Fires everywhere

Tags

Beach, berries, Europe, Ferragosto, forest fire, PEI, Sea, Summer, vacation

Apparently there are 341 out of control fires all over Canada. Here in Atlantic Canada a strong forest fire warning is on and open fire pits are forbidden and people are told to get out of forest areas, a cigarette butt could cause a major conflagration. On PEI, the Gov never really cleaned up after hurricane Fiona and major parts of the Island could go up in smoke. Again we are not really prepared for an emergency. If a few tourists burn to a crisp would anyone notice, asked the philosopher? No rain forecasted for another 14 days. The fires all over Canada has affected wildlife and humans, respiratory problems and allergies to burnt matter in the smoke. This to me is what Climate change is really all about but still not many seem to care.

The Confederation Bridge toll was reduced to $20 to leave the Island for the mainland. This means that the Federal Gov will have to find $100 million lost revenue somewhere else. PEI is by far the most Federally subsidized province in Canada, truly a have not province. People are happy to not have to pay a toll which was $50. so now they can go to COSTCO in New Brunswick for less money. However the question is; should PEI ask all of Canada to pay for those using the main link bridge to the continent? That question did not cross the mind of most Islanders or our Politicians. Users should pay, yes but not every Canadians who are not using said bridge. Yes it was a political promise and a populist move.

Ferragosto or the mid-month of August is the signal for many Europeans of the annual month long vacation where everyone leaves the cities. Italy, France and many other European countries go on this schedule, leaving the cities to the tourists. The term means in Italian, August Holiday, from 15 Aug to 15 Sept. most businesses and services are closed, including museums, restaurants and bars.

We are going to the sea and like a kid I can’t wait. some photos of our cottage area at Yankee Hill. I love to BBQ on the deck. The weather so far promises to be sunny.

The beach area of sand dunes.

Summer also means in this part of the world cakes and ice cream, berries of all kinds growing wild everywhere.

Of Lobsters and iPhones

Tags

Airport, DeHAviland, fishing, Laurent, lobster, NB, Ns, PAL Airline, PEI, Season

The 2025 fall lobster season is almost here on Prince Edward Island – set to kick off on August 11th! The break in fishing yearly starts end June, the little critters moult during that period. The season will close again at end October. I am not crazy about lobster unless in a salad or grilled tails with a nice Cajun (Acadian) seasoning. The tradition in restaurants of cracking your own lobster etc, is not for me. Like Hannibal Lector, I do not like to play with my food or maybe he did.

So I got a new iPhone yesterday and it is a stressful event for me, when confronted with password and click on this or that, I get nervous, a bit like handling live grenades. The new generation is a big improvement on previous generations, my phone was an 8, now I have a 16. Each time the designers and IT types discover you could simplify and improve the product, should they have not known that previously? How does this come about I wonder.

If you own a cat or cats this little cartoon may ring a bell with you. How to meow at 3am. You see it is important that you curate what they read, you just never know. Then again our Teeter invents new games everyday, today it’s the paw wave to signal rub my belly. If you stop, the paw hits you gently.

Old Home Week has started with the harness horse races at Red Shores Raceway. Lots of activity and Kensington street is closed in part with the installation of the temporary amusement park. For Islanders this marks the end of the Summer. Not for us but you will notice a sharp decline in tourists after the 17 August. Despite the poor Cruise Ship season down 20%, we are having a bumper tourist season with all the people arriving by air or driving to PEI. Speaking of air traffic, big announcement yesterday of many regional routes opening between Moncton, Charlottetown, Sydney, Halifax, up until now you had to drive. PAL air ( Provincial airways) has been selected to do the service between cities. Their planes are DASH 8-400, since all flights are short to medium haul. DeHaviland builds such planes and PAL is owned by Sherry Brydson of the well known Canadian, Thomson Family. The airport in Charlottetown is also under expansion yet again. It seems every year there is a new expansion of the facilities.

Here is my new photo taken today for my iPhone, etc.

A month in the summer

Tags

BBQ, Canada, Gay, iPhone 16, Linden trees, PEI, PRIDE, vacation, Yankee Hill

Each year from June to end August various PRIDE events take place, parades and festivals. Here in PEI, you see PRIDE Flags the old original version is everywhere, from government buildings to businesses in the national parks and the painted cross walks. Our politicians, and officials of all stripes including the armed forces participate, this year Prime Minister, Dr. Mark Carney walked in the parade in Toronto.

Flag, C. 1978

Here in Charlottetown, we have our parade and compared with 25 years ago it has come a very long way, attitudes have changed quite a bit. I remember when I was at University in Ottawa in 1977, how negative attitudes were then and many classmates thought it was funny to harass and throw eggs at participants in the parade. Fortunately this no longer happens now and it has taken a much more positive fun vibe.

We went to BBQs organized by friends but other than that, we are of an age beyond the wild parties and street festivities. I see no need but I can see that for other people, it is important. I have a husband, a dog, we have a nice home and our neighbours accept us as is. It is a small community and people are aware and there are no problems, no matter where we go.

I went to Staples our local provider of tech toys and other business supplies. A nice sales person offered to show me the new iPhones with a special offer. She was very polite and very nice. I took down the info and went home. I spoke to Will and asked him what he thought. Turns out my iPhone is very old maybe 2018. We went back to the store and she showed us the model and what offer she could make. We bought 2 new iPhones 16. Mine was so old that all the data had to be transferred manually. Also to do this you need to remember all your passwords. My mind went blank, luckily for me I had kept a written record of them, that proved useful. We are happy with our purchase. The sales person was very professional and helpful.

Only 7 days before we go away to the seashore some 50 minutes from our home. Hoping for sunny good weather for our stay, nothing worse than rain at the beach.

Here are the famous Linden trees at Yankee Hill with the sea in the background. Just love them.

A busy schedule

Tags

BBQ, Cape Tryon, Cavendish, cruise ships, Family, McInnis, PEI, tourism, Visitors, Yankee Hill

For the last week, we have been quite busy, visit by family and other activities, invitation to attend numerous BBQ and parties. On the other hand the cruise ship traffic is very slow, August is a dead month in this domain, with September and October it will be crazy busy. I have done so many that I can do a tour my eyes closed. In 10 days we will be going to the cottage for our 2 weeks at Yankee Hill in New London, PEI, we are looking forward to it.

The Island has many societies and group who represent the three population groups, the Acadians, the Scots and the Irish. The Irish for the last 200 years have the Benevolent Irish Society (BIS), originally they were a group helping the Irish settlers with jobs, money, education and health care. Today it is a cultural society. The Irish are 28% and the Scots 38% the Acadian 22%. The rest are various ethnic groups, the Mi’kmaq are 2% in total.

This past weekend was the 200th anniversary of the BIS and we attended the dinner with 250 other people. It was a good evening, well organized and the menu was typical Irish fair. The event brought the Ambassador of Ireland, the Lieutenant Governor, Members of Parliament and Senators, City Councillors and the Mayor. Speeches were a bit rambling and not clear about what they wanted to say or mean.

Then the next day we went to a BBQ at McInnis point which is on the south side of the Island and the large area is the homestead of the McInnis family and farms facing the water of the Strait of Northumberland. Lovely area, we were invited by our friend P. and his husband M. who had invited several other people. It was nice to see so many familiar faces. The house is beautiful and the flowers and gardens impressive. Today we were in old St-Peter’s Harbour which is across from the National Park of Greenwich. The whole area on the North Side of the Island is quite lovely and very peaceful. What is less pleasant are the multitude of vicious mosquitoes. Despite the sunshine, we have been affected by the forest fires some 2560 Km away, you can actually smell the burnt wood and the smog turns to sky grey. The air quality is poor and a health risk, despite being on the Atlantic. We had lunch at friend’s house, one is a fishing guide and is very busy on a daily basis while his spouse is the Director of our Symphonic Orchestra. We had fish cakes but she uses a very different recipe, no potatoes. Basically haddock and various fresh herbs from her garden and panko, it was very good and light.

This coming week is quiet again and I do not mind at all. Teeter will get a bath and ear cleaning. I also brush is teeth every two days.

During my sister and her husband’s visit we took them to see our cottage at Yankee hill. Then we visited Cape Tryon and the big lighthouse, to get to the lighthouse you have to drive on a field road slowly with deep ruts, beautiful vista but careful with the cliffs because they are very unsteady and could collapse without notice. We drove in but I should have parked in the field about 1000 feet back and walk to the cliff, the area is all farm land with potato and wheat fields. On the way back a car SUV had broken down blocking the road completely. No way around it, the ditch on either side of the narrow road is 3 feet deep. Luckily some fellow with a big truck F-150 came buy tied a cable to the car and pulled them out of the way. It was our adventure for the day.

The cliffs around cape Tryon.

Teeter portfolio

Tags

Dachshund, Family, NYC, PEI, snooze, Teeter, visit

My little sister and here husband are arriving in a few minutes. They are on a visit to PEI from NYC, a bit like escaping Eastern Europe in the days of the Cold War for fresh air and freedom. They were here some years ago so it will be great to see them again.

They will also meet the Teeter AKA Mr Snooze. Today he snooze after his breakfast, then he went out for a good walk, which he likes and had another snooze, moved to the balcony in the sun to relax, then his dinner, then a snooze in bed with Will.

Here is Teeter next to the Dachshund statue that he seems to like a lot. They are the same size.

Here with Will and of course Teeter takes an elegant pose, which he practiced from his runway days.

things I notice

Tags

hitchcock, Hollywood, Movies, stupidity, us films

This year 2025 is the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie JAWS. To this day, this film has entered the cult movie circle, the music, the fear of great white sharks, beaches etc. is truly in peoples minds.

We do not have here in the North Atlantic great white sharks, once a year in late July or August, you will read a report about a sighting at sea off the Coast of Cape Breton or of the coast of PEI. It is rare indeed but the reports are well noted by people in general, despite the threat to anyone. The movie exaggerated the danger and people like in any scary movie scenario behaved stupidly.

It seems that Hollywood is good at churning out disaster movies that make no sense in reality, it’s just a crazy movie. In one movie the characters drove their jeep through lava from a volcano, of course that is not possible but hey makes for a story line. In another one people are trying to hide from the Aliens but are given away by a ringtone on someone’s phone. Also no one ever drives a car or truck in good mechanical order, it is always broken down or has a serious problem they neglected until the creature comes after them, then the battery dies.

The girl AKA the wife, is always putting herself in arms way. Husband does not know what to do, tries something desperate that will fail. Both are saved by a 7 year old kid who knows it all. The police or army are never called, people will do it themselves and may or may not fail. All disaster movies take place in New York City or L.A. but no where else. Can anyone name a horror movie taking place anywhere else on Earth, Hollywood does not appear to know that there are 194 countries on the planet.

Other disaster movies involve Washington D.C., the White House or Air Force one. The authorities are totally unprepared, and let us not forget the arguing police or army officers who bear a grudge and refuse to cooperate with each other, while the city burns around them. Lately more movies will be coming out about Nuclear disaster and zombies, truth is nowadays the power of nuclear weapons reduces everything to ash in a few seconds, we are far away from Hiroshima and the bombs of 1945. So the level of unbelievability is very high, it is laughable.

Stupidity appears the chief quality of most characters in such movies when they are usually confronted with something in the dark basement, no one has electricity connections in garages or basements. Told many times not to go there and yet they do. The creature, Alien, monster can never be killed, they survive no matter what. This is why with such movies I always applaud the villain and laugh out loud when some silly person gets eaten or killed in a gory manner.

On the other hand, movie stories by Alfred Hitchcock truly scare me, the reason it is the implied act of violence about to take place, you do not see directly the violence, your imagination knows what is happening and you picture in your mind the horror. Hitchcock was very good at crafting scenarios in ordinary places which turned horrific. In his movies, people are heavy drinkers and smokers, they are not nice but complex, living in towns where violence, resentment, grudges are just below the surface. You the viewer know there is something unpleasant about the place just as the camera pan the sight. I do wish there were more such scenarios with more complexity in characters instead of flat cardboard subjects, the black guy, the asian girl, the dumb blonde, the macho middle age guy or the young naive kid who has to die for sympathy, the feisty old lady who is a social justice warrior. That is a quick sketch of the awful movies coming out of Hollywood for the last 40 years or so.

The lazy boy

Tags

cruise ships, Dachshund, ducks, farm, Geese, lazy boy, PEI, tourism

No not the reclining chair, but a little Dachshund named Teeter, Mr Znoose. In the few months he has lived with us, Teeter has gone from being lost in a new home environment with us, people he did not really know, wondering what had happened to his old home in Marshfield. It took time for him to get used to us and establishing is new routine. The food was the same, no change there, the vet is the same person, but he has a new bed and blanket and toys. A new environment to explore and get use to, and this takes time. Then the adventure of running away for 9 hours until we found find him the next day. Since he has become more adapted to us and we do follow his routine carefully daily so that he can have confidence and know that we are good attendants. We also spoil him and maybe give more treats than he should have for his own good.

In the last few weeks now he gets his cuddles every morning first with Will for about an hour and then when I get my coffee he comes and sit/sleep on my lap for another hour. He loves to go out for walks and I take him on sunny days to the farm across the street for a long walk, to watch the Heron, the ducks and the geese in the various lilly ponds, though he pays little attention to them.

So as he feels more at home now with us, he has become more demanding, in the afternoon he will have a nap with Will on the bed and he loves this, he would probably want to sleep on the bed all night long instead of his own bed. He did try last night at 4am to do just that, but no success, we do not want to create a bad situation with him. Dachshunds are by nature very stubborn and will pursue what they want until they get it. They do remember what they like and establish a quick pattern.

He is still very shy with people, hiding behind us if someone approaches and gives a low warning growl, which we correct immediately. He is also shy with other dogs, staying away from them, except for the big German Spaniel which lives below us, he is a quiet and calm. On the other hand the little Papillon dog who is very excitable and yappy, Teeter really does not like this fellow.

Teeter has also decided now that whatever falls to the floor is a toy for him, really does not matter what it is, he likes socks and will run away with them.

In mid-August for Ferragosto, we will be at the cottage at Yankee Hill in New London and Teeter will come with us. This will be another new environment for him by the sea. We hope for good weather all around.

As for the cruise ships and work as a guide, it is very slow this year. I don’t think this is a good year, few tourists and not a good quality/price for value/quality. Halifax is now the hub and so is St-John’s, Newfoundland with its dramatic scenery, icebergs and whales. This is the nature of tourism, quality matters.

Canada Geese and their young at the pond on the farm.

Mr Snooze after breakfast.

Anniversary 18.

Tags

Anniversary, Canada, cuisine, Dachshund, New Glasgow, PEI, Reesie, weddings

On 21 July 2007, Will and I were married. A few days later we flew to our next post in Rome. We had been as a couple since the Fall of 1978. In early July, I had returned from Beijing, my post had ended and in between came home to Ottawa, selling our house and moving some of your belongings to Europe.

Our wedding was a nice but simple affair with a few friends and our little long hair Dachshund Reesie, who was also moving with us to Rome.

Every year in PEI, for the last 9 years we lunch at The Mill, in New Glasgow. Our friend, Chef Emily Wells is the owner and she is an award winning chef. Her restaurant is in the rural setting of this very small settlement on the banks of the river Clyde, just 30 minutes from our home in Charlottetown.

We will be going back next week for dinner when my sister and my brother in law are visiting us, they are celebrating 33 yrs.

This and that on a hot day

Tags

Berlin, berries, Cathedral, Death, Food, Hohenzollern, Lutheran, Queen Camilla, Royalty, Soup, Summer

It was 29 C today in Charlottetown. Tomorrow 17 July is the 78th Birthday of Queen Camilla Rosemary, of Canada and the UK.

Many years ago while visiting Berlin, I went to the Museum Island, these 5 museums contain the vast Royal Collections, it can easily compare to the British Museum for the wealth of its collections including artifacts and large monuments brought to Germany from Greece/Turkey and Iraq, such as the Altar of Pergamon built in 170 BC. The Gate of Ishtar built in 569 BC from Babylon is another great monument to be found in the collections.

Next door is the Lutheran Imperial Cathedral of Berlin, which has been restored to its original state of 1900. It is a functioning church but was prior to the fall of the German Royal House, the church of the Kaiser and his family. In the basement the Hohenzollern crypt you can see 91 coffins spanning 5 centuries, it is one of the largest burial sites in Europe and the central burial site of the former Imperial House. It is currently under renovation at a cost of 29 million Euros. The cost of the renovations is share by the parishioners, the Federal Government of Germany and the City of Berlin. The last Emperor of Germany, Wilhelm II died in the Netherlands in 1941 and rest in a mausoleum at Villa Doorn in the Province of Utrecht. This site attracts a lot of visitors to the crypt.

Meanwhile in PEI, it’s strawberry season and shortcake is on every menu. There is even a run on strawberries, I have bought so far in 8 days about 12 quarts of strawberries. They are so good and sweet, certainly PEI has the best ones. The season is not long, just a few more weeks. I am not too fond of blueberries but in PEI, we have Haskap berries, similar but different in taste and bigger.

Because of the heat, we made Vichyssoise or cold leek/potato soup. One of my favourite to beat the summer heat. Will also wants to make his favourite cold Spanish tomato soup called Salmorejo, we discovered in a restaurant in Seville a few years ago. So this is coming up as next in our Summer kitchen repertoire.

Lethargy

Tags

amethist, Anniversary, Birds, Dachshund, farm, heat, Heron, Park, PEI, relationship, Summer, walks, wedding

I find that days of upper 20C to 30C have the effect of reducing energy. It is very nice to have sunny weather and heat, after a while, all I want to do is drink pink lemonade and rest.

I walk Teeter on the grounds of the Experimental Farm which is across the street from us, in the middle of the City. It is a quiet and peaceful oasis, the area is so big you do not hear the city at all. Teeter likes it because there is a lot of smells, ducks, geese, herons and the odd other dog. Lilly ponds and vast fields. I can walk with him from our neighbourhood to the next and then back home. I do not walk him on the road but on the grass, so that it will not be hot on his paws. Yesterday approaching one pond, there was a blue heron, perfectly still on the grass. It is a big bird with a wing span of 167cm. and a height of 50 inches. There he was, Teeter looked but was not interested. I have seen such birds on the Island in the country side where you will see Osprey’s and bald Eagles.

I do not want to overdo it in this heat for Teeter and we often stop under one of the many large trees on the farm. Some of them have plaques to tell you that the tree was planted by a visiting dignitary.

The funny thing about Teeter is the routine and his memory. We keep a good routine with him and not depart from it. From wake-up to meal time to walks and also naps in the afternoon with Will. He also loves to nap on our lap in the morning while we have our espresso and after dinner. He also loves to run to our door, he knows how the elevator works, it is 3 pings and the door opens. In the 40 years we have had Dachshunds, he is no.5, they all have their own personality, likes and dislikes, quirks etc. Dogs are not just dogs, I have learned how perceptive they can be. Teeter is not like our other dogs, Bundnie, Reesie, Nicky and Nora, they all had their own way of doings things.

So a recent blogger pal, known as Spo or Ur Spo, https://sporeflections.wordpress.com who has millions of readers, he is more popular than Barbara Walters or Louella Parsons. Spo asked what we the readers were doing this coming week. I looked at my calendar and realized not much, except for one appointment for Teeter at the Vet, more of a recheck and that is about it. Then next week is our 18 wedding anniversary, Porcelain, while elegant, is also delicate, symbolizing the care needed to nurture a long-lasting relationship. In November it will mark 47 years together that is Amethyst, the gemstone, amethysts are often used to represent the deep connection and strong bond shared after many years in a relationship. Such a beautiful stone.