Good Friday

It is windy today but sunny. The temperature is supposed to go up to 19 C, but by tomorrow it is starting to go downhill. We can possibly expect snow, and the temperature for next week will drop down to minus 9 during the night. I had already turned on the water for outside, but today I shut it off again.

We had our first red-winged blackbird in the feeder today, but most of the birds are Sparrows and Juncos.
I transferred two batches of red wine from the first fermenter into glass carboys. Cabernet-Shiraz and Chilean Merlot. On March 24 and 27 I bottled 30 bottles of Gewürztraminer (white), 26 bottles of Pinot Nero (red), and 25 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc (white). I still have to filter and then bottle one batch of Piesporter (white). I like to make my wines in the winter to have enough for the year. My 'wine-cellar' is stocked up nicely now. We don't buy wines. They are too expensive here in Canada. I think the government makes too much profit. They always talk about monopolies being illegal. So why are all the liquor prices the same everywhere? Where is the competition? We were in Germany a few years back and were surprised at the low price of beer and wine.Why are our prices so high? Even in the US prices are more reasonable.

Coming back to me bottling wine today...on Good Friday? How horrible! When I grew up, we weren't allowed to do anything on Good Friday. We weren't allowed to talk loud, laugh, sing, or have any fun...for religious reasons. Now, as an adult, I don't play those games anymore, but my mind is still conditioned to feel somewhat guilty when I do stuff I'm not supposed to do, according to the church. We don't eat meat either on Good Friday, only fish. As I said...conditioned.

Governments, churches, and other institutions are trying so hard to control us, sometimes doing it very subtly by telling us it is for our protection, sometimes threatening us with the promise we will end up in Hell or get fined if we don't comply.

I don't go to church, but I'm quite comfortable in my relationship with God. Somebody told me once I need to be saved. Saved from what? I love my wife, my children, my grandchildren, my brother, my friends. I always had an honest job and paid my taxes. I obey the laws; I don't steal or cheat. I've seen too many so-called religious people committing sinful acts like stealing from others, cheating, or committing murder and other atrocities in the name of religion. How about Priests accosting young boys, Evangelists having sex with prostitutes, and things like that? I write erotic books, but I don't commit lewd acts. I don't even write about weird or abnormal sexual practices. In my stories I write about sexual relationships between a man and a woman, not male/male or female/female. I'm a straight guy and I don't want to go into explanations about that. It is controversial and I don't feel like getting myself into hot water. It  is not my place to judge others. At the same time, I don't want others to judge me about my beliefs.