Voting, Golf and BBQ

Tags

BBQ, Canada, Charlottetown, elections, Glen Afton Golf, Golf, PEI

On Saturday I went to vote in anticipation. In Canada you can do that a week before the actual date, which is 20 September 2021. Voting in Canada either at the Federal level, Provincial or Municipal is a fairly easy affair. I am registered to vote by completing on the Elections Canada site the info they need to send me a card. The info is simple, your home address, your full name. Elections Canada is an independent body and is not in any way controlled or subject to politicians or political parties. Anyone working at Elections Canada is and must be fully neutral of political views. Same for all the volunteers at polling stations, in some cases you cannot even wear colours which might suggest support for a party, like red or blue or orange.

The advance polling is open from 9am to 9pm and is in one central location. Whereas on election day polling stations are located in neighbourhoods, in our case one block away from home. So I went to vote and the atmosphere is a happy one, helpful staff and a very simple process. I also have to bring with my voter card a piece of ID with my photo and home address, issued by the Provincial Government or the Federal Government. It is checked by the fellow at the door who then quickly directs you to the next person who registers you, then you are sent to the actual voting area, the fellow there has a big paper list, checked my name and crossed it, gave me a paper bulletin to register my vote with a pencil. I voted then return the folded bulletin and put it into the Urn. It took all of about 3 minutes. I really like the paper and pencil way to vote, simple and efficient.

So I am done now for this Federal Election, you can only vote for the candidate who will be, if elected, your member of Parliament. NO we do not vote for the Prime Minister, no matter what people say, you can only vote for your MP where you live. So this means we have 338 candidates to elect to form the House of Commons. The Prime Minister will be one of them. Currently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is an MP in the riding of Papineau in Montreal.

An interesting fact in our Canadian System, Justin Trudeau continues to be Prime Minister until he resigns. So on election night if the Liberal party is not re-elected with enough seats to form a government, Trudeau will still have to decide to resign or not. If he thinks that he could by doing the math, form a coalition with another party and have enough seats to govern, then he will advise the Governor General accordingly and a vote will be held in the House of Commons to see if he has the confidence of the House. As long as a Government has the confidence of the House, he can continue to rule. An example of this, in 2006 the then Prime Minister Paul Martin, lost the election to Stephen Harper. However for several hours until the next day, Martin did the math and looked around if any other party would help in supporting his party. He needed 51 seats. He quickly realized that no other party would support him and he resigned. Harper was called by the Governor General to form a government.

GOLF AND BBQ

Yesterday was our Club’s Annual Golf Tournament at Glen Afton on the cliff at Rocky Point, which has spectacular views of the Strait of Northumberland. Great sunny day with a bit of wind, nice and around 22C perfect for the game. I was at the Club and set up the BBQ on our deck its a 6 burner and from 2pm to 5pm grilled 65, 10 oz steaks. You really have to watch the meat and I had a thermometer with me to check so I was able to give people what they wanted from rare to medium to well done. Got an ovation from the crowd for my work and many compliments. It was great fun being on the deck and talking to everyone.

We had trophies for the best ball and best team, everyone got a small gift for participating, the President thought this was the most successful tournament in years.

Haviland Club in old Charlottetown.

Cold and rainy

Tags

Orwell Bay, PEI, pumpkin, squash

In a matter of a few hours we went from muggy and 27C to cold, rainy and 15C with high cold winds. Now it is suppose to rain for a week, but it is not rain but a drizzle with wind.

Today Sunday I was hoping for some Sun and dry weather, 2 people I knew were getting married and you need good weather not rain. Today was a nice day if a tad cool at 12C definitely fall weather now. Fashions changed overnight and sweaters have come out. We will still have some good warm days but Fall is on the way.

Today we went for lunch in the countryside at friends who live part of the year on Orwell Bay. We met their new little schnauzer Lucy only 5 months old. It was so nice to be out of town for the day.

Orwell Bay at low tide, the island is all sand and red sandstone. There is a lot of annual erosion every winter and the shore line use to be a good 40 feet further into the bay than today and this erosion is just in 50 years.

On the way we stopped at Mackenzie which is a farm off Highway 1. Lots of wonderful vegetables, got great tomatoes and some beets, their corn on the cob is buttery super good, blueberries, and two big pots of Mums yellow and red. Better to buy flowers at the farm, the price is 50% less than at the grocery store. I noticed that they were also starting to display a variety of pumpkins and squash of all size and types. I will go back in 2 weeks to get a pumpkin and will probably pay only a few dollars, again instead of the high prices of the grocery chain.

THIS is only a first sample of what will be on offer for September and October. The really big pumpkins are coming later. I am looking for a good 20 lbs pumpkin with a nice shape. The also have the little ones perfect for an arrangements on the table.

This week we are having visitors from Ottawa, our first visitors this year. Old colleagues from my days in the Foreign Service, we met in Cairo in 1989.

Wednesday we will take them out to dinner at The Dunes Gallery at Brackley Point, the gardens are beautiful and their restaurant is truly great, an excellent chef works the kitchen and the menu is imaginative. Next day both Nick and Nora will be going to Kensington to the groomer. Then on Saturday it’s the Club’s Annual Golf Tournament. I will be on the golf cart passing along adult refreshments and sandwiches. After that I return to the club to grill 60 steaks on our BBQ. It will be fun and I am looking forward to it.

Last week tragedy struck at the Federal Dock where the Coast Guard usually docks when on town and where HMCS Charlottetown docks on annual visit. Usually a lot of amateur fishermen cast their lines into the Hillsborough river, apparently its a good spot for fishing. However one of them fell into the water, a drop of 25 feet and the current is very treacherous and swift, the poor fellow drown in front a crowd, it all happened so fast and because of the current no one dared jump in. Only the police with their speed boat can intervene.

This week the weather promises more rain and cold weather. Will see has it can all change quickly.

I will finish by mentioning that the famous Canadian Schooner the Bluenose II which is usually in the port of Halifax came to visit PEI stopping in various coastal towns. The Bluenose is celebrating 100 years, it replaced the original Bluenose which won many speed records and is featured on our 10 cent coin. A beautiful ship.

The Bluenose II is the property of the Government of Nova Scotia and is used as a school for training sailors. Wherever it goes it attracts a lot of attention. Happy it came to Charlottetown.

Restoration

Tags

Alexander Palace, Russia, St-Petersburg, tsar Nicholas II

All around the world many cultural sites are being restored by Governments and private groups in order to rediscover history and appreciate the beauty and value of architecture.

In Athens a 25 year program restored many important buildings of the Acropolis, the work requires expertise and scholars, archeologists, historians and artisans and buckets of money.

Barcelona will complete the Sagrada Familia Church in 2026 with the donations of tourists who pay an entrance fee.

Versailles continues its restorations of the chateau bringing back elements that were neglected for decades with a comprehensive program of restoration of furniture, the gardens and fountains and other buildings.

Berlin has done much work in the last 30 years since reunification changing the look of the city making it more people friendly and restoring its 18 Century look.

Everywhere you go it seems much is done to enhance the heritage component of cities. All this work also brings more tourist dollars or Euros as the case may be.

Russia under Vladimir Putin has also done much to enhance its heritage. Restoring countless monasteries, churches and palaces. Last week the Alexander Palace re-opened to the public after 8 years of restoration.

In the case of the Alexander Palace which is located in Tsarkoye Selo some 25 Km from St-Petersburg, it was a gigantic effort and a costly one. The original palace was built by Catherine the Great for her grandson Alexander I and his wife. They did not like living in the palace and so remained in their suite of rooms at the Great Catherine Palace across the street. Around 1820 the palace became the Official Summer Residence of the Heir to the Russian Throne. Finally in 1894, Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra moved in and made it their private residence. They would live there until August 1917, when they were exiled to Siberia. The Palace was closed by the Bolcheviks and turned into a museum until 1939 when the invading Nazis and Spanish Fascists troops laid siege to St-Petersburg (Leningrad) for 900 days.

Before the arrival of the Nazis, the Soviet Government rapidly emptied the palaces all around Tsarkoye Selo of their most valuable contents shipping them East for safe keeping. In the case of the Alexander Palace not all the contents could be shipped off due to time constraints. Some less important art works where hidden in the basement. This did not stop the looting and vandalism by foreign invaders. In 1945 with the end of the war, the damage was assessed and no one believed that the Alexander Palace and its park would be restored given the amount of destruction. However some officials of the Culture department started to work on saving and restoring what they could. The Palace was re-opened to the public with limited displays but it all had a very sad look. The roof leaked and some rooms were beyond salvage.

Only in 2014 did very serious work start to restore the palace to its former glory as a private residence of the last Tsar and his family. On You Tube, you will find recent videos of the opening of the Palace to the press and experts explain how the final results were achieved. Some 6000 personal objects, from clothing to paintings, vases, other bibelots, books, even personal diaries kept by the Tsarina until 2 hours before her murder are in the collection returned to the Palace and placed in the various rooms. The Bolcheviks kept everything and catalogue it all. It is in many way ghoulish and says a lot about Lenin and company. The children’s toys are particularly poignant, they will eventually be placed in their bedrooms on the second floor.

The work done in the restoration is spectacular, fragments of tiles, fabric and wallpaper have all been reproduced meticulously. In one room, rare Brazilian Rosewood called Palisander, panel the walls. The Tsar and his family could walk back into those rooms today and find them as they left them in August 1917, in all its splendor with all their personal items, clothing, family photos etc.

The Palace will be their memorial, though the family was murdered in a dark cellar some 103 years ago, this refurbishment is eerily real.

https://youtu.be/zwN2L-ySpwg