District Governor Bob Cooper will be visiting next Tuesday. A Board meeting is to be held at 4.45pm.
Applications for District Grants close on 31 July.
The Nepal Ambassador to Australia will be visiting Adelaide, with a meeting in Prospect on 17 July.
A special science program for Year 7 and 8 students will be held 17-21 July…….volunteers are needed.
At the recent Group 6 meeting Heather managed to have Sunrise School and Urrbrae High School added to our exiting list of Annesley and Walford for liaison on Rotary projects.
Tomich Wines
Chairman Trevor McGuirk introduced John Tomich, the patriarch of Tomich Wines. Dr Tomich is an ENT specialist who has indulged his passion for creating highly palatable wines. John was born on a property in Coomealla (close to Mildura, for those with poor geographic skills). After pursuing a career in medicine he became involved in oenology….grape growing and wine making……and achieved a Master of Wine while studying in London. He is a member of RC Adelaide.
John provided a slide show covering the history of his wines, and was supported by Marion and Jasmine who served the tasty finger food and the various wine tastings……the cheese platter was a winner for cheese addicts like the editor.
His first agricultural venture came with the purchase of a cattle farm at Lucindale, principally to give his 3 sons a rural grounding. His next venture was to buy land in Woodside and Onkaparinga for grape growing and wine production. He now owns 300 acres with 27 separate varietal lots. The approach adopted to produce premium grapes is highly scientific with intense analysis of his soils to determine suitability for particular varieties and application of different cultivation techniques. He explained that the most important word in the wine dictionary is BLICA…..balance, length, intensity, complexity and ageing. (For those with a portugese background, blica has a lot to do with sex and you can see why).
John delivered a virtuoso performance on each of his grapes and wines, detailing their origins, growing techniques, maturation in oak, innate qualities, tickling of taste buds, suitability for different occasions, and general appeal. [Because everyone took copious notes, only a short summary is provided.] He started with his dry white wines which included pinot grigio (very light), reisling gewürztraminer, sauvignon, and pinot gris (intense). His green and fresh sauvignon blanc is well regarded and one respected wine writer contends that the only two places in Australia capable of producing good quality SB are the Adelaide Hills and Margaret River. The most recent addition is Gruner Veltliner which was introduced three years ago and has many fans in Europe…….could well be the next big thing in Australian white wines. A more subdued cleaner tasting chardonnay is also produced.
Red wines appear in 3 different groups, the light rosé, pinot noir in 5 different varieties and full bodied shiraz- cabernet. Pinot Noir grapes are inherently unstable and easily mutate. The shiraz took a long time to take root.
After this fabulous expose it is expected that every club member who attended will now be able to talk with greater authority on wine!
Spots
Trevor McGuirk reported that the District Governor’s changeover on Sunday at the Belair Country Club was an excellent event.
Rotary News
Film debuts at international convention By Teresa Schmedding and Sallyann Price
Around 2,000 people watched the debut of Rotary International’s new virtual reality film, “One Small Act,” Tuesday at one of the largest simultaneous viewings of a VR film.
The film follows the journey of a child whose world has been torn apart by conflict and supports the causes that Rotary champions, including polio eradication and peacebuilding. The story evoked strong emotions and sensations from the crowd.
Angus Fraser, of the Rotary Club of Quirindi in New South Wales, Australia, was among those who registered for the event, which was a part of the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
“The film was great. A bit shocking; I didn’t really know what to expect from it but it was really cool,” he said. “I think the film’s message will open up the world a bit, to make people realize there are terrible things happening and there are people trying to help -- Rotary being one of the main groups doing that.”
Virtual reality allows people to “see the magic of Rotary firsthand,” said RI President John F. Germ.
Attendees are eager to show the film to others when they return home.
“This will definitely have a positive effect on people,” says Angela Ofili, of the Rotaract Club of Lekki Phase 1, in Lagos, Nigeria. “Rotary has evolved, and that goes a long way toward having an impact in other people’s lives.”
“One Small Act” isn’t Rotary’s first VR film. “I Dream of an Empty Ward,” which premiered on World Polio Day last year, takes viewers to India to follow Alokita, a young woman who was paralyzed by polio as a child.
The film is available for viewing on Rotary’s VR app, which is available for Android and Apple devices.
When I bought my Blackberry, I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, my 13 grand kids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.
That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twitterific, Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting World.
My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.
The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone within 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it, and I got a little loud.
I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying and rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes she would sarcastically say, "Re-calc-u-lating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a right turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship...
When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and, while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.
To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions, checking bathrooms, and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.
The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them with me.
Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or plastic?" I just say, "It doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look.
We more senior citizens don't need any more gadgets. The TV remote and the garage door remote are about all we can handle.
A good confessional
A married Irishman went into the confessional and said to his priest, 'I almost had an affair with another woman.'
The priest said, 'Rubbing together is the same as putting it in. You're not to see that woman again. For your penance, say five Hail Mary's and put $50 in the poor box.'
The Irishman left the confessional, said his prayers, and then walked over to the poor box.
He paused for a moment and then started to leave.
The priest, who was watching, quickly ran over to him saying, 'I saw that. You didn't put any money in the poor box!'
The Irishman replied, 'Yeah, but I rubbed the $50 on the box, and according to you, that's the same as putting it in!'
Chairman Trevor McGuirk introduced John Tomich, the patriarch of Tomich Wines. Dr Tomich is an ENT specialist who has indulged his passion for creating highly palatable wines. John was born on a property in Coomealla (close to Mildura, for those with poor geographic skills). After pursuing a career in medicine he became involved in oenology….grape growing and wine making……and achieved a Master of Wine while studying in London. He is a member of RC Adelaide.
John delivered a virtuoso performance on each of his grapes and wines, detailing their origins, growing techniques, maturation in oak, innate qualities, tickling of taste buds, suitability for different occasions, and general appeal. [Because everyone took copious notes, only a short summary is provided.] He started with his dry white wines which included pinot grigio (very light), reisling gewürztraminer, sauvignon, and pinot gris (intense). His green and fresh sauvignon blanc is well regarded and one respected wine writer contends that the only two places in Australia capable of producing good quality SB are the Adelaide Hills and Margaret River. The most recent addition is Gruner Veltliner which was introduced three years ago and has many fans in Europe…….could well be the next big thing in Australian white wines. A more subdued cleaner tasting chardonnay is also produced.
Around 2,000 people watched the debut of Rotary International’s new virtual reality film, “One Small Act,” Tuesday at one of the largest simultaneous viewings of a VR film.