Bread shovel with painting by Manfred Rieder

FRENCH PEEL - Bread shuffle

I used this bread shovel or "peel" from August 2006 to October 2911 at the La Valse des Pains bakery in Sutton, Quebec. It has seen thousands of breads, croissants, baguettes, brioches and pizzas. My friend. owner Pascal Picarda, shown above, let me have it as a gift because it has outlived its usefulness but most of those shovels last from three to seven years.
I could not help but to embellish it

Manfred H. Rieder
Newport, Vt., April 22, 2017

REMINISCING ABOUT OUR LOVELY TIME IN SUTTON

I had some the best years of my life in the Sutton area of Quebec where we lived for 14 years. I promised some friends some pictures of our time there. Here they are:

Misty morning in the orchard

Just for private transmission - I want a friend to print this for me - Thanks

SORRY FRIENDS

To some of you wjo have liked my blog, my apologies for abandoning you for almost two years since my beloved Nancy was first diagnosed with cancer. She passed on on December 29 and I shall try to start working on my stories again.
Thank you for reading this.

Something Everyone Should Know - Especially if You Have or Know of Someone With Cancer:

Amazing frozen lemons -           WHO KNEW????                               All it is.....is a frozen lemon   Many professionals in restaurants and eateries are using or consuming the entire lemon and nothing is wasted. How can you use the whole lemon without waste?   Simple.. place the washed lemon in the freezer section of your refrigerator. Once the lemon is frozen, get your grater, and shred the whole lemon (no need to peel it) and sprinkle it on top of your foods.    Sprinkle it to your vegetable salad, ice cream, soup, cereals, noodles, spaghetti sauce, rice, sushi, fish dishes, whiskey.... the list is endless.   All of the foods will unexpectedly have a wonderful taste, something that you may have never tasted before.  Most likely, you only think of lemon juice and vitamin C. Not anymore.    Now that you've learned this lemon secret, you can use lemon even in instant cup noodles.   What's the major advantage of using the whole lemon other than preventing waste and adding new taste to your dishes?   Well, you see lemon peels contain as much as 5 to 10 times more vitamins than the lemon juice itself.  And yes, that's what you've been wasting.   But from now on, by following this simple procedure of freezing the whole lemon, then grating it on top of your dishes, you can consume all of those nutrients and get even healthier.    It's also good that lemon peels are health rejuvenators in eradicating toxic elements in the body.   So place your washed lemon in your freezer, and then grate it on your meal every day. It is a key to make your foods tastier and you get to live healthier and longer! That's the lemon secret! Better late than never, right? The surprising benefits of lemon! Lemon (Citrus) is a miraculous product to kill cancer cells. It is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.    Why do we not know about that? Because there are laboratories interested in making a synthetic version that will bring them huge profits.   You can now help a friend in need by letting him/her know that lemon juice is beneficial in preventing the disease. Its taste is pleasant and it does not produce the horrific effects of chemotherapy.    How many people will die while this closely guarded secret is kept, so as not to jeopardize the beneficial multimillionaires large corporations?   As you know, the lemon tree is known for its varieties of lemons and limes.    You can eat the fruit in different ways: you can eat the pulp, juice press, prepare drinks, sorbets, pastries, etc... It is credited with many virtues, but the most interesting is the effect it produces on cysts and tumors.   This plant is a proven remedy against cancers of all types. Some say it is very useful in all variants of cancer. It is considered also as an anti microbial spectrum against bacterial infections and fungi, effective against internal parasites and worms, it regulates blood pressure which is too high and an antidepressant, combats stress and nervous disorders. The source of this information is fascinating: it comes from one of the largest drug manufacturers in the world, says that after more than 20 laboratory tests since 1970, the extracts revealed that It destroys the malignant cells in 12 cancers, including colon, breast, prostate, lung and pancreas... The compounds of this tree showed 10,000 times better than the product, Adriamycin, a drug normally used chemotherapeutic in the world, slowing the growth of cancer cells.    And what is even more astonishing: this type of therapy with lemon extract only destroys malignant cancer cells and it does not affect healthy cells. So, give those lemons a good wash, freeze them and grate them. Your whole body will love you for it!!!!!   Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly. -- THERE ARE NO STRANGERS, ONLY FRIENDS YOU HAVEN'T MET!!

Citizens Evicted From Town Meeting in Sutton, Quebec

Having lived in Sutton for more than 12 years, I still share a great love in the town and interest in what is going on there. This is the newest twist in a bizarre story as written by my friend Eddie Vos and published in local Quebec papers:

  Former Alliance Sutton voters threatened with police.

Just when things could not go nuttier, Sutton mayor Dandenault at the August 11 council meeting did not like me asking two councillors what made them violate their election promise to not dig a new basement with two new stories (called a “community wing”) by voting in December $2.8 million for town hall and later for what became a nearly $300,000 probably illegal call for tenders for professional services. 

The answers were uncomfortable, strange and tortured. Basically: We can ALSO use the wing for “administration” while councillor Poirier suggested that it is not really a WING but more a VOLET communautaire which in French means an item or an issue in a document or regulation (and not a new three-floor building).   

Then Ms. Ann Dyer asked the mayor about his early days of a request for Quebec money and where he grossly misrepresented his own public record as councillor under the last mayor and where he supported the project.  The mayor lost his cool and abruptly (with questions remaining) closed the meeting stating it was now a CAUCUS meeting, giving all 4 members of the public minutes to leave or the police would be called.   Almost surrealistically, I was escorted by the arm by councillor Ms. Beljaars to meet the mayor’s 60 second deadline before his police call.  

I remember many council meetings that ended in friendly discussion and then a drink at Camil’s or the Mocador.  Times have changed.   So, please ask why this broken election promise that, per permanent Sutton inhabitant, amounts to about $1400 over 20 years of borrowing and that in November they deemed unnecessary and grossly wasteful.  FOUR VOTES CAN STILL KILL THE PROJECT!

So what is a CAUCUS meeting?  Logically, the word is not in the Municipal Code.   Caucus is from an Algonquian Indian word that became to mean “a closed meeting of the members of one party to discuss tactics, policy or select members”.   In this case Alliance members were missing to caucus but the town clerk, a notary no less, stayed behind.  He produced 11 pages of Minutes that bear little resemblance to anything that transpired in this 22 minute meeting.  Question period BEFORE this meeting was on the agenda (as per bylaw 239-12) but was disallowed by the Mayor, stating that questions are AFTER the meeting when, as per Dandenault Rules, only questions can be asked concerning topics discussed.  Similarly stifling transparency, mayor Dandenault had earlier refused to table two uncomfortable letters about errors and omissions and about the probably illegal call for tenders, preventing them to become part of the record. 

Two weeks earlier, believing there was a council meeting because all 7 Alliance Sutton members plus 3 town employees were assembled, I was told to leave because it was a CAUCUS meeting.  Is it correct we pay town employees to assist in a political group’s strategy meetings?  Over 90 minutes later, at 9:21 pm, they had a 2 minute full 18 point agenda Council meeting, but of course, nobody there to ask questions.   

Mayor Dandenault elevated the exclusion of citizens to an art form, while not explaining why breaking all important election promises became the mantra of all seven Alliance Sutton members.  Not an explanatory word, ever, in the mailed Sutton Bulletin about this advancing construction monster the people voted against and did not want.   Keep on asking questions to each councillor – and bring a tape recorder to the meetings. Time is short.  P.S. Over $220,000 for lights at a sports field; that’s a lot of light the council should shine on itself.  We were promised transparency; we got obscurity and broken promises.                                            Eddie Vos, Sutton QC   

A Rare Find - A Great Garage and "Museum"

By Manfried Rieder

Rare Saab Rallye Car in Retirement

Two weeks ago I drove my 30 year old Chrysler to European Auto Works in Coventry to make an appointment for a state inspection of Nancy's Volvo.This was my first time there and I had the rare opportunity to meet a number of incredibly cool people, owners Pat and Chris Poginy and their dad - all car nuts, engaging, full of enthusiasm and knowledge. After making my appointment Pat pointed out that there was steam coming from under the hood of my "vintage" Chrysler. She was right - I had blown a radiator hose so I had to call Nancy to come and fetch me which gave me the opportunity to hang out with the crew. Having once been a rallye driver for team Saab I enjoyed to see a vintage Saab sitting in the grass. Mr Poginy Sr. will use it's rare V-4 engine to install it in a much rarer Saab Sonnet sports coupe he is restoring. In the garage was Mr. Poginy's WW II antique Jeep, just back from the annual car show in Stowe, unfortunately with a blown exhaust manifold gasket. Wondering around the grounds was like visiting an outdoor car museum"

Rare vintage Kaiser awaiting its faith

When I brought the Volvo for inspection it was discovered that I had a worn right front control arm which would explain the steering vibration we felt any time we got over 60 mph in the highway. A few days later I had the opportunity to watch Chris Poginy change that evil part and I was amazed by his surefooted craftsmanship. These people know what they are doing and their prices are more than reasonable. These days when you have work done on a car, it is mostly a pain in the rear end but at European Auto Works you are dealing with folks who first and foremost live and breath cars as evidenced when Chris told me that, even as a teenager helping in his dad's garage, he would take cars apart and put the back together "just for the enjoyment of it".

One can never have enough Studebaker trucks

In addition to superb service, the Poginys also sell used cars and one can be certain that these vehicles have been checked and serviced well. An example: Right now there is a Saab convertible for only $ 2,000, another Saab with only 77,000 miles on it in mint condition for $ 3,000.- Try to find this anywhere else in Vermont where they charge you twice that much for a clapped out Jetta. Anyhow - if you need service or an inexpensive used car you absolutely have to go visit this friendly place on Rte 5 in Coventry.

Nash Metropolitan, missing a few parts