A cold gray weekend

Tags

Christmas, Italy, PEI, Plum Pudding, Rome, Storms, turmoil, winter, World

The weather is not very nice at the moment as we approach Xmas. This morning I was listening to a very nice rendition of Black Bird by Paul McCartney on saxophone it was beautiful, modern interpretation. It is one of my favourite piece of music. The other one which makes me stop to listen is by Cesar Franck, Prélude, Fugue, et Variation. Absolutely wonderful and this is the music I love to listen before going to sleep or before I die this would be the music I would want to hear. It evoque in me many recollections. Have a listen it is well worth it.

We do live in troubled times, it seems the world is gone mad, pandemics, inflations, climate change, extinctions of species, war in Europe, failed politics and violence, threats to democracy. It has been getting worse since March 2020 when Covid became a thing. Let us hope that 2023 will bring a return to more balance and stability. Though I know that it is unlikely, possibly more horrors will come our way. But in the past there has been periods like 1929 to 1945 deep economic depression and then world war and all the horrors of it, with millions of dead. Before that 1914-1919 another great period of turmoil with a flu epidemic. I just feel strange that we will not return to a life as it was prior to 1990, it will never be the same.

I hear friends who are my age or older saying they are happy to be at the end of their lives because they lived through good times, though there was trouble but never as we see it now. From 1946 to 1990 there was stability despite some events, people remained optimistic for the future. This optimism seems to have gone out.

We have talked of travelling in 2023 but we would do close to home travel, nothing in Europe despite wanting to go. Then again at home much will depend on the recovery and good health of Will. More months to go before the final word.

Given that we are 2 weeks away from Xmas, today I decided to go and get my Xmas bird, well not a turkey but a Cornish Hen which I will cook and serve with the appropriate side dish and for dessert will have the Plum Pudding sent to us by Will’s old school friend who lives in Vancouver.

Tomorrow Tuesday the first Winter storm is coming our way with hurricane force winds which is the real concern since the clean up from Fiona continues and many trees are still to be cut down and taken away. We may get more power outages. Though I am not worried here being on the strategic power supply axis of the capital. Winds from the NW at 90Km per hour and snow accumulation of 15cm.

We have done our Christmas decorations and this year it is a small 3 foot tree, no sterling silver balls, no Wedgwood ornaments, only smaller simpler ornaments still collected over 40 years from all around the world. Maybe it is better to go for simpler, nothing says you have to over decorate or go over board with gifts or meals. I prefer to listen to music from J.S.Bach or other classical composers Praetorius, Charpentier, or old French 18th century music or some Chet Baker.

Whatever you do this year, I hope it will make you happy. By the way in and around 1100 AD you would have said Merrie Christes Maesse. The photo below by Mauro Pagliai is the centre of Rome, Piazza Venezia and the lighting of the City of Rome Christmas tree. The long straight lighted street is Via del Corso which takes you to Piazza del Popolo. This street was known in antiquity as Via Flaminia built in 220 BC. imagine walking on a street that is 2220 years old and still very much in use. If you follow it outside of Rome it would take you over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum (Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. How we miss Rome and living there after all these years.

Another view this time from the top of the Vittoriano dedicated to King Vittorio Emanuelle II who unified Italy in 1870 with Garibaldi.

Whirlwind

Tags

books, Charlottetown, dachshunds, EUR, Haviland Club, Italy, Rome

This week has been very busy, the big good news and I big uplift is that Will was able to start drinking tea and eating pudding. He has not had anything to eat through normal means in the last 3 months. Now he will have to do therapy to learn to swallow again normally as the tumour shrinks and dies. He is relieved and so am I and we are happy about this outcome, but we do have many more months until the final results are known. It is however looking good.

Monday I was invited to attend the inauguration of the new City Council. The next municipal election will be in 2026. The Councillor of my Ward 1, is now deputy Mayor, she was my opponent in the election of 2018. A smart lady, very political and we have become friends. The Mayor is trying hard to forge a new agenda, hopefully with this new Council it will be possible.

This week I had things to do each day. Wednesday went to Belle River about 45 min outside of Charlottetown to see a friend who has a beautiful old house in the area. He gave the Club 85 art/culture books, truly a wonderful gift for our Club Library. His house is full of treasures and has that old European feel about it.

Picture taken by Reg Porter in his house.

Then Thursday it was off to Kensington and Summerside in driving rain and fog to get the old puppies to the groomer. They do not like it but it has to be done and she does a great job. Now they are clean for Xmas.

This is so stressful for them and when I came to pick them up at 4:30pm they first peed and then ran for the car. Sleeping on their blankets on the back seat all the way back to town.

Nora at Home waiting for her dinner.

Nicky the quiet one in the family and now blind.

Tomorrow Friday should be quiet only the Club in the evening. Now the Xmas decorations are up, it will be quiet just the 2 of us, that is perfectly fine. I made an appointment to get a pre-Xmas haircut.

One stem and 5 blooms of this white Amaryllis, a beautiful elegant flower. I have another one growing, a red one. The stem is 2 feet tall.

Last Friday at the Club in what was once the formal salon of Esther Lowden’s home, a nice Winter fire in the Pink Sicilian Marble fireplace. It is so pleasant to sit in this room and just enjoy a glass of wine by the fire.

Here is another view this week in the afternoon. It is a very comfortable room.

Now I saw this photo this week of the EUR neighbourhood of Rome (Esposizione Universale Roma), it is on the outskirts of the city on the way to the airport. It was started my Benito Mussolini in the 1930’s and was to be his modernistic view of Rome, it was never completed due to the war and his fall from power in July 1943. However it is surprising by its modernity of style.

This building dominates the area and is very interesting. The Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, also known as the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro, or in everyday speech as the Colosseo Quadrato, is a building in the EUR district in Rome. It was designed in 1938 by three Italian architects: Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto La Padula, and Mario Romano. Despite its origins, Romans are very proud of its architecture and what it says about Rome and the future. The sky is dramatic like it is usually in Rome.

At random

Tags

Berlin, Flaminia, photos, roads, Rome

Today is our last day at the cottage and will return home tomorrow. It has been a great 2 weeks and the weather has been generally warm and sunny.

Cavendish National Park

Here are some nice photos the first one is the old Roman road known as the Via Flaminia which was in antiquity an highway into Rome proper and entering the City at Piazza del Popolo. The modern Via Flaminia is on top of the ancient road, and turns into a city streets once it crosses the Milvian Bridge.

Nice to see the old pavement and the quality of roman construction.

This photo shows the Museum Island in central Berlin and the park surrounded by a colonnade next to the Lutheran Cathedral of Berlin. A peaceful area of the city made for walking.

Here is another shot this time taken from the roof of the Imperial City Palace in Berlin known today as the Humboldt Forum. The Lutheran Cathedral was heavily damaged in 1944-45. It has been restored completely as it was before the war. The crypt is interesting to see, where the coffins of the members of the old Prussian Royal family are kept. The inside of the church also has the old balcony with pews for the Kaiser and his family came to worship and a special section for the diplomatic corps. The lantern of the dome is modern, the communist regime did not want to rebuild it as it was before the war.

More Sunshine and Tacitus

Tags

fishing, Germany, lobster, North Rustico, PEI, Restaurants, Rome, Tacitus

The next 3 days are forecasted to be sunny, we are now in September. New Season on the social calendar. The tourists have left and now its cruise ship season in Charlottetown, many tourists places will start to close for the Season and by Thanksgiving in early October most of it will be closed until May 2023.

Here at the Cottage I have returned to reading Tacitus who wrote some 2000 years ago about Rome and its Empire and the various people who populated it and its rulers. Tacitus did a lot of Ethnographic writing to explain to Romans what other people living outside the borders of the Empire or within it were like in terms of their culture, society, beliefs and food. How they dressed or not, Germans would go to war naked and paint their bodies as a talisman against injury of death. Feasting and hospitality was an important cultural value. Entertainment was dancing naked young men with swords drawn which required a lot of skill. Hunting and just lying about most of the time was common. Agriculture was not valued. People lived in forests and their gods in groves attended by Priests who also dispensed justice. Overall generosity and hospitality were the chief values. Tacitus wrote for the educated and powerful roman society, he himself came from a very well to do family and received the best of education. His father-in-Law was Gnaeus Julius Agricola, a commander of the roman Legions in Britain and then Governor of Roman Britain. Tacitus also occupied important functions in Rome and sat on the Imperial Council and knew Emperors like Vespasian, Trajan, Titus. His understanding of context and events have come to us and it is a great source of knowledge to understand how Rome was at the time, no Hollywood version here with Christian martyrs, Rome was a very cosmopolitan and complex society.

Life at the cottage is very quiet and pleasant, we enjoy it, with good food and good friends who are visiting us.

Another beautiful sunrise on the sea.

Making choke cherry jelly in our kitchen, our friend J. has great skills at this sort of thing.

Gladiolas in Season now, brought by a friend.

A restaurant we love to go to on the South West River near us.

North Rustico bay and the boardwalk, a nice quiet little town which dates back to 1740.

Lobster boat taking some visitors out to sea for a spin. North Rustico is mostly seafood restaurants like Blue Mussels and a fishing village famous for its lobster fleet.

The sunsets have dramatic display of clouds and golden colours.

just before the cottage

Tags

Canada., cuisine, Ferragosto, French River, market, PEI, Pesaro, Rome, Rossini

It has been a hot week again and lots of sunshine, I was at the farmer’s market past Saturday and it was extremely busy, I have not seen it this busy since 2019. Parking was chaotic, lots of tourists from other provinces who park here and there like they have never seen a parking lot. Being Mid-August now there is lots of vegetables and flowers on offer. It is very nice to see all the variety and the lower prices given the abundance. Lots of nice garden tomatoes that actually taste sweet and full of flavour. One farmer had fresh sage, it looked like velvet, she uses bunches of it in her kitchen as a fragrance and for cooking of course. I really love going to the market, it is staffed by real farmers who have working farms, they are known and have a reputation to uphold. Same for the butchers, like Larkin or the coffee bar who buys and roasts all his coffee. Bakers also offer a range of European breads, pastries, cakes and then the mustard lady Sabine who is German, she makes an incredible number of mustards at her home in Murray Harbour. There is also a group of caterers who prepare home made dishes for foodies and they are very popular, all of them have a chef who is well known like Gallant’s seafood or Makena with her Kenyan dishes. All are very small operations and you may have to wait about 10 min for your food but it is a pleasant chatty atmosphere.

What is also nice about the Farmer’s Market is bumping into all kinds of people you know. People are relaxed and there is a good vibe about the place. Of course it is always better to go very early around 8am it gets super busy by noon time and then closes at 2pm.

I have been to other markets, Montreal has a very well known one, Jean Talon Market, it has a solid reputation with Chefs from great restaurants for the freshness of what is on offer. Toronto also has a great market. Ottawa used to have a good market unfortunately some 20 years ago it all went south and now you have maybe 4 farmers and the rest are people who buy from grocers and sell on the street. It is a problem and the atmosphere is very tourist trap like.

However the best markets with the freshest produce was in Rome in our neighbourhood. Opened early and closed by 2pm. Incredible quality in all products.

Must start thinking about what to take to the cottage in 8 days. It will be very relaxed, we are at the beach after all. Nice neighbours in French River waiting for us. We are also booked for next year. We like the place.

I also followed the Trump search of his home and how very sad this is for the USA. To think that a former head of State would take with him sensitive secret documents, some of them with nuclear secrets, to do what exactly? To sell them off to the Chinese or the Russians? Trump must not be allowed to escape justice, he is not above the law, being an ex-president does not give you special rights. I am also dismayed by the GOP for being partisan and forgetting about the good of the country and siding with Trump on this matter.

As a Canadian looking at this from afar, I worry for what might happen, listening to PBS NewsHour on Friday and the comments by Capehart and Brooks, this is really scary. Will politicians wake-up and realize the danger or continue to play games thinking that it is not that serious. There is also the fringe fanatics or lunatics who support Trump and there has to be a crackdown on such people. Sometimes extreme measures are required to protect the greater good of the Nation, half measures and wishful thinking simply will not do.

Not that we do not have our own problems in Canada with partisan politics and protests from the extreme-right, we do. We are at risk, in a divisive way. Reading on the French Civil War of 1789, many politicians at the time thought that you could turn on the violence and turn it off when suitable. Is this what we are seeing now in the USA and elsewhere? Once the flood of violence is turned on it is nearly impossible to stop it and turn it off. In France the revolution ate its children, same in Russia, same in China, it is always the same. The fear now seems to be that if Trump is arrested riots may erupt, this is where leaders must crack down hard on rioters. Napoleon said has much and he put an end to the riots of the revolution by using cannons on the crowds in Paris. He mused that if Louis XVI had done the same he would still be king.

Today is the 15 August, Ferragosto which was created by Emperor Augustus, the month is named after him. He designated 1 August as a holiday to celebrate the end of the harvest, so everyone could rejoice and enjoy a holiday, feast and games. Then it was called the The Catholic Church changed the date to 15 August for the feast of the Assumption of Mary to Heaven. It remains the date of the start of vacation all over Italy and in other catholic countries in Europe. Life comes to a standstill as everyone goes to the mountains or the beach for several weeks. I loved that time in Rome and we too went on vacation to Pesaro on the Adriatic to the Rossini Festival, it is his home town.

Central square on the Adriatic in Pesaro, lovely place at any time of day.

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.

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.

Activities

Tags

dinner, life, Marina, Rome, terrace, water

The other night we went to the Cork & Cast which is a floating restaurant with 10 tables in the marina by the cruise ship terminal. It’s a very quiet area, the food is very good and we have known the owners for some time. They have one cocktail I love called the Gin and Pink, it is basically a gin tonic with a fruity popsicle in a mason jar, I go there just to get that drink. The menu is simple, its fish, mussels, oysters and salads. I had the haddock on soft shell tacos. They also have a nice chowder. The food is good and well prepared, this is a place to relax on the water, no families or kids, just quiet.

Then yesterday I came upon images of the Summer in Rome, the city residential neighbourhoods have lots of treed streets, many are fruit trees, orange or flowering trees all along the sidewalks. In our area which was just outside the walls at Porta Pia, all the streets had shrubbery, trees and flowering bushes. It made for very pleasant walking.

I saw these two photos which brought back memories.

This one is just a coffee place and you can get a snack, simple no corp ownership.

This other photo is of a German artists who is working on his terrace while friends are having lunch. The ruins are the extension of the imperial palace built by Caligula and they are on the edge of the Roman Forum, in the background we see a church which is built into the Temple of the Divine Antonius Pius and Faustina. We also have a lateral view of the 3 columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux. The terrace is very typical is a bit unkept, with large plants in terracotta pots, what a view.

View from our terrace at 26 Via Dei Villini, Roma, we had many dinners on this terrace.

Our street, it was quiet area and I could walk to work just 5 minutes away.

Two Birthdays

Tags

Birthdays, Queen Elizabeth II, Rome

Today is the 2775 Birthday of the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus.

The founding of Rome is an official birthday in Italy.

The legend of the founding of the Rome tells the story of Romulus and Remus, two brothers who founded a settlement on the banks of the Tiber river after being raised by a she-wolf in the nearby countryside.   

They could not agree exactly where to build, and ended up fighting in what is now the Circus Maximus . Romulus won the fight, killed his brother and named the city after himself, as well as becoming Rome’s first king. Rome then was nothing more than a village with about 100 people.

As Rome grew and grew, eventually becoming a vast, sprawling empire, the story of Romulus and Remus, the she-wolf and the fight to establish the city continued to be told.

The second Birthday is that of Her Majesty Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada in the 70th year of Her Reign. HM is 96 years old today. Only two other Sovereigns had long reigns King George III (60 years) and Queen Victoria (64 years).

Celebrating the first ever Platinum Jubilee

Rome remembers the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March in 44 BC.

Tags

Cesar, Ides, March, Rome

The Ides of March was the 74th day in the Roman calendar, determined by the full moon, and corresponded to 15 March.

It was traditionally marked by several religious observances and festivals and was also used by Romans as a landmark deadline for settling debts.

The Ides of March 1939 was the day Nazi Germany Marched into Prague. Today Russian troops are at the doors of Kyiv.

Immensely popular with the people in Rome, Caesar was a successful military leader who expanded the republic to include parts of what are now Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium.

Caesar, who had seized power from the Roman Republic and declared himself a dictator for life, was killed by a group of 60 conspirators led by his senator friends, Brutus and Cassius

The assassination took place during a meeting of the senate in the Curia Pompeia, within the larger Pompey’s Theatre complex in Rome’s Torre Argentina archaeological area.

According to legend, a soothsayer had warned Caesar of his impending murder, immortalised by William Shakespeare with the ominous phrase “Beware the Ides of March” from his play Julius Caesar.

Caesar was said to have been stabbed 23 times, his body was cremated in the Roman Forum. The site is marked by the remains of the Temple of the Divine Julius, an altar located to the eastern side of the central Forum area, where people to this day leave flowers in his memory.

Caesar’s assassination would result in a long series of civil wars that ended in the demise of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Roman Empire.

Eventually it led to the rise of his nephew and adopted heir Octavian, later known as Augustus, who became the first emperor of Rome in 27 BC. It also saw the deification of Caesar 14 months after his murder.

The Death of Julius Caesar (1806) by Vincenzo Camuccini.