Tag Archives: books

The edge of the cliff

10 Friday Apr 2026

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Well by all accounts Tuesday 7 April we were very close to all out war with a nuclear attack by the USA on Iran, to save Israel. Trump made it very clear, he was going to wipe out an entire civilization some 5000 years of history and 95 million people. I do not see the American political system working as intended, maybe the 18th century model should be modernized. I know a lot of people were worried and talked about it. The price of gas is very high and my barber was telling me how much it cost for a full tank it is 100% higher in cost. I wonder what the effect will be on tourism this Summer.

Finished reading the book on becoming Green Gables or the story of how the national park at Green Gables was created following the publishing sensation of the book Anne of Green Gables in 1908. The end is sad in a way, Myrtle McNeill-Webb and her husband Ernest had sold the farm in 1936 to the Government of Canada but they thought the word of Gov Officials was sufficient to guarantee their staying at the farm until they died. Not so, they discovered too late, by 1945 the end of the war ended and lots of young men returning needed jobs, Myrtle and Ernest were of retirement age and were told to pack their things one week before Christmas 1945. The House itself would remain empty until 1948 when it was transformed into Green Gables of the book you read today. They had to give their 2 dogs away, and the furniture. They moved to Charlottetown to live with their children. Ernest died in 1950 but Myrtle lived until 1979 in the manse of the baptist Church in Cavendish. They never set foot back into the house and were shocked to see how the government erase any mentions of them owning the house or the farm before it became the Green Gables tourist site. This is true because prior to my reading this book I had never heard of them and always wondered how all this had come about. The Baptist Church is still on Cavendish road but the manse is gone. No wonder many tourists ask me how author Lucy Maud Montgomery came to choose this particular house. I have to make a link between Myrtle McNeill and her cousin Lucy Maud. They are all buried in the Cavendish Cemetery in the first row by the road.

I am now looking at Cavendish in a different way. From a farming community, it became a national park and part amusement park, in some parts a crass commercial project. Originally as of 1936, the McNeill-Webb farm saw the building of a golf course on the farmland with a restaurant and club house which would move into the house. It is only after 1948 that slowly a project was formed to make it into the house of the characters Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert of the book Anne of Green Gables. This was due to public demand on seeing the house as described in the story. In the 1970’s the barn which had burned down in 1932 was rebuilt and modified, modernized in 2020 with a new $10 million dollar visitor centre and gift shop, large parking for buses. After the storm Fiona in 2023, the park service had to remove many old trees and plant new saplings. Many of the trees of the time of author Lucy Maud Montgomery have been cut down in 1936 for the golf course. So what you see today is a fantasy place modelled to fit the book. Now I understand what my uncle said to me two years ago on his visit to PEI that the Cavendish site did not look at all like what he saw in 1960.

Myrtle McNeill and her husband Ernest Webb in 1940 at Green Gables in the flower garden.

Stories

03 Wednesday Dec 2025

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There is a British fellow I have been following on Instagram named Steve Moore, he spends a lot of time in Venice It. and the UK. He presents objects and ask of viewers what do you think this is, every object has a link to history and evolution of society. I made all kinds of discoveries through the stories told by this fellow. This being the Advent Season, Moore told a story of a salesman in Pennsylvania trying to sell to shop owners a box with 145 articles inside. This fellow had no luck and in the afternoon of December 1888 he walked into a store and asked the owner to buy his box, if he did not sell the objects in the box, he would take them back. The owner of the store only sold practical goods and the content of the box had no practical use but he took a chance. After two days the box was sold out, customers had bought every object. So what was it? By 1940 this shop owner had sold 500 million of those items, despite the fact they had no practical use, they were more about beauty. The objects were made in Germany and at first I thought of our wood nutcracker I bought in a shop some 45 years ago in Ottawa, this hand painted wood nutcracker was made in East Germany, at the time the GDR was known for its fine wood made toys and other objects. No that was not it at all. I am disappointed with Nutcrackers today made in China and look cheap.

The shop owner was W.F. Woolworth and this was his store, the objects in the box were glass Christmas balls for your tree imported from Germany. What Mr Woolworth understood was that his customers wanted practical but also beautiful things for their homes. Leads me to imagine what Xmas trees would look like if Mr. Woolworth had not introduced this item to shoppers.

To keep in the spirit of the Season here is an individual brand of Champagne matched to your Zodiac sign. Symbol of happiness, festivity, celebration, good health. Champagne is good for all occasions or moods.

Aries: Piper-Heidsieck, Taurus: Bellecart-Salmon, Gemini: Taittiger, Cancer: Famille Mousse, Leo: Veuve Cliquot, Virgo: Laurent-Perrier, Libra: Perrier-Jouet, Scorpio: Bollinger, Sagittarius: Charles Heidseick, Capricorn: Dom Pérignon, Aquarius: Ruinart, Pisces: Pommery.

Important to note that all champagnes are not alike and they are developed following a recipe of the grower and thus have different flavours which match your Zodiac sign, I think this is so 70’s.

It should be served chilled 10C. and lots of tiny bubbles and taste like fresh pastry.

Finally, Advent Season is Stollen Season. Stollen is a German pastry made at this time of the year.

Stollen, also known as 
Christstollen or Weihnachtsstollen, is traditional bread-fruitcake, popular during the Christmas season. It is characterized by its dense texture, rich ingredients, and thick dusting of powdered sugar. The ingredients; Dried fruits (raisins, currants, cherries), often macerated in rum or brandy, Candied citrus peels, Nuts (almonds are typical), Spices (cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg), Marzipan rope, which is often included in the centre of the loaf. The most famous version is Dresden Stollen. So I bought a Stollen today at the store and will have it with coffee or tea.

In Rome we use to eat Pannetone or Pan D’Oro, it should always be eaten very fresh, unfortunately what is sold here is weeks old and imported. In Ottawa, on Preston street in Little Italy, there is a very good coffee shop with a great variety of Italian and Sicilian Pastries available fresh and prepared on the premises.

Some photos and a new book

28 Tuesday Oct 2025

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I discovered by accident a book by Alan MacEachern entitled Becoming Green Gables published in 2024. I have been unable to put it down. It is a wealth of information on what really happened when the original house owned by cousins of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery was expropriated by the Government of Canada in 1930 to make the entire area into a national park. This is a story that is never heard nor told, one of money, success and people paying for the success of a book which became a phenomenon around the world in 1908 and would change life for them and for Islanders.

This is great material for me and it is full of juicy scandals and skulduggery amongst relatives. The author Lucy Maud Montgomery complains in her journals that she is quite poor, despite having servants and living in a mansion in Toronto. Was this a convenient excuse to not help financially her numerous relatives, though she does help financially Myrtle Mac Neill Webb, who lives in what we know today as Green Gables. Myrtle outlives her cousins Lucy Maud who dies in 1942 by suicide in Toronto, Myrtle lives until 1968 and is buried with her husband Ernest in the Cavendish cemetery a few feet away from Lucy Maud and her husband. Myrtle like her cousin Lucy Maud kept a diary until 1957, only in 2020 did her family allow Alan MacEachern access to the journal after reading in a Canadian newspaper that he was writing his book Becoming Green Gables. This inspires me and it will make good stories next year to entertain my tourists.

I have been taking lots of pictures lately of the sky at sunset from my office at home. Here are some late fall photos as seen from my window.

My last tour for the season is on Halloween 31 October. I am prepared for questions about celebrating Halloween in PEI and Canada from those charming US Tourists.

The end of the Season

24 Friday Oct 2025

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Well this past week was sunny and warmer but it was the week on tours for stupid questions, the ones that leave you wondering where do these people come from and what are they doing here. In two days there several uninformed remarks that defied geography or logic. I can understand that you may not know where you are exactly if it is not explained to you or you will not know the history of a country or place. You may not know who is famous or why, you are after all on vacation and visiting. I also found out that most people are very happy with a nice coffee, a taste of lobster, a sweet and beautiful scenery in this case rolling hills of Fall colours with brilliant sunshine. Oh well, next week I give my last tour and then that is it until the Spring 2026. To give you some examples of strange questions; Looking at the Atlantic Ocean, Is this a lake. Visiting the main link bridge to the mainland, which is more than 350 feet above the water, Can our ship pass under that bridge. Of the Strait separating us from the mainland; Is this the St-Lawrence Seaway which starts in Montreal. Looking at the small town of Stratford across the river from Charlottetown; Is that Montreal. Or arguing with me that we do not have an airport in Charlottetown despite passing planes over head in landing mode. On walking tours of old downtown; Is there a taxi on this tour, because I cannot walk. After visiting the Campus of the University of PEI; Do people go to school here. Stores sell the Anne of GG cordial, a kids fruit drink; What is the alcohol content in this drink. Our dairies on the Island make a lot of very good cheddar cheese; What is the chemical content of this cheese or Is this real cheese. The best one after informing them of the total population of the Island is 180,000 persons; So where do you all go in Winter when tourists leave. Many assume that there is nothing to do on the island between October and April, so we have to lock up and move somewhere else. Believe me there are many more very strange questions. I have given up explaining our system of Government, the simple fact that we have 4 political parties in both Provincial and Federal levels and they have different philosophies, is a complete puzzle. I do get asked about the homeless in Charlottetown, again there is no comprehension about providing meals daily, shelter and medical care all free of charge, why would anyone do that. The same with our nationwide program of free lunch in school for kids. I am sure they think we are all communist.

In the meantime today I discovered that my favourite bookstore BookMark moved just around the corner from its old location, it is a much nicer spot full of light and larger. They have a very good array of books on many topics and also all kinds of writing implements, paper, diary, note books and other useful items. I bought a new monthly diary for 2026 with a beautiful Persian design on the cover, it feels like silk. The design pays tribute to an 18th century binding that housed the Khamsa, a seminal work by Persian Sunni Muslim poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141-1209). The Khamsa is a series of five long narrative poems on the theme of forbidden love, similar to Romeo and Juliet.

Because I have been doing so many tours of Anne of Green Gables site on the North Shore of PEI, at the bookstore I discovered a new book published in 2024 by Alan MacEachern entitled Becoming Green Gables. I bought it and it is fascinating, basically it is the story of the extended family, the Webb and MacNeill cousins of author Lucy Maud Montgomery and how her book published in 1908 transformed Cavendish (Avonlea) in a matter of a few years. It also explains that the house Green Gables and the farm changed after 1910 and became a national park in 1930 with a golf course and how the cousins of the author were expropriated by the Canadian National Park Service in 1945. There are many twist in this real estate story and how the relatives of the author all cashed in on the book as of 1908 and how they came to identify with the fictional characters in the book to this day. I can vouch for that, I met them many times, they are a little strange. How the house we call Green Gables today is a substitute for another house just across the street which disappeared, being demolished in the late 1920’s. On that site today there is a nice park and a bronze statue of the author Lucy Maud Montgomery.

The book Becoming Green Gables has altered my view of what I knew up to now and brings clarity. I will be able to impart this new knowledge to visitors. We do have several homes in the area of Park Corner, New London and Cavendish where the author was born, grew up and spent time, including the school house and the still functioning post office where the author worked and wrote her first book in secret. I also just finished reading the 5 volumes of her personal journals. So this should make my guided tours more interesting.

Books, Food, Furries

08 Wednesday Oct 2025

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This week we cooked from scratch, we usually cook all our meals from scratch we do not buy process or frozen. So Will made a wonderful Shiitake mushroom soup, a dish of Braised Beef, Roasted carrot soup, grilled tuna steak, so easy, I made Chile con carne. There are more recipes coming as we enter the Fall months, though today it was 24C not exactly autumnal. Thursday it will rain a lot with high winds and I have 2 tours to give driving to the Confederation Bridge on the Strait, should be interesting.

We had our first ever group of Furries who visited Charlottetown, about 25 of them in very professional animal costumes, it was like Disney, off a big cruise ship. The group was a show stopper. Will have to ask the guide how it went.

I have lots of books waiting patiently for me to read, I have been distracted for some months with guiding tours and other events, time to get back to reading.

We had a change of plans for this long weekend, we were going to have Thanksgiving at home, as we were about to go out shopping, we got a phone call from old friends inviting us to come over to their home on the water, the one with the 7 fireplaces on the entrance to the Strait of Northumberland, a dreamy place. So this is what we are doing.

And a Teeter picture, relaxing in bed, such a tough life.

Long Weekend

17 Saturday May 2025

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This is the first long weekend in Canada opening the Cottage weekend and first BBQ of the Season. The Victoria Day weekend has been celebrated since 1845, it has been a statutory holiday for 180 years. For kids it means fireworks in the backyard and hotdogs. It also means that the school year is coming to an end usually by mid-June. Queen Victoria died in 1901 but the holiday continues to this day. Victoria is know as the one who chose Ottawa as the National Capital, over other cities like Montreal, Quebec or Toronto. She also gave her Royal Ascent to the Canadian Constitution and the creation of one country. Her father Prince Edward son of King George III, has PEI named after him.

My next tour or tours will be on the Tuesday 27 May, looks like all day affair which can really be exhausting. Hoping for sunny and warm weather. Funny like in Canada we go from freezing to hot in 24 hours, last week on Tuesday it was cold, then on Wednesday it was warm and then hot, beach weather. Now the windows are open, nice breeze, trees are in leaf and the dandelions are everywhere. Because we observe NO MOW May, so that the Bees can enjoy the dandelions, no one is mowing the lawn just yet.

I am looking at driving down the road to Halifax after the 28 May for a few days. Have to look at hotel prices etc. I will bring my 2 Persian Gabbeh carpets for cleaning, they come from the Zagros Mountains in southwestern Iran, Gabbeh rugs are a type of Persian rug traditionally woven by Qashqai weavers. These rugs are characterized by their simple geometric shapes, bold patterns, and a luxurious, deep pile. Gabbeh means ‘unclipped’ in Farsi, referring to the longer, plush pile these rugs often feature. Unlike other Persian rugs that have intricate floral motifs, Gabbeh rugs usually showcase less complex, abstract designs. You’ll often find simple shapes like squares, lines, and animals stylized in a minimalistic way. I bought three of them when I was in Tehran on assignment years ago. A friend in Ottawa wanted one, so that is how I got to know about this style of carpet.

Now I have a pile of books I have been meaning to read for some time and it has been months since I crack one open. A bad habit I have fallen into, I have to get back to them.

This is one example of Gabbeh rug, I have one similar to this one, really luxurious.

First tour day went well

14 Wednesday May 2025

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So I did two walking tours, it was sunny but frigid with high winds around 5C which is pretty cold for a walking tour. Today no wind and it’s 20C, Mother Nature is a joker. The two walking tours last 2 hours each and it was good groups of 24 and 21 persons. A good exercise for me and I then had time for a nice lunch at the Water Prince restaurant, I love their fried oyster burger. They went through a massive updating and renovation this Winter. The place looks very different but fresh and clean. The walls are pretty bare and this is due to the fact they had a pipe burst in March. So everything is pretty new and I like it. The prices though now for any dish start at $19. and up. and they do not give the exchange rate on the US dollar, it’s at par, unless you use a credit card for payment.

There is a lot of construction going on right now in old Charlottetown. The Confederation Centre for the Arts is 60 years old, built in a brutalist style and it has been decided to overhaul the public areas and the former Library, move the restaurant to the roof which will have a spectacular view of the city. The walls will be open to allow more light inside and also the staircase will be removed to make it all handicap friendly. Also some other old abandoned tenements have been torn down behind the Cathedral. The Legislature renovation is coming to an end after 7 years and $110 million renovation. The building dates from 1834 and has never been properly maintained despite its important historical significance.

Did you know that Volkswagen sell more curry wurst sausages than cars. I kind you not. It’s a brand of sausage made by the German car manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973 at the Wolfsburg Volkswagen Plant — and sold in restaurants in its six German factories as well as in supermarkets and at football stadiums — and given to Volkswagen customers. The sausage is branded as a Volkswagen Originalteil “Volkswagen Original Part” under part number 199 398 500 A.

Around 40% of Volkswagen currywurst production is consumed within restaurants at its six German factories; the remainder is sold at external shops, supermarkets and football stadiums. A portion is also sent to Volkswagen dealerships across Europe which use the curry wurst as a present for customers who purchase new cars. 
Volkswagen has produced food for its workers at the Wolfsburg plant since it opened in 1938 due to the remote location of the factory. It has produced the curry wurst since 1973.

The curry wurst is sold in the 17 canteens and restaurants in the Wolfsburg factory, usually with ketchup and french fries. A curry wurst soup is also sold. To celebrate the product’s 45th anniversary, curry wurst burgers and curry wurst pizza were produced. Volkswagen also sells utensils to go with the curry wurst. One example is the plate, part number 33D 069 602.

Currywurst production increased during the latter half of the 2010. In 2015, 7.2 million were produced, 14% more than had been manufactured in 2014. Production increased by 264% between 2009 and 2018 when 6.81 million were made, making the curry wurst the most produced of any part in the Volkswagen range. Production peaked at 7 million sausages in 2019.

Today 14 May, the author Armistead Maupin is 81 years old. I read the 6 volumes of his Tales of the City. In fact there are 10 volumes published between 1978 and 2024.

Maupin and husband Christopher Turner.

The two married in 2007 in Canada, they “re-married” on October 4 just outside Maupin’s beloved San Francisco. The ceremony took place in the Sausalito garden of fellow novelist Amy Tan and her husband, Lou DeMattei. Laura Linney, a longtime friend who has starred in all three Tales TV miniseries adaptations to date, read James Broughton’s poem “The Bliss of With,” which Turner read to Maupin during their first phone call without knowing the poet was Maupin’s friend.

Books

06 Friday Sep 2024

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Having lived on many continents, I have come to appreciate various cultures and their approach to literature and books in general. It appears that only in North America and in countries like Russia and China, North Korea do you have censorship on banning books. Books are banned for political /religious reasons as disruptive based on narrow views or wish to control others. Children are very often used as the excuse to ban books, reasoning that they need to be protected from, here you can name pretty much any reason. Careful analysis shows that when you examine what is behind this trend to ban books, you find nothing more than prejudice and ignorance. Very sad for a society to live this way. The lack of debate on ideas within society and blocking the capacity of people in general to read and to reflect on what they have learned will stunt the capacity for personal growth.

As children my mother instilled in us the pleasure of reading books and developing a vocabulary beyond what was available in our surroundings. At first the books were simple with stories from French authors some of them classical authors of the 17th century and some more modern. The goal, developing young minds. I remember our teachers at school mentioning how books have to be age appropriate, in order for us to understand what we are reading and the ideas and concepts the author is presenting.

I do believe in age appropriate books, to allow the reader to understand not only the words but the ideas being developed. In the 1960/ 70’s the book by Antoine de St-Exupery, Le Petit Prince was all the rage in University circles. It was debated and read several times, what was the author philosophical ideas on life and humanity. Obviously a book not for anyone under a certain age. There were other books by authors like De Maupassant, Zola, Balzac, Du Maurier, Camus, Gide, Genet, Duras which were introduced in classes for students 16 and older. Other authors like Alexandre Dumas and Jules Verne for students older than 12 years of age. Older than 18 you could read Sartre, Marx, Simone de Beauvoir, etc. In Quebec we also studied authors like Marie-Claire Blais, Gabrielle Roy, Hubert Aquin, Emile Nelligan, Michel Tremblay, Roch Carrier, etc… In Quebec until 1959, the Roman Catholic Church could put books under a ban, a l’index, was the expression, this is why in French Canada there is an allergic reaction to any idea of banning books today, no matter the reason.

This is why the concept often heard in English speaking North America of banning books is to my mind to close to the infamous list of degenerate authors the Nazis regime came up with in May 1933. This lead to the burning of 20,000 book on Bebelplatz in Berlin, by authors like Fontane, Goethe, Schiller, Hesse, Brecht, Mann, etc., an act this decried today. Over 1000 artists were banned their works considered degenerate. Is this what we are coming to again? Obviously people and groups who advocate under the pretence of protecting children to ban certain books, they disapprove, have forgotten through ignorance what happened 90 years ago.

Whirlwind

08 Thursday Dec 2022

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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.

Listening to music

01 Saturday Oct 2022

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I find that classical soft piano music can work wonders for me. This morning while having my coffee I was listening to Schubert piano music, it was peaceful and relaxing, helps you wake up. Same late at night, piano music can work wonders. Reading also before bed as long as it is not a thriller or a murder mystery or some political tome, it should help to relax.

I read many different authors, I currently have 7 books on my night table.

One week ago FIONA was in town and it left a heavy mark, 7 days later still 35% of the Island population is out of power, it is becoming ridiculous, some streets will have power except for 2 houses on one block, why? They are on another grid. There is no rhyme or reasons to the way power is restored, one fact is clear, the authorities need to bury electrical cables and better manage the urban forests.

We are now in October and next weekend it’s Thanksgiving and my sister is coming for a visit, really looking forward to this.

I was saying this week that since January 2020 it is as if we are pursued by bad omens, first it was Covid and its variants and all the turmoil it created in society, exposing the divisions amongst people and the level of ignorance in matters of public health. Then the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in what is nothing more than a war of aggression with loads of war crimes against civilians. The supply chain disruption and inflation on all products in society, except for bananas and lemons according to a recent price study, it is true that bananas are still 0.49 cents a pound and lemons are 0.99 each. How to explain that one both are imported to Canada from the tropics. Also the effect of climate change and more violent storms and the rise in temperature both in the ambient air and in the sea has been very noticeable. This year per example there was no jelly fish at the beach, none, very strange but the water being very warm apparently affected them.

We are not even thinking of travelling anywhere simply because of all these factors. So we do suffer from cabin fever and remain hopeful to be able to travel in 2023. However with the news from Ukraine and with President Putin appearing more and more mentally unstable, threatening a nuclear attack because he is clearly losing this war, it makes everything look bleak. Where will we be in 6 months? I wonder about the future.

This is why listening to classical piano music is soothing in the morning and evening. There is a choice from Schubert to Debussy, Grieg, Couperin, Respighi, Saint-Saens, Ravel.

Speaking of music at the Funeral of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the funeral march no.1 by Beethoven and the two Scottish pieces, Mist Covered Mountains and Mull of the Mountains were very beautiful and well chosen for the occasion.

Finally this quote from the UN Secretary general Antonio Guterres given the moment we are in now with Russia is a propos.