Two Saturdays, two very different climates. Last week, I was drinking sweet Dominican coffee and sweating over the keyboard. This Saturday, I am cool as a cucumber. A Canadian cucumber. If they grew cukes in Canada. Which they probably do, but not in PEI, based on roadside sides they only grow potatoes here.

We have returned to Prince Edward Island for another year. “You’re going there again?” Yes. It’s hard to explain our love for this remote little slip of land but we are not denying it, just embracing it.

The underrated beauty of going back to a place again and again is that you’ve done it all. The only thing left to do is nothing. Idle away a day without the guilt and let your mind wander.

GK Chesterton said there were three types of leisure: “The first is being allowed to do something. The second is being allowed to do anything. And the third (and perhaps most rare and precious) is being allowed to do nothing.”

But before we could do nothing, we actually had to get to the island. Unlike in past years, where we drove straight through, this year we drove much of the way on Friday and sort of meandered across the island to the house.

We started the day in Moncton trying to experience an urban natural wonder. The tidal bore.

If there wasn’t documented video evidence and French families out there with us, I might have thought this was an elaborate tourism ruse put on for Americans to get them to stop in the city. In all our drives through, we still have yet to see the tidal bore.

We had much more success at Timmy’s with some morning TimBits and the resumption of the ongoing annual discussion about the cross border differences in donut holes.

Sadly, for one member of the traveling party (what? you don’t pick lodging based on proximity to libraries and bookstores?), the Moncton Public Library didn’t open early enough for us to visit.

One day I’ll get in there. It looks very impressive. Maybe I’ll even get to watch the tidal bore from an upper floor window.

The one bridge that has a higher toll than the George Washington.

If the Cape has the lobster roll price index, the cost of the toll at the Confederations Bridge is a good, similar gauge up north. This year it’s $50 to get the land of Green Gables. It’s Canadian dollars, but still…

First hand pie of the trip. Won’t be the last.

Roasted beet, corn, and goat cheese. So good.

I just can’t get the dough quite right. Maybe it’s the maritime air?

We spent some time walking off the hand pies (and midday ice cream cones) in Charlottetown, including a stop of St Dunstan’s Cathedral where the parish dates back to 1721.

We also perused Charlottetown’s Chinatown (single storefront) where we tried to puzzle out this sign.

Is it two different cuisines? If not…I sort of wanted to check out the hybrid result.

The final stop before the house was the grocery store where we lingered in the Canadian candy aisle, jealous of all their exotic Kit Kat flavors.

We opted for Hazelnut and Double Chocolate Cookie.

At the house, there was cocktail hour on the deck and then a big pot of mussels and warm bread for dinner.

You can, and should, idle, but you should never do it on an empty stomach.

While we waited for it to get dark, there were games of Rummikub and then we all went outside for some primetime viewing of the Perseid meteor shower.

Only mental picture were captured of the meteor shower but, whoa PEI does big sky right.

Milky way, shooting stars. Not a bad way to end a Saturday night.

I hope you have a happy, idle Sunday!