Kissed by Frost + In the Heavens + Playing Golf with a Nun

Good Morning from Prince Edward Island, 

I hope you had a good week and are ready for the weekend. 

Thank you for the invitation into your time and space. 

Kettle on? It is time for a cuppa…

Our little Island faired out not too badly with the passing of Hurricane Teddy. Over 110 ml or 4 inches of rain in New Glasgow, and the ground drank it well. 

Have you ever just looked up in wonder at the night sky? 

CBC.pe.ca’s story about amatuer astronomers paying tribute was the thread I pulled on today. 

Amateur astronomers played tribute to a long-time member of their star-gazing community with a special memorial. Keith Cooper, passed away last October was the founder of the Charlottetown chapter of Sidewalk Astronomers. 

Friends and fellow astronomy buffs have placed and dedicated a bench in Victoria Park in his honour.

"He was the first guy to bring his telescope equipment out and say, 'Hey people, have a look through." ~ Chris Vessey

I have not taken night sky watching to the place where Mr. Cooper did, but it does intrigue me. Being more of a sunrise kind of guy, I like to get to bed early. 

A couple of years ago I purchased the StarMap 3D PRO app for my phone.  Very simple to use, wehn in the app just point the phone toward any part of the sky and it lights up the constellations and tells what they are. If you point it at the ground it shows the night sky on the complete opposite side of the world from where you are standing. Amazing.

Here is a little from their site to explain the app in further detail. 

Unlock the secrets of the universe with StarMap 3D Pro, the PREMIER portable star atlas for beginners or advanced astronomers! Bigger and better than ever: Millions of stars; thousands of deep-sky objects; hundreds of minor planets, asteroids, moons, and satellites!

• Over 2,400,000 stars; detailed information for each one

• 6,441 deep-sky objects, with details such as distance from Earth, diameter, apparent size and orientation, and morphology

• 676 minor planets, including a selection of asteroids, trans-Neptunian objects, and Kuiper belt objects

And much much more. 

Might I suggest purchasing this app for yourself or others who find learning exciting.  Perhaps it might become the exact thing needed to bumper-car them into looking at the world differently.

I found this interesting site from Nasa online. Words from their site...Live video from the International Space Station includes internal views when the crew is on-duty and Earth views at other times. The video is accompanied by audio of conversations between the crew and Mission Control. This video is only available when the space station is in contact with the ground. During "loss of signal" periods, viewers will see a blue screen. Since the station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, it experiences a sunrise or a sunset about every 45 minutes. When the station is in darkness, the external camera video may appear black, but can sometimes provide spectacular views of lightning or city lights below. Take a peek here often. Always changing. 

“Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of heaven,

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.”

― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie 

Moving from our heads to our hearts is where I want to go now. 

I loved this story in a remarkable show of sportsmanship, Ireland's lacrosse team withdrew from an international tournament to allow a Native American team to play instead. Story here. 

What this world needs is a new kind of army—the army of the kind." ~ Cleveland Amory

We are moving into the season of white-tipped frost kissed plants, and colour wonders bleeding into the trees, I feel refreshed. 

I am writing in the garden. To write as one should of a garden one must write not outside it or merely somewhere near it, but in the garden.” - Frances Hodgkin Burnett

I love the fall and over the next few weeks, we will record some of the Islands beauty displayed through the network of Prince Edward Island’s Heritage Roads and share with you. Stay tuned. 

“It is a delightful pastime to sit in the pleasant sunshine of autumn, and gazing from this spot of free over such landscape. Let the imagination luxuriate amind the thrilling associations of the scene!” - H.T. Tuckerman

Having closed our restaurant early this season due to the stresses of trying to operate in this COVID world has brought the smells of our cookies being prepared for the holiday season earlier than usual. 

Silver linings with pleasant smells. Oh, how I love them so. 

These treats are only made when the air is crisp and that means October through to December. Once they are gone, they are gone till the same time next year. It is our 30th year of making these delectables. It has only been two days and I have gorged on almost two dozen. Between the shortbreads and the oatcakes, my warmed heart is enjoying them with a good cup of tea.

Darlene and Tracy are the best cookie makers around. Thank you, Ladies. 

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ― C.S. Lewis

Life’s simple pleasures….

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest. - Henry David Thoreau 

Today, I have been listening to a little soft jazz by Melody Gardot, The Absence from 2012. Take a listen here. 

Looking forward to her new album to be fully released in late October.  

With love from Prince Edward Island. 

Bruce & Millie

ps. 

A nun walks into Mother Superior’s office and plunks down into a chair. She lets out a sigh heavy with frustration.

“What troubles you, Sister?” asked the Mother Superior.

”I thought this was the day you spent with your family.”

“It was,” sighed the Sister.”

I went to play golf with my brother. We try to play golf as often as we can. 

You know I was quite a talented golfer before I devoted my life to Christ.”

“I seem to recall that,” the Mother Superior agreed. “So I take it your day of recreation was not relaxing?”

“Far from it,” snorted the Sister. 

“In fact, I even took the Lord’s name in vain today!”

“Goodness, Sister!” gasped the Mother Superior, astonished. 

“You must tell me all about it!”

“Well, we were on the fifth tee, and this hole is a monster, 540 yard Par 5, with a nasty dogleg right and a hidden green, and I hit the drive of my life. I creamed it. The sweetest swing I ever made. And it’s flying straight and true, right along the line I wanted, and it hits a bird in mid-flight!”

“Oh my!” commiserated the Mother Superior. 

“How unfortunate! But surely that didn’t make you blaspheme, Sister!”

“No, that wasn’t it,” admitted Sister. “While I was still trying to fathom what had happened, this squirrel runs out of the woods, grabs my ball and runs off down the fairway!”

“Oh, that would have made me blaspheme!” sympathized the Mother Superior.

“But I didn’t, Mother!” sobbed the Sister. “And I was so proud of myself! And while I was pondering whether this was a sign from God, this hawk swoops out of the sky and grabs the squirrel and flies off, with my ball still clutched in his paws!”

“So that’s when you cursed,” said the Mother Superior, with a knowing smile.“Nope, that wasn’t it either,” cried the Sister, anguished, “because as the hawk started to fly out of sight, the squirrel started struggling, and the hawk dropped him right there on the green, and the ball popped out of his paws and rolled to about 18 inches from the cup!”

Mother Superior sat back in her chair, folded her arms across her chest, fixed the Sister with a baleful stare and said, “You missed the putt, didn’t you?”

pss. I started playing golf again this year after an 18-year hiatus. I hope you enjoyed it. 

psss.