Widow's Endorphins: We Don't Take Light Lightly!

Widow's Endorphins: We Don't Take Light Lightly!: Yesterday's blue skies, sunshine and fresh snow, made for a perfect Winter day in Toronto.  The clarity of light, and purity of th...

We Don't Take Light Lightly!

Yesterday's blue skies, sunshine and fresh snow, made for a perfect Winter day in Toronto.  The clarity of light, and purity of the cold air were refreshing and restorative, giving us an energy boost to take into today's dull, grey and snowy day.  We briefly made peace with Winter...and Winter made a promise.  It won't be here much longer!  

Spring has already made an early appearance on Vancouver Island, where daffodils are blooming in sunny gardens!  I've seen the amazing photographic evidence!  

Here, in snow-covered Toronto, florists import Spring flowers to fill our homes and workspaces with colour.  Vibrant, sunny yellow forsythia, yellow-tipped coral parrot tulips, orange tulips with stripes of green, and fluffy pussywillows liven up a room, and brighten our spirits.  A happy bouquet of Spring flowers on your desk is welcomed by co-workers and clients!

Light and colour help us survive the dull, grey days and long, dark nights of Winter.  Seriously.  Survival is not an exaggeration.  Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a recognized mental health disorder, related to depression.  We don't take light lightly!  

Sunlight and darkness trigger the release of hormones.  Sunlight passes through the retinas of our eyes, sending a cue to the brain, to release serotonin.  Serotonin is a hormone which lifts our mood, and helps us stay calm and focused.  Melatonin is a hormone which makes us sleepy.  At night, when it gets dark, serotonin is converted to melatonin.  It gets dark early in Winter.  Not enough sunshine, and too much darkness can bring on moodiness, irritation, and fatigue.

Phototherapy, or light box therapy each morning, has proven to help alleviate the symptoms of SAD.  Sitting near a special light box in the morning, sends a signal to the brain to stop producing melatonin, and increase the body's serotonin levels.   

It is important to protect our eyes from harsh sunlight bouncing off snow, however, removing sunglasses for just ten to fifteen minutes, will give the retinas enough time to send a signal to the brain to release serotonin.  Let the light in!

No animals were harmed in the making of this blogpost, however, the forsythia is a goner!  It did not survive the freezing temperatures, and its delicate yellow petals did not appreciate posing against the snow.  The more resilient tulips and pussywillows are now enjoying a little apres ski relaxation. 

  

Widow's Endorphins: Ice, Icewine, Amaryllis and Lilies

Widow's Endorphins: Ice, Icewine, Amaryllis and Lilies: Niagara Falls...in the middle of January.  We were there - and survived the bitter cold.  Just days before our arrival, it was so cold...

Widow's Endorphins: Ice, Icewine, Amaryllis and Lilies

Widow's Endorphins: Ice, Icewine, Amaryllis and Lilies: Niagara Falls...in the middle of January.  We were there - and survived the bitter cold.  Just days before our arrival, it was so cold...

Ice, Icewine, Amaryllis and Lilies

Niagara Falls...in the middle of January.  We were there - and survived the bitter cold.  Just days before our arrival, it was so cold, the falls were frozen solid!  What you're seeing is the "thaw".  The falls in Winter are spectacular!  The turquoise green colour of the fiercely powerful water, is stunning against the ice and snow.  Further away from Horseshoe Falls, towards American Falls, the water appears dark jade green, and then, slate grey.  

I've been to Niagara Falls, and nearby Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL, or as the locals pronounce it, Nottle), in the hot, humid Summer, when vividly coloured flowers cascade from the hanging baskets of lamp posts, like grand floral waterfalls.  Niagara-on-the-Lake is known as "the prettiest small town in Canada".  Winston Churchill famously said, that the drive along the Niagara River, "is the prettiest Sunday drive in the world".  

When we were exploring the region a few days ago, many of Niagara Falls' tourist businesses were closed for the Winter, and parts of NOTL looked like a ghost town (it is also known as the most haunted town in Canada).  The trees along the hillside overlooking the falls were covered in ice!  It was a breathtaking, and ghostly sight!    

Niagara is world famous for another ice:  Icewine.  Hot Summers and cold Winters are ideal for producing gold medal winning, "liquid gold".  Icewine is produced from grapes which have been left on the vine after the Fall harvest, and handpicked only when temperatures drop below freezing, to -8 Celsius (17.6 F) or less.  Harvesting is done at night, when the temperatures are least likely to climb.  The grapes are immediately pressed while still frozen, to extract droplets of thick, golden yellow liquid.  By leaving them on the vine, the sugar in the grapes becomes concentrated (these grape vines have already been harvested). 

Icewine has a sweet, rich, intense flavour, and is very smooth.  The word, "luxurious" is often used to describe the experience.  Icewine is not cloyingly sweet, because the acidity balances the flavour.  Depending on the grape, the flavour may have notes of cherry, strawberry and rhubarb, or, lychee, papaya and pineapple:  Summer on your lips!

Riesling and Vidal Blanc grapes are the most common grapes used in making Icewine.  Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay are also very popular.  It takes about 3.5kg (7.7 pounds) of Riesling grapes to make one 375ml (12.7 oz) bottle of Icewine.

Not only is Icewine production labour intensive, it is also risky.  Wineries will harvest grapes for wine, and leave the remaining grapes for Icewine, knowing that they may lose some, or all of these grapes to birds, hail, or high winds.  In Germany, Austria, and the Canadian Westcoast, temperatures do not always drop far enough below freezing to produce Icewine, making it an unpredictable enterprise.

In Ontario and BC, only authentic Icewine carries the VQA (Vintner's Quality Alliance) certification.  To be true Icewine, 100 percent of the grapes in the Icewine, must be grown within a specific geographic boundary (appellation); naturally frozen on the vine; harvested at -8C or below; kept frozen for immediate pressing within the same appellation; and the sweetness level must be no less than 35 degrees Brix.  A low Brix level results in the grapes being sold as, "special select late harvest".  The Icewine must be bottled within Canada, and labelled with the appellation and Brix.

Adding sugar to the wine is strictly forbidden.  Using imported grapes is forbidden.  Artificially freezing grapes is forbidden.  Years ago, during a warm Winter, a BC grower transported grapes to a higher mountain level so that they would freeze - that too, is forbidden.  Icewine made with added sugar, may as well be tossed over the falls in a barrel!

Year after year, Canadian vintners receive gold medals for Icewine, beginning in 1991, when Inniskillin Wines entered its 1989 Vidal Icewine at Vinexpo in Bordeaux, France, and won the Grand Prix d'Honneur.       

  

Our happy adventure in the land of Icewine was a memorable one...reminds me of the joke about an Englishman, a Russian and an Italian who walk into a bar, and order a bottle from NOTL...

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: Orange for the Winter Blues

Widow's Endorphins: Orange for the Winter Blues: I hab a code...a runny node, and Kleenex up my sleebs.  I've been taking so much Oil of Oregano, I smell like a Greek restaurant.  B...

Orange for the Winter Blues

I hab a code...a runny node, and Kleenex up my sleebs.  I've been taking so much Oil of Oregano, I smell like a Greek restaurant.  But wait, there's more to my Winter misery...Christmas Day, I slipped on a patch of black ice on a downtown Toronto street, and fractured my arm.  Arm and I recovered quickly, however the deep freeze which Torontonians have been enduring (-30C /-22F) since before Christmas, has only just let up.  The city streets are now filled with enormous, slushy, brown puddles of melting snow, and dirt, which made today's trip to the Fracture Clinic an obstacle course.

This is the time of year when Torontonians are overheard on cellphones asking, "what have you got that's hot?"  They're not talking to their stockbrokers.  They're calling travel agents.  They just want the sunniest, hottest beach resort - and they want it now!

Orange is the colour of playful energy, warmth and sunshine, joy and creativity.  The ideal colour to bring into your home, or office on a dreary Winter day. 

These Kalanchoes are tiny perfect plants to sit next to your computer, at the kitchen table, or windowsill.  They're succulents from Madagascar, and love sunlight (although not direct, harsh sun).  They store water in their rubbery leaves, so they don't need to be watered more than once a week.

I bought these Italian-made orange juice glasses at a Buddhist temple yard sale, several years ago.  They're my happy glasses.  Drinking pure, fresh orange juice from them, is one of life's simple pleasures.  Just looking at these tiny, colourful flowers, in happy little glasses, makes me feel much brighter, more energized, and even healthier - and that's nothing to sneeze at! 

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.