For one thing there is work been done on my house again and that is a good thing. People were complaining to the dilapidated premises people about my east side and the front door. Well I'm glad to announce things are improving. The east side was very interesting when they tore off the badly damaged siding. It was very clear, with the sheathing, the outline of the little house of circa 1800 and how it was expanded about 1840 to make a saltbox. It attracted a lot of attention. I have always said that when you begin working on an old house it starts talking to you and in this case it was screaming. Thanks to my computer doula, Peter Rukavina, you can see what I am talking about.

The new exterior cladding had to be painted on all sides before it went on so I spent quite a few hours in John Rankin's warehouse doing that - with a little help from my friends. I say with gratitude, particularly to John for letting us be there.

We are, very much, reproducing exacting what the front door trim was about and that has produced many challenges. Fortunately there are a couple of people who will exactly reproduce profiles and that is being done at the moment. The little house looks prouder already.

All the elections have begun to get to people. We had an municipal election on the 6th and our friend George MacDonald is still Mayor with four of his former council with him and SIX new people. That is a big job for all; Mayor, council and staff and a concern for thise of us who worry about our little capital city that needs such special care.

Monday we go to the poles for the Federal Election and by Tuesday morning the dust will have settle and sleeves will be rolled up all over. At least we hope we are not heading for an American scene repeat. We supposedly can prevent that by getting out to vote. No need to suggest that to MY friends - they'll be there.

Between house renovations and researching the elections, I have been reading the 1930 Guardians. I have about eleven hours behind me and about 100 more to go. I read them on microfilm and I can only spend a max of fours at it per day [old eyes]. I have the longer articles photocopied so it makes it go a little faster. It takes almost as long at home to clip and paste and file my readings.

Charlottetown has been chosen to be one of the Ten Smart Cities in Canada that means they will be spending money on seriously upgrading our virtual side! I want to be ready so we can impose a strong history layer over the land records' base map - our geographic-information-system. In other words have a historical tale connected with each property number in the city. It is a big order, but I feel it will be a very useful package of information.. My theory is know it , love it and protect it. My dream!

The November 6th New Yorker had an article on The Map for New York City, their geographic-information-system. They are very proud of it and it certainly must have been a big job. It covers sewer and power lines, paths in parks etc., etc. but they never mentioned history. I think Our Map can better [of course everything is relative].