Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers. Today’s post has some highlights of my recent visit to PEI. Fall in Charlottetown is a wonderful time of year.

Welcome to the 180^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a quote of the week. Along with fall in Charlottetown, this week’s edition looks at plastic-free coffee pods, marigolds as a source of protein, and Vancouver’s zero-waste ambassador program.

On my mind this week: Fall in Charlottetown

Although I miss having my girls home for Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the time I spent with Colleen last week. Every time I visit PEI, I discover something new. Peak tourist season may be over for the year but fall in Charlottetown has a definite charm. Here are some highlights of my recent trip.

Anne & Gilbert, the musical

As I shared in my most recent Clutter Tale, seeing Anne & Gilbert felt like an appropriate way to wrap up my “Summer of Anne”.

I’ve seen Anne of Green Gables, The Musical three times so I had high hopes for Anne & Gilbert. It did not disappoint. Anne & Gilbert continues Anne’s story through the second and third books of the series, Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island.

Anne’s early childhood in the orphanage makes it difficult for her to return Gilbert’s love, despite his gentle persistence. That’s the gist of the storyline. For the most part, the musical remained true to the story of the books—obviously with a few changes to fit it into two and a half hours without needing a cast of hundreds. 

The cast was excellent. Holly Perry and Brandon Stafford were wonderful as Anne and Gilbert. But Charlottetown native Beth Rogers stole the show as Marilla Cuthbert with her solo, When He Was My Beau. What a voice!

A highlight of the show for me was the toe-tapping ditty, You’re Island Through and Through. This fun piece celebrates PEI while poking good-natured fun at those of us “from away”. I was humming it all the way back to the car after the show. Here’s a YouTube version if you want to give it a listen.

Charlottetown Scarecrow Festival

Every October, the Charlottetown Scarecrow Festival features hundreds of scarecrow displays across the downtown area. You’ll find them in parks and outside local businesses and public buildings.

The Thursday during my visit was beautiful and sunny. It felt like summer. I took the bus into town while Colleen was at work and walked around to look at all the scarecrows. The creativity was wonderful. Here are some favourites that you may recognize!

Delicious food

They call PEI Canada’s food island and it’s easy to see why.

We mostly ate at home during my visit, but I did enjoy a scrumptious lobster roll at Dave’s Lobster on the Charlottetown waterfront. Colleen and I enjoyed a homemade roast beef dinner with gluten-free Yorkshire pudding. And naturally, I took advantage of the nice weather to savour some delicious Cows ice cream—Wowie Cowie, Cownadian Maple, and Messy Bessy were on the menu.

Seeing Colleen

Of course, the biggest highlight for me was seeing and spending time with Colleen. She’s settling into her new condo. It’s lovely.

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Quote of the week

Thanksgiving is my favourite holiday. I am missing my girls this weekend, but I still have much to be grateful for.

What if, today, we were grateful for everything?

Charlie Brown

Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• My travels home from Charlottetown went smoothly. I arrived back in Toronto on time, so I was able to hop on an earlier bus back to Kitchener. Air Canada’s bus service from Toronto Airport to Kitchener is wonderful!
• On Thursday, I attended the CEBS Graduation ceremony in Toronto. It was terrific to connect with friends and colleagues and meet some new people.
• I am enjoying the last of the fresh tomatoes from the garden. I don’t recall ever eating tomatoes from the garden in October.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Plastic-free coffee pods

I got rid of my Keurig because I hated the waste from the single-use coffee pods.

Now, Keurig has introduced plastic-free, fully compostable coffee pods. That’s the good news. The bad news? They only work in their new $500+ Alta brewer.

One step forward…

(Source: MarthaStewart.com)

Protein from marigolds

Every year, millions of tons of marigolds get thrown away after weddings, festivals, and religious events in India and Mexico.

Scientists at the University of Georgia have been investigating marigolds as a food source. They’ve learned Marigold petals contain almost 9 grams of protein per 100 grams, rivalling quinoa for protein content.

(Source: Happy Eco News)

Vancouver’s zero-waste ambassador program

Multi-unit residential buildings like condos and apartments have low uptake on recycling compared to single family homes. The city of Vancouver, B.C. is taking steps to close that gap with a new zero-waste ambassador program.

Volunteers attend a 4-hour training program and are given materials and support to identify waste diversion opportunities within their buildings. Their responsibilities include:

• Communicating diversion and zero waste information to residents
• Improving their building’s garbage and recycling room to create a welcoming space for residents to sort their waste
• Engaging with residents and building management to identify barriers and implement solutions 
• Encouraging residents to take steps towards a zero-waste lifestyle 

(Source: A Sustainably Simple Life)

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I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.