Listening to music

Tags

books, classical, Fiona, inflation, life, Music, thanksgiving, Ukraine

I find that classical soft piano music can work wonders for me. This morning while having my coffee I was listening to Schubert piano music, it was peaceful and relaxing, helps you wake up. Same late at night, piano music can work wonders. Reading also before bed as long as it is not a thriller or a murder mystery or some political tome, it should help to relax.

I read many different authors, I currently have 7 books on my night table.

One week ago FIONA was in town and it left a heavy mark, 7 days later still 35% of the Island population is out of power, it is becoming ridiculous, some streets will have power except for 2 houses on one block, why? They are on another grid. There is no rhyme or reasons to the way power is restored, one fact is clear, the authorities need to bury electrical cables and better manage the urban forests.

We are now in October and next weekend it’s Thanksgiving and my sister is coming for a visit, really looking forward to this.

I was saying this week that since January 2020 it is as if we are pursued by bad omens, first it was Covid and its variants and all the turmoil it created in society, exposing the divisions amongst people and the level of ignorance in matters of public health. Then the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in what is nothing more than a war of aggression with loads of war crimes against civilians. The supply chain disruption and inflation on all products in society, except for bananas and lemons according to a recent price study, it is true that bananas are still 0.49 cents a pound and lemons are 0.99 each. How to explain that one both are imported to Canada from the tropics. Also the effect of climate change and more violent storms and the rise in temperature both in the ambient air and in the sea has been very noticeable. This year per example there was no jelly fish at the beach, none, very strange but the water being very warm apparently affected them.

We are not even thinking of travelling anywhere simply because of all these factors. So we do suffer from cabin fever and remain hopeful to be able to travel in 2023. However with the news from Ukraine and with President Putin appearing more and more mentally unstable, threatening a nuclear attack because he is clearly losing this war, it makes everything look bleak. Where will we be in 6 months? I wonder about the future.

This is why listening to classical piano music is soothing in the morning and evening. There is a choice from Schubert to Debussy, Grieg, Couperin, Respighi, Saint-Saens, Ravel.

Speaking of music at the Funeral of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the funeral march no.1 by Beethoven and the two Scottish pieces, Mist Covered Mountains and Mull of the Mountains were very beautiful and well chosen for the occasion.

Finally this quote from the UN Secretary general Antonio Guterres given the moment we are in now with Russia is a propos.

Fiona

Tags

Fiona, hurricane, life, Weather

A storm is coming our way, currently in Porto Rico and coming up the Eastern Seaboard should arrive here in the Maritimes around Friday night. Very high wind maybe hurricane like, the trees are still full of leaves so this means down trees and power outages. Heavy rain storms, some flooding maybe. I live in the City and we will see the wind and rain but beyond that I do not know. I will do the usual get a roasted chicken, chips, some wine and just sit tight. When Doria came by a few years ago, we were in Norway, we heard about it but did not see it, a lot of damage was done all around with down trees. I was told that a power outage did occur for a few hours in my neighbourhood but because it is the Capital, the Electrical company is quick about repairing damages. Then again the storm may miss us but we will get the rain. For sure the bridge will be closed due to high winds and the ferry service suspended. Stay tuned!

In the funeral procession yesterday in London, the RCMP led the cortege, I was wondering about the horses, had they been transported to the occasion? It turns out, they had been given to Queen Elizabeth II by the RCMP. Over many decades Canada gifted our Sovereign several horses, the most famous was Burmese which she rode in many State functions. The horses are called Darby, George, Sir John, Elizabeth. There was a special relationship between the late Queen and the RCMP over her love of horses.

Yes the weather is truly Fall like now, cooler and windier. Looking forward to Thanksgiving on October 10.

Life goes on

Tags

CIIIR, EIIR, Funeral, life, Queen, Scotland, UK

For those of you who might wonder what are the flowers use to make the wreath laying on the late Queen’s coffin, here is the list from the Official site of Buckingham Palace, royal.uk

The flowers came from Balmoral Castle and were favourite of Her late Majesty.

The Coffin was draped with the Royal Standard in Scotland and dressed with a Wreath of Flowers. The Wreath was made up of:

• White Spray Roses
• White Fressias
• White Button Chrysanthemums
• Dried White Heather (from Balmoral)
• Spray Eryngium (thistle)
• Foliage
• Rosemary
• Hebe
• Pittosporum

The Crown of Scotland was placed on the coffin at St-Giles Cathedral.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 13th September, The Queen’s Coffin will travel from Scotland by Royal Air Force aircraft from Edinburgh Airport, arriving at RAF Northolt later that evening. The Coffin will be accompanied on the journey by The Princess Royal.

The Queen’s Coffin will then be conveyed to Buckingham Palace by road, to rest in the Bow Room. On the afternoon of Wednesday 14th September, the Coffin will be borne in Procession on a Gun Carriage of The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster, where The Queen will Lie-in-State in Westminster Hall until the morning of the State Funeral.

The Procession will travel via Queen’s Gardens, The Mall, Horse Guards and Horse Guards Arch, Whitehall, Parliament Street, Parliament Square and New Palace Yard. After the Coffin arrives at Westminster Hall, The Archbishop of Canterbury will conduct a short service assisted by The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Westminster, and attended by The King and Members of the Royal Family, after which the Lying-in-State will begin. The Imperial State Crown will be placed on the coffin with the Orb and Sceptre.

During the Lying-in-State, members of the public will have the opportunity to visit Westminster Hall to pay their respects to The Queen. On the morning of Monday 19th September, the Lying-in-State will end and the Coffin will be taken in Procession from the Palace of Westminster to Westminster Abbey, where the State Funeral Service will take place.

Following the State Funeral, the Coffin will travel in Procession from Westminster Abbey to Wellington Arch. From Wellington Arch, the Coffin will travel to Windsor and once there, the State Hearse will travel in Procession to St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle via the Long Walk. A Committal Service will then take place in St George’s Chapel.

Back Home

Tags

Cape Tryon, French River, life, PEI, Travel, vacation

Today we left the cottage and drove back to Charlottetown some 50 min all together. We had lovely weather and what a nice, quiet vacation we had. Now it is back to too many cruise ship some 5 this week. Far too many people walking about aimlessly in a small town. Oh well Summer is almost over and the tourist season is ending.

Some last photos of the cottage, the beach, and the cliffs of Cape Tryon.

Good Weather

Tags

Beach, Friends, life, PEI, Summerside, vacation

Life at the cottage on the beach continues. This morning with our friends we went to Summerside, pol 12,000. it is the second largest town west of Charlottetown. The drive to Summerside is fairly easy and the views are pleasant. We went to Holman’s for the ice cream, lovely place in the old mansion of the Holman Dept store magnates built in 1857.

Today is another great day, so enjoyable. Nice meals, good friends and peace and quiet, what more can you ask for.

Busy week

Tags

cottage, French River, life, New London, PEI, Sea, vacation

The weather has been typical of this time of the year, after the 15 August everyone knows that we are slowly but surely going into fall season despite the fact that Summer is not yet over. We have had to return to Charlottetown for urgent matters, it is only 45 minutes away on quiet roads but nonetheless we had to. In the next few days friends are arriving from Ottawa to stay with us here at French River and other friends are coming to visit us at the beach.

Last night we went to North Rustico to the Watermark Theatre to see the play Drawer Boy by Michael Healey. This play premiere in Toronto in 1999. It has won several awards as a play and we really enjoyed it a lot. North Rustico is only about 20 minutes from French River and we go through Cavendish which is a tourists trap at this time of the year. North Rustico is a fishing village which features many good seafood restaurants. In Winter most people have places in Florida, so the area is very quiet until the fishing/lobster season starts again around end of April.

We drove back to French River and the rural roads are pitch black at night. You need your high beams all along, luckily there is no traffic but you have to be very careful and can’t drive fast or no more than 50Km.

Today late afternoon at the beach, there are no jelly fish this year, none at all. On the other hand, for the first time on the North Shore where we are, sharks and great white sharks have been sighted. Climate change and warming waters are pushing them north along the seacoast.

Here are some photos of our area.

The area has big milk cow farms. Corn fields, potatoes and hay is the main staple of framing in this area. Tourism and cottages are also popular and some are quite luxurious.

Around 7pm today on the beach, someone had built a sandcastle.

Our vacation selfie, the lighthouse is behind us on the dunes.

Access to the beach, you have to follow a narrow path, walking outside the path or on the dunes is forbidden.

I am not sure how you would get to the New London lighthouse, it is surrounded on 3 sides by a watery marsh and dunes. A long time ago the light keeper and his family would live in the house. Today they are maintained by Parks Canada and are all automated.

Books

Tags

books, life, reading

I have quite a few books to read now. I am reading on Women in Greek Mythology as they are represented in the most earliest plays from 600 BC. Yes the Greeks invented plays and theatre, not as we know it today. Their theatre originally had a chorus and one actor, always male for all roles, women did not appear on stage. On the slopes of the Acropolis in Athens you can see the remains of the oldest theatre in the Western World originally with 17,000 seats, the theatre of Dyonisus Eleuthereus where the plays of Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, and Aristophanes were first performed.

The Book is entitled Pandora’s Jar by Natalie Haynes, the author takes us through all the women of greek history and how they are portrayed, from Pandora to Phaedra, Medea, Helen, etc. The author also explains how Greek society viewed itself, it was the original patriarchy and women were largely kept at home and rarely seen in public. The Greek plays based on myths and the religion of the time presents the complex character of these women and of the gods. The stories are violent and full of atrocious acts by those women as we know them, the story line is twisted and the gods and goddesses always have a large part to play. Very educational and instructive.

The second book I am reading is Stalin’s Library by Geoffrey Roberts. It is the story of Stalin’s vast library and how he accumulated all 25,000 books during his lifetime from the earliest age to his death in 1952. Like Mao in China, Stalin who was his mentor, read everything and annotated the text he read. The author explains what drove this complex and paranoid man to read so much, his thirst for knowledge and understanding based on his own fanatical views of the triumph of Marxism.

The following book is by the first Egyptian (arab) writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, Naguib Mahfouz. The book is entitled On Literature and Philosophy. Mahfouz lived from 1911 to 2006. In his lifetime he saw old Egyptian society become the beacon of the Arab world in art and culture but also in politics and the development of the ideas of modern society through socialism and secularism. With the overthrow of the Ottoman dynasty in Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1921, ideas of modernity then swept the old colonies of the Arab world.

Egypt being the most populous country of the region and with the humiliation of British occupation, a weak monarchy tied to ultra-conservative ideas, many Egyptian politicians openly presented a model of a modern Egyptian society based on science, education and secularism. King Farouk was forced into exiled and the army took over, unfortunately not realizing the hopes and aspirations of the people. This is what Mahfouz wrote about not only in his many novels but also in other writings presented in this book.

I was fortunate to have lived in Egypt in 1989 to 1991 and observe Egyptian society.

I have other books to read, 4 which I have not started yet, but they promise to be equally interesting.

Days of Summer

Tags

Beach, climate change, life, Rome, Summer

I promised myself this year that we would go out of town on any sunny day. This is not happening after 7 years on the Island. Stuck in town with the tourists and their garbage.

Hopefully come 21 August for 2 weeks we will escape to the beach where we have rented a cottage. I am looking forward to that vacation. Tomorrow Thursday is our 15th Wedding Anniversary. We got married just before leaving for Rome to live for a few years.

Apparently the heat in Rome is around 40C and very difficult for people, AC is not common and the streets are paved with volcanic cobble stones that retain a lot of heat.

Same story all over Europe this Summer. Here it will be around 30C tomorrow but the wind is up around 40Km so with such a breeze, you still have to be careful but it is bearable. I read today that the UV index is a Canadian invention.

Reading stories about Rome vandalism of ancient monuments is always big news. Just a few days ago someone spray painted a portion of an ancient marble wall of the Pantheon. The wall was under the eye of a surveillance camera but it was discovered that the camera had not been functioning for some time. Using a laser technique the cleaners/restorers were able to erase the damage. But you have to think who is so thoughtless to do such things.

The Pantheon was built at the time of Augustus some 2000 years ago and it is very well preserve, still functioning as a house of worship. Every Summer there are incidents with tourists who do not appreciate where they are or what they are looking at, simple ignorance. It is also often a case of being drunk or on drugs and misbehaving. Drunk tourists is nothing new.

Days of sunshine

Tags

Donna Leon, flowers, life, Summer, Venice

We are now in the full swing of tourist season. There is a lot of car traffic and motorcycles, you would never think that a litre of gas sells for $1.97 or $7.88 a gallon.

So this being mid-July most garden centres have discounted their garden plants and flowers to sell off what is left. I went to one centre near us, it’s a big one, huge selections of flowers and baskets still but all prices are slashed by 60% or more. I got a great bargain on a big basket of peonies in this dark blood colour. They look like velvet, they are replacing a planter of chives and Italian parsley which became infected with aphids. They also smell delicate sweetness.

So for dinner tonight it was salad and charcuterie, I really did not feel like cooking, it is too warm. We also watched an episode of Commissioner Brunetti, the detective who lives in Venice and solves crimes. Donna Leon created this personage for her books. The storyline is of seedy crimes and Italian politics. Does not give a very nice image of Italian society, but it does capture the essence of Europe and its problems and how the powerful in Italy and elsewhere in Europe are always beyond the reach of the Law.

A few photos

Tags

Berlin, Istanbul, life, Malta, photos, Rome, Vesuvius

This being Summer and mid-July we are having some lovely weather on PEI. So far we have avoided completely the scorching heat with an average temp of 24 C. always with a nice breeze. Here are some photos of places I have visited and seen.

In the news from Italy, it was reported that last week a silly American tourist who ignored all warnings decided that he would take a dangerous path up to the crater of Mount Vesuvius above Pompeii. He jumped over fences and gates and reached the summit at 1218 meters or 3996 feet. Vesuvius remains a very active volcano and is far from extinct.

Once on the edge of the crater our tourist wanted to take a selfie and in so doing fell into the crater several meters deep. He was unable to get out and but luckily only had a few bruises. Lucky for him another group of tourist and a guide where in another authorized area and heard his cry. He was rescued by the Italian mountain brigades.

Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples.

Keyholes with a story

In this photo you see the keyhole of the Gate of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta. The Gate keyhole of the Villa del Priorato di Malta stands on the Aventine Hill. It is the historic seat of the Grand Priory of Rome of the Knights of Malta. By looking through it you can enjoy one of the most evocative views of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, perfectly framed at the bottom of the villa’s garden. The door is rarely open outside of Official business, it houses the Embassy of the Order of Malta to the Italian Republic since 1869. It was in antiquity the site of a Temple and a Festival dedicated to the god Mars and to the Roman Army, called the Armilustrium held in October.

View from the inside the Garden.

Speaking of Domes here is a rather beautiful photo of the Dome of the Berlin Palace at sunset. The Palace is now known as the Humboldt Forum, a museum dedicated to civilizations. The outside is in the original Baroque style while the inside is very stark and modern.

The Ceremonial Entrance to the Berlin Palace in 1930. The Palace was demolished by the Communist in 1958 to make way for a Bus Parking lot. The entire palace has now been re-built and opened as a museum in 2021. The only difference with this photo, the wrought iron gates are gone and replaced by modern glass entrance. The inside courtyard is also very modern now and not as can be seen here. The various bronze inscriptions on the portal sing the praise of the Hohenzollern Dynasty, 1415-1918.

Finally Istanbul, the Suleymaniye Mosque. Sultan Suleyman The Magnificent chose the architect Mimar Sinan to create a mosque in remembrance of his son Shehzade Mehmed. Suleyman was beyond impressed with Sinan’s completion that he decided to have him design a mosque after himself. This mosque would represent the eminence of the Ottoman Empire.

The foundation inscription above the north portal of the mosque is carved in Thuluth script on three marble panels. It gives a foundation date of 1550 and an inauguration date of 1557.

Courtyard of the Suleymaniye Mosque.

Beautiful tyle work and rich colours with verses of the Coran inscribed all around the walls. The dimensions of the rooms are truly gigantic. There is an atmosphere of peace and quiet in this sacred complex.