Posted on October 13, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

The Landing – Thanksgiving 2014

 

 

This is going to be short and sweet. Many of you have already had your Thanksgiving dinner and are suffering turkey torpor. The rest of you will dine sometime today. Either way, don’t forget to set your scales back 10 pounds. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

It was a very busy weekend but not too busy to write some stories. I penned one for this week’s edition of the Cape Breton Star. It will appear on my website at a later date. With Celtic Colors on this week, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge this with a story. A festival of this magnitude did not happen overnight. In my story titled “ Celtic Colors Celestial Choir,” I pay tribute to some of the trailblazers from Cape Breton who laid the groundwork for this extravaganza.

My “celestial choir” is composed of John Morris Rankin on piano, John Allan Cameron on 12 string guitar and Buddy MacMaster on fiddle. The vocalists are Rita MacNeil and Raylene Rankin. As my dear old departed friend , Gary Thompson used to say, “ not too shabby.” If you’re in Cape Breton this week, pick up a copy of The Star on Thursday. It’s a free publication.

I also have another tribute piece coming up. I’m keeping it a secret for the time being but I am certain this one will be well received.

Waiting in the wings is my Halloween story and the one on dieting. It might make sense to run the dieting story this week after a weekend of heavy duty eating. I didn’t really need that second piece of homemade butterscotch cream pie!

My long awaited story (!) about the Capitol Theatre will appear on my website and in The Casket this Wednesday. On a recent trip to PEI, I was discussing the story with a friend and he commented that back in the day, the theatre was the only show in town. I thought that would make an excellent title for the story. “ The Only Show in Town.”

I’m sure many of you were taught by the sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame. They sure learned me good! I have shed the light on them in a few other stories and hope to do a full length piece in the not too distant future. All of them are retired and several of them reside in Sydney. I plan to make a trip down to visit with them.

Three of my four children were home on the weekend and they did a run through of the music they will perform at the fundraiser on October 26^th. They have an awesome lineup of tunes. You might want to get your tickets sooner than later, from Brendan’s Fairway, from a committee member or from yours truly.

So much for brevity. Have a great week.

Posted on October 11, 2014 under Storytelling with no comments yet

The hallways of the old Antigonish High School

 

 

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes words alone simply don’t do justice; it is hard to describe the wonder of nature painted in a sunrise or sunset.  But just as often pictures don’t tell the whole story.  Sometimes a word can say more than a thousand pictures.

When you hear someone yell “Fire!” you immediately spring into safety mode. The triumphant shout of “Bingo!” indicates the end of the game … and the possibility of a stampede.  And if you’re a golfer, the cry “Fore!” means duck your head because someone has launched an errant shot.

I was at the Farmer’s Market recently and bumped into a couple of old friends. The subject of education came up and we shared stories about the impact that certain teachers have had on our lives.  In some cases, their influence has been life-changing.  In the middle of this animated conversation, one of them uttered a word that stopped us all in our tracks.  We gave each other knowing glances.  No need to explain or draw a diagram for this one.

Provincials. As in provincial examinations.

In life, there is black and there is white and there are shades of gray. It’s ok to have an off day at work or to have a sub-par (over par!) round of golf.  But when your entire academic year hangs in the balance, depending upon the successful completion of a set of exams set by the province, there are no shades of gray.

Pass or fail. All or nothing.

Not everyone thrives on pressure. Standing up in front of a crowd to make a public presentation is among the hardest things for most mortals to do.  Sometimes you nail it while other times you just stink out the joint.  But you almost always have a chance to redeem yourself.  Provincials leave you either standing or lying in the dust.  You pass … or you fail.  Period.

Provincials were always held in June and invariably exam day was unseasonably hot.  When I think about it I remember sweaty palms, perspiration on the forehead, and palpitations of the heart.  The walk into the examination room made me feel every bit as uneasy as Daniel in the lion’s den.  Luckily, just about everybody in the class came out, like Daniel, unscathed.  Thanks in large part to those extraordinary teachers we were talking about the other morning.

I’m not sure how I feel about the ordeal of Provincials. We all dread a root canal but when it’s over and we have relief, we look back and say it wasn’t so bad.  These “make or break” exams certainly prepared us for the life challenges that were ahead.

I sometimes take the pressure cooker out of the cupboard to prepare the spuds, especially for large gatherings. Writing provincials was another kind of pressure cooker – I’ll keep that one in storage, thank you very much.

That is, until the next time a crony utters that word.

Posted on October 9, 2014 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Oak Manor – classy window dressing

With apologies to all other retailers in Antigonish, I think the window dressing at Oak Manor is always among the best in town. Caught this picture at 6:30 a.m. yesterday on my morning walk.

The Fall colors are simply majestic, wouldn’t you say? While most of us enjoy the warmth of the summer, it seems that everybody loves this time of the year. Throw in some unseasonably warm weather over the past few weeks and just about everybody is smiling.

It is Thanksgiving weekend which is always a good time to take stock and be appreciative for all the things we enjoy living in this part of the world. I was chatting on the street corner the other day with a friend and we were marvelling at our town, our province and our country. All you have to do is flick on the TV and watch 10 minutes of the news to realize how unbelievably fortunate we are to live where we do. The late Fr. Pops McKenna , who came to our house for New Years dinner every year , often said, “: we live in paradise but just don’t realize it.”

Life is not all peaches and cream but if you have family, something meaningful to do with your life, have food on the table and enjoy reasonably good health, be very thankful on this Thanksgiving weekend.

On my way to the football game last weekend, I passed by the Psychology building which used to be the old Antigonish High School. So many memories including writing provincial exams in grade 12. For most of us of a certain age, this was our first ( of many ) pressure cooker situations in life. When your entire academic year hangs in the balance, it is pretty nerve wracking. I tried to recreate the sensation in the story, “ All or Nothing,” which will appear on my website soon.

I am still putting the finishing touches on the story about going to the Capitol Theater when we were kids. There’s still time to add a line or two so if you have a memory that you would like to share, please pass it along and I’ll try and incorporate it before publishing. Coming soon, “ A Capitol Idea.

You are about to be “earwormed.” I noticed in the paper the other day, the passing of Paul Revere of “Paul Revere and the Raiders.” This was a 60’s band. One of their lesser known hits of 1967 was a song that a local band, “The Strangers” perfected. It was called “Him or Me.” Go to Youtube and give it a listen. The Strangers were one of my all time favorite bands. It probably had something to do with me being a teenager when they were in their prime. Al, Charlie, Jody and Pat were extremely talented guys. I rarely wish to be 16 again (!) but if I could time travel, I would be beamed back to the mid 60’s to the Parish Center to hear these guys play one more time.

Lots of other stories in the works.

Please keep November 5^th at 7:00 p.m. open on your calendar. My sidekick, Phil Milner, will be launching his new book, “ The Antigonish Book of Days” at the Legion. I will be away on vacation but hope some of you can make it out to support Phil on his latest endeavour.

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend.

Be “thankful and grateful.”

 

P.S. Let your eyes roam to the right. Here’s the book cover for my 2^nd. book. Hope you like it.