that's my brother!

2009 Niagara Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Recipient for Agricultural Enterprise

Congratulations to Wes Wiens
2009 Niagara Entrepreneur of
the Year Award Recipient for
Agricultural Enterprise.

Wes Wiens was born and raised on a grape and tender fruit farm in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where he learned two important lessons early in life. First, that agricultural survival is built on the backbone of commitment and stamina. And second, that agricultural success is built on innovation and adaptation. These life lessons have aided Wes along the path to being one of Canada’s leading grapevine
propagators.

In the fall of 2003, a local supplier and third generation propagator of grapevines, Martin Gemmrich, approached the Wiens family about their interest in both learning and continuing his well-established business. Although Gemmrich played a key role in laying the technical groundwork for the operation, it has been Wiens’ vision and innovation in utilizing new products, procedures and technology which has tripled the company’s size in five years.

Wiens remains focused on sustainable technologies as the future for his industry and continues to pioneer the way in this field.

He remains actively involved in his community as a youth leader, board of management executive member at Cornerstone Community Church, and a sponsor of a Niagara-on-the-Lake little league team.

home coming

So, yes, my parents are home from their holidays in Paraguay. I accept this with mixed emotions.

On the one hand, I crave and need my independence. I love it that I have a house to myself. I love cooking what I want the way I want it. I love not worrying about time when I'm out for an evening. Well, you get the picture.

On the other hand, I do love my parents and usually get along with them fairly well. I love the unity that they some how bring to the family. It means that the kidlets are over more often and my sister and brother come for dinner on a regular basis. It is nice to have them home.

Today we had our traditional Sunday lunch - which just means that everyone that can make it, comes over for lunch. One of the more recent traditions is that we sing "Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow" in 4 part harmony - yup, even 3 year-old Rowan sings along (actually, he even insists that we sing it if he's over for lunch during the week and it's only him and dad at the table). It was nice to be together.

Right now I'm sitting here blogging and watching "Iron Chef: America" - Battle: Offal* while my parents sit at the kitchen table playing "Settlers of Catan" - a typical Sunday night. Funny how quickly one can fall back into routine.

Oh, and happy first day of spring!!



*Offal is a culinary term used to refer to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of organs, but includes most internal organs other than muscles or bones. People in some cultures shy away from offal as food, while others use it as everyday food, or even in delicacies that command a high price.

spring has sprung

Yay for springtime!!! It's hard to believe it, but it's finally here! This week I've noticed that our snowdrops are blooming. Daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths and tulips are popping their heads out of the ground. Birds are twittering and chirping in the wee hours of the morning and as the sun is setting. It's warm enough that laundry will dry when hung up outside. The sun has been shining and the breezes have been gentle. The soil in the fields is dark with moisture. The big pile of snow that has accumulated from plowing the driveway has disappeared leaving only old, tattered newspapers behind. The bright sunlight shows the streaks and dirt that the windows have accumulated. Ugh! More work to do, but still thankful that spring has sprung!

BAND FROM TV!!!

For Christmas I received a ticket to see Band from TV at the Fallsview Casino on Sunday, March 7, 2010. And I wasn't the only one going - Dave, Mikol, Renee and I were all going to go see some of our favourite actors ROCK IT in Niagara Falls!!! I couldn't wait!!

ET Canada announced it http://www.bandfromtv.org/videos/view/?mid=26151_video_37 and then all of the sudden it seemed like it was here and over.

Unfortunately security was really strict and I didn't actually take any pictures:( I'm sharing some of the ones I found on-line so that you can enjoy part of the experience too.

BAND FROM TV members include Greg Grunberg & Adrian Pasdar from HEREOS, Hugh Laurie & Jesse Spencer from HOUSE, James Denton from DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, Scott Grimes from ER, and Bob Guiney from THE BACHELOR.

OK, so I didn't really find pictures of James Denton or Bob Guiney, but they were definitely there.

The gig started out with Hugh Laurie introducing the show: "Husbands and wives, illicit lovers, people who will become illicit lovers, people who became illicit lovers last night and are now slightly regretting it, high rollers, low rollers and hockey fans - the Avalon Theatre in association with the Fallsview Hotel and Casino are proud to present for your delight, entertainment, edification and sheer shuddering physical pleasure, the one, the only, BAND FROM TV!" http://www.hughlaurie.net/BfTV/bftvintro.wav


The billboard announcing the concert. Too bad they're missing Scott Grimes:-(


Adrian Pasdar - what a cutie! He didn't get a lot of singing time, but really looked like he was having a lot of fun on the stage. Ok, well, maybe not so much in this picture.


Scott Grimes hailing for crowd support. When we went, I was unaware that he was part of the band, but his energy and enthusiasm were contagious and I loved the music he added into the mix.


At one point "Grunny" got out from behind the drums and started looking for people to come and dance with him. So he gets off the stage and goes up and down the aisle grabbing people. My hand was one of the ones he grabbed and he held it the whole way down the aisle before dancing with me in front of the stage. Talk about an amazing first dance EVER! I so wish I had pictures:(


Greg Grunberg - what can I say? I held hands and danced with GREG GRUNBERG at the BAND FROM TV concert at Fallsview Casino on March 7, 2010!!! Yes, that would be Greg Grunberg from "Felicity", "Alias" and "Heroes". Mmm hmm...


Jesse Spencer exhibits some of his crazy cool fiddling skills - so much so that Hugh Laurie and Bob Guiney kneel in awe. I'm not 100% sure, but I think this was during "Devil Went Down to Georgia" performed by Jesse Spencer and James Denton.


Hugh Laurie - if you didn't know already, he is an amazing piano/keyboard player. Here's he's starting the intro to "Baba O'Riley"

http://www.hughlaurie.net/BfTV/maryann.wav - a sound clip of Hugh Laurie's performance of "Mary Ann"

http://www.hughlaurie.net/BfTV/circles.wav - a sound clip of Hugh Laurie's performance of "Will it go round in Circles"


This picture was taken by Scott Grimes.


This picture was taken by Scott Grimes.

Bob Guiney sings "Don't Try to Explain" at the Fallsview Casino on March 6, 2010

Jesse Spencer and James Denton perform "Devil Went Down to Georgia" at the Fallsview Casino on March 6, 2010

James Denton performs "Viva Las Vegas" at the Fallsview Casino on March 6, 2010

 James Denton performs "Mary's Place" at the Fallsview Casino on March 6, 2010

Little clips of the Band from TV's performance from the Niagara Falls (Fallsview Casino) show on March 6, 2010

Little clips of the Band From TV's performance from the Niagara Falls (Fallsview Casino) show on March 7, 2010

Oh yeah, I'm one of the screaming fans you can hear in the audio/video clips. I was completely hoarse by the end of the concert. I LOVED every minute of it!!! Would LOVE to do that again!!!

I'd also love to get their CD, except it's only available through amazon.com which means they don't ship to Canada :-(