Today was the day to overprint TERMS OF UNION in black over the red Prince Edward Island. See also Five Islands.

I’m in the final stages (I hope) of a year-long project to produce sets of Prince Edward Island “Terms of Union Flash Cards.” Today was the day to start printing the envelopes. I started out with too much ink on the rollers for my own good, and so in an effort to keep things moving along, I did some experimenting. This may be the favourite accidental experiment I’ve ever produced.

Here’s what the envelopes looked like once I’d got things going (they’ll get overprinted with black text in the next step):

And here’s the letterpress cut – a loan from Ian Scott and Daphne Large – that made it all possible:

I really, really like Lumi, a company offering small runs of things like screen printing kits and vinyl decals from your own artwork. To try its services out, I prepared a vector version of the Reinvented logo and used Lumi’s remarkably simply web tool to upload it and select products to order (I ordered a vinyl decal and a screen print kit; total price $26.60 US).

Fifteen days after I ordered, the package arrived here in Charlottetown.

Lumi really needs to update its packaging game; my shipment was packed in a thin cardboard envelope that was twice as large as it needed to be and had been folded over double by the post office; the screen print ink in the package had started to leak a little. That all said, the decal and screen arrived intact and ready for use.

Here’s the vinyl decal before installation:

And here’s the vinyl decal installed on the door of the Reinventorium:

It was very easy to install, especially as a the kit included a squeegee. Lumi’s guide to decal installation was helpful, especially the caution to be careful when removing the transfer sheet (Reinvented almost lost an eyeball, but I used the aforementioned caution and avoided this).

About a year ago the Restore an Acre initiative of the Macphail Woods Ecological Forestry Project came to my attention. There was something about its simple, direct, well-executed approach to forest restoration that struck a chord with me, and so I became a supporter, making a $200 donation, in honour of former PEI premier Alex B. Campbell, who had been much on my mind last fall.

This weekend there was a walk through the forest that’s being restored – the Selkirk Road Public Forest – led by the project’s personable and enthusiastic leader Gary Schneider.

It was a damp, overcast afternoon, but a sizeable crowd of Restore an Acre supporters turned out and, over the course of three hours we headed from the Selkirk Road entrance deep into the woods, passing from the formerly-farmed front section into the sections at the rear that, among other things, sport large hemlock trees that, if you’re not used to them, seem completely out of place on Prince Edward Island.

Never missing an opportunity to map a new part of Prince Edward Island, I had GPS Logger running on my Android phone during the walk, and yesterday I turned the traces I’d gathered, along with data traced from the satellite view, into OpenStreetMap. There’s still some fine-tuning and enhancement to do, but here’s what the map looks like after my update:

The Selkirk Road is well-known to many Islanders as the fast run from Charlottetown to the Wood Island Ferry. Next time you’re heading to or from the ferry and you’re in need of a walk in the woods, I encourage you to take a hike through these woods.  And, of course, there are still acres waiting to be restored.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac long-range weather forecast for Charlottetown for November 2015 calls for “showers, cool”:

It is currently overcast and 7°C with light rain in Charlottetown – showers and cool, in other words:

And thus my Old Farmer’s Almanac umbrella, which is emblazoned with “The Old Farmer’s Almanac said it would RAIN TODAY” is, yet again, proved correct:

One the second floor of our house at 100 Prince Street we have a washroom with built-in shower that sports a light and exhaust fan in its ceiling.

Last week I went to take my morning shower and, as I do every morning, I flipped on the switch that turns these on.

Nothing.

I tried again.

Nothing.

“Oh no,” I thought to myself, “I’m going to have to call an electrician.”

Later in the morning I booked an appointment with Kingston Electrical.

A few days later the battery in my Braun shaver was getting low, so after my morning shave I plugged it in to the outlet next to the washroom sink.

The next morning I went to shave, only to find that the shaver was dead. 

Nothing.

For some reason it hadn’t charged up overnight.

I checked all the connections, and the plug, to make sure nothing was awry, but it appeared that the shaver was kaput.

“Oh no,” I thought to myself, “I’m going to have to buy another shaver.”

Later in the morning I went up to Home Hardware and purchased a Remington foil shaver that, helpfully, was on sale for $31.

This morning Kingston Electrical arrived first thing for their scheduled visit.

They went up to the washroom, noted that the ground fault circuit interrupter button on the washroom outlet was “tripped,” reset it, and then everything – the outlet, the shaver and the ceiling light and exhaust fan – started working.

Apparently, for some reason – they said it was unusual but not otherwise problematic – the shower stall’s electrical wiring was wired through the sink plug’s GFCI.

Live and learn.

While we’re on the topic of Ethan, my friend Heather Mullen, who is the best “snap a quick interesting photo on their phone” person I know, captured this shot of CBC’s Kerry Campbell about to do an interview with me about changes in education governance last week.

As it happens, Ethan was along with me that afternoon, and dutifully stood by as Kerry conducted his interview. Which is when Heather captured us.

One of the challenges of having a service dog like Ethan in your house, when he’s not in service of you, is remembering that you’re just there in a supervisory capacity; you’re not “the customer” for the magic powers of the dog.

In our household this means that Catherine and I have to allow Ethan’s primary bond be with Oliver.

And most of the time we’re successful at that.

And then there are lapses.

Like last night. Ethan was exhausted after a day of playing with a new ball that friends helpfully left him on Saturday when he took a shine to it. When I put the ball away at the end of the night so he could calm down, he was distressed, and so in an effort to calm him down I invited him up on the chair with me. Where he immediately fell fast asleep.

If you ever harboured any doubts that a 65 pound standard poodle could be absolutely adorable, it’s time to let them go.

Earlier this year I mentioned to Premier Wade MacLauchlan that 2015 was the 20th anniversary of the establishment of www.gov.pe.ca, the official website of the Province of Prince Edward Island, and a project that I helped found.

I suggested to the Premier that it was high time to recognize the contributions of Carol Mayne, the public servant without whose skills and tenacity the site never would have seen the light of day. I’m happy to report that there was a celebration of exactly that this afternoon: Carol, along with the members of the original web team and the current web team all gathered for cake and a chat. It was wonderful to see everyone and to hear the old stories about when the web was young.

Among the artifacts of the earlier digital age on display at the even was a photo of the web team taken when the project was awarded recognition during French Language Services Week sometime over a decade ago. This afternoon we gathered together in the same room to take the same photo; here’s old me vs. new me cropped out of both photos:

My how I’ve shrunk in the intervening years.

I’m smiling in both photos, though; that’s the important thing.

One of my favourite stretches of road on Prince Edward Island is Route 12 north from Route 2 to Alberton. It’s a road that runs through the heart of Cascumpec, through hills and valleys, over bridges, through twists and turns, with stunning views of Cascumpec Bay along the way.

I drove the route tonight at dusk en route to Alberton for a home and school meeting. The leaves were at peak; the weather cleared from rain as I crossed through the peat bog heading west from Miscouche; conditions were perfect.

The first time I drove Route 12 to Alberton was 22 years ago, one stop on a series of visits to Island crafts producers when I started my work with the PEI Crafts Council. I drove up to visit Herb Leavitt, who made things out of bird’s eye maple from his shop at the corner of Church and Prince William. He was a genial host; over tea and a biscuit he told me about his craft, and then took me on a tour of his shop.

Herb died 4 short years later, in 1997, and in 2012 the former home of Leavitt’s Maple Tree Crafts, the shop I’d toured at at the corner of Church and Prince William, was demolished.

I returned to  Route 12 in 2001 and 2006, in both cases to visit the Princess Pat Drive-in, a singular place to watch a movie with a view over the bay, a solid canteen, and friendly staff. It too is no longer, alas; it suffered wind damage in 2008 and closed shortly thereafter. It was for sale for a time, and I must say that I gave more than passing thought to acquiring it. I could think of many things worse than living out my days changing the reels in the projection booth while the residents of greater Cascumpec lined up for popcorn. But it was not meant to be.

The home and school meeting in Alberton was engaging: parents from Alberton and Bloomfield gathered to talk about the PEI Home and School Federation resolutions process. There was much good discussion of education, and I emerged sure in the knowledge that the good ship ship home and school is well-tended in West Prince.