The radio silence here extends from a secret mission (or, if you are Oliver, a “trip where not all the parties were informed of the outcome”) that saw all the brothers Rukavina, plus selected third generation special guest stars, converge on our parents’ house in Burlington, Ontario to celebrate our father’s 80th birthday. With brothers strung from coast to coast–Prince Edward Island, Montreal, Oakland, plus one in Burlington–it was a logistical tour de force to pull this off, involving several months of planning and coordination. Somehow we did it, all arriving at brother Mike’s house at the appointed hour yesterday, 30 minutes before the arrival of my surprised (Oliver: “not completely informed”) father. Here’s a photo of all of us, taken by my sister-in-law Karen; from left to right it’s Johnny, Mike, Jacob, Frances, Peter, Oliver, Norm and Steve:

A good time was had by all.

We’ve now begun to slowly disperse: Steve was the first, back to Montreal on the train this morning. Johnny drives Jacob home to Muskoka this afternoon. We’re here until Saturday when we decamp for a whirlwind visit with Catherine’s parents in Napanee before returning to the Island on Sunday on the overnight train. Johnny heads back to California at the end of the weekend.

This was one in a long line of similar convergences, a genre at which my family uniquely excels. Plans are already afoot for Dad’s 90th. We have 10 years.

I was so happy to present Dana Doyle with the School Crossing Guard of the Year Award on behalf of PEI Home and School Federation today.

I’ve known Dana for a long time—we were parents at Prince Street at the same time—and when I first proposed that we start recognizing school crossing guards, it was people like Dana I had in my mind.

When our board of directors selected Dana from those nominated (I recused myself), I was delighted, as she typifies everything that makes a great crossing guard great.

Over they last two days we’ve filled up almost half of the largest dumpster you can order with random bits that have filled up our yard and basement over the last 17 years. And we haven’t even touched the attic yet.

Here’s a random assortment of things we’ve thrown away:

• 3 rolls of rusty barbed wire
• 1 300 baud Modem
• 3 moldy air conditioners
• 2 broken chairs
• 6 towel racks
• 1 cardboard box from a TV purchased in 2000 (TV still in use)
• 1 cardboard box from our original iMac
• 1 cardboard box from a ride-on Tonka truck
• 1 cardboard box from a Big Bird lemonade stand
• 1 stair rail from unknown stairs
• too many bits of wood, metal, pipe, and tile to count
• 1 broken Shopvac
• 2 child-sized snow shovels
• 1 Siemens phone system, 15 years old
• 16 feet of rotten blue picket fence
• 2 sheets of ugly wood panelling from the 1970s
• 1 kitchen sink
• 1 power-steering rod from 2000 Jetta
• many, many CD racks and holders
• 2 wrought iron park bench ends (rusty and broken)

If we were more responsible, we’d sort this all, donate some of it, recycle some of it, compost some of it, etc. But we lack the capacity to do that, and as the alternative is to become a long-term junk warehouse, we bit the bullet and decided to purge with reckless abandon.

The 300 baud modem was the hardest.

Catherine’s fabric-and-glass piece, a collaboration with BJ Sandiford that hung last in Receiver Coffee, has a lovely new home outside Happy Glass next door. Pop up and take a look.

Here’s a sketch I made last night of Oliver, sitting on the couch in his usual perch, using his MacBook Air:

The Charlottetown Farmers’ Market was open on Wednesday for the first time this season today, and it will be open every Wednesday into the fall.

If you’ve only ever experienced the market in its claustrophobia-inducing Saturday edition, try coming out on a Wednesday: it’s busy, but it’s a nice, gentle, easy busy.

I’ve resolved to try to eat lunch there every Wednesday this summer. Perhaps you’d like to join me?

I ended up there today for almost the entire afternoon, and by the time I was ready to leave, the market vendors were packing up their stalls. I wasn’t content to depart, however, without taking the chance to sketch the market in its relatively lonley state, and so I set myself up on a windy picnic table outside for a few minutes and made this, which I think does it some justice (except for the curvy stairs: drawing curves still frazzles out my brain).

This was my first season with winter tires on my car. I should have done it years ago: winter driving was so much better this year.

I was late getting summer tires back on, and so, in a bid too be super-organized, I made an appointment for November 6 to get winter tires put back on.

I have never felt so organized as I do right now.

Following the questions from Mr. Blunt, we’ll hear from Ms. Candid, Mr. Lax, and Ms. Obtuse.

Here’s the finished version of the map of Charlottetown that I started on this morning. I added Charlottetown at the bottom in 60 pt. Akzidenz Grotesk, and punched a 3/8 inch hole at the top. I’m not entirely sure why the hole, but it works.

In addition to the printing part of this project, it’s been interesting to consider the notion of the least-detailed-but-still-useful version of a map of the city. I see a lot of tourists wandering around Charlottetown with maps in their hands looking confused, and I think part of the reason for this is that they don’t understand the fundamentals: Kent is the head, Great George is the spine, Queen and Prince the arms, and Water the feet.

Once you understand that, everything else is easy:

• “The Confederation Centre is at the corner of Queen and Grafton.”
• “Dave’s Lobster is at the foot of Prince Street, just below Water.”
• “Meet me at my house on Prince Street just south of Grafton.”
• “Ken’s Corner is on Fitzroy (one street up from Kent) and Weymouth (two blocks east of Prince).”

Available for sale in my shop.

Our friend–and Oliver’s former helper–Derrick Biso announced their engagement on Facebook. Oliver responded with his wedding speech:

Derrick (I Met through Lindsay “My Helper Before Derrick”) Jann (I Met Through Derrick “My Helper and LGBTQIA+ Teacher and many other things such as Yoga, Meditation, Mindfulness, Etc.”) Derrick and I went to Cloggeroo (“The Folk Festival in Georgetown”) Together, Hung-Out Together doing Yoga, Meditation, Mindfulness, Etc., and Did Many Other Things Together. We’re The Best of Friends. Jann went along with Derrick to My Grade 9 Graduation, My House Summer Party (German-Themed). They’re so much special human beings and the best of my friends. -Oliver (Friend of Derrick and Jann)