Happy Birthday!

Tags

Birthday, Capena, dachshunds, Rome, Via dei Villini

This week marks the 10th Birthday of Nicky and Nora, born in Capena, Italia in Febbraio   2009. Capena is a little town famous for a place of exile where the great Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote letters on Friendship and Old age in 58 BC. It is also the area where Livia wife of Augustus lived in old age in her great palace.

Nora was born 5 days before Nicky and they both have different sets of parents.  Nora comes from a line of European champion hunting/tracking dachshunds and Nicky from a line of champion show dogs like his father.

Here is Will in February 2009 in Capena in the room where they were born at the house of Dr Massimo and his wife Tiziana. See how small they both are, their eyes are still closed.

We saw them at 10 days and they came to live with us at 7 weeks. As we drove back into the City, Nicky was in the back of the car with Will and Nora and he was whimpering all the way.

They lived the first 2 years of their lives in Rome on Via dei Villini and then immigrated to Canada when we left.

Nicky on the sofa in our den at home in Rome

Nicky at 2 in the morning Sun on Via Dei Villini

Nora 

Nora in Ottawa, always keeping an eye out, just watching

Left to right, Nicky and Nora on the sofa

 

Left to right Nora and Nicky 

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Getting ready, we are ready

Tags

Charlottetown, dachshunds, Food, gingerbread cookies, pasties, Seafood, thongs, Xmas tree

Well we are 9 days away from Peace of Earth day to quote Mel Tormé. We have our menu all figured out for Christmas day Lunch. Christmas Eve it’s drinks Chez Nous with select friends and for New Year’s Eve we are going to our Club for a drink and sit by the fireplace. That is it, simple no fuss.

Today Will made gingerbread cookies (male-female) for equity sake following the Justin Trudeau Ideology on the topic. I decorated them with icing and was immediately cited by the Morality police, can you believe it. Do I look like Michael Cohen to you? I was directed to decorate them. You be the judge I think they are lovely.

Later I put the star at the top of the tree as is the tradition in this last 40 years in our household. Same dollar store star which has graced all our trees in the best capitals of the World.

 

The Christmas Dachshunds with their home made Xmas scarves, so festive. Our friend Lori gave them to Nicky and Nora.

the ladies have pasties and the men wear thongs all in Xmas colours of course.

Will also made some wonderful sausage rolls, they are soooo good!

This picture is the taste test batch, we will be making more for Xmas Eve Cocktail party.

Will is also making a Tourtière for our Xmas Lunch and another friend is making Ragout de pattes de cochon avec boulettes de viande. (Ragout of pigs feet with meatballs) DIVINE! Typical French Canada fare. We will also have a breast of turkey just to say we have it. For dessert Mulled Wine jellies and Plum Pudding (home made). We will have our Christmas crackers as always. I am thinking of poor Duchess Meghan who will be introduced to this custom this year. Oh well it is all part of her becoming more civilized.

Finally last night after drinks at the Haviland Club where we go every Friday with the other cognocensti of Charlottetown, we had dinner across the street from our home at the Water Prince restaurant, it was their last night before closing for the Season, they will re-open in Mid-April. It is always fun to mark the end of the year this way and Shane Campbell who is the owner and his son are there. The fare is lobster, haddock, mussels, oysters and other seafood. I had oysters to start from Malpeque and grilled haddock, Will had a lobster and a chowder.

Maureen standing behind Will is the manager. The place is an institution in town, it is extremely popular in the Summer time. You can easily wait 45 minutes for a table.

Happy Christmas and Happy Festive Holidays to all! 

A mix

Tags

Borden, cookies, dachshunds, decorations, ginger, Hand Pies, non-binary, PEI, Xmas tree

We are almost ready for Christmas, so here are some pictures of today. It is windy and -8C but no snow which is great.

The house also smell nice, baking meat pies and cretons. We are preparing our Xmas Eve Dinner menu and it looks like we will have a Lobster meat and shrimp soup to start and then Acadian Meat Pie, a salad and a special sweet.

My mom use to make Creton with veal but this version Will made is beef and pork. Wonderful with toast in the morning or anytime of day.

Nora on the left with her long rough wire coat and Nick on the right with his smoother coat. They love the sunshine.

Nick turned around because I called to him.

The 2017 Xmas Tree stands 2 meters tall.

Detail of the tree with our decorations from around the world, some are 40 yrs old

These little enamel painted balls come from China

This papier maché Xmas Frog came from a Xmas Fair in Ottawa, some 30 years ago.

Today I went food shopping at the Riverview Market which is owned by a Dutch Family and is as the name indicates facing the Hillsborough River. The Hand Pie Company from Borden was doing a special sale on their pies and though they had brought 600 pies with them from their shop in Borden, they sold out in 35 minutes. I was lucky to be able to buy the 3 last ones. Borden is not that far only 40 minutes from Charlottetown, so I could go there if I wanted to. By the Cash register this sign above Ginger Bread Men and Women appeared. I thought it was a sign of our times.

Social Season

Tags

apple pie, Blake Caissie, Charity work, cheddar cheese, Christmas, dachshunds, Fashion Show, PEI, PEI Regiment, Remembrance Day

With the departure of the tourists we have the island back to ourselves and the fun begins. Many think that there is nothing to do here in PEI after the Summer Season and the last cruise ship leaves. This year thanks to climate change, the Summer was dry and warm and the month of October was unseasonably sunny and warm, we broke a lot of records with high temperatures up to 30C on some days when it should have been around 15C. No one is really complaining, warmer weather is always more pleasant.

The number of Food festivals, Art evenings, events of all kinds all around the Island will keep you busy during the Winter months until Spring and the return of the tourists. If California has the swallows of Capistrano we in PEI have the tourists of Crapaud.  So you have to plan your activities and time during these coming months so as not to be overwhelmed. This is not including the many invitations to parties and dinners from friends and neighbours. In the past 7 days we had 5 events to attend plus all the regular daily activities around the house and with our dogs. We are currently planning our After Christmas activities, we decided that this year we will have a party on 6 January or La Fête des Rois, this is a period after the rush and before February.

Last night we went to a Fashion Show fundraiser called Santa’s Angel, a Fundraiser providing some Xmas cheer to children who would otherwise do without. Fundraising at this time of the year is a big activity on PEI, many families are poor, so you will have food drives, last year the CBC-PEI the National broadcaster on the Island provided donated turkeys to a large number of families. Same goes for warm clothing and other supplies, reminding us that poverty is an issue in Canada despite all the social programs we have.

Here is a Blake Caissie creation presented during the Fashion show, Blake has a lot of talent and it was a really beautiful dress for the Season.

Here are all the dresses for this Xmas Season Fashion Show, all created by people who had the imagination and time to come up with a design. All in good fun, very colourful.

So to return to the topic of activities and other things to do, yes there is a lot. This Sunday there is a craft fair and Tea at the Homestead of Sir Andrew MacPhail who is one of the luminaries of PEI. His family home is beautiful and located in Orwell just 20 minutes from us. Hoping the weather will be pleasant for a drive out. I read recently his famous book The Master’s wife published after his death in 1938. MacPhail is seen with Lucy Maud Montgomery and Milton Acorn the People’s Poet, as a man of ideas and a writer documenting his life period.

The weather last night was quite chilly and the wind fierce and cold, we were at the Convention Centre which looks out on the Hillsborough river and the opening to the Strait, it started to snow at one point, just swirling drifting snow. Looks like the mild weather is over. There were wind advisory and restrictions on the Sea bridge all day. The sea can be very impressive.

This morning is 11 November and so the Remembrance ceremony took place as usual at the Cenotaph in front of Province House and the cannons were positioned in our backyard at the bottom of Great George Street, remember all this takes place within 3 city blocks so you can hear it all. The dogs were jumpy as they fired an 11 gun salute. The house shook and then the marching bands of the PEI Regiment on a bright sunny windy day at -1C.

Mr Nicky went to the groomer this week and he looks really good with his big moustache à la Kaiser Bill.

Here is Miss Eleonora or Nora for her friends just sitting by the door. Next week is her turn at the grooming salon.

Finally Will found a recipe for 2 types of Apple Pie with a Four year Old Sharp Cheddar pie crust, it smells divine. I married him all those decades ago not for the family fortune but for his cooking skills which is an important asset for any French person like myself. La Cuisine toujours la Cuisine!

Happy Birthday to N & N

Tags

Birthday, dachshunds

February marks the Eight Birthday of Nicholas and Eleonora of Capena. They were born a week apart so they are not related on a very nice farm owned by a well known veterinarian and his wife.

The puppies moved to Rome and grew up there before coming to Canada with us. They have had a life of luxury and ease but of course being Dachshunds they don’t know this or imagine this is how it is usually.

Here they are in the guest bedroom facing South in our home, Nora is on the right of the picture. This picture was taken a few years ago in Rome.

They are both healthy and happy, wishing them many more years of happiness.

Happy Birthday Nicky and Nora.

Happy Puppies

Tags

dachshunds, Dog, life, PEI

Our Nicky and Nora on the sofa, maybe I should say their sofa. Just lounging as always, what a sweet life they have.

The boardwalk

Tags

Charlottetown, dachshunds, Fox, Hillsborough river, Nora, PEI, Victoria Park, walk

Today was another nice sunny day in Charlottetown, so I took Nora for a walk on the boardwalk around Victoria Point. A very nice park area all along the North and Hillsborough rivers looking out towards the strait of Northumberland. Sail boats and luxury yachts.

Nora likes to walk and her attitude is, the boardwalk belongs to me so get out of my way.

I made her sit for a little while but she is sniffing the air and there was a good breeze so I am sure she picked up a lot of scents. Victoria Park is known for its numerous aggressive crows, Nora does not care, crow pie she says. There are also Foxes and skunks though not usually seen in the day time.

A very nice area to walk but with Nora it is always quickly as if she is on a mission.

Yes you have to look where you are going because a Fox can appear out of nowhere. Nora of course would given the alarm with her hound howling before I would see anything.  The other night coming home, walking down Great George Street there was a Fox sitting on the grass just a few feet away from me. He startled me but he did not move, they are very bold.

and once a week Holland American cruise ships enter the Charlottetown harbour.

This map shows the park, it was once the entire estate of the Residence of the Lieutenant Governor of PEI who is the personal representative of the Sovereign. In the 1960’s the park was open to the public and the Crown kept one third for the Official Residence. So I walk with Nora along the brown line and back which is a fair distance for her about 3 km but she does not mind.

At least today she did not try to jump into the river. It is salt water and I would not want to have to go after her. As for our Nicky, he does not like to walk any distance so there is no point is taking him. I would end up carrying him.

 

 

Visitors!

Tags

Acadians, Art Gallery, AZ, CCOA, Charlottetown, dachshunds, Dunes Café and Gallery, Ferragosto, Matos Wines, MCCA, PEI, Point Prim, Stanhope Beach, theatre

Summer time in PEI brings tourists and visitors/Friends. In the last week leading to Ferragosto (15 August) which is also the Acadian National Day in the Maritimes.

*Acadians are known as Cajuns in Louisiana. The Acadians are the descendants of French colonists who settled in Acadia during the 17th century going by ethnic identification, some would define an Acadian as a native French-speaking person living in the Maritime provinces of Canada. The Expulsion of the Acadians starting in 1755, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Deportation and Le Grand Dérangement, was the forced removal by the British of the Acadian people from the present day Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island —an area also known as Acadia.

Matos Winery on road 9 in Cornwall, PEI. The Rosé, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are very good.

View from the river of the City at Confederation Landing with the Spires of St-Dunstan Cathedral.

We had two friends with whom we have been on vacations to Stratford, Ontario for the theatre season. This year we convinced them to come East to the Maritimes to visit PEI, something they had never done. They were with us for a week. The height of the tourist Season is July and August, it tapers off after September 1, then we get cruise ships with retired and seniors coming in for the day. They got a pretty good view of the Island, met a lot of people, we introduced them to, saw many sights, fine dining, wine sampling, theatre and shopping. We also went to the beach on a quiet rainy day, the only one of their stay. We also did things with them we would not normally do such as taking a city and river cruise on the amphibious bus and saw seals in the Hillsborough river, they are pretty big seals, not cute little things. Also on two separate nights while walking back home we came upon a Fox which looked nervous at seeing us and moved on pretty quickly. Obviously a young fox, the older more mature ones will sit at a distance and look at you.

Our friends at Point Prim Lighthouse (1847) the oldest lighthouse on PEI, still in use.

Will and I walking from the Beach at Stanhope on that rainy day.

The garden at Dunes Café and Gallery with it’s cluster of multicolored flowers in the large gardens surrounding the sea side property. Peter and Nash have over the years done a superb job, it is such a pleasure to go and visit, just 20 minutes on Brackley Point Road. 

This week is Olde Home Week and Saucer and Gold Cup Week with harness races everyday. The 14 horses competing for the Cup have been named and now is time to place your bets.

We are going to see Anne Kenstein and Friends at the Guild Theatre this week, it is a play adaptation of Anne of Green Gables done as Rocky Horror Picture Show, it is described as the Mother of all PEI Comedy shows. This play has not been done for a few years but it was a huge success when it premiere. Some of the original cast are back this year, I am looking forward to it. There is quite a lot of theatre in town at the moment, Mamma Mia and Spoon River which I liked a lot, it takes place near Joliette, Illinois in a small town cemetery. The dead on the Hill come back to talk about their regrets and what they should have done while alive, great music and quite entertaining. There is also a lot of musical venues not only in Charlottetown but also in many smaller towns around us. All of it is really affordable, there is no lack of things to see and do and shows to go to. On the 25 August at the Guild there will be a special show Tower of Tease Burlesque which as the title indicates will be a mix of Gypsy Rose Lee meets Magic Mike, who said we did not have entertainment in this town.  The Art Gallery has 4 shows running at the moment, I am conducting a tour in French for a group of University students from UPEI next week.

All in all a busy Summer so far.

 

The puppies on the balcony amongst the flowers.

The Provincial Flag of PEI now on the front of my car.

 

I am the personal attendant to Nicky

Tags

Capena, dachshunds, Dr. Buzzanca, Italy, Roma

We have had Dachshunds for 26 years now, the first two where a smooth hair female and the other was a long hair male. In 2009 we got our two wire hair Dachshunds in Rome, they are not related. This breed is known for being stubborn and controlling, they always try to control the situation and see how far they can push things.

Our Nicky who is 7 years old now comes from a line of show dogs, his father was Hungarian-Italian, National Champion in Italy and also in the EU. Nicky is very clever and calculating, he only weighs 7 Kg and is a miniature Dachshunds but that does not stop him.

Like dog of this breed he has loads of personality and is very different from Eleonora (Nora) our female Dachshund whose comes from a line of Champion Boar hunting family. She has the hunter instinct, is very determined and independent.

Here is Nora watching the park across the street for anything that might need her to raise the alarm, which she does with regularity.

Both of them speak, using facial expressions, looks and an endless modulation of whines, grunts, puffing through the nose, low growls, barking, paw stomping, to signal what they expect from us.

Meal time is a fix time exercise, God help me if I am late or forget, Nicky becomes agitated and you feel he is upset and will complain to management for poor service. Nora will let him do the circus number but you can tell she too is none too happy about tardiness. Both are walked separately because of question of the order of precedence and who leads, it is complicated.  Dachshunds are very difficult to train as dogs, they can easily be trained to track and hunt from birth, which they do naturally as it is a breed characteristic. But the other stuff house dogs do, they don’t.

With Nicky, he does not like to walk, so we do not go out for a walk, we simply go out for a simple do my business here and here and back in the house we go. If I want to go further, I have to carry him, put him down and then he will walk back quickly home. You may wonder well what if you don’t carry him, Nicky sits down and simply proceeds to ignore me completely. Treats don’t work, he does not walk, how difficult is that to understand.

Nora on the other hand loves to walk, run, jump and use her nose as a radar, sniff out things, run after the big black Crows, we have a lot of them and they are an aggressive bird. On the other hand Nicky ignores it all, as if he is above it all.  He also does not like to go out after dark, too scary, or if it rains or snows, no not going out unless an umbrella is provided. Try moving a miniature Dachshund, Nicky can make himself weigh 10 tons simply by his will power.

The Farm in Capena, minutes from Rome, where Nicky and Nora were born in 2009, owned by the well known Veterinarian Massimo Buzzanca and his spouse Tiziana Tola.

 

Warrior Dachshunds and Dragons

Tags

Cats, dachshunds, dogs, Magic, PEI, Wild Island Cats

Today, Sunday we went for a stroll up Lower Queen Street, this is the portion between Water street and Grafton Street in old Charlottetown. A market takes place between 9am and 3pm. All kinds of Island artisans and farmers show up, it is most interesting to see. We came upon a lady who had a stand and she has stories to tell about Cats, Dachshunds and Dragons. She also sells the most interesting dolls of cats and dogs, truly works of art.

Two books have been published so far on her magical stories about them and you can find them on AMAZON. Also she has a Facebook page entitled Wild Island Cats.

The Cats are PixieCats, ElfCats, SeaCats, MerCats, WereCats, FeyCats, all have magic attributes.

While there different races of Wild Island Cats, the Hounds distinguish themselves based upon their House or Corps.

House  of Barkandale

House of BlueNose

House of RedRover

SeaDogs Corps

Beagle Corps

Dachshund Dragon Guard, they like Yoda from Star Wars, these small hounds are full of surprises.

BlackWater Bayers

The little history goes like this, back in the Great Dragon Realms, the Cats were the Keepers of the Magic and the Hounds were the Guardians of the Young Dragons and for countless times all was good. Then the Dragon Realm was attacked and the Cats and the Hounds had to flee. They searched the Universe for a place to seek refuge, in the end they found Earth.

When they arrived humans were not ready to meet magic Cats and Warrior Hounds, so they withdrew to a tiny dune island just North of PEI. With a bit of Magic they transformed the island and shielded it from view and there they stayed for hundreds of years.

As time went by, the Cats and the Hounds became curious about the people of PEI, they disguised themselves and came to live among us as our pets. Over the centuries, they have protected us, guided us and watched as we slowly lost touch with the magic of Life.

Now the Cats and Hounds are here in their true form to help bring magic back to our world.

The Message of the Cats and Hounds;

Be you, Be here, Be Happy!