The Crown Princess called at the Port of Charlottetown this morning, disgorging more than 3,000 iPad-picture-taking, Tilly-hat-wearing day visitors into the streets and motor coaches of Charlottetown.

No matter what evil you might think of cruise ship tourism, the ship is a truly impressive marvel of marine engineering.

And even though it looks huge, it’s only 52nd on the list of the largest cruise ships in the world.

Crown Princess fun fact: the ships “godmother” is Martha Stewart, having christened it in 2006, only a year after being released from prison.

From this week’s Cool Tools podcast: Rebecca Romney, rare book dealer, blows the lid off the need for white gloves in archives:

White Gloves — The “Anti” Cool Tool — “I would love to take a moment to debunk the myth that I should be wearing white gloves when I handle printed books. From the British Library to the Houghton, none of the major conservators and rare book curators recommend these. And for good reason: with gloves, you lose your tactile sensitivity and are much more likely to damage the book while handling it. Just wash your hands first and you’re fine.”

Earlier in the week I mentioned Oliver’s first Hallowe’en costume, which I fashioned out of a cow-print pillow case. I dredged this out of my photo archives: here’s Oliver, sitting on Catherine’s lap, at 222 Sydney Street, in October of 2002.

It’s the last Wednesday of 2017 that the Charlottetown Farmers’ Market is open, and the first day that Catherine’s been back home in almost two weeks of illness-avoiding bio-seclusion.

So I took the morning off, got myself a cup of Ceylon tea, grabbed a sunflower, and made myself a sketch.

Enjoy the sun.

It was “70s Day” at Oliver’s high school today, and, after a complex series of negotiations, he proposed dressing up as Gene Wilder’s character from the 1971 Willy Wonka film.

While a purple waistcoat of Catherine’s and a green bow tie filled most of Oliver’s needs, a top hat was needed. But, if you can believe it, our top hat cupboard was bare.

With the clock ticking, I managed to convert a bright green St. Patrick’s Day hat and two sacrificial pillow cases into a reasonable facsimile.

I haven’t been called to such heights of urgent crafting since the Hallowe’en cow costume of 2002.

Oliver turned 17 years old today, an event greeted by all manner of congratulatory messages, both in person and over the wire from Malmö to Montreal.

Oliver’s been sick with a cold for a week so Catherine’s been in immune-compromised bio-seclusion, staying with friends. We temporarily broke her quarantine this morning to have birthday breakfast at Casa Mia; we’re hoping the ill clears soon so she can come home. We miss her.

As we delayed Oliver’s formal birthday party until later in the week (theme: “solstices”), I took him out to the movies (“Home Again”) and for ribs afterwards.

We spent most of our meal trying to remember the name of a film we saw several years ago at The Oxford in Halifax, a film Oliver described as “a risque movie about an old man who lives on a boat who meets an old woman who plays tables games.”

It was only when we got home, and he looked up the review of the film he’d done for Language Arts at school in 2015, that we found its title, “I’ll See You in my Dreams.”

When I look back at photos of Oliver when he was 13, on the cusp of Catherine’s cancer diagnosis and the more fraught phase of our family’s life together, he’s a young teenager; today he’s a young adult.

Oliver’s been through a lot in the intervening years, and yet through it all he remains a funny, creative, caring, thoughtful person, aware of his challenges but not defined by them.

Happy birthday, son. I love you.

While it lacks the onomastic panache of Burger Love or Porktoberfest, the Island’s nascent Veg It Up!, a challenge to restaurants to highlight a vegetarian or vegan entree, is a commendable effort.

And this year is better than ever.

Oliver and I started late, but with determination.

Last night we enjoyed the “Island Comfort” at Mavor’s (cashew, almond & mushroom loaf served with a velvety parsnip puree, a duo of salted baked beets & roasted island reds & crunchy chickpeas). It was fantastic; the parsnip puree and the chickpeas especially.

Tonight we attempted to ascend the “Gahan Cajun Lime Tofu Scramble” at Gahan House, but they were inexplicably packed, with a 45 minute wait for a table.

So we decamped across the street to the Brickhouse, where we sat at the Chef’s Table and enjoyed the Mac and Cheese, described as “a vegan take on the traditional and classic mac and cheese., Paired with a Fall beet salad.”

It was fantastic, and the absence of cheese wasn’t missed at all (I’ve no idea what played its role, but it was satisfyingly good).

You’ve got one more day to Veg It Up; it all wraps up tomorrow. Kudos to the folks at Veg PEI for organizing this; it’s nice to indulge in competitive culinary antics where no animals need be sacrificed.

In winter Ethan disappears into the snow of the back yard. In autumn, however, he loses all camouflage.

I’m really happy with the way this sketch turned out: I think I’m finally starting to figure out how light and reflection works. I’m especially proud of the metal thingy at the end of the pencil.