Circuit Breaker

Tags

artichoke, Birthday, brother, Childhood, cuisine, Family, Rome, Spring

This past week our little Island province went from 1 case to 15 cases of Covid19, all due to a handful of under 30 who travelled outside the Province and failed upon return to observed the mandatory rules of 14 day quarantine. They in turn infected their friends and all of a sudden we have a crisis. Unfortunately too many people still think they are above it all and it does not concern them. They put everyone at risk with their irresponsible actions. What was most shocking was the 2 girls twenty something who being sick decided to go shopping instead of going straight home, result they infected staff and other clients in the store which had to close. Or the 17 to 24 group who went to the Gym in Summerside a small community about 50 minutes from Charlottetown. They gave false names and phone numbers so they could not be traced, only then when they were found by the Health Authorities lied further by giving false information. I have a real problem with this type of reasoning. Do they not care that they are putting family and community at risk? Summerside has a population of 14,000. small town in other words.

At the news conference Dr Morrison, chief medical officer was visibly upset and appeared very tired, she and her staff of the Health Dept have been working flat out 24/7 doing a tremendous service. Well some people are making death threats against her. Unbelievable that anyone in their right mind would say such awful things. They are upset and cannot understand the gravity of the situation. News UPDATE as of Sunday night we are now in a RED zone and everyone is confined to home for 72 hours, the only stores open are grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies. The streets are deserted.

I was at the grocery store just before the Premier and the Chief Medical Officer went on the air to announce the restrictions Saturday afternoon, which closed the Island and all businesses, restaurants etc. Stay Home and wear a mask even outside. There was a noticeable air of panic and anxiousness in the air at the store, many already knew the bad news and we are back to where we were one year ago. The difference this time we have some 7,000 Islanders or 4.5% of our population who have received the vaccine and more have been called up, vaccination is in effect and moving ahead, that is a big plus.

IN OTHER NEWS

As we enter March Winter is clearly coming to an end, the days are 1 hour longer now. As my Birthday is coming up, Will asked me to see some old photos of myself, one photo was taken some 59 years ago, the other 62 years ago. I have to say looking at those photos made me wonder, it is another time and place gone forever. Now when I think of the past, it is mostly 5 to 10 years ago, this to me is manageable and in the realm of reality. Anything beyond that looks to remote, so many people, family and friends I knew simply gone, they are memories of another era. I also realize how the world as a whole has changed and with it our lives.

Maybe the Pandemic also affects my view of the past. Our movement are curtailed and everything is local, the rest appears to far away to reach.

Me standing with the beach ball and my little brother who is 2 yrs old and I am 4. In our little pool my Mom put together and I was asked to fill it with water, in our backyard. C.1959

Finally today I miss Italy and Rome, saw some pictures of friends gardens all in Spring flowers and the trees are also in flower, greenery everywhere under the beautiful sky. It looks so relaxing and pleasant. It is also artichoke time and you can buy the whole thistle plant and stock and make a beautiful meal of it.

Love the colour, such a nice green vegetable to eat. We use to buy them this way in the Vegetable markets in Rome.

In restaurants in Rome you could order the artichoke dish in two styles, Carciofi alla Romana, Rome Style Stuffed or Carciofi alla Giudia, Jewish style fried, both very good.

Strange things on the Internet

Tags

alexa, Birthday, cake, cars, luxury

In about one month it will be my Birthday and this year is a significant one, for I become in government and society speak a ”Senior”, entitled now to all manners of attention.

So it seems that my computer and whoever controls the internet and all manner of surveillance we fall under, Hello Alexa, that as a senior I should buy myself a new car. Apparently seniors drive big gas guzzlers or at least flashy luxury cars.

I kidd you not, I am receiving out of the blue solicitations from Rolls Royce Phantom 2021 at $463,000 CDN, Mercedes Benz/Maybach S-650 at $202,500. USD and BMW 7 series at $128,000 CDN or a Bentley Continental GT at $202 000. a convertible would be nice for the Island going to the beach, that sort of thing.

I wonder if I can buy one in 36 payments with zero interest financing? Apparently yes! Thing is most of those cars really require a chauffeur. But why would a senior require such a car, the marketing here to my age group is interesting. At any rate the roads in PEI are either unpaved dirt or paved but… so I would not trust driving around with such a car, still it is a nice idea.

Two cakes have been ordered for two different days of celebration and a third day celebration of drinks at the Club.

I have a nice cake maker who produces great cakes, she has a lot of talent, she can make for me any cake I order and they are so good.

To return to the Internet and how sometime you mention some topic or article and suddenly it appears, back in 1973 as I was finishing high school, we had a teacher who would often go on about the future and how the theory of big brother was not so farfetched, of course we did not believe him, did not seem plausible to us know it all at 17. It was a time before the IT age and social media, all that was going to happen 20 yrs later. However have to admit the man was right after all.

SNOW

Tags

ATHENS, Greece, snow, winter

The World climate is truly out of whack, heavy snow all over Europe with very cold weather, London, Berlin, Paris, and Athens.

Greece where I was posted never had warm Winters, as of October the wind and rain comes and sailing is not recommended. You can ski in Greece, Mount Parnassus is a ski resort about one hour North of Athens. I also saw snow in Athens in 2009. It is rare but it does happen, what is worse though all over Europe is the lack of central heating in homes, schools and offices, that is truly unpleasant. We have no idea in Canada with our automatic central heating how lucky we are. I can just imagine how wonderful it must be to walk in the great park surrounding this sacred hill, symbol of Western civilization.

Looking from above the back of the Acropolis with the Parthenon and the other temples under snow,

Correction

Yesterday I wrote about Arlecchino and described him or what he represents in theatre, Monsieur Will who quite seriously, is someone who knows his stuff when it comes to matters of Opera or Theatre pointed out I got it all wrong.

Arlecchino, is the trickster, a source of joy and merry making in the Commedia dell’Arte. The picture showing him in a cell is a representation that Lent is not for merry making or laughter, more a period for reflection, contemplation and meditation. The Christian Faith sees this period as one where a more serious approach to existence and salvation it taken. So Arlecchino is in a prison cell and the only source of hope for him, the painter represents him as us all, frivolous and vain, is the shining Sun light coming in from the barred window.

Well we survived the storm of snow and icy rain, no high winds this time. The car was covered in a layer of snow which I did not remove, then the ice rain came on top, result this morning when I went to clean the car it was quite easy, the cookie hard surface simply broke off and slid off the car, no scrapping ice off which is the second most popular sport in Canada in Winter. In fact it is more popular than Hockey, a little known fact.

Coming events

Tags

Ash Wednesday, covid19, Death, Harlequin, Lent, Quebec

Well in about 5 weeks I will become officially a senior citizen, a golden ager, entitled to all kinds of coupons and discounts and will be able to complain and accuse anyone not doing what I want of discrimination and playing the victim card. Sounds like fun to me. Making up excuses, like my hearing is not good, my health is shot, I can’t see clearly like Mr Magoo, appearing confused and muttering under my breath. A rich vein to be exploited.

I was thinking of a cake for my birthday, I discovered a recipe for Sicilian Orange Cake with a frosting of cream cheese with Grand Marnier, simple and delicious. Apparently the cake uses the whole orange, rind and al. I like the idea of Grand Marnier in the frosting. Certainly beats Betty Crocker chocolate cake, though I must confess as a child, my Mom use to make us such cakes and they were quite good, her secret recipe no doubt.

So tomorrow is Lent and usually in the old ways of observing it, you would give up meat and sweets. Fish was a substitute, lucky us in New Brunswick a local fellow has a Sturgeon fish farm and of course Caviar is the product. What a good substitute for meat, add a little Oysters and voilà, the perfect Lenten diet.

Lent today starting with Ash Wednesday is somewhat of a forgotten period of the year. It is not mentioned anywhere unless you attend religious services. The concept also of Ash Wednesday which I always thought was a good reminder that we must remain humble, you are ashes and will return to ashes, is not a popular message in a society where no one dies, you pass. The use of pass as a action verb is odd at best. People appear unable to say he died or she died. Passing is to me going into another room, or walking by.

Lent also could in this time of Pandemic be a chance to reflect on our society and its values as a whole. A society who is in a constant search for excitement, where only the individual matters, the self is everything. Despite easy restrictions, many have displayed extreme selfishness, not caring for family or friends or community. Making up excuses for not following simple sanitary rules, at the moment its mental health, everyone suffers from some kind or other metal problem. One teacher said to me that she did not understand the extreme reactions of students who complain loudly of feeling anxious, about what exactly she wondered? They cannot learn online, they need tons of support, no self-discipline. In Canada, 21,000 people have died so far, of that total 50% live in the Province of Quebec, again widespread resistance to guidelines led to tragedy. Just off the coast of PEI are 2 sandbanks called the Magdalene Islands a nice tourist spot in the Summer, population 12,000, also part of Quebec. It is largely a windswept place in the middle of the Gulf of St-Lawrence. 60% of the population is sick with COVID19. A very sad situation. There has to be a sociological explanation and a psychological one for the type of Covidiots we have seen all around Canada.

This painting by Carl Spitzweg, in the Stuttgart Art gallery, entitled Ash Wednesday c.1860. Arlecchino reflecting on life in a monk’s cel. is a propos. Harlequin from the Commedia del’Arte is usually portrayed as a dim-wit, silly, simple person, always hungry, somehow corresponds to our society in this time of crisis, refusing facts or science and in quest of absolute and entertainment.

Books and stuff

Tags

Canada, Club, obama, PEI, Spring

I am currently reading the newest book by Barack Obama, A PROMISE LAND, published by Crown. I cannot recommend enough this book, highly readable, interesting and as a political biography the style draws in the reader. It helps that I always admired Obama as a highly intelligent man. He is generous in presenting also in the book Michelle as a life partner. He is honest and open which is very refreshing in a politician of any country.

This was a long weekend and an extra day is being added tomorrow, because of bad weather, snow and ice rain, it has been declared a snow day, meaning everything will be shut down, stay home. Today was also very quiet, all stores closed for Islander Day. The only action was across the street in the round house park at Founder’s Hall on the skating rink, lots of skaters and horse rides on the big coach, a good day, brilliant sunshine and a brisk wind.

I have been kept fairly busy with Club business, I am now doing the weekly newsletter and it contains many features and is ever changing from week to week.

Spring (March 21) is only 4 weeks away and the groundhog said that it will be an early Spring, better be otherwise he is going to end up on the Bar-B-Q. It has been a very mild winter, easy to take. I wonder what our Summer will be like, no cruise ships at all this year again, there probably will be few tourists, the Island is still close to all except essential services. I really don’t mind mass tourism spoils it for all.

I have seen in the weather that London, Paris, Berlin are covered in snow which is unusual for them, though they do have cold and humid Winters with no central heating. I remember Winter mornings in Rome, it was chilly with all those marble floors and no central heat.

Mont St-Michel, Normandy, France.

Berlin Imperial Palace under snow, February 2021

Versailles, la Cour d’Honneur under snow

A long weekend

Tags

champagne, psyche and cupid, Roses, valentine

This is a long weekend in PEI and in other parts of Canada, many provinces celebrate a provincial holiday, here it is Islander Day which is a fairly new holiday. Monday is also Canadian Flag National Proclamation Day, referring to the 15 February 1965 when the Maple Leaf Flag became the National Flag of Canada some 56 years ago. Prior to that date we had a Red Ensign Flag which was regarded as a colonial flag and since we were no longer a colony since 1867, we needed a distinct national flag. It took 3 years of debate in Parliament in Ottawa to get it done but it finally happened.

Today is Valentine’s Day and as Will says for a guy who was beaten to death and thrown in a ditch for being a Christian, he does not see the connection to love. I prefer the story of Psyche and Cupid much nicer and more connected to love. Their story is complicated, Cupid is the son of Venus who is jealous of the beauty of Psyche. In the end, Jupiter bestows upon Psyche immortality and she marries Cupid, now that is a nice story much better than that Valentine guy.

painting by Jacques Louis David.

Will made a beautiful Orange zest and brown butter cake. I gave him a dozen pale orange roses. We are heaving roast beef for dinner with roasted vegetables and a bottle of bubbly.

Of course the little ones, Nicky and Nora will get a bit of roast beef because you know they are so mistreated, or so they say to anyone who will listen.

The two little ones

Tags

dachshunds, home, PEI, Rome

Both our Nicholas and Eleonora (Nick and Nora) will turn 13 this month, Nora is one week older than Nicky. Strange they have been with us since they were 6 weeks old in Rome. We knew them or first saw them at 2 weeks with their respective Moms and other siblings in Capena.

Both have loads of personalities and each very different. Nick loves his routine and wants you to stick to it and not change anything. Nora is the fighter, constant guard dog 24/7 and track hunting dog. She too loves her routine but has a very different one from Nick.

Nick loves the sunshine, the hotter the better. He is not as friendly as Nora, more distant with people. However if he likes you then you are his buddy and you cannot leave ever. Nora is the I love everybody, kiss,kiss and plays coquette with people for cuddles.

They both love their treats and expects lots of them, fact is they get more treats from Will than from me and they know that, so I do not get pestered about treats, they simply go to Mister pushover. Treats are multiple, bits of celery, bits of carrots, bits of cheese usually gouda, pieces of kibble, small piece of ice, anything I chop in terms of vegetables, they want a taste and the best is the liver treats home made by Will, they go nuts for that one. But they have developed a system, knowing that they get a treat when they return from a walk, they will pretend they want to go out, open the door and no I am not going but you give me a treat now. It seems that the simple thought of going out is good enough to warrant a treat, in their book.

The other funny thing is Nicky who insist on sleeping next to me on my chair in our living room. He will even fetch me to come and will be very insistent about it and look put out if I ignore him. So while he will sleep for an hour on the chair with me in the evening, he will wake up at 10pm and look at me, this look means I have to go out for my evening walk. Upon returning he wants his treat and then will make a fuss to go to bed. This is where we have a conversation in French, in fact all the words we use with them are in French, manger, maison, dodo, biscuit. Sometimes we don’t even have to make a full sentence, the simple Veux-tu … (Do you want) Nicky knows this mean manger (to eat), no need to say it. They know where to sit while they wait for their meal, do it does not stop Nicky to wimper, Nora is usually quiet.

So at 10 pm he goes to his bed and I bring the biscuit, of course Nora wants a biscuit also but she is not going to bed at all, too early for her. He then proceeds to fall asleep for the night.

Nora on the other hand always wants to nestle into the sofa all wrapped up in her blanket, but she knows that she like Nicky must to go her bed. She is not happy about that and always tries to negotiate. Once in bed, lately she started to whimper like a little baby, so we go in to see what his wrong, nothing of course but she wants another treat. Nicky of course wakes up and he too wants a treat. So lately it is up to 4 treats before she goes to bed and stops her whining. With Nora it is always about pushing the envelope and getting her way. It is very difficult to get angry at her, she knows which buttons to push to get what she wants. Nicky is not so clever about that, much more, hey its my routine follow it, approach.

It’s home made real liver treat time, pieces are the size of small brownies.

Funny enough they cannot be walked together, though in Rome we did with no problems, once in Canada that changed. Nicky can be super aggressive with other dogs either with Nora present or not. Nora on her own barks at other dogs and is not sociable. However with horses, we have them on the street in the old town or with cats she is indifferent, pays little attention to them. Crows which are plentiful here, she will chase but Crows are not easily intimidated and they have sharp nasty beaks, so we keep her away from them.

We want more liver, more!!!!!

What difference a day make

Tags

Canada, Maritimes, PEI, snow, winter

As the song says, What difference a day make. This morning woke up to see my windows, we have 18 of them all around blanketed with snow. The streets are deserted and everything is shut down for this Snow Day. The car is buried under a metre of snow, this is going to be fun to clean up. The worst part is the high powerful wind which tosses the snow here and there.

I suppose that my campaign to promote PEI as an Island Winter Paradise is blown off course. I blame the CBC Weather guy, Jay Scotland.

In just 7 hours from NO snow to this, sidewalks are unpassable, very slippery. It is also very quiet and peaceful. It’s only -3C. Tomorrow sunshine which should be nice on the fresh snow.

Well the weather person was not …

Tags

PEI, tourism, winter

This first part was written on 3 February it was completed on 7 February.

The weather person was not wrong for once, we had the first major snow storm of the Winter, what we usually get in early November happened on 2 February, it was heavy snow, followed by ice pellets, lots of rain and high winds between 80 to 120 km per hour. The sea bridge is closed because of the wind, I am not brave enough to drive on a bridge for 10 minutes when the wind is blowing at such speed.

My poor Nicky was not feeling well this morning, stomach problems, he probably ate something outside which made him sick, his stomach was growling something fierce and he was off food. He only wanted to sleep next to me on the sofa, all snuggled up, so that is what we did.

On a day like today, everything is closed, no schools, no shops, no government, it’s too miserable to go anywhere. Tonight it all looks wet and icy only hoping it does not freeze over because it will be miserable. Mind you I have no where to go.

In other news the groundhog did not see its shadow so it is going to be an early Spring. I am inclined to believe it given how abnormally mild the Winter has been so far. Gives the lie to the Farmer’s Almanac who had predicted a long harsh Winter with record snow fall, well the old farmer missed the mark.

Monday 8 February another snow storm but what came from the previous storm on 2 February all melted away. This means that Monday is going to be a snow day, all will be closed again. Will see if the mild weather will once again melt it all away but at this point Winter is well advanced and Spring is close.

We learned this week that there will be NO cruise ships in Canadian waters in 2021. The Government of Canada is keeping all ports closed until March 2022. I really don’t mind it just means a quiet Summer.

Today the Government of PEI authorized pharmacists to give the vaccines in house. So with the doctors at their Office and Hospital and walk-in clinics it will be very easy to get the vaccine. But when I look at the other Provinces outside of the Maritimes, I am shocked by the gross incompetence of politicians and their lack of clear thinking and constant flip-flopping on what to do and on the other hand the selfishness of people, the me first attitude seems to be the rule. We still have a year to go at least with this pandemic. I know we will not go back to normal or like in the good old days before March 2020, but hopefully the worst will be over soon.

In PEI the good news is vaccination is going well. In Canada over 1 million people have now received their vaccines. It is all looking good.

The look on 2 February 2021 after the first snowstorm of the Season.

This morning 7 February 2021, what will it be like tomorrow after the promised storm.