Friday, Aug. 16th - South  Dundas residents often get a glimpse of how the world class mucky-mucks live. The passing of charter ships and a quick wikipedia crawl turns up a yard of information. On this morning we spotted the Bella Vita quietly slipping past our stretch of waterfront, then searched out some eye-popping numbers.

        She's near 250 feet long, 45 feet wide and requires a minimum of 12 feet of water to float. The Bella Vita is capable of cruising at 12 knots all day long.

        This vessel charters out for a cool $650,000 per week (!!!), PLUS EXPENSES for her 12 guests, 6 cabins and 22 crew members. And that's during the winter. Summer rentals are posted at $738,500 per week.

        From the web we learn "Bella Vita's interior layout sleeps up to 12 guests in 6 rooms, including a master suite, 3 double cabins and 2 twin cabins. She is also capable of carrying up to 22 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience. Her impressive leisure and entertainment facilities make her the ideal charter yacht for socialising and entertaining.

     She features an ultra-modern stabilization system to reduce roll motion effect and ensure the ultimate comfort throughout your charter vacation.

        A traditionally styled offshore yacht with a strongly raked bow and a high forward parapet to cope with big seas, the windows along the sides of the main deck are large but well protected too, giving her a solid, compact and harmoniously proportioned appearance. The six decks offer the 12 passengers an enormous amount of space to have fun and relax in.

Bella Vita’s features include huge outdoor spaces and two fireplaces, one on the main deck and one on the owner’s deck. The glass lift linking all the various decks makes it very easy to move from the tank deck to the sun deck."

        We attempted to photograph the ship at a favored lookout but missed the passing and shot the main photo from the dock entrance at Morrisburg. The inset is by Russ Milland.

    For over fifty years, good-time rock and roll and classic cars have been a perfect pairing.  Since the Beach Boys sang about their Little Deuce Coupe, car lovers have used that music as the soundtrack for car shows and special events.  Again this year, on Sunday, August 25th, Eddy & the Stingrays– eastern Ontario’s premiere 60's band will provide their unique brand of rock and roll for the eighth annual Golden Gears car show and concert at the Iroquois Locks.

    If the weather cooperates, the Golden Gears are expecting upwards of 400 cars on site.  As always, admission to see the cars and listen to the concert is free, but donations are gratefully accepted.   Registration for show vehicles has been kept at ten dollars. Cars will begin arriving before 8:00 a.m. but the show officially runs from 9:00 a.m. til 3:00 p.m.; the band will perform from noon til 2:30 p.m. on the covered stage at the Iroquois Locks, rain or shine.  

    For classic car owners who want to show their vehicle, there are plenty of door prize and trophies, and everyone can take part in the 50-50 draw.

    Everyone entering the grounds will receive a ballot enabling them to vote for their favourite cars.  A new trophy for the first-place people’s choice car will be presented in memory of Dick Piche, the club’s webmaster and a member of the board of directors who passed away recently.

Teresa Pagnotta, Regional Vice President. Seaway Market, BMO; Kristen Casselman, Managing Director, WDMH Foundation; and Melissa Crawford, Branch Manager BMO, Winchester

The BMO Bank of Montreal team has just delivered their second gift of $2,500 - part of a $7,500 pledge to support health care close to home. The money is being directed to the WDMH Foundation’s General Equipment Fund.

This year, the gift will be used support the purchase of equipment such as the three new electrosurgical generators for the Operating Rooms. These generators are not the type one might use when the power goes out – they allow surgeons to control bleeding during procedures. The machines cost about $89,000.

        “Thank you to BMO for this incredible commitment,” says Kristen Casselman, the Foundation’s Managing Director.    

        “There were more than 4,760 surgeries at WDMH last year and the electrosurgical generators were used for almost every one. This truly is the gift that keeps on giving!” Last year, BMO’s $2500 gift was directed toward the purchase of a new echocardiogram machine for WDMH’s expanded cardiac program. More than 1,000 echocardiograms have been performed at

WDMH since the new machine arrived.

        Teresa Pagnotta, Regional Vice President, Seaway Market at BMO, offered,  “We are extremely proud to support WDMH for the purchase of equipment like three new electrosurgical generators and we extend our very best wishes for the campaign’s every success.”

Thursday, August 15th - As we all bask in the still summer sun, pretending these suddenly cool mornings are a bit of a fluke, we celebrate the season of the garden-grown tomato. Our own garden-grown tomato. Anticipating an upcoming trip across the big pond to the east, landing half-a-world away to spend some time tasting among those folks with the funny way of pronouncing words we recognize as part of our language. The nerve eh! Toe-mah-toe!  Sacre bleu!!!!

        There are few fruits to compare with a tomato from your own garden. This red 'beef steak' orb of soul satisfying, sweetish flavor hardly is in a class of comparables to those grocery store varieties that are about as flavorful as water. Most, little more than muddy water at that. Green house they describe them . . . 

        We travel to Montreal, almost religiously, every spring. The trip originated in answer to a desire for a bagel and a smoked meat sandwich, devoured around a trip to Rotisserie Italian and a mozzarella in carrozza, pooled in a beautiful marinara sauce. And to purchase the season's tomato plants.

       Over the years the tomato plants have risen to the top of the order. Especially the beef steak variety, started in the soil from the Eastern Townships. These tomato plants are consistent in production, large, super fleshy and unbelievably sweet. And they are the basis of the meal enjoyed in our home this evening.

       A French Tomato tarte and an arugula salad, washed away with a gravelly Italian red, harsh on the edges, perfectly cutting, and deeply satisfying on the tarte's richness. The wine, a 2016 Niro, was highlighted most recently in this season's LCBO magazine.

        The recipes for both dishes are on this web site. They are relatively simple to create. And they are so stand-out rich and satisfying, it seems to us criminal that beef steak tomatoes of the personal garden consistency and flavor are not available in grocery stores year round. 

        We recommend these recipes, served at the same sitting. They are, quite simply, a perfect combination.

https://www.southdundasinbox.com/recipes/salads/arugula-pecorino-pine-nut-and-pear-salad/

https://www.southdundasinbox.com/recipes/tartes/french-tomato-tart/

Sunday, Aug. 11th - Branch 370, Royal Canadian Legion Iroquois just might run their Catch the Ace lottery all the way through the 52-card deck. Over the past 47 weeks, choosing an envelope containing the Ace of Spades has been more than elusive. More like impossible. And Sunday evening was no exception.

        Iroquois Branch member Steve Merkley drew Cecile Lalonde's ticket marked envelope #45. He then opened to envelope to find the Nine of Spades. Lalonde gets rewarded for the miss, to the tune of $750. And next week's jackpot sees the top prize edging into the eye-popping $25,000 range.

       The draw next week, slated for Sunday afternoon again, at the Legion sees only five envelopes remaining, including 1, 4, 38, 51, and 49. Tickets were sold out immediately following the draw on Sunday with the Legion location and Mustard's Variety serving waiting line-ups. Stay posted for the winners photos, coming soon . . . 

Morgan Hummel training at St. Lawrence Barbells and Burpees . . .

Thursday, August 1st - It was a little more than two years ago we announced South Dundas' own Morgan Hummel had won her way onto a spot with the Ontario Rugby team. And over those same two years, Morgan Hummel hasn't given up a single ounce of  her intentions to make the Canadian National Rugby team.

        In fact, Morgan has been invited to the U-18 Team Canada try-outs at Brock University in St. Catharines, running August 20th through 24th. 

        Shortly after we posted the feature announcing Morgan Hummel had the makings of a rugby player who demanded the attention of greater competition, the Morrisburg youngster headed to Smiths Falls to attend Smiths Falls District Collegiate Institute where an active Rugby program was offered. She not only won a regular spot on the team but has played for the Red Hawks for the past two seasons.

The Gorman family from Toronto visiting South Dundas' waterfront, busy with people swimming, fishing and picnicing, or lounging in lawn chairs along the river, enjoying a vista simply unavailable in other parts of the province. . . . from Duncan Park along Lakeshore Drive this Wagenborg bulk carrier is moving east on a clear, bright August 5th  . . .

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