On a cold but sunny Friday

Tags

Canada, covid, Food, Russia, Sicily, Spring, Ukraine, USA, Wine

We are in mid-January and typically the weather is very cold. I had my booster shot 3 days ago and all is well, no after effects. So now I am all boosted and frankly Covid is no longer my priority. I lived in too many countries where many awful diseases where endemic and my vaccinations protected me. So time to move along.

The weather has been cold, frigid, the Hillsborough river is now frozen. We are in a lockdown but the number of sick people has been dropping every day. Yes those who are sick are unvaccinated and maybe you will think me callous or unfeeling but I really do not care about them, it has been 2 years, plenty of time to do the right thing. Everyday we have 100 + spot for vaccination available on PEI so if you want a shot it is very easy to get and takes about 6 minutes. Someone I know yesterday was shopping and stopped at the Pharmacy enquired about a vaccine and got it on the spot. Could it be easier?

I have joined those who are fully vaccinated and feel they should be allowed to go about their lives and not have to worry about the Covidiots who sit there and complain.

So we are more or less confined to our homes, though you can shop for groceries and pick up at the restaurant, but that is not civilized living. On the other hand we have had some pretty marvellous meals at home thanks to Will.

I was thinking this week, that if one day I was to travel again I would love to return to Granada to see the Alhambra palace and the gardens again. What a stunning place it was, and to think it was built 1000 years ago, a marvel. Portugal would be another place I would like to visit again. We had a very nice visit to Lisbon a few years ago. Then Sicily, such an ancient place, beautiful Marsala, Trapani, Monreale, Ragusa, Catania on the slope of Mount Etna. The food in Sicily is a completely different cuisine from Italy, due to centuries of Spanish, Normand and Arab influences. The wines are also of great quality with all that volcanic soil.

I would like a month long trip, not a week or a few days, which is good if you are young and must get back. On the other hand I have cooled to cruises, the food is usually just ok despite what you are told, the rooms on board are nice but I never found them as comfortable as an hotel room. Frankly the crowds on ships despite being on smaller ships get to me. I think that I would like some really good food and service, something you do not come across much these days despite high prices. However if one travels now there are all these tests and complications mass confusion at the airport, not to mention the crazy travellers.

Catania and Mount Etna

Well on 1 February we will see if the sanctions come off and if life returns to a more normal pace, let’s hope so.

But then Blinken meets Lavrov to talk about the Ukraine, what they are really talking about is not so much a possible invasion as let’s not use any nuclear weapons, negotiating a complicated ballet. Would be inexcusable to blow up the planet over the Ukraine. If there is an invasion by Russia, the only likely response will be severe or more severe economic sanctions. Europe may not follow because their economy would suffer, China will help Russia in any way they can, Iran also will be part of the underhanded help. I love to listen to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, so calm and worldly, he knows his stuff and will not be perturbed, Blinken looks unsure and nervous.

As for Canada in all this, well our Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, a nice person and well educated but way over her head. Canada can do nothing in this conflict we are irrelevant, even with our gift of $120 million to help Ukraine, chump change really. Our Armed forces leadership has been decapitated with a series of well timed alleged sexual peccadillos. Our army is short 12,000 men, ill equipped, no air force to speak of and no navy, all this due to decades of cut backs on military spending. So I so not think that Russia is too worried about us.

How many days til Spring? 58 Days! Seems like an eternity.

Winter has arrived

Tags

Ontario, PEI, Sicily, winter

The cold has arrived from Upper Canada, bad weather comes from there and usually ends up in the USA, you know terrible cold and snow, no wonder we are in trouble over NAFTA, exporting ice and snow to the USA, I think it is called dumping.

Well they also send it over to the Maritimes. This satellite photo shows PEI surrounded by ice. I think we should impose a tourism visa or build a wall to keep them Upper Canadians out. There is a movement afoot for PEI to secede and join Sicily to avoid Winter weather all together.

 

The past week in the World

Tags

Free Trade, G7, NATO, pope, Sicily, Trump, Vatican

The German Magazine BILD quoted the German Chancellor Angela Merkel today in a Speech she gave in Bavaria at a political rally of her party CSU: We can’t rely on the US anymore. I have experienced this in the last days. We Europeans should take destiny in our own hands. ~@BILD

In the past week we have seen Donald Trump destroy 70 years of diplomatic relations and turn the USA into a laughingstock that no one can trust. He went to Saudi Arabia where he has business interests and made his speech again on terrorism thinking that the Arab leaders will fall for it. They are far more astute than he and saw right through his words. What he really wanted to do was sell weapons with no other objective in mind. Not understanding that singling out IRAN when there is already an agreement on Nuclear weapons is not wise and plays against US interests.

Then on to Israel and Palestine where under the guidance of his son-in-law Jared K. he gave full support to the right wing government of Netanyahu without a thought to the consequences. He believed he had left the Middle-East, it was not clear where he thought he was presently as if Israel was a continent. Trump wanted everyone to believe that he had the Peace solution in hand.  Again petulant and arrogant, ignorant of the issues of the region, unable to grasp the complexities. What Trump knows is what his prejudices have taught him and what he sees on television, he does not want to see further or ask questions.

Goes to see the Pope at the Vatican and the photos speak volumes, what a disaster again. The Pope gave him the document, encyclical letter Laudato Si, he wrote on the topic of care for one another, in light of the battle to repeal Obama care a rather pointed message. Visits to the Vatican are highly organized, choreograph affairs, the Holy See has 1400 years of diplomatic experience, Trump barges in as if he is at the OK Corral, his beliefs and attitude are highly insulting and in direct contradiction with social justice, human rights and the agenda of the Pontiff. Under the guidance of US diplomats Trump could have modified his message to be more appealing and avoid the worst but no, why bother, we are dealing with Archie Bunker here.

At Nato in Brussels, he lectured and insulted the other World Leaders, why? Trump like his supporters believes that the USA tells the World what to do and how high to jump. The new French President Macron said today that the handshake he gave Trump at their meeting  was tight on purpose, he does not like the man. So you can see the USA-France relationship cool and become difficult.

Trump’s attitude is that the USA saved the World and the World owes the USA everything. As one American tourist said on a trip we took on the Danube, the Germans need our money, we saved them from Hitler. Problem is Germany and the EU today are strong economies and the Second World War ended 70 years ago and the Cold War ended 28 years ago. The world has changed and Trump is unaware. To make the statement to other G7 members that he found investing in Europe difficult because the Europeans are too difficult when he is negotiating to build new golf courses, is hardly an intelligent economic argument. That Chancellor Angela Merkel has to explain to him that German car manufacturers create thousands of jobs in several plants in various US States and that Americans want to buy quality German products is not a bad thing, it is called the Free Market and Capitalism. It reminds me that the US Armed Forces have a special program to allow its personnel to buy at reduce cost tax free BMW cars. I am sure Trump still does not understand, he does not want to believe that we live in a interconnected world, there is no one way street. Europe is an important economic power of 500 million people, we are no longer in the 1950’s, John Wayne is dead.

The way he shoved his way to the front by pushing the Prime Minister of Montenegro, his refusal to walk with other leaders taking a golf cart instead, his condescending attitude and smug self satisfied smile on every picture is truly sad. His failure to re-affirm the NATO principle of mutual defence all the while demanding that countries pay up the 2% in defence spending because it is not fair to America. Excuse me but the 2% is a goal not an obligation and countries have until 2024 to reach it, so as the expression goes, Chill Donald just chill. Refusing to adhere to Principle 5 of the Alliance when the USA invoke it after September 11, again shows his complete ignorance of facts.

The last straw in Taormina, Sicily in the shadow of Mount Etna, could no one push him into the volcano and do the world a favour? Such Summits have a pre-determined agenda, Summits are highly scripted affairs and the final communiqué is always prepared in advance of the Summit. Only small changes are made before it is released at the end of the Summit. Everyone had agreed on the wording to re-affirm support for the Paris Agreement on the Environment and on other economic issues like Free Trade. Trump decides to say he will let everyone know by next week. Hello!!! Trump get with the program, this is not how Summit work. The G7 leaders said that the conversations were unsatisfactory, disappointing and no agreement was reached on anything, diplomatic speak, the translation this Summit with Trump was a total failure and he is an idiot.

It is now obvious that the USA cannot be trusted and Trump is an ignorant boor. So Angela Merkel is right in saying that the EU can no longer count or trust the USA. Canada is also now having to re-negotiate NAFTA, we cannot trust the USA, the current Administration has declared economic war on us and on Mexico. Canada and the EU must now look out for their own interests and count on ourselves and not the USA.

This last week the USA declined in the World, no longer leading, Trump is not interested in that role, going back to the isolationist policies of 1919 is pretty sad for a once such great country.

Books I read

Tags

history, J.J.Norwich, Lampedusa, Leopard, Sicily, writer

I finished two books one by Stephan Zweig and the other a personal biography by Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun on her life 1755-1842. Both are interesting because they present worlds that have disappeared. Written by authors who present in their own way how they saw the world. Zweig lived in intellectual circles and died in 1942. Vigée-Lebrun an ardent French Royalist, a survivor, portrait artist to Marie-Antoinette and European Royalty speaks of her world which was sophisticated and was a life in the Salon of the Palaces of Europe where ordinary mortals never entered. A retrospective of her works is being presented now at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. Some of the paintings have never left Versailles since 1783, others come from private collections not open to the public. Well worth seeing.

I now turn to a book on Sicily, the largest Island of the Mediterranean who for 2500 years was colonized by a host of different invaders, the Greeks first, the Carthaginians and then the Romans, the Goths, the Byzantine, the Arabs, the Normans, the French, the Spaniards, finally the Italians from 1860. Sicilians are not Italians, they speak a different language, today Italian is the lingua franca. This book on Sicily is written by the eminent historian John Julius Norwich who is now 87 years old.

I have visited Sicily at 3 separate times and I wish I was able to return and visit even more of this fabled Island. One of the greatest book of the 20th century was The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, it was made into a movie featuring Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale.  The Leopard is in a class by itself says Norwich and I agree. As Norwich points out a Non-Sicilian will never be able to  penetrate the Island’s mysteries.

All this to say that Sicily is a fascinated place, of great wealth, culturally, artistically, cullinarily, historically and archeologically. Sicily also produces some of the best wines from Italy though we tend to hear more about Tuscany. I brought back in 2011 a large number of cases of wine from Sicily, wonderful high quality.This book by Norwich is a delight and having been to many cities all around the Island it is a pleasure to re-discover them through Norwich’s eyes. The Sicilians are also an interesting people often un-happy with the latest invaders, but suffering with quiet dignity.

Maybe this book by Norwich on Sicily will incite me to return to the Island for another visit.

 

 

Remember Pesaro, Capri, Sicily

Tags

beef, Canada., Capri, Charlottetown, Cheese, cuisine, PEI, Pesaro, Seafood, Sicily, wines

A few weeks ago I wrote that our new home and now it is revealed it will be Charlottetown the Capital of the Province of Prince Edward Island. It has in common with these 3 places in Italy the following, with Pesaro on the Adriatic, music and culture, with Capri, it is an Island of great beauty and with Sicily, it has fine cuisine, seafood, beef, cheese and wines.

An aerial view of our neighbourhood, I can see our house on this photo (circled in red), in the Summer cruise ships come into the Harbour area on the Hillsborough river. You can see the entrance of the harbour giving unto the Northumberland Strait. From our living room window we can see down Prince street to the Harbour the ships as they dock.

So only 11 weeks left before we leave for PEI.

Pesaro, Capri or Sicilia?

Tags

art., Capri, culture, Etna, Food, Future, opera, PEI, Pesaro, Rossini, Sicily, Wine

Well we have been to those three places, Pesaro is a small town South of Rimini on the Adriatic Coast of Italy and the birth place of the celebrated Opera and Music composer Gioachino Rossini, Barber of Seville Fame. It is also a resort beach town with a long history, excellent restaurant, art galleries, culture, Italian Fashion Creations and a famous Opera Festival in August each year devoted to the music of its famous son, who did not live many years in Pesaro and preferred Paris. We love the place and had many wonderful times there.

 

Inside the Palazzo Moschi-Tosca in Pesaro, books as art installation.

Intermission during an opera performance, patrons on the square in front of the theatre. If you look closely you will see us in the crowd.

Capri, the Island in the bay of Naples, facing the Volcano Vesuvius. Capri is of course famous as a resort for Emperors like Tiberius and the millionaire jet-set, spectacular views, no beaches really because the Island is one big cliff and the few places where you could swim is made of narrow stretches below the cliffs of black flat stones, this is why the wealthy have pools instead. The restaurants are great, so are the hotels, most are small but luxurious, no motel 6 here, it is a lovely place to relax, the hordes of tourists are kept on paths, usually with a guide near to shops so they don’t disturb the peace of the Just. We visited once and I liked it but could not picture myself enjoying the languid lifestyle.

Sicily, we took our car from Rome on the ferry overnight and sailed for Palermo. We arrived at 7:30am and disembarked, we then spent 2 weeks travelling around this wonderful Island once part of greater Greece in Antiquity and then part of the Duchy of Normandy, then France, until the incident of the Sicilian Vespers, see opera of the same name, finally Spain until 1860. From Palermo we travelled to Trapani, Marsala, Mazara del Vallo, Agrigento, Gela, Ragusa, Noto, Siracusa and Catania.

A beautiful island full of surprises, spectacular views, great sea food, wonderful wines, a complex history separate from Italy and a rich ancient culture. Worth many return trips.

 The best quality Marsala wine you can buy, it is not for cooking, not at those prices and it is very good to drink!

Different variety of top quality Marsala wines served by Salvatore the owner of the Wine Bar La Sirena Ubriaca in Marsala.

Wonderful seafood we had in Marsala

Spanish architecture in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily. Much of it built during the period of the Kingdom of Naples and the Two Sicily when Spain was ruling that part of the Peninsula.

Siracusa a wonderful city founded by the Greeks 2800 years ago. In the far distance the snow cap volcano Mount Etna.

The famous Greek Classical Theatre Festival of Siracusa, plays are in Greek. Telling all those famous story from Antiquity. Plays are performed in an ancient theatre built originally for that purpose in antiquity.

The small town of Noto and its beautiful architecture.

The symbol of Catania the little Elephant named Liotru, an old story involving a magician and his elephant made this the symbol of the city

Catania’s famous pastry known as the Tits of St-Agatha, delicious.

As seen from the centre of the City of Catania, Mount Etna acting up again. It is known as a gusher volcano not an explosive one, otherwise there would be no Catania today.

So why am I talking about these three places, yes we visited them and yes we enjoyed them immensely. But what is the connection with the future? Ah! there is the riddle, all three, Pesaro, Capri and Sicilia have a connection and point to events yet to come. So stay tuned, all will be revealed!

Summer gardens

Tags

italian gardens, Lake Como, Sicily, Summer

Pensée du Jour; “The love of beauty in its multiple forms is the noblest gift of the human mind.” Alexis Carrel (1873-1944)

Here are some photos of summer gardens in Italy, these gardens are quiet, peaceful and just made for you to enjoy a beautiful view in a setting where you can think and just enjoy with your eyes what you see all around you. Yes you will need a team of gardeners to look after it all. Some are Villas on Lake Como in Northern Italy and others are in Taormina and Ragusa Sicily.