island Inn.
Day 1 June 16: Check into our hotel around mid-day Meet up with you and Corinne for a brief overview of the city Dave and I would have dinner at one of his "chosen" restaurants that night - I understand that you have other dinner plans that evening.
Day 2 June 17: Dave and I would spend the day visiting some sites or doing other "touristy" things you and Corinne will have helped us learn about. We would have dinner that night at another one of his chosen spots
Day 3 June 18: Possible day trip to Victoria - checking in with you when we get back, dinner at Edibles and then our first sleepover.Day 4 June 19: We would be available to spend all day with you and Corinne, visiting Granville Island or whatever else you'd recommend, with a BBQ and sleepover at your place that night
Leave Vancouver (I'm sure regretfully) the morning of the 20th
We'll be interested in learning more about your electric car charging stations, etc., and I think checking into the hotel first and then calling for our "overview" tour would be best!
P.S. I like it that you have to say you're an American citizen living in
Washington in order to put in an order - just kidding! I *will*
seriously get on that issue with the webmaster this year...really!
P, would the 6th of July work for you? W
On the riding front, are you planning on an outing today? I'd like to go sometime between 9:00 am and 10:00 am but am reasonably flexible about start time. Let me know and we can plan accordingly. Cheers, Il Conduttore!
I don't mind meeting on a different day to accomodate fat cat pat VL
typo: accommodate* (for sharp-eyed Pat) VL
Hi Alley Cat Vittorio! Thanks for the accommodazione! Takes a tom cat to know a fat cat, I suppose! Cheers, Patrizzio Rubbing His Paws Together!
How does the 6th of July work for everyone? . Please let us know if that date will work for you. The Islay Inn is available that evening. The book we will discuss at the next gathering is Decoded, by Mai Jia (Mark). To follow that: The Island of Crimea (Ostrov Krym)', by Vasili Aksenov (Misha). Moe and then Pat are next up to recommend more un-reading for us.
cheers, Mark Mark, Pat has my copy and could pass it along. G works for me. miao VL
To: il Secretario della Istituto per la Regolamentazione della Lettura e il Malto I have an opening in my calendar for that date. Cheers, Guy it will work for me ...or so I hope saluti per tutti gianni Either is fine with me at this time. Saluti per tutti frutti.
Dear Supporter, Thank you for your recent contribution in support of 2014 Scotiabank Charity Challenge at the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon & 5k. If the donation meets the minimum donation set by the Aunt Leah's Independent Lifeskills Society a receipt will be issued post event. If you have any questions about this donation please contact: Chloe Dunn, Fundraising Coordinator
Thanks again for your support.
Friday night with old friends and some new. — with Patrick James Dunn
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Hi Pat, Thank you for the invitation to your wine maker's BBQ on June 19. Dermot and I would indeed be delighted to attend, and will bring something yummy for 20 or so folks.
I haven't been to Horseshoe Bay in a while so I should do that soon. I did, however ride up to UNBC -not all the way from UBC, though. I had a quick trip to Prince George on the weekend to see some friends and family. I brought my bike along and managed to fit in a 50 km ride between social (excessive wine drinking) events.
Sara (getting back to my slave labour tasks at UBC).
From The American West by Anne M. Butler and Michael J. Lansing. In the late 1700s, the western parts of North America now referred to by scholars as Comancheria and Apacheria were the scene of large-scale sex slavery little commented on by historians:
"The land that
seemed so distant and romantic, so receptive to myth-building -- French
Louisiana and Spanish Texas -- should have drawn the close scrutiny of
the Americans. There they would have seen
that the Spanish moving north out of Mexico and the French moving south
out of Canada and the Ohio Valley mingled with Indians in places that
would be known as Comancheria and Apacheria. The overlay of cultures
produced a world distinct from other regions
of Native-European interaction.
"After the French and Indian War, Spain gained administrative control of
Louisiana. By this time, the French had added the Comanche and Wichita
Indians to their earlier alliance with the Caddos. These Indian tribes
came to a position of economic and political
dominance across the region. A prominent component of these
interlocking commercial relations included a vigorous trade in female
slaves.
"The armies of men see-sawed between military aggression and peace-keeping ventures. In the teetering back and forth, women and children of the foe became targets for capture. Within this environment, the most vulnerable of the enemy camp were actively pursued as captives. This system led to widespread occasions of human slavery, predicated not on race, but on gender.
"The armies of men see-sawed between military aggression and peace-keeping ventures. In the teetering back and forth, women and children of the foe became targets for capture. Within this environment, the most vulnerable of the enemy camp were actively pursued as captives. This system led to widespread occasions of human slavery, predicated not on race, but on gender.
"Although a
woman in a Native society often held carefully delineated economic and
political power, when separated from her cultural community, a woman
could find that her decision-making and personal
agency evaporated. Instead, now held by an enemy camp, a woman became
quite powerless, transformed into a slave to be used for forced labor --
domestic, mercantile, or sexual. Often referred to almost benignly as
'captivity,' the condition was, in fact, slavery,
one in which women had no control over what happened to them.
"In this unsavory circumstance, women were valued as war booty. Men were
not seen in the slave trade, as they either killed themselves before
capture or were murdered when apprehended. Women and children, however,
might be captured as punishment against an
offending tribe, such as when the Spanish carried off Apache women. In
addition to inflicting emotional pain on the enemy, the Spanish
anticipated the value of the captives as a trade item during peace
discussions, which they assumed would materialize at some
point. The women, however, had no idea how long their slavery might
last or its outcome -- sold off to a jobber for labor and death, given
as a 'gift' during peace talks, exchanged for female slaves held by
their captors' foes, murdered, raped, or married.
"The French moving south and west on the Plains during the eighteenth
century more than dabbled in this slave trade, as they stoked the fires
of their Indian alliances. Natchitoches and its nearby fort was a trade
center, where the French acknowledged the most
valuable goods were horses, pelts, and slaves. The trade in female
slaves allowed men on both sides of the table to enhance their
commercial and diplomatic ties.
"In this swirl of several Indian tribes, Spanish administrators, and
French traders, men of opposing sides cooperated in perpetuating the
traffic in women, holding them in a bondage that was neither gentle nor
brief.
Women were an instrument to be used for
the advance of masculine political and economic strategies. In the
meantime, female captives changed the demographics of American slavery,
forcibly held in western lands that were increasingly mythically
regarded as a paradise of unfettered freedom. Such unattractive
elements in western life, as this female slavery, were typically
minimized or ignored."
The American West: A Concise History, Anne M. Butler, Blackwell Publishing, 2008 From The Invention of Paris by Joan DeJean. The Pont Neuf, the place where Paris first became Paris:
"The Invention of Paris began with a bridge. Today, people simply flash an image of the Eiffel Tower to evoke Paris instantly. It's the monument that offers immediate proof that you are looking at the City of Light. In the seventeenth century, the Eiffel Tower's role was played by a bridge: the Pont Neuf. The New Bridge was Henri IV's initial idea for winning over the people of his freshly conquered capital city, and it managed that daunting task with brio. For the first time, the monument that defined a city was an innovative urban work rather than a cathedral or a palace. And Parisians rich and poor immediately adopted the Pont Neuf: they saw it as the symbol of their city and the most important place in town. 
"The New Bridge became the first celebrity monument in the history of the modern city because it was so strikingly different from earlier bridges. It was built not of wood, but of stone; it was fireproof and meant to endure -- it is now in fact the oldest bridge in Paris. The Pont Neuf was the first bridge to cross the Seine in a single span. It was, moreover, most unusually long -- 160 toises or nearly 1,000 feet -- and most unusually wide -- 120 toises or nearly 75 feet -- far wider than any known city street.
 |
| View of the Pont-Neuf by Hendrick Mommers |
"The Pont Neuf
was the first major city bridge built without houses lining both sides.
Anyone crossing it could take in the sights from the bridge, and
Parisians and visitors began a love affair with
the river from a viewing platform seventy-five feet wide.
"Along each side where earlier bridges had houses, the New Bridge
featured instead spaces reserved for pedestrians; they were raised in
order to exclude vehicles and horse traffic. We would call them
'sidewalks'; they were something that had not been seen in
the West since Roman roads and something that had never been seen in a
Western city. Add to this the fact that the Pont Neuf was the first
bridge whose entire surface was paved, as all the new streets of Paris
soon would be, and it's easy to see why pedestrians
saw themselves for the first time as kings of the river.
"The bridge proved essential to the flow of traffic across Paris:
before, just getting to the Louvre from the Left Bank had been a
famously tortuous endeavor that, for all those not wealthy enough to
have a boat waiting to ferry them across, required the use
of two bridges and a long walk on each side. The New Bridge also played
a crucial role in the process by which the Right Bank became fully part
of the city: in 1600, its only major attraction was the Louvre, whereas
by the end of the century, the Right Bank
showcased important residential architecture and urban works, from the
place Royale to the Champs-Élysées. In addition, whenever a major event
transpired in seventeenth-century Paris, it either took place on the
Pont Neuf or was first talked about on the Pont
Neuf. Nearly two centuries after its completion, author Louis Sébastien
Mercier still considered the New Bridge 'the heart of the city.'
"The Pont Neuf set higher standards for European bridges. The city's
first pathbreaking public work also had a direct and profound impact on
the daily life of Parisians. It introduced them to a new kind of street
life, and it transformed their relation to the
Seine. The Pont Neuf was never merely a bridge: it was the place where
Paris first became Paris, as well as the place where the modern city's
potential first became evident."
How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City, Joan DeJean, Bloomsbury USA, 2014 
Trust you are both well. Sorry that it has taken me so long to send along theses snaps. No excuses but plenty of reasons!
On the night of the Dram it didn't register, (Wonder why?), that your last name is "Maunder" but when entering your email address your surname struck a bell. Just wondering if you, Bruce, are related to Wayne Maunder who plays squash at Vancouver Racquets Club? I used to play there until 2004 and knew Wayne that way. Friends Peter and Branko still belong and know Wayne as well, of course. Anyway, just curious to know. All the best. Cheers, Patrizzio!
Pics: Famiglia Maunder; Patrizzio getting ready to cool down; Peter with Camilla of VWF; Branko with Caroline, Peter's wife.
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