There was some  controversy at the end  of the May June 2010 photo contests, but the  official results in the Lenzr machine are as follows:

Crowded Places had the most participation with 46 PHOTOS UPLOADED | TOTAL VOTES 1828.

Ve3bnw Bill Watson wins the brand new Blackberry Curve courtesy of Innate Media Group for having submitted the first place photo in the Crowded Places photo contest. Bill’s aerial photo of the Rockton Worlds Fair is quite interesting and was well received, collecting 270.2 points, the most in category.  The image was clearly taken from the sky, and so is most likely a product of Bill Watson’s remote controlled helicopter gunship and budding aerial photography business. This smart phone will certainly come in handy for the high flyer.

50 Going On 15 was won by Mommakoala, AKA Debbie Watson, Bill Watson’s wife. This long standing member of Lenzr is a Hamilton resident and part time nurse and passionate photographer. She takes imaginative pictures and has a knack for writing good titles and captions. Her ‘No Pesky Neighbours’ photo won the first Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest on Lenzr on November 1st 2009.

Portable Luxury was won by Seattledredge when Mommakoala’s photo was deleted by admin with only 15 minutes left in the competition.  It was indeed an ugly finish to what had been a close struggle. This strange but not unwarranted eventuality is explained in great detail in What Happened to Mommakoala’s Candy Stash? The account proferred along with an apologetic  explanation and rare glimpse into the world of the Lenzr admin. Remember we are all trying to achieve something that has never occurred before, a perfectly democratic contest community where business sponsors art.

The contest itself collected a lot of very strange and amusing ideas relating to our human notions of luxury, and what it means to move your comfort zone. There were 17 PHOTOS UPLOADED | TOTAL VOTES 680.  The Portable Luxury photo contest started late and that’s why the numbers were relatively low, but the prize is the greatest gift that has ever been shared by the site admin on the behalf of Lenzr’s most generous sponsor to date.

Seattledredge plus one guest have won three days and

two nights in Las Vegas courtesy of a portable toilet rentals business in Toronto ItsMyPotty.com

Three new photo contests will launch July 10th 2010. They will be subject to a new voting ritual. A change is occurring whereby pictures are collected and displayed until the last two weeks of the contest, when votes are collected. This levels the playing field for photographers and professional contesters.  Please read more about the new Lenzr voting mechanisms in the next post.

May June contests come to a conclusion, with one strange upset…

Another unusual chapter in the story of Lenzr has been written today. An unprecedented event occurred at 11:45pm on June 30th, 2010. Mommakoala’s image, My Candy Stash was eliminated from the competition. The correction was made by admin.  The result of their decision makes her ineligible to win the Portable Luxury photo contest, and the Las Vegas vacation prize for which she has been campaigning in multiple social networks for a month.

Debbie is upset, Bill is furious, but Lenzr has to be fair to all members.

As everyone knows this blog is connected to a serial photo contest website that issues new challenges every sixty days. Its the only indy photo contest website of its kind, and as such it has developed a core following of veteran contesters that dominate each challenge and sub-divide the spoils. These individuals scour other social networks recruiting votes and promoting their work, and this activity is encouraged by admin. That’s right. We like it when that happens. When contesters put the message out on their own social platforms it compounds the quality and distribution of the marketing.

However, Lenzr website admin must also guard against proxy IP vote fraud and multiple domain registrations for / by which the only activity is voting perfect 10s for specific images from specific members (and voting 1 for everyone else) We can see when that happens.

Although Mommakoala’s My Candy Stash was the only photo removed in this session, almost all of the photos uploaded by just about every member have red flags attached to them in Lenzr reports; they are being flagged for some terms of service violation or another, by both humans and the filter. And that’s understandable because its just the way the votes are collected…

WHO’S TO BLAME? Because the abuse is so widespread across the entire database we have to believe that individual contesters themselves are not really responsible for the methods and passion of their friends, or strangers who might otherwise seek to disqualfy them.

Its a strange web we weave when we invent and launch a ‘democratic photo contest website’ made ‘by the people for the people’ wherein admin has ALMOST no control.

Remarkably, Seattledredge’s Portable City had no such red flags or suspicious activity. It appears to have collected 330 points in a most organic fashion. Admin had to act here, to be fair to Seattle and reward her for submitting some very pretty images in all three categories.

So a decision was made to reward Seattle’s image over Mommakoala’s submission, and as Admin has no power over the voting algorithm itself, our only option was to eliminate Debbie’s image entirely from competition.

Mommakoala is one of our favourite associations. As you will read in the next write-up, Debbie’s Elton Johnish photo is the winner of the 50 Going On 15 photo contest, and she will collect over 50 lbs of pure chocolate from Choclicks courtesy of TempoToronto.ca

Ve3bnw Bill Watson, Debbie’s husband will reap the Blackberry reward for having submitted the first place photo in the Crowded Places photo contest. I myself, Rob Campbell the Lenzr blogger have offered to host a banner promoting Bill’s aerial photography business in the sidebar of the Lenzr blog.

NOW WE ADAPT A SMARTER PROGRAM where VOTES ARE COLLECTED AT THE END

From July 1st 2010 forward, Lenzr has a new voting ritual. The new procedures will cure all the vote fraud malaise as we together evolve and perfect this social experiment and make it friendlier and fair for everyone that chooses to participate. Comments and queries are encouraged and will be answered directly.

Slimmswitch is Really Cutting Grass now!

Here’s a prize winning Lenzr member named Slimmswitch cutting his own lawn with a Neuton CE6  electric battery powered  lawnmower.

The How Green Are You? photo challenge ended dramatically on May 1st 2010 with Slimmswitch twenty points ahead of Johnny. The web challenge collected 27 photos which garnered 1592 votes.  Almost all of the images are focused on green subjects, and most share insights into one or more facets of the green energy industry.

Sponsored by a solar powered grass cutting business in Toronto Ontario, the company used the contest to showcase their green services which includes bio fuel trucks and lawnmower trailers adorned with adjustable solar panels. The firm proudly offers a sustainable, organic grounds keeping maintenance that is also a relatively silent. The Neuton battery powered lawnmowers are also very quiet as Slimmswitch has no doubt discovered.

Portable Luxury is the best kind of luxury - those pocket size, or backpack sized items you can take with you on the run. We expect to see a whole lot of small things, and some big items of course, but mostly hand held conveniences that help separate humans from animals. Things like expensive watches and diamond rings will no doubt be popular entries, but also technological apparatus. And remember its all about the photography; if you have a great photo in the mix, its a lot easier to get your friends and strangers from other social networks to come to Lenzr and vote for it. Some of them will sign up and submit their own pictures no doubt, with the prize being so cool, this contest winner is going to have to engineeer support groups.

The prize is a Las Vegas vacation! And that means airfare and hotel accommodation for two people for three days and two nights in this hedonistic hotspot in Nevada. At the time of this writing, Lenzr admin doesn’t know the exact dates, carrier or hotel specifics. No mention of meals, but from what I understand good food comes cheap in Las Vegas hotels. Finally, please remember, the winner is obligated to send Lenzr admin some pictures and anecdotes for storytelling on this blog.

The sponsor is a portable toilet rentals business that owns and can deploy several dozen luxury units to any location in Southern Ontario. If you ask them what the words  ‘portable luxury’ mean, they’ll open the catalogue and show you what Hollywood movie companies rent for A list stars, and the bathrooms going out for the foriegn dignitaries at the G20 summit.  They have some really fantastic bathrooms on wheels.

Backyard Party Events  - Photo Contest Winners

Here’s Sandra Ausma the 2nd place contestant standing beside John Kenyon the marketing director at Absolute Tent and Event Services who was actually the first place winner of the challenge.  It wasn’t a mistake - his photo was excellent and you can read all about it in the contest summary two posts below this one on the Lenzr blog.

Sandra’s photo was equally storyful and she was rewarded with the 10×10 pop-up tent that you can see big John leaning on, as well as, a $500 gift certificate to be spent on anything and everything this unique Toronto party rentals warehouse stocks.

On behalf of John Kenyon let me thank everyone that participated in this very entertaining Lenzr photo contest.

16th photo contest on Lenzr launched May 3rd 2010 has already become a busy space with a couple dozen photos, several hundred votes and sixteen comments.

Crowded Places has become a rich media repository for images relating to really popular recreational activities. Here’s an inside look at unpleasant traffic jams, and pedestrian bottlenecks in rush hour.  There are many geographic variables and circumstances that make popular places that spawn crowded spaces.

Like all photo contests on Lenzr this web challenge is specifically designed for Canadians.  Yes of course anyone may upload photos and participate, but the prize may only be won, and will indeed only be shipped to residents of Canada.

Just as the name Crowded Places implies traffic and commerce, so too has the odour and intensity of competition become manifest in this online photography event. Behold photos of Olympic torch athletes and fish ponds, raves and transit problems.

Everyday the whistle blows and you hear the alarming sound of the municipal rooster in the morning - just watch the people start moving forward on sidewalks, streetcars and subway cars. The same whistle blows all through our history, at meat packing plants and on factory floors. It issues forth from the subway cars and the whistle also sits in the dry mouths of the brave captains who urge their men over the top.

Innate Media Group is a full service web, media design, application development and internet marketing company that consistently provides effective solutions for global business. They make websites that perform well in search engines and this makes crowded places on the internet.

PS everyone at Lenzr just loves the photo of Smojoe submitted by Ampfoto.  The picture was taken at the IABC conference on May 12th at Ryerson in Toronto. The image captures the moment when Rob Campbell announces to the audience that Smojoe stands for ’social media optimzation’ joe. You can read all about the seminar in Smojoe blog. There was a crowd of at least forty people in the room, and so it does indeed qualify as a crowded place.  The Toronto web developer that sponsored the Crowded Places photo contest is sitting at the laptop with his back to the window.

There’s an art to creating good content on the web; its substance over style here at Lenzr - we admire web content portals that inform readers using an interesting perspective and tone of voice. And we’re always looking around and reading other people’s blogs and scrutinizing other people’s websites (esp photo contest sites), as we surf the net looking for information and opportunities.

This summer lots of people over 50 years old will probably become more aware of Tempo Toronto an online magazine stuffed to the spine with stories and coupons and contests shaped for their demographic. That age group is hard to target, and even harder to please.

Tempo Toronto will satisfy them. Its a decision maker’s magazine that chronicles the sophisticated lifestyles of fascinating people over 50 years old and living and working in the city. Stuffed full of advanced fashion tactics, high class art and photos and links to gorgeous sexy fashion designers like Catherine Curtis. Last month the magazine covered the LG Fashion Week and focused on the Lundström Collection with exclusive pictures and quality journalism. The web portal also reviews Toronto restaurants, theatres and the latest books by bestselling Canadian authors. And of course there’s recipes, coupons, links to contests, and profiles of other people – lifestyles of other cool fifty year old people, musicians and artists and investment bankers.

The 50 Going On 15 photo contest on Lenzr is destined to capture the most courageous 50 year olds riding mountain bikes, motorbikes and driving muscle cars. Show us folks with a little grey in their hair acting years younger, water skiing, snowboarding, or running for their cars in a rain storm. The best pictures will show people in action, doing something outrageous.

The prize is outrageous. It’s a wheelbarrow full of dark chocolate. No kidding – the prize in this Lenzr photo contests is over 50 pounds of pure chocolate, supplied by Chocolicks, Toronto chocolate located at 573 Eglinton Ave west in the heart of Forest Hill.

You might ask yourself, what am I going to do with that much chocolate? We agree it’s a problem. But it’s a nice problem to have.

May 1st 2010 came with a BANG! Traffic to the website was the heaviest it has ever been leading up to the conclusion of the March / April 2010 photo contests. Everyone was anxious to see who won the prizes!

The March April 2010 photo contests on Lenzr were well trafficked. It’s a common opinion that the overall quality of the photography was arguably the best it has ever been, and the number of comments was significantly higher than previous totals.

Toronto Party Rentals employee wins Backyard Party Events

Here at Lenzr, we see something new in every round of contests, and this past session was no exception. John Kenyon the marketing manager at Absolute Tent and Event Services, the Toronto party rentals warehouse on 185 eastern ave, won his own contest.

For the first time ever, the contest sponsor won the prize, and there is no rule against that happening! Remember this website is 100% user driven and so if the sponsors can rally enough support behind their own photography, then they win the prize same as anyone else - there’s no judge or jury to reverse the decision.

Backyard Party Events was otherwise a very cool photo contest filled with images of birthdays and BBQs and even some wedding pictures and Bar Mitzvahs. The challenge was designed to collect party pictures and be dominated by party people that rent the big stuff and make big splashes - we asked to see some legendary events that will ’stand the test of time’. Admittedly the winning photo entitled Only three remain is exactly what the sponsor had in mind when they commissioned the competition.

The winner is jkenyon, John Kenyon who is the head of marketing at the Toronto party rentals warehouse that sponsored the contest. The picture shows the dregs of a big summer bash, with cool event lighting from a mixture of sources. And there is a gentle hint of story, which makes this image so compelling. It won on its own merits.

The good news is that John Kenyon and everyone at Absolute Tent and Event Services, including Laura the blogger in the warehouse, is incredibly honest and morally fibourous. They couldn’t sleep at night if they thought they’d deprived contesters of a decent prize.

So the 10×10 Pop-up Tent and $500 gift certificate prize will go to the second place photo seen here, entitled, He really “nailed” that pig! This runner-up is equally excellent and was uploaded by a member Sausma1, who is a very prolific Lenzr participant, and one of the same crew that won the VIP Locaboire wine tour in the spring. (If you read that blog post below, you can see her in the in the extreme right hand side of the wine tour group photo) Sausam1 is actually Dr. Sandra Ausma, and in addition to having a PhD and a great eye for pictures, she now also possesses a 10×10 Pop-up Tent, and $500 Gift Certificate good for the rental of anything in Absolute Tent and Event Services catalog. Good win Dr Ausma! We look forward to seeing some pics of you inside that tent!

Sasuma1 also wins the Fire and Ice photo contest

The Fire and Ice photo contest on Lenzr was probably the coolest theme so far in 2010, and will be no doubt be referenced by photographers and artists for many years to come.

There were 26 photos uploaded in this challenge, and 633 votes cast. Yes it was a reasonably hot competition, as so many photographers were eager to show off their fire photography skills.

Nobody was more delighted with the results of the contest than Steve Hamoen, the geothermal design and installation business owner from southern Ontario that sponsored the challenge. On some level this contest got people thinking about how geothermal power is cost effective, reliable, sustainable, and environmentally friendly energy alternative. Historically this energy source has been limited to only a very few areas of the globe, like Iceland and Banff Alberta Canada. But that’s all changed now.

Recent technological breakthroughs have dramatically expanded the range and size of this viable new resource, especially for applications such as home heating, and in particular floor warming. Since the contest launched, Steve Hamoen has started his own blog. Check out the Geothermal Installers Blog and you will see a true Canadian hero with his feet in the dirt, out standing in his field, being an expert in real time.

Lenzr member Sausma1, the same member that placed second in Backyard Party Events challenge and claimed the tent prize by default, won this photo contest as well. The image is right on target, it shows fire and ice garnished with a human subject and a modicum of story.

Sasuma wins a GeoAir PCO air purifier

Dr. Sandra Ausma is probably the perfect candidate to appreciate the benefits of Photo Catalytic Oxidation (PCO) and the resultant clean air. Bacteria, viruses, mold spores don’t stand a chance ariund this machine and are destroyed when they come into contact with the system’s 187 square-inch Ti02 grid. All volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) are destroyed. The system is cost-effective, maintenance-free and provides maximum energy efficiency with negligible resistance to airflow.

Unlike existing air cleaning systems that rely solely on ultraviolet light, the GeoAir PCO device integrates a titanium dioxide semiconductor to leverage photocatalytic oxidation allowing it to vaporize indoor air pollutants, including those that cause odors, and break them down into non-toxic products like C02 and H20.

Toronto business phones

Obsolete Office Equipment was kindly ignored by most folks, in keeping with how most people feel about old and used technology that’s out-of-date, slow or cumbersome to use. The sponsor asked to see pictures of stuff that slows office workers down, and contributes to loss of productivity - overtime having obsolete equipment can cripple a business, esp old telephones and obsolte telecommunications devices.

The contest only had 8 photos uploaded, but accrued 1861 votes! which is strange. And although this web challenge was less succesful than Everyday Tangled Web which broke records for the number of photos and votes, the result was the same - the contest brought lots of traffic and exposure to the sponsor, a business telephones system designer and installer in Tornoto Ontario.

And like other contest sponsors, James Stortz the CEO of S.E. Telecom has also just started blogging on his new S.E. Telecom Blog. The Wordpress arena was facilitated by Toronto web developer Innate Media Group, the sidebar widgets and style come from the pimp my blog shop of Smojoe social media marketing.

The winner was an picture of vintage typewriter - content worthy of Dumpdiggers the photo was taken by dausma and she appears to be friends with, and quite possibly related to Sandra Ausma.

The Prize is a 4 Line office telephone AT&T Model 1070. This state-of-the-art communication device has 4 line speakerphone & answering system capability. With Caller ID / Page / Intercom / Call transfer / Expandable to 16 stations / 32 # speed dial / 3 party conference / 6 number redial, it has so many wonderful functions!

Slimmswitch wins Electric Lawnmower from Grass Cutting Company

The How Green Are You? photo challenge was the premier event in last session’s of Lenzr. The challenge collected 27 photos which garnered 1592 votes. Almost all of the images are entirely focused on green subjects, and most have a smattering of story that share insights into the green energy industry and reminders of all the little things that we as a society can do to make a difference.

Sponsored by a solar powered grass cutting business in Toronto Ontario, curious members can read about the company on their grass cutting blog and see pictures of their bio fuel trucks and lawnmower trailers adorned with adjustable solar panels. The firm proudly offers a sustainable, organic service that is also a relatively silent; their Neuton battery powered lawnmowers are very quiet. This service is just finding its legs in the GTA, and needs public support to achieve its true potential.

The contest really did collect a wide array of one sentence stories and snapshots of eco friendly ideas for the benefit of all humanity. And on May 1st 2010, a Lenzr member named Slimmswitch won the prize.

How Green Are You?

Slimmswitch is another regular player on the site. Last fall he placed second in Ontario Tourist Attractions photo contest, which was arguably the most successful lenzr photo contest of all time with over 70 pictures uploaded and over 3000 votes collected.

The How Green Are You? photo contest was very competitive, and there was a real fight between Slimmswitch and another member named Johnny who had a photo wth over 300 votes. Its no secret, these individuals promoted their images on other social networks. Behind the scenes, Slimmswitch used twitter to wrangle votes from friends, while Johnny had posts on other contest social networks funneling participation in exchange for him helping support other people’s endeavours. Some members emailed me to complain - they believe this takes away from the spirit of the contest, and results in poor quality photos winning the grand prize, but from a marketing point of view it’s exactly what the sponsors most wants; they love it when particpants promote their pictures because they make the make the message go ‘viral’.

Neuton CE6 battery powered lawn mower.

Slimmswitch wins the Neuton CE 6 Battery-Powered Mower with DURACELL® battery technology and judging by the comments and chorus of support there will be a lot of friends asking to borrow the equipment. The battery has 360 watt-hours of life and the Neuton CE 6 mower can cut a third of an acre which is approx 15,000 sq. ft. on a single charge.

Great win Slimmswitch!

Here’s a quick update on Lenzr member mroy, the winner of the Everyday Tangled Web photo contest on Lenzr.

After traveling in more tropical regions of the world, Mrs Roy has returned to find her prize, a Plantronics Voyager 510SL+ Bluetooth Headset System with Lifter, approx retail value $429.00 waiting for her at the post office.

Overwhelmed, she unpacked the cardboard box and posed with her two grandchildren on the couch. These kids look feisty. You can she’s doing her best to keep one perched on her knee, and the smaller bloke looks equally rambunctious.

So it comes as no surprise when Grandma reveals how these young people were partially responsible for her snapping the prize winning photo. The missing toy was found and recovered only after she’d used her digital camera to look in places she couldn’t get to with her eyes anymore.

Now mroy can enjoy talking on the phone ‘hands free’ and wireless courtesy of  SE Telecommunications a business phone systems design and installation company in Toronto.

THEN A FEW DAYS LATER, Mary sent me this photo and more text below,

On Saturday March 13th 2010, The Wine Ladies, myself Rob Campbell, and Dave Dingle of Shrinkray,  hosted the winners of two Lenzr photo contests and together enjoyed a Locaboire wine tour of Prince Edward County, Ontario.

The winner of Macro Photos of Life, Bill Watson ve3bnw and his wife Debbie, joined the winner of Best Gourmet Food Sandra Ausma sausma1 and her companion Johnny Cochrane.

Locaboire Wine Tour of Prince Edward Co.

The wines of Prince Edward Co have gained prominence over the last decade, which is remarkable considering most of the vineyards in the area didn’t exist fifteen years ago. This is still a very young wine region, but the idea is maturing as viticulturists are now producing excellent products.

Partly because of its soft and friable calcareous limestone soil, and partly due to assiduous care on the part of its winemakers who have learned how to protect their vines each winter to shelter the tender primary buds from killing cold, the vines have endured and excelled in tastings all over the world.

We all met up at The Timberhouse

Lenzr attracts an interesting mix of people, and our assembly was a terrific cross section of contest participants and colourful sponsors; there was great chemistry right from the beginning.

Everyone was surprised to find a stretch limousine waiting for us outside the  Timberhouse Resort in Brighton Ontario.  Some local vintages were waiting inside, with more down the road. The wine started flowing from the moment we all climbed aboard.

From left to right, Rob Campbell, Dave Dingle, Michell Walkau, Susanne and Georgia - The Wine Ladies, Debbie (MommaKoala), Johnny Cochrane and Dr. Sandra Ausma at The Grange Winery - that’s Caroline Granger pouring Trumpours Mill, 2007 Pinot Noir. Photos by Bill Watson (Ve3bnw) check ve3bnw Flickr stream for more pics.

The Locaboire Wine Tour started at The Grange

The prize winners enjoyed a short (hot) drive in a long limousine through the brown landscape of Prince Edward County in Eastern Ontario, and past some very old properties with dilapidated barns and overgrown stone fences. i though I saw some wild apple trees - all that remains of the orchards that were planted on every farm in the area in the early 1800s. This region boasts some of the oldest settlements in Ontario and the wineries people are quite connected to their history.

This is a blossoming wine country in the springtime of its existence and our tour visited three of the twenty wineries that are here now; ten more vineyards have planted grapes and hope to establish themselves in the near future.

Ten minutes into the expedition our limousine turned off the paved road and gingerly traversed down a muddy sideroad, over Dorland Creek, and past a 19th century  farmhouse to stop outside The Grange winery.

Inside a cozy wooden barn we met Caroline Granger who, along with her father Bob Granger, owns the property and facilities.   This family manages six different vineyards, with six different varietals – they harvest 180 tonnes of grapes every year.

Caroline was great and The Wine Ladies really liked her – Susanne and Georgia unpacked their signature oversized wine glasses, and we shot three segments for The Wine Ladies TV show in three different locations on the property.

Caroline was very down to earth as she related the history of her property – the farm is 200 years old and was once the location of a chicken canning business which packed under the label Meadowvale farms.  The chicken cannery was quite succesful in the early 1900s and printed material still exists that show the goods were sold in the market of the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto.  Caroline Granger was born and raised on the property, she described how she plowed the fields when she was a little girl and  The Wine Ladies in particular were very impressed with her – they remarked afterward how genuine it is for the proprietor of a winery to be so well connected to the climate and soil, the terrior of the region.

Next Stop, Closson Chase - 629 Closson Rd, Hillier Ontario

At 3:30 pm the Locaboire wine tour continued down the road to Closson Chase.

Its no secret, these vineyards was founded by and are still owned and managed by a smattering of Canadian film and television celebrities, most notably Sonia Smits. The first test plots were planted in 1998 and the winery itself was founded in 1999.

This destination was a perfect exercise in serious wine tasting as Lynn Carmichael explained that Closson has two properties. The grape vines on their farm in Niagara are 30 years old, while the vines grown here in Eastern Ontario come from vines that are less than six years old. We tasted the difference as we sampled the Chardonnay – one glass was from 6 yr old vines, and other from 30 yr old vines. We savoured the contrast, and came to understand more about the structure of wine in general. It was a good education, and great exercise.

All of the wine we consumed on the Locaboire tour was of course Estate Bottled which means the wine was produced from grapes grown on the farm, or by the estate.

Locaboire Wine Tour ends at RoseHall Run

The final destination on our Locaboire wine tour was Rosehall Run at 1241 Greer Rd Wellington Ontario where we met Dan Sullivan who is both the winemaker and vineyard manager. He is a lifetime student of the art of making good wine (in large batches) and has been honing his craft for almost fifteen years. This guy is super passionate about his life’s work and very hands on, eager to discuss the smallest details of his craft. At one point he stood over a pump and explained how the mechanism could move whole grapes to the press without breaking or bruising the fruit. He also lectured on the experience of setting up the winery itself, and the geology of the soil as evidenced in the barrel cellar, which was hewn out of the same limestone that makes the grapes so delicious.

This walk about Rosehall Run got most interesting down in the barrel cellar where Dan did a great interview with The Wine Ladies. The group tasted several different wines , including 2008 Sullyzwicker rose and red, and a syrah that was made from grapes grown on a neighbour’s property, Steven Singer the viticuluralist of nearby Fieldstone.

The Timberhouse

That evening, at the Timberhouse we tucked into an incredible feast accompanied by the wines we enjoyed throughout the day. The chef prepared a feast fit for visiting monarchs, and indeed that’s certainly how we felt about ourselves at that time.

The Dinner Menu at The Timberhouse

First a small bowl of sautéed shrimp in Tai sauce garnished with diced pepers and strawberries on a tuft of vermicelli laying on a big piece of Swiss Chard.

Second course was a crisp  salad of assorted greens, with tomato wedges and cucumbers smothered in raspberry vinagrette

Third course and entree featured bacon wrapped Fillet Mignon in a herb compound butter with rosemary roasted potatoes an fresh vegetables.

All this was followed by a delicious homemade chocolate cake for desert.

The wines we drank at dinner include,

Rosehall Run 2007 VQA Pinot Noir
Rosehall Run 2007 Riesling
Rosehall Run 2007 Cabernet Franc
Rosehall Run 2007 Gewurztraminer
The Grange of Prince Edward Vineyards 2008 Trumpour’s Mill Gamay Noir
Closson Chase 2007 Chardonnay VQA Prince Edward County
Redtail Vineyard 2007 Pinot Gris
Redtail Vineyard 2007 Pinot Noir
Huff Estates 2008 VQA Riesling Off-Dry

Tuesday March 9th 2010 dawned sunny and bright, and was a truly beautiful spring morning, spoiling Toronto with unseasonably warm weather.  This put everyone in a good mood, and it was especially pleasant inside the medical center at 600 Sherbourne St, opposite the subway, on the south west corner of  Bloor and Sherbourne St in the heart of the city.

It was particularly cheery in unit #808, the dental office of Dr Natalie Archer DDS, the Toronto dentist that sponsored the Kids in Action photo contest on Lenzr.

At 1 pm that afternoon, when the sun was at its zenith, the girl that won the photo challenge  entered the office.  The girl is from York University in her last year of sociology studies, but she dreams of being a working professional.   The girl’s name is seattledredge, and she’s a soft spoken, sly and precocious amateur photographer with professional aspirations.  Seattle wears black nail polish, and someday she will be a world famous something - a photo journalist, marketing poet or cereal box designer, she will be famous.  Her image ‘Soccer Stand’ can still be viewed in her profile - the picture won the match with a high score of 116 points,  an amalgam of votes, views and comments.

Seattle took lots of pictures on Tuesday March 9th, and these images can be found here on seattledredge Flickr photostream.

Although the NiteWhite teeth whitening kit was positioned as the grand prize of the challenge, this reward requires a dental office to make custom molds for form fitting trays that are filled with the bleaching agent and left on your teeth overnight. These trays are made from impressions taken of her teeth and mouth.  Dr Archer’s dental technicans used a special pink gel that hardens in about thirty seconds.

Seattle was interested in every detail and the citizen journalist was alive in her - she has a friend writing a story on teeth whitening in an online university publication.  I love the picture above in which Dr Archer is just standing back and taking it all in. Its clear that even though she didn’t expect this, she finds it all very amusing.