SUNFLOWER Season.

Tags

Apple cake, Chappell, Isaac Smith, Methodist, Paella, Paula Red, PEI, Rocky Point, Sputnik, USSR

Now in mid-September we are in Sunflower season, they are everywhere, such happy flowers. In Spring we have the tulips of Vanco Farms owned by the VanNieuwenhuyzen and Tjepkema Family and in the Fall we have the Sunflowers. There is a large Dutch Community on the Island and most are involved in agriculture, they call PEI the Garden Province.

This month of course is PEI Corn and Brocoli month, Corn sells for 0.40 cents and brocoli for $1. a head, never seen such low prices before. Potatoes are in and you can buy 10lbs for $2. we also have quite a variety of potatoes, we do produce 25% of the National output in Canada.

This little house is a few steps away from our place, built around 1840, the owners decided to re-shingle it this summer, the old blue coloured shingles are coming off and the new natural coloured ones are going on, you only need to do this work every 90 years, not bad really.

 

Here it is now in the background with the late afternoon setting Sun.

The tourists are all gone now, only passengers from Cruise ships are seen on Tuesday and Wednesday, otherwise the city is nice and quiet, the last cruise ship is on 28 October.

This is an art installation in front of the Art Gallery of the Confederation Centre. Yes car meets crashing Sputnik returning to Earth. It has attracted quite a bit of interests from the Police and the public, it seems no one remembers Sputnik, ah for the good old days of the USSR.

This is the view as you arrive at the house on Rocky Point of our dear friends D.A.S. and P.S. A beautiful property overlooking the Strait of Northumberland, the band of land on the other side is Point Prim where the lighthouse is located. The house is on a cliff built of wood taken from the Old Railway station in Charlottetown. It is isolated and very quiet, it is a pleasure to be invited.

This was our dinner a wonderful Paella made by P.S. such talent, the food is always wonderful.

For dessert a Dacquoise, it was very good with eatable flowers from the Garden.

This week very sad news, our favorite and old standby LOCAL 343 went out of business without notice after 2 years. Always a nice place for lunch, dinner or a drink. We are going to miss it.

A month ago we went to a lecture on Isaac Smith who arrived in Charlottetown from England 200 years ago this month. He lived at 100 Prince Street with his brother, the house still stands and he was influenced by Benjamin Chappell a Methodist preacher who lived just next door to our house on Prince street, that house is long gone and has been replaced by a modern replica which is now a radio station. Our own home built in 1840 and completely renovated in 2011 stands where the Post Office use to be. In 1817 Charlottetown was a very scruffy town with very few buildings and mostly mud streets and tree stumps everywhere. The Governor in those days lived at Port La-Joye or Fort Amherst where the ruins stand on Rocky Point.

This plaque to Chappell stands in the entrance of Trinity United Church on Prince street, the current building was built in 1863 but the former Methodist Chapel stood on that site. Isaac Smith was greatly influenced by Chappell and became a Methodist Missionary later in life. Smith of famous for the many buildings he built in Charlottetown, Point Prim Lighthouse, Province House (Legislative building of PEI) and Fanningbank the Official Residence of the Lieutenant Governor of PEI. Smith left PEI never to return 2 weeks after completing the construction of Province House, it is said that he was angry with local politicians who pressured him to change his design of Province House. Smith moved to Nova Scotia and preached there until his death.

So the apples are coming in and I bought 3 lbs of Paula Red, it is an apple that has a reddish flesh colour. The results this Apple cake made by W.J.H. my own little baker at home.