Just watched a fascinating and very interesting video on You tube by Allan Barton entitled
What will Charles III wear at his coronation – the history and meaning of the king’s robes.
Given that the press usually get all this wrong and then start inventing stuff, not to mention all those
so called experts who confuse meaning and reality. This video is precise and simply tells you what will
happen on May 6, 2023.
Barton explains the meaning of the colours, red and purple, the meaning of Imperial, of the Cap of Maintenance and the 2 Crowns worn at coronation. It is a complicated affair and there is a strong religious signification to it all.
This Coronation painting hangs in the Lobby of the Senate of Canada in Ottawa. King George VI wearing purple as a symbol of his Royal authority. King George VI is the grandfather of King Charles III.
I travelled to Bedford a suburb of Halifax to retrieve my 7 oriental prayer rugs at the cleaners. They need special cleaning and this is the only location in the Maritimes, East of Montreal. When I left Charlottetown on Tuesday morning, we were having our first wet snow storm of the Winter, a non event except that there was fog and slush all over and getting sprayed by long haul trucks on the highway happened every couple of minutes. The road to the bridge to cross to the mainland was not busy, never is and then once on the mainland I was in an area called Mouse Alley, on either side of the road is swampy ground and woodland, where Mouse roam, so you have to have your eyes open until you reach the roundabout on the highway about 26km from the bridge exit.
Yes I stopped for a donut and a coffee at Tim’s, that is the only outlet on the highway. I know my friend in Phoenix will be happy, I believe he is a share holder.
Then you make a left and on your way East towards Amherst, Truro and Halifax. The wet snow persisted until Truro when it became sunny, as if I had crossed a curtain. Truro is about 45 minutes from Halifax. I did not drive fast not knowing how slippery the road would be. After 3 hours of driving and stopping twice for coffee and stretch I arrived at the shop and picked up my rugs and continued to the hotel in downtown Halifax just below the old Citadel. The city of Halifax is a sea port and an important strategic naval base for the Royal Canadian Navy. The citadel well above the city dominates and the city has a lot of history attached to it, going back to 1749 by Edward Cornwallis, who previously in his military career played an important role in suppressing the Jacobite rising of 1745. After fighting with the victorious British soldiers at the Battle of Culloden, he led a regiment of 320 men north for the pacification (wholesale massacre) and clearing of the Scottish Highlands. He chose the location of Halifax (Chebucto) because it is an ice free natural sea port all year round. He will be for many years governor of Nova Scotia and will finish his career as Governor of Gibraltar. First named Chebucto, it was renamed Halifax in honour of George Dunk, Earl of Halifax and Chief Lord of Trade and Plantations, who masterminded its settlement.
The capital has many good restaurants, lots of historical places to visit, beautiful scenic area and has an international airport. The weather for my visit was cold but sunny. It is a pleasant change from PEI, more cosmopolitan and has a more big city feel.
Each time I am in Halifax I love to have dinner with friends in one of the many restaurants, this time it was at a new Italian restaurant called aMano in Bishop’s Landing. The food was very good, great atmosphere, good wine list.
The clock tower of the Citadel built in 1800 on the orders of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and father of Victoria, the fortress itself is hidden behind the hill. This is Winter in Halifax, breezy cold but no snow.
The drive back was under sunny sky and pleasant and it always appear shorter though it is not. I did stop in Masstown and at the Buttery near Amherst, it is a big grocery store on the highway serving the area and their produce is outstanding quality, everyone raves about it. They also have a shop of wines produce in Nova Scotia, and great deli and meat counter, offering freshly made quiche and meat pies. The Buttery across the street is all about fresh bread and an enormous selection of cheeses, impressive selection. So it is a good place to stop if you want to relax from the drive.
Got home to learn that King Constantine II of Greece had died, he was a nephew of Prince Philip and cousin to the late Queen Elizabeth. He was forced from office by the coup in 1967 of the Colonels who instituted a dictatorship. His son Prince Paul is now the new pretender to the Kingdom of Greece and the Greek Government will not give him a State Funeral but will offer all the usual niceties associated with the death of a former head of State. His wife the Queen Anne-Marie is the sister of Queen Margaret of Denmark. Constantine’s sister is Queen Dowager Sophia of Spain. He was also godfather to Prince William. He will be buried in the Royal Cemetery of Tatoi near Athens.
In Bulgaria, King Simeon II another cousin of the late Queen Elizabeth II, won a second court victory to have his properties restored to him after a 14 year trial, the Supreme Court in Sofia declared in 2018 that the hunting lodge at Tsarska Bistritsa was his property and had been illegally confiscated by the Communist in 1946. Today the Royal Palace at Vrana just outside the capital Sofia was also returned to him and his family. Simeon was forced as a child into exile with this family in the communist takeover of 1946. They lived in Egypt and then Spain. Returning to Bulgaria in 2001 and then he was elected Prime Minister and governed until 2005.
Today in Charlottetown we had what I call Moose Weather, it snowed, it rained, it was cold and now it is warm at 10C. Slush all over, very unpleasant and high winds which now are drying the streets and sidewalk. It is suppose to rain tomorrow, again no snow, it all melted. Many now are waking up to the fact that this is what Climate change looks like, humans are funny it takes death and disaster to make people wake up to reality.
We are schedule to have the Canada Winter Games in February however the way things are going with no snow, will they cancel? The activities are outdoors, only the artificial ice surface will be ready as for the rest, who knows.
Another very strange thing happened this morning, we got a message from Amazon about an impending delivery of a package at 09:30am. So we waited and by 11:20am no package but a new notice that they could not deliver given no one was at home. We were at home and we were waiting. Suddenly a friend of ours who lives on Prince street about 2 blocks away from us, sends us a message to say he has a package for us from Amazon? He did not understand how he got our package. We do not understand either, how can a package clearly marked for us end up on someone else doorstep at random? Lucky us this is a friend of ours who got our package. I would say Amazon goofed on this one. Tried to call Amazon all day, they take no calls, you cannot complain.
Tonight I got a notice from Post Canada formerly known as the Royal Mail, that a package has arrived and can I go and pick it up at the Post Office. I know this package is from my sister in NYC.
The day started with a thick fog and warm mild weather. We heard the fog horn of a laker as it was coming into port but could not see it. I heard the engines but again no sight of the ship, the fog was that thick just 200 feet away. It is hard to believe that today is 1 January, the weather is very mild and it rained all day, very similar to the weather of yesterday in New York. I do not need to say that this is highly unusual, if not abnormal for this time of the year. It seems that in the last 5 years the weather has become warmer and warmer in Winter. Gone are the days of massive snow falls and frigid weather. I do not doubt that we will eventually get a big snow storm, when?
A quiet day with not much going on, which is perfectly fine. Friends dropped by to have coffee and conversation with Will. In fact almost every afternoon someone will drop by for coffee, it is good for Will to see people and have a chat. We have lots of good treats, gum drop cake, ginger biscotti, pistachio-zest of orange-cranberry cookies shortbreads, stollen and some dark chocolates and some Geld.
Again beautiful concert from Vienna on New Year’s day with the Vienna Philharmonic in the Musikverein.
Today we went to visit our friends G & M and their 10 month old baby Max, he is so funny and very animated. At 10 months now you are starting to see his personality, we first saw him at birth and then through out this first period and he changes constantly as he matures, first teeth coming out. He loves to grab peoples glasses and giggles all the while. He also likes to grab men’s noses, it amuses him.
The weather is still warmish and I am going to Halifax to fetch my carpets next week, they called from the shop and they are ready now. The drive is 3 hours and looks like it will be fine, no signs of winter storms in the forecast. When you leave the Island the bridge toll is $51. dollars now, it was set to go up to $59. in 2023 but the Federal Government who owns the bridge and leases the operation to a private company thought otherwise. The toll is essentially for maintenance, there is insufficient traffic at 4,000 cars and trucks per day if compared to Montreal where one bridge alone across the St-Lawrence river see 170K cars/trucks/buses and now trains daily.
I always like to go to Halifax, it is a big city, always something to do and great restaurants.
On New Year’s day we had the traditional Levee at the Club and some 500 people dropped in for a glass of Moose Milk and a piece of cake. I stayed away, that is far too many people for me and a concern for Covid spread. Moose milk is a traditional Canadian alcoholic mixed drink with roots in the historic celebratory events of the Canadian Armed Forces. It is served at the Levée, a New Year’s Day celebration in honour of the King of Canada.
Moose milk is composed of five different ingredients:
Spirit a combination of Canadian whisky or dark rum
beverage: Kahlua
Dairy: a combination of whole milk, cream, eggnog, or vanilla ice cream
Sweetener: maple syrup
Spice: nutmeg
I assure you it’s a very good drink. God Save the King!
Well we are about 48 hours away from the end of the year, a weird one just like 2020, 2021, the new normal it’s weird all the time. War in Europe started 10 months ago with no end in sight and a possible escalation. Inflation and cost of living way out of the window. Yes there is price gouging at all levels, except for Bananas still at 0.89 a lbs, so good thing not to buy futures in bananas.
Will got sick in July and our year has been one hospital visit after another, now it looks positive and the doctors are happy with the results and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the follow ups will be good also and we can hope that the tumour was dealt with.
It has been a quiet Christmas and New Year’s Eve will be the same. In Charlottetown on New Year’s Eve around 7pm we are suppose to get fireworks across the street from us at Founder’s Hall (the old train repairhops). This means 7pm Charlottetown time it will be New Year’s or midnight in Seoul, South Korea. Maybe the City fathers are thinking of celebrating early, did anyone tell Guy Lombardo.
I was wondering tonight what life was like in 1923, just a few years previously the world had come out of the First World War with its 20 million dead and then the Influenza epidemic killing 50 million worldwide. There was also hyper inflation which causes an economic crisis.
Also in 1923
Egypt — King Tut Burial Chamber Opened
Adolf Hitler leads the Nazi Party in failed coup attempt in Germany, he goes to jail.
Canada, Nobel Laureate Dr Frederick Banting, discovers Insulin Used For Diabetes treatment
Republic of Turkey Established
There are some similarities with today 2023 in terms of war and inflation but now we have climate change. What kind of a year will this be? I have no idea, but I think we are in for some nasty news. In the opening months we will get our fifth shot of Covid. Life goes on as they say. Maybe we will travel some, not necessarily far but there are enough places around, off Island that is, to go and explore, that however will not be before April.
Wishing you all faithful readers, the very best for the New Year 2023, may it be a healthy and happy one.
“days gone by” Aul lang syne. Scottish song with words attributed to the national poet of Scotland, Robert Burns in 1788. Canadian band Leader Guy Lombardo and his orchestra the Royal Canadian made it a popular musical theme at Midnight on New Year’s Eve starting in 1929 on the radio and then television for many decades.
The song is a question about long ago and friends., kindness and remembrance.
Should old acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, And old lang syne?
(Chorus) For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We’ll take a cup of kindness yet, For auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup! And surely I’ll buy mine! And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne.
We two have run about the slopes, And picked the daisies fine; But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, Since auld lang syne.
We two have paddled in the stream, From morning sun till dine; But seas between us broad have roared Since auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand my trusty friend! And give me a hand o’ thine! And we’ll take a right good-will For auld lang syne.
Guy Lombardo of London, Ontario, Canada, 1924-1977
The storm announced yesterday turned out to be largely a non-event. High winds, no ferry crossings, bridge to the mainland closed, but that was it. We are without snow, all green everywhere so this is Christmas in PEI.
The city is quiet tonight, because of the storm of yesterday, no one could leave the Island, no flights and bridge closed. Moral of this story, just stay home for the holidays.
So tonight we are quiet at home, the wind is still strong and it is cool. In the city there are not many displays of lights on private homes, this is more a suburb and rural area thing. We are not having company or dinner parties, but this week people will come to have coffee and cake every day starting with Boxing Day.
As for New Year’s Eve and Day, well will see, no plans yet.
I only hope that 2023 will be a better year than the past 3 years. I would love to travel a little bit even if it is not far.
Winter scene in a Quebec village by Clarence A. Gagnon.
Friday night apparently we will get very high winds in the 90km range and rain, by Sunday Christmas day it will be passed.
Just listening to the concert today from the Frauenkirche in Dresden with at the organ Matthias Grunert who is playing Cesar Franck, Grand Choeur for the series of concerts given at the Frauenkirche during Advent, Klingenden Adventskalenders.
Such a magnificent baroque Lutheran church built in 1726 by George Bahr, destroyed in 1945 and rebuilt in 1993.
Today in LeDevoir from Montreal I was reading about Christmas dishes you no longer see on the table, it seems that after 1980 such dishes just fell out of favour after centuries, literally of being associated with Christmas. Reading the article I thought, yes that is true, how did that happen. It seems that fashion changed and so did how people eat and what they eat. The old Christmas of French Canada with traditions coming from France of the 17th century changed and it all became much more simple and less about traditions. Noel itself is no longer the big religious event it was once, it is now very secular and even the creche under the tree has disappeared. There is at least 2 generations who remember nothing of the old ways of French Canada because their own parents simply do not follow them anymore.
So the first dish was Aspic, my grandmother whom we called Tante Fernande because she was my maternal grandfather’s second wife made this dish every year at Christmas, usually with chicken and green peas. I loved it and there was also the other version with beef which I think was equally good. It was only in Poland in 1998 that I saw it again on the table, we had our Christmas party at the Embassy and the staff made what is called there Galaretka drobiowa, it was sooo good. You will no longer find it in Canada. It originally came from the Court at Versailles, in his old age King Louis XIV had lost his teeth and he could no longer chew food properly, so his chef had to invent new soft food dishes. In Poland Carp which is a very old fish which can grow to a large size and found in ponds of european palaces and in rivers is bought at the market live and kept in the bathtub at home. The day you need to make the dish you wack it to death and then use the meat cut in filet. Our cook would prepare this dish for us and it was wonderful.
The other dish was called Pain Sandwich and that was not a favourite of mine, it was a commercial invention in 1920 to push the sale of white bread. You sliced it on its lenght instead of the usual slices. Use spreadable cream cheese and decorate with pimentos, slices olives and roll up. You then apply mayonnaise on the outer side and roll in chopped up parsley. You can then slice it to make little wheel sandwiches. Tonight at the Club we talked about this in the lounge by the fireplace. Everyone had a story about childhood where their family and relatives would prepare dishes like green jell-o salad with corn and peas, it was so festive and the height of sophistication in the late 1950’s and 60’s. We laughed and realize that today we eat very differently and no one goes to the lenght of work preparation and trouble our mothers, aunts and grandmothers went through.
At Christmas I always look for Orange rind dipped in dark chocolate. It is easy to find in Europe but not so much here where big chocolate corp control the market of sweets. I did find dark chocolate with orange flavour, the thing is shaped like an orange and wrapped in golden paper. It is good but I prefer the taste of orange rind, more chewy, sweet and bitter all at once.
I also got my sister in NYC to get me a new hat, I have specific taste and I wanted a Drilby which is a hat that was worn by Andrei Gromyko. I had bought one in Italy around 2010 and I wore it in Winter only. Could not find anything here in PEI.
We are currently having a fierce wind storm and it is suppose to bring rain later during the night. The same storm pass over NYC earlier. Apparently it will cause some damage and after Fiona about one month ago, people are skittish about power cuts on the Eve of Christmas. The bridge to the mainland closed at 6pm tonight and there is no way to leave the island now, flights are cancelled, moral of this story, do not travel at Holiday time.
We are safe and sound at home. Hope everyone has a good Christmas with my best wishes.
Well the tropical storm Nicole is in PEI now, we have warm southerly winds and 19C in mid-November, very strange. It has not rained as much as forecasted, in fact this afternoon it was partly cloudy and sunny with brisk winds.
A lot of people now talk of how weird the weather has become, even the Atlantic around the Island is not as cold as it use to be. We should have had at least a snowfall or some snow flurries and the temperature should be around zero but it feels like Spring.
CONTINUING this post we are now Monday and it is the King’s Birthday who is 74 today. So it it the first Official Birthday for our new King of Canada. Now it appears that in future years there will be an Official day for his birthday but it will not be the actual date, given how terrible the weather can be in October. I think that in Canada we will continue to follow the 24 May as the Official Birthday of the Sovereign, unless Parliament decides otherwise.
Because the Holiday Season is only a few weeks away, stores have all their lights and decorations up. It started for us just a few days ago. Music thankfully is on low in the stores. At the grocery store I always look for special foods at this time of the year. Yesterday I was a new product, RITZ Crackers dipped in chocolate, completely nutz. I would never buy that, RITZ crackers use to be all the rage in the 1960’s when other type of crackers were not available. The other favourite was Danish Butter cookies in blue boxes and then more recently Panettone imported from Italy, but they are always a bit stale tasting. The truly novel here in PEI is Stollen from Germany, it is still relatively unknown. The Rotarians are flogging their awful fruit cakes, which should be declared a lethal weapon.
I remember in Europe how shops truly had lots of very nice food stuff and an abundance of specialty products, here no it is always the same cheap stuff offered in a red box.
This week is our general assembly at the Club, we will get a new executive, I am looking forward to the changes.
This is also Will’s last week of cancer treatment, I am sure he will be relieved when it is over. Then comes the evaluation by the doctor (s). We are hoping for the best.
Last March, the capital of Canada, Ottawa was occupied by a bunch of clowns for 3 weeks, they took over the city and the police were powerless “apparently” to stop them and were very nice to them. Because Ottawa comes under the authority of the Province of Ontario, the Provincial police and the Premier Doug Ford were slow to act. It quickly became a nightmare and the stated goal was to overthrow the Government of Canada and assassinate the Prime Minister and other members of his Cabinet. The Official Opposition in the House of Commons, the Conservative Party gave open support to the protesters, going out to dinner with them in fancy restaurants and providing them coffee, donuts and photo ops. Finally the Prime Minister invoke the Emergency Measures Act, which gives the Police extraordinary powers to arrest and clear the streets. The Prime Minister could have called on the armed forces but did not. The Emergency Measures only lasted 3 days and now a special enquiry is being conducted by a retired senior Judge to determine if the Government of Canada was justified in implementing this Act for the first time in 22 years. This Act replaces the War Measures Act which was far more draconian and had been used by Pierre E. Trudeau in 1970 in Quebec.
The testimony has revealed facts unknown, many bombshell statement which surprised everyone. This past week the convoy leadership gave testimony, we learned that the Police of Ottawa, the Provincial Police and the RCMP were openly sympathetic to the cause of these grifters, this included one retired army soldier who was a sniper and worked on the Prime Minister’s security detail. He gave to the convoy organizer the PM’s agenda and where he would be during the day. This is a huge security breach and shows the level of hate these people have against the PM J. Trudeau. Another organizer claimed that he received daily from the police information on what the police would do on that day, if there was going to be a raid, suddenly these revelations explain what was going on and why the police did so little. As for the former police chief of Ottawa, Peter Sloly, he played the race card, he now claims that he was pressured into resigning because he is black, actually cafe au lait. He was so incompetent it was beyond belief but hey, that is just a detail. Another incompetent was the RCMP head, Brenda Lucki, who was appointed based on gender politics and has shown that she can do no good on her job. As for the Premier of Ontario Doug Ford, he too was in on it, his office was openly helping the convoy organizers and now Doug Ford refuses to testify at the enquiry, too many sticky questions on his behaviour.
The enquiry has established that this occupation of Ottawa was not about the Covid Vaccine or Mandates on vaccines imposed by the various provinces in Canada. It was a white supremacist movement who feel very threatened by the feminist and woke agenda of PM Trudeau who is seen has trying to change society to quickly and against the will of the people. Of course that is only one point of view and of the extreme right wing. What is unfortunate is how no one amongst the organizers of the convoy expressed any sympathy for the people living in Ottawa who had their lives completely disrupted by their illegal actions.
The diagram below also shows that money came from the USA, mostly from the GOP and yes, Donald Trump who has always had a very bad relationship with PM Trudeau. They were hoping to be able to help overthrow the government in Canada.
All this is very disturbing and I really wonder where it will all end.
This picture is of the Norwegian Cruise ship arriving in Charlottetown this morning, carrying 3800 passengers + crew. It was raining so we saw no one on the street until 11am.
I have to wonder why they even come there is still debris everywhere from FIONA and tonight 4,700 are still without power 3+ weeks after the hurricane.
We are told cruise tourism is very important, really? Well maybe we should go out in our canoe and welcome the rich foreigners with trinkets for sale, sing and dance to get money. The whole tourism industry is such a joke in PEI, it’s all about gouging the tourists. Since FIONA many restaurants and shops have closed early and will not re-open before May 2023. So what is the point?
Well the tourists can visit our solution to homelessness in Charlottetown, since the police refused to beat them up and push them off Island as it had been suggested by some politicians in Charlottetown. We have stark looking containers where they can sleep at night during winter months behind a nice barbed wire fence. Security will also control their movements. They will only have access to the shelter at night after 8pm. This is how much our political class think of anyone who is poor. I am sure they will not mention that to the tourists in Charlottetown a village of 40,000 people.
After 6 days post-Fiona, some 45,000 Islanders are still without electricity in PEI. The electrical company Maritime Electric does not give any timeline. The main reason is the amount of damaged due to fallen trees, there are so many it is mind boggling. Some 500 telephone poles carrying the high voltage lines collapse and must now be replaced and this takes time. The main garbage collection and recycle centres are receiving on the hour and every hour hundreds of cars carrying all the food stuff spoiled which will be burned. The tourist season is at an abrupt end, though the port of Charlottetown would love to have the cruise ships return next week. We all know this is pure nonsense, there is nothing to see but devastation, are we now into natural disaster tourism? Our Provincial Government and Municipal authorities had no plan despite saying otherwise. It is up to people to get resourceful and organized. It is embarrassing for some of us who got our power back on Sunday afternoon the day after Fiona while just a few feet away on our street neighbours have nothing. We offered to help out by brewing coffee and laundry.
The weather since the Fiona has been lovely, sunny and warm.
So today is Friday, I started to write this post on Thursday night. Hopefully by Monday Morning everyone will have electricity. Funny how we are so dependent on electricity for heating, internet, phone, ATM, refrigerating food, life in general.
Some people are pushing the notion that we should promote disaster tourism, come to PEI see the devastation and beaches ruined, are forests flattened, people struggling. Some politicians claim that we will be ok not to worry. Behind this train of thought is profits, greed. It is bad enough that some operators are soaking the tourists for every dollar. Sad situation and I am glad I am not a tourist. This was the worst storm ever to hit this Island province in our history. Storms are getting worse each year because of Climate Change and our geography does not help. Ian now is coming, we are hoping that it will only be some rain showers. However the crops are rotting in the soil turned to mud by Fiona, farmers are desperate and some will probably leave farming all together.
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
Larry Muffin At Home 