What difference a day make

Tags

Canada, Maritimes, PEI, snow, winter

As the song says, What difference a day make. This morning woke up to see my windows, we have 18 of them all around blanketed with snow. The streets are deserted and everything is shut down for this Snow Day. The car is buried under a metre of snow, this is going to be fun to clean up. The worst part is the high powerful wind which tosses the snow here and there.

I suppose that my campaign to promote PEI as an Island Winter Paradise is blown off course. I blame the CBC Weather guy, Jay Scotland.

In just 7 hours from NO snow to this, sidewalks are unpassable, very slippery. It is also very quiet and peaceful. It’s only -3C. Tomorrow sunshine which should be nice on the fresh snow.

Lots to do today

Tags

Acadia, Canada, Capitol, France, life, Maritimes, Revolution, USA

I had to get up early today at 07:30am which is somewhat like the middle of the night for me. Usually I am a Crack of Noon riser which is the civilized time for retired folks like me.

So at 9:30am I had to be at the Club for the Thursday morning Coffee and Conversation program, today we had an Acadian historian Georges Arsenault, O.C., O.P.E.I whose family has been living on PEI since 1700. He is also an author and has written much about Acadian life and history on the Island. He also has a voluminous collection of old photos of Acadian Life on the Island dating back to 1860. He showed us many old photos of Acadian families and explained traditions in the period 1860 to 1950. It was fascinating, he had wedding photos dating from prior to 1946. How the common people lived if compared to high society, there was a stark difference. Brides has no wedding dress, they simply wore their Sunday best and so did the groom. Only people with money did the fashionable weddings the way we think of them today. The food prepared and served at weddings was also very different from today. Essentially the wedding would take place in Church at 7:30am and then the family would return home for breakfast at 9:00am. Back then Roman Catholics, Acadians are all R.C. , were not allowed to have food before Mass. Everyone was in their Sunday best and all of it took place in the Kitchen including the square dancing. What Acadians call in French souper (Supper) took place at Noon and both meals were offered by the Bride and her parents in their home. The Dinner at night around 6pm moved to the Groom’s parents home for more square dancing and food and of course Whiskey and Island Gin at 50 proof. That’s the Gin I buy for my Island friends, they do not want the English stuff at 40 Proof. The most important element of a successful wedding meal during the day was the desserts and sweets, some families could offer over 30 different types of sweets not including the Wedding Cake which was white and baked usually in the village by a woman who was known for her cakes and hired for that day. Which reminded me of my great Aunt Marie-Ange in Charlesbourg near Quebec City who was known at Christmas for her desserts and sweets.

The family photos are also interesting, most taken outdoors for the light in an age when no flash existed. Women in Acadian fashion have their heads covered by a bonnet or large scarf, custom being that only unmarried maidens could show their hair. Families were also large on average 12 kids and many upwards of 19 kids, all living under one roof in small farm houses. One wonders how they did it. It is only again after 1946 that people start having small families of 2 or 3 children.

After the talk, I went to my barber Jared who is a very nice person and great to chat with, we talked about what had happened the previous day in Washington D.C. at the Capitol building. He was working so could not watch television and was being told by his customers what was happening, he was in disbelief like I was and many other people. Though he remarked and I agree, we could see all this coming and were bracing for it. How come the Capitol Police did not prepare, were they over confident? I watch it all and was sickened by it, how can the symbol of a democracy be attacked like that by a mob which looked like Duck Dynasty. Ignorance on parade, truly sad. I was wondering if the Ceausescu solution could not be applied to Trump and his family, worked in Romania in 1989. What I fear like a lot of people is a possible return of another Trump type in 4 years, populist but more intelligent and cunning. Is the USA sliding into authoritarianism, it could happen after all 75 million Americans voted for him, hopefully not and the world will move on.

Afterwards I went to the Service Canada Office which provides info and registration for all Federal Government Programs, one stop shopping. This was instituted some 8 years ago by the Canadian Government. I was having some problem online with an application and could not get anyone at their 1-800 number unless you are willing to wait an hour or more on hold. So I simply went down to the Office and saw an Officer in 5 minutes. She answered my questions and all appears all right, I am much relieved.

Getting colder

Tags

Alberta, bubble, burst, Canada, covid, life, Maritimes, PEI

The Winter wind has started and is blowing on average at about 70K on a good day, plenty of fresh air, the humidity is also fairly high at 70% or more which makes for bone chilling.

Well the Atlantic bubble which had been working for us for 5 months has burst, with surging cases of Covid 19 in Nova Scotia in the region of Halifax and in New Brunswick in the region of Moncton and St-John our bridge to the mainland has been closed since early this morning. The wind also played its part gusting upwards of 90Km. Long lines of trucks bringing essential goods are stopped at the foot of the bridge on the New Brunswick side until the wind dies down tonight. It would be far too dangerous to try to cross the 12Km over the Strait to the Island. So it looks like life is going to be a lot quieter now here on Charlottetown. Many people work from home so less people in town.

We still have only 2 mild cases of Covid 19 on the Island and both are at home. To keep our situation under control we need to shut off the Island and now must also wear face masks in all buildings, shops, malls etc inside. So far everyone obeys the rule which is remarkable.

Our worst case is the Province of Alberta who has more per capita cases of Covid every single day than any other provinces including Quebec and Ontario despite having only fraction of their population. The Premier of Alberta is Jason Kenney, a Trump wanna-be, his reasoning businesses and oil companies come well before peoples lives.

Despite the announcement of 3 possible vaccines in the works against Covid 19, the reality is that in Canada we are not likely to see any of it before March 2021. The reason being that in the last 40 years all our research and medical producing facilities have moved abroad. This was allowed in a series of mergers with foreign companies and a Federal Government and politicians asleep at the switch, an unfortunate situation but it is what it is.

Some Canadians are leaving for southern climes and the Foreign Minister warned them that because of the Pandemic it would far better to stay home. There will be no special flights to bring people back if they leave the country and find themselves stranded abroad. Still enough fools think it does not apply to them.

One terrible lesson from this pandemic and one I have come to understand; Governments have clearly made a decision to put efforts in saving businesses instead of people. The other lesson is that if you are over 55 your government sees you as an expensive burden, this explains why so little has been done to help save elderly in assisted care homes, why so many have been left to die. We see it all over Canada with the notable exception of PEI where no one got sick or died. Since such centres are private and run by companies for profit, it has been know for the last 40 years that they are often understaffed and provide only the most basic of services. Staff is on minimum wage and poorly trained, despite this situation and major scandals politicians look the other way.

On the other hand the news of the transition to the President Elect Joe Biden having now officially started and his presentation of his new Cabinet is very encouraging. A return to professionalism and a clean broom of the nonsense of the last 4 years. The news also of a possible vaccine to solve this crisis is encouraging, we can only hope that 2021 which will dawn in just 5 weeks will bring a new beginning.

Oh well as I write this I am having a glass of Champagne, can’t be all that bad.

May 15, Setting Day

Tags

Canada., fishing, Maritimes, PEI, Seafood, Setting Day

Today is a very important day in the Maritimes. Setting Day is 2 weeks late this year due to the Pandemic. Fishers are nervous and anxious about this day but following established rules, all should go well. Lobster traps are set today and this means that we will have PEI Lobsters available in the next day or so.

The current price in fish stores is $9 a pound uncooked and $10 cooked. However the Island is still closed to visitors until further notice, so the pricing may stay low with only local demand.

The boats set out at dawn from various harbours around the Island.

Storm Chips

Tags

LAY'S, Maritimes, PEI, roast chicken, Sea, Storms, winter

In Winter on the Atlantic storms can be ferocious, living in the Maritimes you learn that high winds in the 80 to 100km range are common. If you are not use to it and can be a little disconcerting.  We get storm warnings about 72 hours ahead of time, which is a long time weather wise and sometimes the announced storm fails to materialize. Tomorrow Thursday 4 and Friday 5 January we are told there will be a big storm affecting the Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI. Here on the Island we will get apparently mostly icy rain, the temperature will be too warm for snow.  The problem will be the high wind which can cause trees to topple and power lines to break, meaning power outages. We live in the centre of the Capital with modern infrastructure, hopefully we will be spared the worse.

Islanders are use to this type of weather and people are prepared. Today I went to the grocery store to get supplies for a party we are giving on Saturday, I did get extra candles. I did notice a big display of chips, apparently an absolute essential during a storm is storm chips made by LAY’S, you probably wonder why this would be the chip of choice.

It turns out that LAY’S buys all its potatoes here in PEI to make their chips. Well when you are in the dark, the wind is howling outside and the sea waves are crashing causing surges there is nothing like a bag of LAY’S chips to soothe the nerves, who knew!

In the store by one chip bag display a lady said to her friend, I have to get some chips and I told her it was important not to forget the chips given the storm coming, we all laughed.

A whole roast chicken is another commodity a lot of older people will buy, it is known as storm chicken, grocery stores stock up on it knowing people will come in to buy one, they have them in the deli section.

So you stay at home, everything will be closed anyway, no school, nor business will open, everyone knows better than to go out and the local radio will advise people to stay put. That is what we plan to do.

As of 3 January 2018 from Environment Canada

Fall colours

Tags

Canada., Colours, Fall, Maritimes, PEI

PEI is a very scenic place, here are some images of the Island and what you see.

This is the scene in early morning as the cruise ships come by my window to dock at the end of our street. The last cruise coming into port is on 28 October. A little like living on the grand Canal in Venice, here it’s the Hillsborough River.

What would PEI be without the big black crows imperiously watching over us, noisy brats that they are.

It’s Spring time

Tags

Al Jolson, April, Brendan Allen, Canada., CBC, Maritimes, PEI, Weather

Well according to Brendan Allen our new weather man who is replacing our retiring Kevin Boomer Gallant at CBC Weather here in the Maritimes, Winter is over and the mild weather pattern shows that we have broken the back of Winter. Mild Spring weather is with us now.

Brendan Allen, new radio weather man on CBC in the Maritimes, most people think he is 16 years old. A very friendly guy, he is still in school.

So I called the dealership and am having the Summer tires put on the car. Started to wash the windows, we have 18 large windows, you have to pace yourself.

I also started to clean our back deck which looks out unto the Hillsborough river, love to sit there in the morning having our coffee and Nicky loves to just take the Sun. I know that on the mainland in the rest of Canada it still Winter but hey that is why we moved to the Island, enough with the 10 months of Winter.

Tomorrow we are getting April showers say Brendan, here is Al Jolson to tell us all about it. Enjoy Spring!

 

 

Last day

Tags

Canada., Charlottetown, Fanningbank, Maritimes, PEI, River Clyde, Weather

Living in the Maritimes and here on this Province Island you learn about the weather and you also appreciate that the weather here is very different from Central Canada (Ontario-Quebec). The Weather Network and other weather services are located in Toronto and the weather bulletin reflect that fact. You usually get the weather of Ontario and Quebec first then the weather in B.C. and Alberta. They don’t mention the rest of the country too much if at all. One day recently I sent them a message asking, when are we getting the Maritimes weather? The testy response was, we’re getting to it!

Our weather is strongly influenced by the Ocean and the winds coming in from the coastal areas up the US seaboard or from the North Atlantic. So if you are living in Central Canada you get a skewed picture of what is happening in the Maritimes. Just a week ago weather reports mentioned heavy snowfall in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, high winds in Cape Breton. Here on the Island is was sun and clouds and some wind, we never saw the storm.

What we do have is hurricane strength winds 90-150 Km per hour which can last for hours. If it is just the wind and no snow that is not too bad though electricity can go out and buildings can be damaged by the wind, this is what happened yesterday when 15,000 people lost electrical power due to the wind and the 12 Km long Sea bridge had to close for a few hours. This is not reported outside of PEI and we get lumped in weather report with the rest of the Maritimes. Only if you go to CBC PEI do you get an accurate picture. However we do cope quite easily, a storm day is decreed and every one stays homes, time to read and do things around the house. No one stresses over the fact that you cannot get to work or to school, every one gets a day off.

Here is a view from the Garden of Hope of the Clyde River in New Glasgow, just 20 minutes away from Charlottetown. One of my favourite areas to visit, the garden of Hope is quite beautiful. A typical Winter scene in PEI.

St-Dunstan RC Basilica up our street, the bells are being re-installed after being out of service for 38 years. Special citizen funded project led by historians and business people.

Prince Street seen from my window on this 31 December morning.

Morning view of Water Street looking West from my window.

Glass balloon we got as a gift in one of the kitchen windows

So for New Year’s Eve on the menu on the Island most people do a medley of Seafood, Oysters are very good at this time of the year, Lobster is also a favourite.

Tomorrow is the Levee and we will probably go to Fanningbank to shake hands with the Lieutenant Governor and wish him a Happy New Year. In fact you can spend the day doing the rounds of all the Levee to shake hands with the Premier, the Mayor, Police Chief, the Fire Chief,the Bishop, numerous Clubs like the Irish Benevolent Society, etc… Hundreds of people will do the rounds, it’s an Island tradition.

Fanningbank, the Official Residence of the Lieutenant Governor of PEI.

Buona Vigilia di Capodanno a tutti voi!

Am I stressing myself?

Tags

Canada., Charlottetown, Friends, life, Maritimes, move, moving, PEI, Provinces

I am told by my better half that I am stressing myself out over this move. I agree, I think I have been a little silly over thinking this move and over analyzing every detail over and over again. I have always been highly organized but this time I am over doing it.

It does not help that our landlord in Ottawa has decided to sell the condo we live in and is showing it while we are still living here and paying full rent. I resent that and maybe I could have put my foot down and said no. There is just over a month left before moving day so not much more time and any visit by a prospective buyer last all of 10 minutes no more. We have only  had 3 in 14 days, so not much of a big deal, but it is annoying nonetheless.

Province House (Legislature) Charlottetown

Also part of this move, we have been thinking of our Friends in Ottawa, I say our Friends with a Capital F because we have known these people for 40 years or almost. So we go back a long time with them and many may feel we are abandoning them, we are not, we are simply moving to another Province and it is not that far, really not. We will not forget them, unless we were ingrates, and too much water has passed under that bridge for us to forget them once in PEI. We only hope they will not forget us.

As I said yesterday at my formal farewell to the National Gallery Party for Volunteers where the Director and senior management made a point of thanking me for my contribution, I was honoured and moved by their words. We chose in our Sunset years (what can you call them) a higher quality of life and doing something we wanted to do for a long time which is to live by the Sea. I also want to be able to see the Universe at night without all the light pollution we enjoy here. It is quite an amazing spectacle it makes you realize how big it is and how small we are lost in the vast space. So for my remaining 25 years this is what I want to do. I say this with a grain of salt since no one knows how long one has.

European Gallery at the NGC 

The quality of life in PEI is high, the people have an old World charm about them, it is a small place and everyone knows everybody, families have been established for a long time, (17th century), the food is very good, with excellent restaurants and resorts, chefs with a solid reputation, the Farmer’s Market is the real thing, there is also a new wine industry growing, the beef, seafood and award winning cheeses, beaches are spectacular according to Condé Nast, the best in North America. There is a charm to the Island all it’s own. The weather is heavily influenced by Atlantic currents, the Gulf Stream and winds from the North and the East, meaning one is never sure what you will get during a single day. It is certainly not as cold as Central Canada which competes with Siberia in terms of cold days,  I will take -5 any day over -35C. The vibrant Art scene all year round, the numerous Festivals, etc. As Sarah Palin would say, I can see Europe from my kitchen window, actually we see New Brunswick and the Straits of Northumberland but you get my point, we are only 4 hours away. We are also on Atlantic time which means one hour ahead of Central Canada.

We are now set and all I have to do is simply take a deep breath and all will unfold as it should.

 

 

A sure sign

Tags

Ascot, Canada., gold cup week, Horse Racing, lead soldiers, Maritimes, miniature, moving, PEI, World

Well a sure sign that we are moving is something I did yesterday, it happens every time and it is the start of packing and preparing for the movers to come. The last time I did this was in June 2011.

I have a collection of about 250 lead soldiers in the 54 mm size and representing regiments from around the world. From the Papal Swiss Guards to Mexico Soldier Cadet School, Prussian, Bavarian, Austrian, Italian, French (Ancient regime) Russian Imperial, British etc… All hand painted and beautifully detailed. Packing them off as it where requires usually 3 full days. They are fragile and must be carefully re-boxed individually.

 

Once this is done that means we are moving and now sorting our books, we have 6 book shelves IKEA style about 48 boxes all together, must be gone through. Then the closets and clothing no longer required given away, even pots and pans in the Kitchen will be sorted and what is no longer used will be discarded. We are not throwing anything away, if it can be given to someone, books to the Municipal Library or clothing to St-Vincent etc.. It will be done that way. We do not thrown away since there is always someone who might be interested in having it.

April is cleaning up month! May is moving to PEI month.

Just noticed that Old Home Week in Charlottetown and the Gold Cup and Saucer Race (PEI’s Ascot Race) is August 11 to 20. Since the early 1960s, the Gold Cup and Saucer Race has been considered one of the most celebrated harness racing events in Eastern Canada. Each August, as a culmination of Old Home Week, the fastest horses and most skilled drivers compete in 15 racing programs in nine days.