Saturday, September 29, 2012

Sunset at Blue Rocks


                                                                                     The Sun
                                                                              Have you ever seen
goodnight Blue Rocks
anything in your life
more wonderful

than the way the sun,
every evening,
relaxed and easy,
floats toward the horizon

and into the clouds or the hills,
or the rumpled sea,
and is gone--
and how it slides again
out of the blackness,
every morning,
                                                                                                         on the other side of the world,
 like a red flower

streaming upward on its heavenly oils,
say, on a morning in early summer,
at its perfect imperial distance--
and have you ever felt for anything
such wild love--
do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
a word billowing enough
for the pleasure

that fills you,
as the sun
reaches out,
as it warms you

as you stand there,
empty-handed--
or have you too
turned from this world--

or have you too
gone crazy
for power,
for things?
                 Mary Oliver

Friday, September 28, 2012

Happy Birthday Mom

I celebrate Gertie Beaton Prashaw,
 my mom, whose family hales from
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia via the
Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Beaton Clan Crest

You  often told me,
"you are just like me."

Now I ask you,
what 16 year old daughter
wants to hear this from her mother?

Well, I wish you were here
right now mom.
I wish you could tell me this
again, because you'll never
believe it;  I AM!

I am just like you and just like
me and I am grateful.  

If I have only one tenth of your Scottish
hospitality I am generous, indeed.

I love you.

Monday, September 24, 2012

The Bluenose II (or is it III?)

The big news in town,
at least the town of Lunenburg,
is The Bluenose.

Now what exactly is a
bluenose?


 Nova Scotian's are proudly called 
"Bluenoses" or "Bluenosers" 
Reason: Planting and exporting of Irish Bluenose Potatoes,
 blue marks on the noses of fishermen left by blue mitts, 
and the nickname given to the Nova Scotia 
British troops which occupied New York City 
and Boston during the American Revolution.
http://www.twrsoft.com/trivia/hist03.htm

Gee, no-one seems to mention frigid winters
where your nose turns blue before it
falls off.

We may be living in the land of bluenosers
but the real news of the day is
The Bluenose II  .

Apparently, in the early
1900's  there was some friendly
rivalry between  United States
and Canadian fishing schooners,
racing to win the International
Fisherman's Trophy.
The Esperanto, American

The Delawana, Canadian
In 1920   the Esperanto from Gloucester, Mass  
defeated the Delewana Of Lunenburg and took the
trophy to New England.
http://www.bluenose2.ns.ca/Legacy/HistoryoftheBluenose.html

Now my loyalties are a wee bit challenged.
I do love New England, after all Jeff
is from Massachusetts, however
I AM CANADIAN with Nova Scotian
roots.
Lunenburg Harbour







The Bluenose



 In her 18-year racing career Bluenose did not give up the trophy.  
You gotta love those Canadians.

Unfortunately, though she was lucky in  races,
she was not so lucky as a a freight carrier;
the Bluenose sank off the coast of Haiti in 1942.

Fast forward to the 1960's when The Bluenose II
was built after the original plans.   This schooner
did not race but sailed the oceans as Nova Scotia's
ambassador.  

Finally, this Saturday, September 29th,
The Bluenose II,
or III, as some folk like to call her 
(she has practically been completely
rebuilt) , all 258 tonnes of her, will
be launched at Snyder's Shipyard 
in the Lunenburg harbour.

We will be joining thousands of people
on the banks of the Atlantic
to watch this historic event.

Here's to the Bluenose II. 

Champagne, anyone?

It took only one loss to the States
for the Bluenosers to say, enough!
In March of 1921,the
Bluenose Schooner was launched
in Lunenburg Harbour.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Church Bells and Fog Horns

Last year, while living in the Lorraine
region in the northeast of France,
in the Moselle department,
Alec and I awoke to the sound
of church bells ringing in the morning.
These were not distant bells from
some countryside church.  Our
bells rang next door to our apartment,
 from the 12th century fortified
church in Lessy. These bells would toll
through the day, musically marking the hours,
a memory of days gone by when the ringing
of the bells beckoned all to stop and say
a prayer, the Angelus, or come to
church for mass or even to
gather in the village.

Here, in Blue Rocks, 
though an Anglican Church
 sits at the end of our block,
 I have yet to hear church bells.
Last night, I awoke to a different, haunting
sound piercing the darkness, 
as if a a tuba was keening in the distance.  
In the morning when I asked Jeff if he heard
the music he said, "you mean the foghorn?"  

On foggy days I now listen for the forlorn
sound of the foghorn bellowing from the sea.
Sure enough she is there, guiding
mariners out of harms way and me toward
the fog settling on our rocky coast.

blue boats in blue rocks on a foggy morn

"One night, while walking home in a dense fog,
as he approached his house ,Foulis heard
his daughter playing the piano but noticed
that it was the very lowest notes which he
could hear most clearly. "

 If I can hear these low notes in the fog, 
 Robert Foulis pondered, 
would not the mariners 
hear these same notes
and upon hearing be warned away 
from the dangers of a rocky coast?  

Aroused by his artistic and engineering spirit 
Foulis, a transplanted Scot living in the
maritimes of Canada,  invented the first steam 
powered fog horn and changed the face of 
marine navigational  history.

 I grew to  love the
 church bells in Lessy, 
ringing reminders to slow
and still my hurried pace. 

Now, in this landscape
without fortified walls,
with no church bells
to ring me to stillness and 
only a rocky, jagged coast 
separating me from the sea,
I listen for the foghorn,
her low, keening tune 
a siren to steer me.



     





Saturday, September 15, 2012

We Have Much to Explore

My mom was a Beaton.
Alec is named after my mom's
older brother.
Alec's  middle name is Beaton.
My mom's family comes from
Mabou, Cape Breton and they
came from the Isle of Skye.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wokHeV7tJUY&feature=relmfu

It is no wonder why the sea calls to me.

We have much to explore.

I'm Dormant!

I have been called many things
in my life but dormant isn't
one of them.

I recently went to Service
Canada to see about my
Social Insurance Number.

You need this number if you ever want
to work in Canada;  not that I'm looking.
After a few clicks on the keyboard  Bill
retrieved my file and said "you're dormant."

Excuse me?

Bill explained, "If you haven't used
your card in 5 years you go dormant.
How long have you been out of the country?"

Ah, it's a long story.  Lets say 30 years!

After a wee bit of explaining
Bill told me my card should be
in the mail in a couple of weeks.

Speaking of work, the spiders
sure seem to be working
hard around here.


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Oh Canada, I'm Back!

From France,
to Virginia,
to Vermont
and finally here,
 in Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia,
Canada;  a nine month
hiatus honouring our Canadian
heritage (Alec's and mine, Jeff
is a wanna be).

The Point (at the end of my morning walk)
view from our 2nd floor balcony

Alec and Piper and our new home

I dreamed of giving Alec, our son,
two things that are important to me;
a second language and 
his Canadian heritage.  
Last year I took Alec to France 
where he was immersed in the 
French language and  culture.
Now, as I write,
he is at school in Bluenose Academy,
Lunenburg, NS. 

Thank you Alec, for your adventurous
spirit and your wonderfully, flexible
nature.

 Let the adventure begin, eh?