End of the year coming soon

Tags

barber, Canada, covid, Health, life, PEI, postal service, XMAS

Today I got a hair cut from Jared who is probably one of the best barbers in Charlottetown. I use to go to a traditional barber, old school type who is very popular with politicians and regular guys. His shop is very well known and he is a very pleasant fellow. However it was not exactly what I was looking for and noticed his staff were indifferent in general unless you were a local celebrity or somebody’s cousin. I got to know my current barber Jared through the gang of Receiver Coffee Co. a local coffee shop which caters to a more cosmopolitan crowd and has a progressive outlook on life. In fact when we first arrived in PEI almost 5 years ago, we went to have coffee at Receiver which had just opened as a new business. From that point we met other people and Jared was part of that group. Though at the time he was a photographer and his work caught my eye. He has a real talent for composition and light and his work is dramatic and beautiful. He then branched out into cutting hair but decided that he should go study in London UK for it at one of the more famous schools. His girlfriend is also a photographer and does art photography, she has a lot of talent.

We also have as of January a new family doctor. Our current doctor who is on maternity leave called to ask if we would consider going to his new practice which is half of her old practice in the same office. We know the new doctor and he is very nice and has a professional and easy manner with people, so we agreed to switch. You have to know that in PEI not everyone has a family doctor, in fact some 5600 have no family doctor and have to go either to a community clinic or the hospital for care, so we are privileged. This is a new factor in Canada with one generation of medical doctors retiring and insufficient numbers coming on stream.

I noticed today that we have been receiving Xmas cards in the mail but the stamps are not cancelled. I know that the volumes of mail in Canada are very high, delivery right now is 7 days a week. Maybe they are just pushing it through and making sure it gets delivered. That is ok because some people re-used uncancelled stamps and sent cards to people.

Well we are almost finished with the Xmas decorations, just a few small details to attend to now, can do this tomorrow. Now we are waiting for the Friday conference by our Chief Medical Officer for PEI, Dr Morrison and the Premier Dennis King to tell us if some of the lockdown will be lifted. Looks like it might, no new cases and everything looks pretty calm now and also vaccination has started on PEI so it’s all good news. Heather Arsenault a front line worker at a seniors home was the first to get the Pfizer shot. Fingers crossed it all works out. At any rate we have plans to either be quiet for Xmas at home or maybe invite a few close personal friends over. It’s all up in the air…

Every year I get to put the Star on our tree, an old tradition, it is the original star of 1979, always the same which has been carefully preserved through all the years.

Getting there

Tags

Biden, dachshunds, life, Neiman Marcus, news, ornaments, PEI, Vaccine, XMAS

Monday today some good news, first at the dentist, got x-rays and a good cleaning, I do this twice a year. My dentist told me I had perfect teeth and nothing to report. It has been like this for years and it always makes me happy to hear it. The second piece of good news was the start of the vaccination program in Canada. Everyone I spoke too wants the vaccine as soon as possible. Can’t wait attitude, it is almost as being liberated. It is very encouraging. By Friday on PEI there will be more people vaccinated than any people who got sick, again good news. The Prime Minister also announced that Canada will receive doses of the vaccine Moderna. So as it stands now all Canadians can be inoculated in a matter of a few months.

I also followed distractedly what was going on in the USA with the Great Electors voting to confirm Joe Biden as the winner of the national election in the USA and the next president. I also listened to the speech this evening by Joe Biden and found in it, the words and thoughts of past presidents, dignified, honourable, with empathy for people and a call to unity to all citizens. This is what a president does. In his speech the old America I knew came back. So happy to hear such words after four years of buffoonery.

After the dentist I came home and started to decorate the tree, which we will finish decorating tomorrow. It’s a big job, though the tree is only 7 feet tall. Like every year we said again, we need a second tree and given our very high ceiling it could be an 11 foot one.

The weather this week in the Maritimes is like living in Northern Europe, grey, foggy, low ceiling, clouds and wet and mild. Last night I walked Nicky around 10:30pm, the streets are dead quiet, no cars, no one anywhere. There was no wind and it was 45F, this is NOT normal we are in mid-December. There is snow in central Canada, Ottawa, Montreal, etc. not here. We have been promised a big storm, really, it is so mild it is impossible that we will get any snow at all.

Which reminds me of this little ditty, which is so very true of PEI.

Will it rain? Will it snow? I live in Prince Edward Island. I do not know!

Living here 5 years now I have come accustomed to the weather changing rapidly within 15 minutes on some days. Being an Island on the sea makes us susceptible to the prevailing winds much more so than people living inland. You would not want to be the Weather guy in PEI, it is a thankless job and more often than not you will be wrong.

The Christmas puppies, Nicky and Nora with their holiday scarves. They have quite the collection of scarves now, all made for them by a dear friend in Charlottetown.

As tradition dictates the first ornament is the oldest silver ball from Neiman Marcus of 1979, the year of our first Xmas together. The other 29 are distributed around the tree.

Beautiful music from Dresden

Tags

Advent, Christmas, Concert, Dresden, Frauenkirche, Germany

Since the re-opening of the FrauenKirche in Dresden with its 90 meter dome, the church has a very active music program which they put up on YouTube. Mathias Grunert is the head of the music department of the church and its organist. For Advent they have a program each Sunday of Advent music. Grunert, a relatively young fellow is fairly well known in European musical circles.

Today we put up the Xmas tree and now tomorrow after the dentist appointment, we will start decorating. Also today I was able to secure a haircut appointment, it can be difficult my barber is very popular. I don’t have a lot to trim but I have to look good for my public.

Today Sunday 13 December is Santa Lucia’s Day in Italy, the patron of her home town the City of Siracusa, virgins and blind people. We had little Santa Lucia buns. The weather has blanketed the city in a heavy fog and again quite mild around 40F which is highly unusual.

Here is the Advent Concert inside the Frauenkirche Dresden recorded 2 weeks ago. Because of the Pandemic the church was empty. Gives a beautiful look of Dresden by night and inside this church. Well maybe this will inspire to feel more with the spirit of Christmas.

What about a Dickens Xmas

Tags

Christmas, class, Dickens, life, Royals, society, tradition, Victoria

At this time of the year there will be a lot of events mimicking what people imagine a Victorian Christmas was like and will base their view of it on Charles Dickens (1812-1870) books of life in England in the period. His life was in a period of great change in Britain, born in the Napoleonic period, grew up during the Regency under the Reign of George IV and then William IV. For the last 30 years of his life he lived in the period of Victoria and Albert from 1837 to 1870. In his lifetime the industrial revolution took old with all the horrors that entails in a age with no social policies and a society based on class in a pyramid structure.

His books are a moral tale of sorts and a critique of society where the new emerging middle-class is aping the Aristocracy and the gentry and imagining what the Royals are like in a day when the Royal Family was out of bounds for most of the population, a very remote idealized family, no Netflix back then and no social media. In fact until 1960’s one could not speculate in the media on the Royal Family, you would have been ostracized and the media were more respectful.

But to come back to the idealized view of Victorian society and Christmas, it is romanticized and made to amuse but is very far from daily reality. Mary Poppins on steroids so to speak. In Victorian times people like Ebenezer Scrooge were legion and they did not have a conversion moment like St-Paul in which they came to help the poor and provide them with the fatten goose, gifts and money. It would have been unheard of to lower oneself socially to the level of Bob Cratchit and his family. Social status and rank was everything. Dickens wrote that story in 1843 a bleak time in Britain and in other European countries for the working poor in cities, sub-standard tenement housing, debtors prison, workhouses, child labour, 18 hour days and no weekend or holidays, no rights, no unions and no voting in elections, something reserved for the powerful landowners. In fact the large proportion of people who today love this story would have found themselves in impoverished conditions on the wrong side of the tracks. Only the wealthy merchant class, the gentry, the aristocracy would have had a jolly good Christmas in their great homes while the servants toiled.

This is why I do not understand that attachment to a Dickensian/Victorian Xmas. It was only a good time for a precious few. As for our modern traditions born from commercialism and crass consumerism it’s phony as baloney. I much prefer traditions that come from either your family or traditions you developed and fashioned in your life and share with those who matter to you.

This year a more personal Christmas will probably be the rule, quiet at home. It will seem strange, yes, but maybe this is what Christmas is suppose to be and not what it has become in the age of Climate change and pandemics. Listening to Christmas music this year, I am not really in the mood. It all sounds like music of another era, a time long ago, somewhat like big band music of the 1940’s. I am so looking forward to 2021.

Time moves on

Tags

age, Boboli, Celebration, life, pension

This week I got a letter from the Federal Government in Ottawa. The letter is standard and it is telling me that next year I will 65 and now is time to prepare for some changes in my pension and plan accordingly. I retired some years ago after 34 years of service on full pension. At 65 which is the retirement age for Canada Pension Plan (CPP), you can apply to receive CPP, it’s a top up to any other pension you receive. Since every one who works must contribute to CPP during their working life, this is a monthly payment for your golden years. It is interesting to note in the letter how precise the calculations are and what I am entitled too. This information comes from years of paying income tax, so no great mystery.

Upon reading the letter, I thought I am getting on in years, this confirms it, time is moving on, the sunset is coming. But at the same time this is life and I am not the only one at this stage of life.

In the meantime it has been confirmed in PEI, that the vaccine will be here on Wednesday next and front line workers will be the first to get it, then people in seniors home. Everyone will receive the vaccine but you can refuse to be inoculated. However it may impede your ability to travel and your employer may insist you get it, though in Law under the Charter they cannot compel you. The vaccine is FREE for all.

This to me means that 2021 will be a much better year, though we have been told that you will still be expected to wear your mask until we get the all clear from the Health Authorities.

Also today our Chief Medical Officer confirmed that no new cases for the fourth straight day. If this continues the LockDown measures can be partially lifted. Of the 3000 persons tested in the last few days all are negative, a further 1300 are waiting results. But it is looking good for PEI.

So far PEI has tested 52% of the population of 150,000 on the Island, a huge number of people. Young people have been asked to get tested and they have done so in droves.

What will we talk about once Covid 19 recedes into the background. One thing will be to re-establish friendship with people we have not seen in a year. Get the social calendar going again and ultimately travel to those place we wish to go and had to postpone. We have agreed with our friends in AZ to travel to Iceland as a celebration.

taken in Italy in 2011 on a sunny Day in the park of a beautiful palace.

French Canada at Christmas

Tags

Canada, Christmas, culture, Fir tree, French, French Canada, Latin, Music, Noel, tradition

A few days ago, a dear friend and blogger asked me to send him example of Christmas music from French Canada. The roots of French Canada goes back to 1534 and 1608 with the founding of Quebec City and then Montreal in 1642. There are also at this time the French settlements in the Maritime then known as Acadia from 1600 who have very similar tradition, in food, feasting, music and celebration.

As a child and growing up in Montreal and Quebec City and having uncles and aunts, cousins etc all close relatives numbering about 300, Christmas celebration were steeped in tradition from Old France and New France. Winter of course with lots of snow and cold weather, strong drink, lots of rich food and music surround the Christmas time. Our mother, aunts and grand parents made sure we knew well those traditions. Our schools also reinforced the cultural bond not to mention the Roman Catholic Church who saw itself in French Canada as the protector of French culture and heritage.

The Christmas tree was one tradition and when it would appear in the house. Usually in those days it was in the week after 15 December and would stay up until at least 7 January. There was always lots of stories around selecting a tree and putting it up and then the only acceptable tree was a traditional sapin (evergreen fir tree) symbol of immortality.

The food also was specific to the Holiday. There was never enough dishes it seems, and many came to celebrate en famille. There would be Ragout beef meat balls with pigs feet, a turkey with all the trimmings, tourtières (meat pies) everyone has a recipe on this pie, it was important to compliment the Chef on her tourtière and the crust. Mash potatoes and lots of gravy, peas and carrots. Then came the desserts, an incredible array, from the Bûche de Noël, to fruit cake, pastries stuffed with whipped cream, cookies, and of course chocolates. Everything was made from scratch, these were the days before supermarkets and processed foods. An enormous amount of work for the 25 December. The Eve was spent mostly at home and by 10:30pm it would be time to go to Church for the triple Xmas Mass and you got out around 1am. Usually followed by a Réveillon of rich foods and drink. When we were very young we did not go to Christmas Eve mass, but went to bed early because le Père Noël would be coming and we could not be awake. However when my mother was a child in the 1930’s, in those days the tradition was to give gifts around Epiphany 6 January and not on Christmas morning. A gift in her childhood was a book and an orange which was exotic and expensive and some clothing. How things have changed.

So when it comes to music, none of what you hear today in shopping malls or stores was known or played. Christmas music was at Church, in school concerts or at home in family dinners and gatherings. It was all traditional and we, as kids learned it by heart, you had to be able to sing with everyone else.

All this French Christmas music or most of it was composed based on text from the New Testament, Luke, 2, The birth of Jesus. The music was compose in the 17 and 18th Century to accompany the Roman Catholic Mass. It remains a staple today in a more secular world. It is part of the fundamental culture of French Canada.

You Tube has them all. Marc Hervieux, Tenor from Montreal who also has a music radio show on weekend on Radio-Canada devoted to opera and classical music is probably today one of the best singer in this category.

Here are some titles of the classics: Venez Divin Messie, Il est né le Divin Enfant, Minuit Chrétien, Ca berger assemblons-nous which was originally written in old French but modernized after 1789 with modern French and pronunciation and Les Anges dans nos campagnes which is in Latin and French since Mass was in Latin until 1964. All classics!

In the mood

Tags

Canada, Government, life, Pfizer, XMAS

Today we got some wet snow, well more rain than snow which melted away in the still balmy weather we are having. I went shopping for gifts for our Xmas Luncheon guests. We always have a little bag with nice things for them to take home. Now I suppose we will be allowed to have this Luncheon but I am waiting like everyone else in PEI to see what the Government of PEI will tell us on 21 December but we keep our fingers crossed. Of course today the absolutely wonderful news was that the Pfizer Vaccine had been approved by Health Canada and now the first shipment will arrive on Friday from Puurs, Belgium where Pfizer is located. The Canadian Army is in charge of distribution to the 14 centres in the country. Canada being a huge country geographically and this type of logistics is something the armed forces can handle well. It will be the oldest people first and front line workers and then in sequence of decreasing age, I should be in the third cohort by April 2021.

I have faith that all will go well and I am thankful our Canadian Government did what had to be done. There are more than enough doses to go around all Canadians several times, Canada is very well prepared. Meaning that 2021 should be the year of renewal and a return to normal. I am grateful for that.

So today I went shopping for a calendar for 2021 and for small gifts for our guests and bought all manner of nice things for them. I also got the new book of Barack H. Obama, I had heard a lot of good about it and it does look like an interesting read.

Today is Will’s Birthday and we are celebrating quietly at home. Next year is a big year and a big party so this is why putting Covid out of your lives is so important. We shall overcome!

As of tomorrow we will start with decorations it takes usually about 4 to 5 days to do it all. I do hope that we will be allowed to have a few people over on 24 and 25 Dec. Right now it is völling verboten!!! We are hopeful that the Health Dept of PEI who evaluates these things will see enough changes and no new cases appear, it has been 2 days now with nothing new. I was angry like many others when it was revealed that the 15 yr old student who started the current alert, finally confessed that he had forgotten to mention to the nurses that he had travelled and partied off Island, now we know where he got it from. On the other hand the 20 to 29 yr old are getting tested in record numbers, they have taken the call of the Premier to heart.

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!

Tags

Christmas, covid, life, Pfizer, the end, Vaccine

Today Health Canada has formerly approved the Pfizer vaccine and we will get 2 shipments one from Belgium and one from their lab in the USA. Inoculations will start next week and this means the end for Covid 19 and a better year for all of us. When the news was announced today around noon time, this song popped into my mind. Such a relief and the best Christmas gift.

St-Ambrose’s Day

Tags

Bernini, covid19, life, PANDEMIC, PEI, Popes, Salisbury

St-Ambrose is the Patron Saint of the City of Milan and traditionally this is the Opera Season Opening Day at the famed Teatro alla Scala since 1778. This is a very important gala event with the President of the Italian Republic present with his guest of honour who is another Head of State in the Royal Box. The tickets for such an event are hard to get, many go to the glitterati of Italian aristocracy, captains of industry and le beau monde. This will not happen this year given the second wave of Covid19.

Well we all knew this was coming, that our luck had to run out at some point, as of this morning PEI is under lock down or as it is called here Circuit breaker lock down. All restaurants and bars, gyms, casinos, meeting halls, are closed. It is forbidden to have any private gatherings, this means that you cannot have more than 2 people in your house and they must be part of your family or household. Anyone breaking those rules and anyone present is fined $1000. no exceptions. Retail shops can stay open but there are severe restrictions on how many customers can come in, security guards at the door maintaining order. Church services can proceed with no more than 10 people, no weddings no funerals. These measures are in force until 21 December but I believe this means no Christmas this year. Will and I will simply stay quiet at home and have a nice Christmas meal together. Just a few minutes ago the Chief Medical Officer announced 4 more cases all in their 20’s all connected to the other cases. Now people are encouraged to shop online, work from home and seniors home and hospital will not allow any visitors. Any young person much show proof that they had the Covid test before going to the dentist or being admitted into a medical office.

The good news is that we could start receiving the vaccine by the end of next week, in the meantime everyone must wear a mask at all times.

The latest episode started with one 15 yr old student at a high school in Charlottetown, he had never travelled outside of the Island, so the cause of his infection was a total mystery. Over 3000 people were tested over one weekend, all from his school and contacts, all were negative, so it was an even bigger mystery. Finally the Wendy’s restaurant near the school was linked to him, itL had 3 cases, all employees in their 20’s and a further 4 persons also all in their 20’s were their contacts. So the Government of PEI has decree that anyone in the age group 20 to 29 MUST be tested for Covid19. In PEI the second wave is hitting the under 30 group, a group that did not follow health directives for the most part.

In other news, I was reading this morning that today is the Birthday of artist, sculptor and architect, the man responsible for many stunning monuments in Rome who invented the Baroque style of architecture, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). He worked for many Popes and left masterpieces for all of us to appreciate.

It is also the 800 Anniversary of the Salisbury Cathedral, built in 1220 as a Roman Catholic Cathedral, since the reformation it’s an Anglican Cathedral. The Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall came for the thanksgiving service.

Activities

Tags

cake, computer, life, poinsettia, sea air, theatre, XMAS

Friday night we went to our Club and we were surprised with a cake for Will’s bday and for our friend Maureen. No candles but a happy atmosphere all around. Afterwards we went to the Theatre at the Confederation Centre, the auditorium can hold 1300 people however at the moment only 300 can enter, everyone must wear a mask during the entire performance, which I found difficult for 90 minutes and was glad to get out afterwards. I don’t think I could do a 3 to 6 hour flight on a plane.

We saw a radio adaptation of the play it’s a wonderful life. The setting on stage is exactly like a radio studio with a man who does all the sound effects, an announcer and players saying their lines speaking into radio microphones, it feels like you are at home listening to a radio play.

Everyone I am sure has seen the movie It’s a wonderful life with Jimmy Stewart, a classic at this time of the year. It worked very well and it was really entertaining. I saw the movie maybe some 30 years ago and I know the story line but had forgotten some details.

The weather continues to be unseasonably warm and Spring like but on the way home there was a strong wind coming from the river and rushing up Queen street. The air smelled of salty sea air, after all the entrance to the sea is just in front of the city harbour. I love that smell of the sea, it is fresh and powerful all at once.

Today it rained all day and it was grey and miserable, stayed home mostly and put my computer in order by doing a back up and getting rid of malware etc. It took about 3 hours to do, I had done nothing since 2017. I also increased the font size so it is easier to read. Now I have to tackle the photos I have, I think I have something in the neighbourhood of 20k, I know it’s crazy.

Had to go to the grocery store today and I chose a bad time, late afternoon on a Saturday is zoo time, people walking around like zombies, disoriented, bad drivers on the road and the rain did not help much. A lot of our traffic here is made up of giant SUV driven by elderly small ladies who can barely see above the steering wheel and big trucks like the F150 driven aggressively by middle age men, not to mention all the people who are looking at their phone while driving. So you have to be on your guard.

I also got a poinsettia with pink flowers so it is starting to look like Christmas. Probably by end of next week we will start on the tree and other decorations.