For the last ten years or so we've been going to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario with good friends to see a play or two at The Shaw Festival. This weekend we saw Sunday in the Park with George, a Steven Sondheim musical which was extremely well-done, but a bit odd. As one of our friends said, you don't come out of it humming any tunes. The artistry of the play and the sets were wonderful. In addition to the play, we try to tour a few new wineries and always visit a few of our favorites.
One favorite is Vineland, where we always purchase a few of their red wines to bring home. It's housed in a beautiful old church and their displays are always lovely. This year they were promoting a new vodka/wine blend. It didn't interest me at all but the display was beautiful.
One of the new wineries we visited was Foreign Affair. It's also in a beautifully restored building. They are the only winery in North America to make wine by the Amarone method, where the grapes are laid out to dry for several months prior to pressing them. Most of their wines are quite expensive, but the Reisling is the best Reisling I have ever tasted. In addition to wonderful wines, their decor is lovely.
The painting over the door was commissioned for them and is used as part of the label on each bottle. Superimposed on the landscape are animals of Canada--blending the Italian wine-making tradition with the grapes of Ontario. This display was on the table in the hall:
Every year we stay at a wonderful B&B each year called The Cape House. The new owners, Peter and Louise, are delightful and breakfast is fabulous. Louise introduced us last year to a watercolor artist, Irene MacKenzie, whose work we love. We bought a print last year, and this year we commissioned Irene to do a watercolor of our house. Last year I fell in love with a print of a poinsettia. Lucky for me, Irene had one of them matted and framed, so I added another of her watercolors to my collection. I got a photo of our friends at Irene's on Sunday morning. Her beautiful home is her gallery.