I got this newsletter article from a long time friend of mine and it speaks to me as I near my seven decade.
It’s written by Dr Roseanne Leipzig vice chair for education at the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. “There’s no more heterogeneous a group than older people.”
Don’t ignore sudden changes in functioning; seek medical attention.
At every doctor’s visit, ask why you’re taking medications, whether doses are appropriate and whether medications can be stopped.
Be physically active.
Make sure you eat enough protein. Drink liquids even when you aren’t thirsty.
Cut down on multitasking and work at your own pace.
Do balance and resistance exercises.
Have your eyes checked every year.
Get hearing aids if you’re straining to participate in conversations.
Don’t exercise, drink alcohol or eat a heavy meal within two to three hours of bedtime.
“Never say never,” Leipzig said. “There is almost always something that can be done to improve your situation as you grow older, if you’re willing to do it.”
This is the weekend and though the air is very fresh with a hint of the sea, it rained heavily today, typical Fall weather. Still I was fairly busy with all manner of things to do around the house and out.
I learned two things today, I believe I blogged about some French masters in their field, such as wine, cheese, liquor. One such fellow who has an incredible cheese cave and is a specialist on an incredible variety of cheeses he makes/ sells to clients who look for that cheese which comes wrapped in cheese cloth or wax paper, is aged and ripe, he explained that red wine is NOT suitable to have with cheese. The story goes that in France it is customary to have several wines with a meal, especially if you are entertaining friends or business clients at home. So first you will have a glass of bubbly, then you go to table and the first course will be fish or seafood or a salad with citrus or something that opens the palate, no cheap bottled salad dressing here. So for the first course you will pair your food with a white wine. Then comes the main course and usually a red is served to go with meat / vegetable. Then the cheese course would be next and you offer 3 or 4 cheeses and this is where you should choose a white wine again to be paired with the cheeses you serve. The cheese is served with fruits, grapes or slices of apple. This is where most people would stick to the red wine because they had it with the main course. This fellow explains that the red wine attacks the natural aroma and quality of a good cheese, that is a mistake. I agree with him, have been to too many wine and cheese party when they were fashionable in the 1980’s, both the red wine and the cheese often of grocery store quality was poor. This is how habits are formed in the mind of the public, red wine = cheese. Not so! You are eating, savouring a good cheese, do it justice with the right white wine.
The other thing I discovered is that Captain Morgan’s Rum is not following the original rum recipe for rum making and has added spices which created it’s enormous popularity with most people. This other specialist, simply said read the label and you will discover why. The recipe to make rum or a good quality rum has basic ingredients and nothing more. Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice and it all started in the Caribbean Islands. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Captain Morgan makes a Spice Rum using the following ingredients;
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
5 whole allspice berries
5 whole black peppercorns
1/2 piece star anise
1/8 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
3 quarter-size pieces fresh ginger
Two 3-inch strips fresh orange zest, white pith removed
You can add apple and or whole coconut peeled, not the shredded stuff of the supermarket. It would appear that spice rum is popular is you make cocktails instead of just drinking rum. If you are a purist or a sailor you have been warned.
Here are some photos which have caught my eye this week.
The King of Sweden celebrating in Stockholm his 50th Anniversary as King.
The famous posthumous statue of the first Emperor of Rome, Octavian Augustus (63 BC to 14 AD, father of the nation, in a divine pose. This statue was discovered buried at Prima Porta the summer villa of his wife Empress Livia, outside Rome. It shows him as Imperator and barefoot, signifying that he has ascended to heaven, and with Eros the little child of Venus indicating the divine origins of his family the Julio-Claudian. His bronze shield also shows Apollo riding the chariot of the Sun through the sky and below Victory crowning him with laurel. This larger than life statue can be found in the Vatican Museum.
The third portal rebuilt of the Berlin City Palace with the imperial coat of arms of the Hohenzollern dynasty. You can see by the size of the people how large this former portal of the palace was in 1900. Today the palace is a museum and cultural centre to art and culture.
The Arch of Titus, built in 81 AD to celebrate his deification and victory over the rebellion in Judea and the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. Photo taken in the Forum as dusk. On the right the colonnade of the Temple of Venus and Rome and on the left the Palatine.
The rebuilt Synagogue of Potsdam in the old centre of the city. It took some time to get to an agreement with various Jewish groups who each had their own ideas on what the temple should look like for its function as a religious house of worship.
There is a lot of craftsmanship going into all of this rebuilding and beauty in ancient monument if you stop and reflect which we do very little of today. I have not written in some time about what I am reading the truth is that I have books to read but I have been very lazy about it. Currently I am reading Pnei Hashem, the face of Hashem. Now if you are Jewish you will know what this means, for a gentile you may not. But why am I reading this given that I am not Jewish, well it is part of my philosophy of life, read and learn. The more you learn the more the world will be less complicated and knowledge leads to understanding if you make the effort. The book was written by an author who wishes to remain anonymous. It was recommended by Rabbi Avrohom Rapoport who lives in Jersey Shore. I really find him very interesting. So more to come on this topic.
In Canada no matter where you live each Season requires a different set of clothing. Today Monday should have been a work day for me but with the very bad rainy weather, cruise ships cancelled and so it was a day off. I took this opportunity to clean closets and make the seasonal change of clothes and trim down my wardrobe. I got rid of about 50% of clothing, coats, shirts, pants, belts, ties, sweaters, all season clothing.
All will be donated, it is all in excellent shape and clean. I would not think of giving away dirty or damage clothes which often happens, if reports from various charities are to be believed. It took me about 5 hours to do this and I had been saying for a long time that I would do it, well it is done now.
Tomorrow we are getting our flu and Covid no.6 shot. Talking of which, many cruise ships have covid cases amongst passengers now. It has reappeared because many have not followed a vaccination protocol and given their age and health conditions they are prime candidates. Happily it is the end of the Season and in 2 weeks they will all be gone.
The rain of today should dissipate by morning, typical Fall weather now, it is 9C or 48F. The wind makes it colder.
Tomorrow I also want to start on the Library and get rid of books just sitting on the shelves for years now. I am not going to read them again. This will be a more difficult process, will see how far I get on this project.
We are now Tuesday and we went to the pharmacy to get our shots and it is all done, a certain sense of accomplishment. Happy for it.
This photo was taken on the Western Tip of PEI, Tignish area, at dawn, the sun rises over the Gulf of St-Lawrence. I remember seeing once in my life the sun rise, we arrived at the top of Mount Sinai where it is said that Moses received the ten commandments from God.
It was cold but very quiet, the dawn gave out diaphanous colours for about 30 minutes and all of a sudden from a point in the East the first ray of sunlight hit the mountain. You really know then that the Earth is rotating, the spectacle is majestic, the sun this brilliant ball of fire which allows life on Earth appears, illuminating the sky. This photo of the Sun rising over PEI reminded me of this event back in 1989. The Lobster fishing Season is now closed for this year and will only re-open in late April 2024. The photographer is on a fishing boat cages ready to be launched one last time with the bait visible inside.
Again today I had a long 7 hour tour of the Island which is called Top 10. Though I had been told that my tour was in English only, none of my passengers spoke English. They did not even understand it. Lucky me I spoke their lingo. It went well but I would have preferred to know more about my group. The Cruise Line is to blame, they give us very little information and you only discover at boarding time who you are getting, it’s too late at that point.
I am the only guide who has multiple language ability. I get great reviews and recommendations. I also had a great driver which is a big plus on any tour. Our time was very tight and I made it back on time with one minute to spare on our program. Return time to port is dictated by the Cruise line and often it is not realistic given our distances, etc.
So today we went from Charlottetown which is on the southern coast of the Island facing Nova Scotia to our Northern coast to the fishing village of Rustico. I demonstrated the lobster sorting technique and explained the challenges and the danger of fishing in high seas. Then we went West along the coast to Cavendish to see the McNeil house where the fictional story of Anne of Green Gables takes place. I also discovered today by examining century old photos that the train station in the story where Anne meets Matthew is in fact Kensington, though in the book it is called something else. The train station today is not much changed but is now an excellent Pub and the food is great.
Then we crossed the Island again to see the 12 Km Confederation bridge for a photo op. Then across the street to the purpose built Welcome Village which is a government of PEI tired looking and in need of refurbishment gateway to PEI. Most of it is now closed since Friday last. We only go there because of the gift shop. Why does the Government of PEI close its own facility when tourists are still coming to the area and it is the main entrance to the bridge across the Strait to New Brunswick? Lack of vision perhaps?
Then we went to lunch, at this time its 3pm and we have to return North to New Glasgow to a very nice and beautiful area on the river Clyde. The food was wonderful as always at the Preserve Co. has a truly unique and beautiful gift shop. After that we returned South to Charlottetown to have some ice cream and a short tour around town before arriving at the Pier for embarkation. All in all a good day, but crisscrossing the Island requires a minimum of 45 minutes, luckily no traffic. The other problem is that the tour directors on most ships have never been on these excursions, they were developed by the cruise lines years ago and never modified.
But I take pride in making it all work and giving the passengers on the tours a good time. Keep it light and fun, because they are on vacation. This job does give me quite the inside look at some cruise companies and how they operate and I know now which ones I would avoid all together.
Here are some pictures of the beautiful Fall flowers found around the New Glasgow area of PEI.
Well here we are again the big Harvest Festival in the European Tradition, our Thanksgiving in Canada. The turkey is bought and was at the Burley Farmer’s on Coles street, they have beautiful vegetables and their garlic is so fresh, they pick it for you. I bought enough to last at least until February, real quality there is value in that and it adds to life’s pleasures. Our veggies are field carrots which are very sweet and reminds me of my childhood days, purple and green Brussels sprouts, Acorn squash and green beans, double bake potatoes using Netted Gem, a variety I am not familiar with.
Dessert is a Pumpkin Custard. The silver has been polished, the table is set. Late lunch around 4:30pm. or high tea as it is meant to be. Despite all the miseries of the world, I am and so is Will for our life, peace in our country and stability and though we went through a year of medical problems, Will is doing so much better now, it could have been so much worse. We are thankful for our friends, despite the distance, and for so much more.
I am working on Monday despite the holiday, Cruise ship! This tour is called introduction to PEI. It involves a grand tour with a demonstration on how Lobsters are measured at the time of the catch, how mussels are grown, how oysters are harvested. I get to demonstrate and explain it all. Then we visit on the North Coast a fishing village, go for lunch at a premier restaurant in New Glasgow for lobster and other delicacies and of course not to forget Anne of Green Gables home which is in fact the house of the McNeil’s, relatives of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery, I am looking forward to it all.
On Tuesday 3 large, +3000 passenger cruise ships arrived at Port Charlottetown. Do remember that our little city has a population of only 40,000 persons and none of the infrastructure to accommodate such an influx in one day. Not enough buses for tours, narrow sidewalks, narrow streets, etc. Our politicians were overjoyed, the media celebrated, Port Authority (a private company) made $60,000 just from the passengers disembarking and then fees for the ships, parking docking, tugboats and all other services connected to such an arrival. It was in the history of cruise ships in Charlottetown, the biggest day ever.
I came to work, entered the terminal which was more than 50 years ago the potato warehouse, housing millions of tons of spud for shipment all around North America. It was renovated to accommodate the passengers of the cruise ships, with stores selling the usual knick-knacks, info desk and tour departure area. What I saw inside the terminal was a sea of humanity thousands of people milling in confusion, many with mobility challenges.
It was a beautiful sunny day, I was ready to take my tour around the Island, one problem, since one of the ships was late arriving, it pushes every tour and day activity back. Too many tour tickets were sold by the Tour Directors on board, not enough buses, and too many delays. Two hours after I was suppose to take my tour on the road, still no buses, what to do? Cruise ship tour director is pissed, he had been told, but chose to ignore us. Physically there is nothing to be done, we are expecting the buses back, we are in contact with our drivers and tour guides out there. Finally at 3pm my tour bus shows up, a quick turn around and I have to confirm with the ship tour director what is the sailing time, so I can return to port in good time with my 50 passenger. He wants to squeeze the tour time, I explain that physical distance on the road requires a fix amount of time that cannot be changed. The buses are regulated and cannot speed, they automatically follow the speed limit, there is a technical term for it, it means that even if the bus driver was to gun the gas pedal, the bus goes no faster than a precise limit, which is 90Km per hour.
I finally tell him; would you seriously abandon 50 passenger if we are unable to return on time? He pauses for a moment and then says, well no I suppose I cannot do that. Exactly how would you explain loosing 50 passengers and leaving them behind on the dock. I can understand 3 or 4 but 50? come on. What I got from this exchange was how much cruise companies don’t care much for their passengers, it’s all phony smiles and false happiness. As long as they pay and you can squeeze more money out of them, who cares. I told the group on the bus as we were leaving that they would get the full tour they paid for and nothing would be missed. The ship would wait and indeed they did. We got back on time and my passengers were happy. I only had one idiot who claimed I was cutting it short, the other 49 were happy, that is all that matters. I was so tired at the end of the tour, next year apparently we are getting bigger ships in the +6000 category, this is madness, two of those would paralyze the city, but nobody seems to care as long as they make money. Money makes the world go round, as they say.
German Cruise Ship, Mein Schiff
Here are some farm pictures minutes away from my house, where I shop for produce.
In the last week, the tempo of cruise ships in Charlottetown Harbour has increased. In the fall it is common to have 3 ships or 4 ships. Unfortunately our infrastructure is lacking and the attractions now are mostly closed or closing, so what to do with a bus load. Ships also arrive constantly late, up to 90 minutes which disrupts the day’s program for everyone. They also leave early, my impression is that Cruise companies are packing as much as they can into the program and then put their clients on a 7 day jog through multiple cities along the way. Since the majority are well over 70 yrs of age and many with mobility issues, not a pretty picture.
This week I was informed that we had ships arriving with a multitude of nationalities, meaning that the tours had to be conducted simultaneously in many languages, from English to French to Italian to Spanish and German. The Cruise ships who promise translators everywhere had none to supply. Lucky for me I speak 4 languages and did so for 7 hours on tour. I was exhausted at the end. I do have facility with languages but with a diverse audience you have to remember not to repeat yourself and keep it fun and lively. I felt a bit like a stand-up comedian, think Matteo Lane. All in all it when very well and people were happy. Unfortunately I do not speak German and can only do a few polite greetings. The Italians were very happy and got a lot of applause from them. One American lady loudly complained that she was promised a tour in English only. Interrupting me mid sentence, I lost my train of thought and did not know what to say to her. Luckily other passenger told her to shut up and that was that. I politely reminded her that in Canada we do have 2 Official languages, French and English and I was mandated to deliver in various languages by the Cruise Ship.
We have ships now every day and it will be like that for October, then the season ends and all ships go South to the Caribbean for the Winter.
We also have a lot of fog in the morning now and when ships come into the port, there is a narrow channel of water to follow, you cannot see the ships until they are in front of you on the dock, they emerge from the fog as in a dream. You do hear then fog horn repeatedly, just like in a movie. At the dock it is common to see an ambulance waiting for a passenger in a health crisis. Tourists who need to see a doctor pay similar prices as in the USA, unless they have private insurance. I can imagine this is a sticker shock.
Here is a ship at dock in the fog, look closely it is right in front of you.
Look again now it emerges gradually from the fog. Ain’t that romantic, this ship carries 3000 passengers. Finally by noon time the fog disappeared.
Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live near Málaga. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a España. Ahora vivimos cerca de Málaga.
Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown