Posted on May 7, 2015 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Some beautiful art at the home of Jyotsna and her husband

 

 

You can see the joy on people’s faces as we have been enjoying several sunny days in a row. It was a real blessing to have spectacular weather for the convocation at St.F.X  last weekend. The town looked great and there were a lot of proud parents and grandparents wandering the Main.

The day after graduation is always a spectacle as many ( most ) grads pack up for the last time. Some of them will never return while others will become fanatical alumni, which is important for the continued survival of any university. As some of you know, we recently moved downtown to an apartment. Court Street used to be a prime residential area of single family dwellings. It still is but most of the homes have become rentals for university students.

Most of us have had the pleasure (!) of helping our children move…sometimes across town and occasionally across the country. It can be mildly disheartening work especially the final cleanup. Court Street was awash with moving vans, mini vans, trucks and cars . In a few cases , it was obvious that the grandparents were doing the move. And just like that, the town fell silent.

Have you ever had a mother raccoon take up residence in the roof of your porch? Have you ever been struck by lightning? Have any of you had either of these things happen to you twice? Yeah, yeah I know the line about lightning striking the same place twice. I’ve never heard the expression “ raccoons never strike the same place twice.”

Wrong.

I had to bring in “The Beaver Brothers” the other day to extricate a raccoon from our porch roof.  The same thing happened four years ago. Raccoon sightings are increasingly common. The Landry’s say that their trapping services have increased exponentially since the town instituted the green bins for compost several years ago. While we weren’t terribly amused with the reoccurrence, we took it in stride and I thought, “ what the hell,” I’ll write a story about it as there were some amusing twists and turns. Stay tuned for “Raccoon Rescue” coming soon.

I’m not sure if it was Saltscapes or the fact that people have come out of hibernation after a dreadfully hard winter, but my readership has suddenly exploded. Thanks to all of you who take the time to read my stories and rants.

My editor was busy bright and early yesterday ( the morning after the end of tax season ), editing the story about Michael Campbell. In case you missed this week’s Monday Morning Musings ( shame on you! ), I was talking about a meeting I had last week in New Victoria, Cape Breton. I met this amazing man, Michael Campbell. He has led a long, active and healthy life. He still plays hockey three times a week ( 75-80 games a year ) and he is just shy of 90 years old. Look for his story next week. It is called “The Life and Times of Michael Campbell.”

Just a reminder about the fundraiser this coming  Saturday at Piper’s Pub for Sadie Anderson. Sadie is 4 years old who is battling cancer. It runs from 4-8 p.m. with lots of great live music, auction, face painting and more.

Have a great weekend.

Posted on April 23, 2015 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

The Gorge – Columbia River , Washington State

( Peter MacDonald photo )

 

 

Last weekend, a member of my extended family ( in laws by marriage ) was lamenting about computer woes. Those of you who know me well and regularly read my material, know that I have a love/hate relationship with technology, especially computers. If you want a primer on how I really feel, go to the search bar on my home page and enter the following: ctrl.alt.del. While I was expressing sympathies with my sister in law, I mentioned an incident that happened last week at a hotel in Windsor. The story has been penned and it’s called “401 Frenzy.” The 401, refers to highway 401 in Ontario. I plan to publish this next week…. if I don’t have computer problems!

Sorry if I misled you earlier in the week. I had all the intentions of publishing the story “Les is More” about my visit to a rehab facility in Kingston, Ontario.  Alas, life got in the way and there were too many things going on this past Monday ( birthday party, babysitting etc. ) so I couldn’t get everything together for Tuesday. Hope to post this on the weekend or next week. Stay tuned.

If you are over the age of 50, and grew up in Antigonish,  there is a very good chance that you knew Peggy “A.B.”  No offence to my mother , my wife or any other people who make pies, but Peggy made the best pies in the universe. Hands down. No debate. Correct?

Peggy lived the last years of her life at the Antigonish Manor and I don’t think anyone would dispute the notion that she was the “unofficial mayor of the Manor.” I got to know Peggy over the years,  once she discovered that I played guitar and could sing some of the old war era tunes. Every so often, Peggy would call me up and the conversation would go something like this: “ P.D. ( my dad’s name ). Three of the residents are having a birthday this Saturday and I was wondering if you would come over to sing a few songs?” There was no “wondering.” Peggy wasn’t really asking. It was more of a command. Peggy didn’t take “no” for an answer very often.

My reward, invariably, was a freshly baked pie. Well, back in 2004, I ran ( unsuccessfully, much to the utter joy of my better half! ) for Mayor of Antigonish. Knowing that Peggy wielded a great deal of influence over many seniors, I figured that a visit to Peggy was mandatory. I’m not talking about a knock at the door and handing out some meaningless brochure. No. This was a scheduled appointment. I can’t tell you much more without spoiling the story but there was a cat involved. To this day, whenever I think about what happened, a wide grin creases my face. I’ve titled the story “ Cat Astrophe.” My  editor might have something to say about it. This story will be published next Wednesday on my website and in The Casket.

I’m off to the  Satlscapes Expo tomorrow. If you live in Metro or happen to be traveling to this wonderful event, please drop by and say hello. I will be sharing space with the Antigonish Visitor Information Center.

Have a great weekend.

Posted on March 26, 2015 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Strumming a tune at Days Gone By Restaurant in Guysborough

 

 

Have you noticed the signs of spring? Did you see your first robin? Is the water running freely in the brook beside your property? Have you noticed the lengthening of the days? Yes, these are all sure fire signs of spring but I know conclusively that spring is on its way. I encountered the first dead skunk on the road the other day while driving down to Guysborough.

Ok. You can all stop laughing now. My face plant last weekend has had close to 1000 views… hardly viral but respectable. I think my kids laughed harder than anyone. Did you miss it? Want to see it one more time? Click… and laugh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv5gSmeTfs8

There’s always a first for something and the other day, I travelled to Port Hawkesbury at the invitation of a book club. This group of people have been meeting every month for fifteen years. They read a book and then get together for a cup of tea and a cookie and discuss the book’s contents. I was honored that they chose my first book “ Living and Laughing @ MyWeek 45” for their last meeting. I was laughing before I even got to the back door of the hostess’s house. I noticed that their driveway had been sanded with… wait for this, kitty litter! Yes, just days after publishing the story, “ Don’t Rain ( or Snow or Sleet ) on my Parade,” there was a trail of kitty litter. I am no expert but I think it was of the clumping variety.

I spent a delightful hour and a half with this wonderful group of women. We had plenty of laughs. We were just about to disburse when one of the women, Karen, told us this story of her getting locked inside a bookstore. I won’t spoil the story but an inattentive clerk locked the store to go to lunch and didn’t notice that a customer was crouched down looking for a book on the bottom shelf. Five minutes later , I was scratching out as many details as possible. This has the makings of a fine story indeed. Stay tuned.

This Saturday ( mercifully ), I will be publishing the final chapter of my travel saga called “Transcontinental Travel Tips.” That’s the good news. Do you want to hear the bad news? Peter and I are going to travel across the continent again in about two weeks time, by a different route. I’ll fly out and meet him in Vancouver and we’ll head to Washington State and take the northern route through the U.S. re-entering Canada in Windsor. We only have 6 days to do the trip so there won’t be a lot of stopping for sightseeing. I’m sure Peter will get some great pictures and no doubt, I’ll get some new story ideas.

And coming up next week, keep your eye out for the story “ The Habs and the Hab Nots.” No, it’s not about the Montreal Canadiens but rather a story about a train trip to Montreal some of us took in 1971. We arrived in Montreal the day of “the storm of the century.” It was also the day that the nation was surprised to find out that Pierre Trudeau got married. This is a nostalgia piece for those of you who ever took the train from Antigonish . Ah, the good old days.

Have a great weekend.