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.

Another day

Tags

Belle River PEI, Canada, January 06, lunch, Ottawa, Parliament, Summer, USA

I have been watching on You Tube the testimony of various people involved in the January 06 attack on the Capitol. This is like a terrible car crash with dead bodies and blood, you are attracted to it and you cannot get away. Absolutely awful and very worrying in the context of what is happening around the world at the moment. As one well known commentator put it the other night, “we cannot allow Russia to win this war, the consequence for the world would be too awful.” I agree with him, Russia wins, we all loose and in a major way, not just militarily but economically and we see it already with inflation, oil prices, etc. Russia will not stop at Ukraine, the long term plan is to reconquer other former satellites of the Soviet Union. China will be embolden to attack Taiwan and make chaos in Asia, it would also be a victory for North Korea. This is not a joke, we are in very deep trouble and then Climate Change and Covid which is endemic now. I remain despite it all an optimist, I truly believe that things will sort themselves out.

Today we travelled 40 minutes out of town to Belle River, its a settlement on the coast where the Belle Rivière as it was known before 1755 was called. A friend of ours has an old farm house, so we visited him and we brought lunch with us. Given the 25 C sunny weather today it was a Summer lunch of cold chicken and Will’s own Cesar salad which is the authentic version. Our friend’s house is full of wonderful books, music and architectural drawings of ancient classical temple in Rome, a very comfortable house. It was nice to get away from the noise of Charlottetown. We are a week away from Summer vacation time and 2 weeks from our National Day, the traffic in the city is getting worse and the number of tourists rises every day, not fun.

The drive out is quiet, few cars if any on the Hwy 1 once you pass the town of Stratford.

So yesterday I came upon this photo of the Centre Block of Parliament in Ottawa. The 3 Parliamentary buildings on the Hill are under renovations until at least 2027 maybe later and the cost is currently around $ 3 billion CDN dollars. Nothing has been done in terms of maintenance since 1917 when the Centre Block was built, the last time I was in the building about 4 years ago before it was closed down, the electrical system was failing and only part of the building had working lights. Both the House of Commons and the Senate have moved out while this massive work is underway. The Senate is across the street in the old railway station which was completely renovated at a cost of $600 million and the House of Commons is in the West block which can be seen in the far left corner of the photo. It too was completely renovated at a cost of $500 million. Democracy is not cheap!

The photo shows a deep trench in front of the Centre Block, the Parliament Hill is solid rock, part of the Canadian Shield, so to achieve this, all the rock had to be blown up and removed. What is going in there? I really do not know, I remember hearing it would be a visitor centre and possibly a television media room for the broadcast of Parliamentary daily debates and other legislative work. Looks impressive, I would say this trench is at least 50 feet deep.

Tuesday

Tags

Belle river, Food, life, PEI, Summer

Well our Summer plants are shaping up. We are going first to Les Iles de la Madeleine for a few days, then this Summer will go around the Island and on 21 August to the cottage at French River which is a place we love and will have some old friends from Ottawa visiting. I don’t think they have been here before and we are looking forward to their visit. They had visited us in Egypt back in 1990, seems like ions ago.

The weather is nice but like all Islands in the North Atlantic still with a cool wind.

My diet or I think I should say weight loss is going great and this gives me a lot of pleasure, this morning my nutritionist told be I look thinner and that there was a noticeable change from 6 weeks ago. I see it in the mirror and on the scale.

There is obvious benefits to eating more vegetables and fruits and limiting meat to 100 gr. fish and seafood with only lemon or some olive oil is also better, the big sauces are nice but in moderation. I am also grateful to my Mom who started us eating all manner of fruits and veggies at a young age and making up funny stories about them. I am not a picky or fussy eater and this has served me well in life. Mom also never prepared meals to please us, she prepared what she believed was good for us, she really favoured home made soups, she had recipes that came from the great grand-parents who lived into grand old age of their late nineties. Mom would say look at them and a sign of health, never mind the fact that my paternal great grand-mother smoke the pipe and was a shark at cards.

My brother in Florida is also following a diet now on his own, large salads and fish and he is also doing very well.

Today at the Health Food Store I found a ginger chew called Chimes, it is low on calories like 1 C. and my nutritionist said if you only have 2 a day you will be fine.

Tomorrow we are going to visit a friend of ours who lives East of Charlottetown, in Belle River which prior to 1755 was called Belle Rivière. We have not seen him since October 2019, looking forward to the visit. Another sunny day tomorrow which is very nice, it really feels like Summer now.

Belle River on the shore of the Abegweit Passage (formerly known as Northumberland Strait)

Sono in Spiaggia

Tags

Beach, home, ice cream, life, PEI, Summer, vacation

For the last 2 weeks we have been at the Beach, so this is why there has been no blogging. What I cherish most here is the perfect quiet, the only noise is nature itself, the many variety of birds and the surf. We are surrounded by forest, marsh and the sand dunes of the beach. It is so pleasant that living in the city you forget how it can be.

The nearest small town is 10 minutes down the road where there is a liquor store and a small grocery store with all the conveniences. Many nice cafés and little restaurants here and there in and around Kensington. The big town is Summerside 20 minutes away, pop 15K, we go there for the Ice Cream at Holman’s which is located inside the former mansion of the Holman Family with its beautiful garden of old trees and plentiful flowers. By far the ice cream at Holman’s is made daily and in small batches, once sold that’s it. The taste and texture is wonderful and the owners follow high standards to produce it, it is well worth the drive down the road to Holman’s.

In PEI usually you hear a lot about COWS ice cream which is owned by a big Corp. ADL and is a major producers of dairy products. The quality is industrial and it is flogged at the tourist crowd.

Going to Kensington on country roads where you share the road with farming machinery, surrounded by farms, you should know to slow down once you see the sign up ahead for the town, the speed limit drops from 80Km to 50Km and the police cruiser is hidden in the field, they watch for speeders. In fact the small police force of Kensington (5) has a FaceBook page and they are well known for their humour.

The weather of our first week was quite nice with walks on the deserted beach. Now since yesterday a big storm has come in and it is windy and rainy with big waves. It appears that it will be like this for the next day or so. We return home on Saturday, I wonder how I will find the city with its noise. Both Nicky and Nora will be happy to see us and probably will stick to us like glue, creatures of habit that they are.

Last night 21 July was our 14th Wedding Anniversary, we married between assignments, I completed my Beijing posting came home to Ottawa, the house had sold and in those few days we prepared for our next post Rome. Got married with our long haired dachshund Reesie present, he would be coming with us to Italy. A friend had offered her beautiful garden for the event. It was small and simple and with a few friends present. Then a few days later we flew to Rome and wonderful years in Italy. Now all this seems so far away.

For our anniversary we have this habit now in PEI to go to The Mill in New Glasgow, the award winning chef is Emily Wells, her food is beautiful and the dishes always very well prepared. She is a chef who knows how to bring out the flavour of each ingredients and balances it all carefully. The restaurant was once an old mill built in 1874 on the banks of the Clyde River, simple but beautiful dining room on a quiet river surrounded by parkland. The meal was great and so happy to see Chef Emily again.

So at the beach I brought one book to read, but while we went to Summerside we discovered a bookstore Seaside Books owned by a lady called Nancy, it is a second hand bookstore on Water street, the selection was eclectic and very interesting. I found books by John LeCarré and by Lord Jeffrey Archer. However the style of LeCarré I like because it reminds me of my former life. Archer writes about detective stories and it has the feel of a TV script which I find annoying. I also bought a book on Jung and his mystic approach to psychiatry. Though Jung himself often said he was not a mystic and did not believe in it.

The greatest find came from Nancy who showed us a book of paintings on Venice over a period of four centuries, with accompanying text. It’s a big coffee table book, cloth binding weighs about 20 pounds, in mint condition. A spectacular book which Will loved at first sight.

Tonight we are going to the theatre in Rustico which is a fishing village further East from us. The Watermark theatre produces great summer stock plays, we are going to see the Gin Game by D.L. Coburn.

Such a nice staycation just 50 minutes from home but feels like we are thousands of Km away.

P.S. photos to come

Summer Solstice

Tags

covid, July, PEI, Solstice, Strawberries, Summer, vaccines

So today is the Solstice and it is a hot day, unpleasant for the paws on asphalt for the puppies and all they want to do is sleep or roll in the cool grass.

We had people over for lunch yesterday and Will prepared a cold lunch of 2 Thai dishes with fresh noodles, it was quite nice and I told him that in the Summer we should do this more often as people appreciate such light fare in the heat.

This week we have 2 major holidays in Canada, one on Thursday 24 June is the St-Jean Baptiste day in French Canada. This is the old Gaul Feast of millennia about the Sun and the new day. The other will be July 1 Dominion or Canada Day, celebrating Canadians and Canadian achievements. We will have a bar-b-q at the Club on the Friday 02 July with live music. I offered to man the grill, something I enjoy doing on such occasions.

Today the news was that the Canadian border will re-open in some fashion on 05 July, travel has to be essential, you must be fully vaccinated and must be able to produce a certificate to prove it. After 28 July this may change further. Interesting to note that this new measure only applies to Citizens and no one else. I can see already people trying to get into Canada without the proper paperwork or vaccination and a lot of moaning at the border, count on the media to make a mess of their usual lazy reporting.

I don’t know about you but 2021 so far has been speeding by, I can hardly believe we are already at July’s door. The pandemic appears to be receiding now, with fewer and fewer cases daily. You can get a vaccine almost anywhere, even at the Grocery store who have full pharmacies on their premises. It is all about convinience and easy, no excuse for not getting it. We are also going to apply for our PEI PASS which allows us to leave the Island and come back without hassle. Maybe we would like to travel to Halifax or Wolfville which would be nice.

Finally as proof that Summer is here, strawberries from the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia have appeared on the market. In two weeks time we should be getting PEI strawberries, they are truly unlike any other strawberries you can buy, the taste alone is wonderful.  

Hot and Muggy

Tags

life, Summer

For the last two days the weather has been around 30C and humid, little wind. It is unusual for this time of year, a bit early really, more like July weather, but I am not complaining. This is much better than freezing rain or snow.

So it is not just Phoenix that gets hot weather. In Ottawa a 1000 Km to the West of us today is close to 40C which is highly unusual, but hey Climate Change, its here folks.

Also typical of this time of the year coming into Summer is how the weather is unpredictable in general. Tuesday and Wednesday rain! NO Tuesday was humid and hot sunshine with one 2 minute sprinkle of rain. Wednesday will be cooler but only Sunshine, no rain, in fact no rain for the next 7 days. Which is great for us town dweller but not so much for farmers.

I am now scheduled for my second Covid 19 shot, the first one was in early May and was a Pfizer. I am looking forward to my second shot. So far 90k people in PEI out of 150K have been vaccinated. So we are moving rapidly towards total vaccinations. A friend was at the pharmacy today to buy something and the pharmacist, out of the blue, said did you get your shot yet? She said no and he offered a shot of Moderna, she was very happy and took it. Her second shot will be mid-July.

It looks like we are getting the Cruise ship back, not this Summer but in 2022. Yesterday I saw a promotion for Ritz Carlton Hotel Yachts. Meaning they will come here.

Roast Beef and Anniversaries

Tags

Anniversary, asparagus, Food, Montreal, Roast Beef, Summer

Yesterday Summer arrived all of a sudden as is the custom in Canada. It was warm and sunny and today it was hot and sunny, I had to turn on the A/C in the car, so that makes it official. I also took all the Summer bedsheets out and started to launder them to replace the flannel Winter sheets.

I also re-organized by Summer wardrobe and put away all the Winter clothes, I also made a box of clothing I no longer wear and it had been sitting in my closet for at least 5 years, that is a good test that you are no longer going to wear said items. It is all clean and very nice still but fashion has changed. Of my Summer clothes most of it is at least 12 years old, all in good repair and comfortable to wear. So I do not need to buy more, though I was tempted.

For those who may wonder, I did not send to Value Village the SPO Designer shirt, given to me all these many years ago when Dr Spo was a struggling shirt designer in Phoenix, before he became famous. I am told they are priceless, so I will have it lacquered and mounted.

Yesterday Will baked some wonderful blueberry, lemon breakfast bread with a fine glaze of lemon, absolutely delicious. I then cooked for dinner a roast beef, using my fool proof recipe which requires about 8 cloves of garlic inserted into the roast, a good coating of quality virgin olive oil. You place the roast fat side up and start it at 375F for 30 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 225F and cook for another 90 minutes no more. This recipe works for a 3.5 lbs roast perfectly and it will be medium rare. I served it with roast potatoes and broiled asparagus, because May is Asparagus Month, the only time of the year they are actually in Season.

I remember traveling to Germany and you would have everywhere on the menu, the white and the green Spargel with a nice glass of white wine, Gruner Veltliner.

Today is my hometowns Birthday 17 May 1642, Montreal is 379 years old. My family has been living there for 359 years, we have stories to tell.

It is also the 110 Anniversary of our Canadian National Park service, Parks Canada. We have a few national parks here on PEI to preserve our beautiful coastline.

Flag of the City of Montreal, designed by the first Mayor Jacques Viger.

What to take on vacation

Tags

Beach, Friends, PEI, sand, Summer, surf, vacation

Every time Summer rolls around, reading lists appears, all manner of books are proposed. Thing is, many of those books are for general appeal and some make the best seller list. But I am never interested in them and if I am going to buy a book I want to make sure I will read it. So the topic has to appeal to me in some fashion.

We are going to the cottage at the beach and I am looking for books to read. I got one by Cicero written of course some 2070 yrs ago on how to rule a country, I may get tips on how to do it best, if ever I intend to rule Canada, one of the most difficult country to rule give our 6 time zones and enormous geographic space bordering on 3 oceans, we could be called an Empire based on size alone, but we settled for Dominion (Kingdom).  I also found two other books on Kindle but I just realized they will be available after 28 July, so I will have to wait. One is by Lady C. the Duchess of Argyll, her newly released best seller on Meghan and Harry. The other is a book recommended by Nicholas Hoare who use to own a famous bookstore in Ottawa on Sussex Drive. It was such a beautiful bookstore and guaranteed you would find something to your liking. Hoare recommended a book based on letters written by Sir Alan Frederick ”Tommy” Lascelles who was the private secretary of King George VI and later his daughter Queen Elizabeth II. This book was made possible by special permission from H.M. the Queen, usually such letters never see the light of day. The letters cover the War years and shine a light on historical passages that might otherwise remain obscure. Lascelles being an Oxford graduate writes beautifully, the man had vocabulary, something that is lost nowadays. He was also part of the Courtier network around the Royal Family.

So I am now looking at my home library and what can I find on the shelves, there is a wide choice. But then I wonder how much reading I will do all together.

So off we go on Hwy 2 towards the West and French River, the area has many little settlements, then turning unto Hwy 20 and on the road we will pass, near our destination, the birthplace of Lucy Maud Montgomery, a simple little house in a field. She is of course the famous author, who in PEI is revered.  The last few kilometres is a red dirt road amongst fields and marshes which ends at the Sand dunes, the New London Range Lighthouse and the sea. This is where we will be. I am looking forward to seeing the night sky which in such a remote location reveals itself to be ablaze with unimaginable number of stars and galaxies including our own Milky Way. Also the silence of the place, disturbed only by the surf and songs of birds and maybe one or two coyotes howling.

Allons danser

Tags

Canada., Holiday, Summer

Allons danser sous les ormeaux, animez-vous jeunes fillettes, galants prenez vos chalumeaux! an aria of the opera by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau composed in 1752 in Fontainbleau. Painting of the goddesses by Antoine Watteau.

Perfect music for the Summer, carefree and joyous on the Eve of Canada’s National Day 1 July. Grateful to live in such a peaceful and stable country.