The Value of a Porch

It is common to hear the word 'nar' used in Newfoundland to mean no. You might hear things like

"We caught nar fish today." 

Or, " I got nar cigarette."

However, one of the most interesting uses of nar is with the word porch; the value of which is connected to the weather, an important character in the culture and lifestyle of the province. So much of what people did, fishing, hunting, or harvesting wood, depended on the weather conditions. In fact, the long preoccupation with weather even continues today because it can change in a few minutes. If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes, is commonly heard in Newfoundland and other parts of Atlantic Canada.

As a result of the often harsh weather, homes in Newfoundland are designed for the elements. Whether a porch is attached to the outside of the house or the interior entry of the home, it is almost essential to any Newfoundland dwelling. It separates the main living area of the house from the outdoors, like a weather or windbreak. Years ago porches also served as storage areas for wood or supplies. 

The importance of the porch is understood by the saying,

"The worst thing you can have on your house is nar porch." 

So true...

Green Park, Prince Edward Island

It was a glorious day as we headed out to Green Park about fifty kilometers northwest of Summerside. Rick, Sylvia, my mother-in-law, Georgie, the dog and I were going for another picnic. We hadn't been to Green Park before so we were looking forward to exploring a new area.

The rolling countryside with its patchwork fields of various crops and hay certainly make PEI green. However this park lives up to its name with various types of huge trees; the day use area has huge birches which provide an incredible canopy on such a hot day. Again today there is a breeze to keep away the mosquitoes.

          Day use area

After a lunch which included sandwiches made with Sylvia's flax bread, we walked the beach. There was a man in chest waders who greeted us as we approached his area of the beach. It looked like he was digging in the water then straining the soil through a basket. I asked what he was doing. 

                         Clam digger

"Digging for clams," was the reply. 

"Are they plentiful?" I asked.

"I'm getting about ten pounds an hour. I'll get enough for the crew," he said.

We walked along the beach where the effects of erosion are very obvious. I had taken pictures of the warning sign on the edge of the beach above, near where we ate. The precariously perched trees near the sign were clinging to the ledge, looking like they would topple at any minute with the gusty winds.

                       Sign of erosion

             Hanging on

          Ready to topple

This park has a camping area besides the day use area. There is an Rv camping field as well as rentals available. The rentals are single rooms, with bunk beds and a table and chairs, great for people who don't want to sleep in a tent. They look clean and well maintained.

                Rentals

The whole park is clean, tidy, lawns manicured. There are several washrooms, showers, cook houses, lots of picnic tables, a lovely park. There were a few people on the beach that day but we were alone as we explored. We were also the only people in the day use part of the park. Nearby, preparations were underway for a wedding reception that weekend. 

                   Camping site

The park has historic value as well. The location was the site of the shipbuilding industry in Prince Edward Island in the 1800s. We didn't explore the museum or the shipbuilders house that day but plan to go back another time to check them out. The natural beauty of the park that day was enough.

           Outside the Shipbuilding Museum

Garden Respite

It started over three years ago now. Rick and I were waiting behind one of those windows for the news. In our case, at that time, the news was good. I remember looking out the window and thinking that it was strange to have a window on the internal side of the hospital. That's when I saw the garden in its early spring condition. It was a peaceful looking place during what felt like a world of turmoil.

I heard about the volunteers who looked after the garden at the Summerside Garden Club which organizes the group. I started later that year and I've been involved since then. It was a way to give thanks for the great work the hospital staff did for our family.

The garden is in a courtyard in the center of the hospital, with patient rooms, corridors, stairs and offices in the building surrounding it. The brick walls are in sharp contrast to the shrubs, trees and plants that abound in the garden. Over the last year lovely sculptures have appeared as well, donated by generous people.

By mid August, there isn't as much colour in the garden as there is in the late spring, but the annuals still add their vibrant splashes. The varieties of green provided by the hostas along the walkway grab the eye. The work of the volunteers is obvious in the condition of the garden.

The volunteers today, Betty Miles and Deb Vickerson, each pick a spot and begin their work for the morning. Betty, who lives in an apartment, loves gardening and without a garden of her own now, enjoys her work in this peaceful place. Deb, whose husband is a doctor at the hospital, loves gardening as well and volunteers as a way to give back to the community.

As with any garden, you could spend hours working at this one every day. In this place, you pick a spot or a job and begin. Today I decide to trim the flower stalks on the hostas. While we work, one of the hospital staff pushes the door open enough to tell us how much she enjoys the garden and appreciates the work of the volunteers. This has happened a number of times as we've worked there.

An hour later and the hostas are trimmed. A brief chat with Betty and Deb and that's it for another month. That's as long as my back can take. There'll be another weekly tidy next month, then the fall clean-up will roll around in October. 

The combined efforts of all the volunteers in maintaining this garden certainly provide respite for patients, their families and staff. Knowing this fact makes the effort so worthwhile.

Bagpipes, Drumming and Dancing

Summerside has a College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts and every summer the staff, some students, along with a dedicated group of volunteers put off a great program of Celtic music and dance. Before I came to Prince Edward Island, I didn't really like the sound of bagpipes, but since living in PEI, I have come to appreciate it. This year, my mother-in-law, Sylvia and I went to the Highland Storm.

           Lone piper

The show always offers the best possible performers from the various subjects offered at the college, drumming, bagpiping, step or highland dancing. The mix of traditional or contemporary music with a Celtic arrangement is an interesting combination and one I've come to enjoy. The fiddle music was especially enjoyable this year and as Sylvia noted, "That young man enjoys playing the fiddle. He seems to caress it as he's playing."

       Dancers, drummers, fiddler and pipers

This year two of the pipe bands are headed to Scotland for competition. This trip takes the groups back to part of the roots of Celtic music and a place long associated with bagpipes. The lower drones and the higher notes played on the chanter giving the bagpipe its unique sound were a part of Scottish culture for many centuries, even on the battlefield.

                  Pipe band

Listening to the pipe band that night made me wonder about my great grandfather, Alexander Stewart. He was born in Scotland in 1799. We don't know when he came to Canada or how old he was at that time. It is hard to imagine that he didn't know and love the sound of the bagpipe. Arriving in Nova Scotia, he would have other Scots in the area at least. Did they congregate and keep their culture alive? The strong link to Scottish culture even today in Nova Scotia, makes me think that they did.

             Step and highland dancers

The part of me that is Celtic from Scotland has awakened to this musical style and developed an appreciation for it. I am lucky to live in Summerside for a number of reasons and the Celtic experience provided by the College of Piping is one of them. 

                      The band

Stompin' Tom

We had the pleasure of attending a musical about Stompin' Tom Connors which is playing at the Harbourfront Theater in Summerside this summer. Whether you enjoy Tom's unique musical style or not, the realization of his unique place in Canadian music and how his style evolved is well worth the price of a ticket. The story of the neglected child then the youth who fled Prince Edward Island to make his way in the world is shocking but inspiring as well.

             The Ballad of Stompin' Tom

Born in 1936 in St. John, New Brunswick, Tom had a single mother who married his father thirty years later. His mother eventually lost custody of Tom and he was adopted by a family in Skinner's Pond, Prince Edward Island. He ran away at the age of thirteen and eventually travelled across Canada in boxcars or hitch hiked.

Tom wrote about the country he loved and the people he met along the way. The songs are sometimes funny, always real, sincere. Because he was playing alone, he kept rhythm by stomping his left foot on the floor initially and later a piece of board.

Listening to Tom's story, I was struck with the courage and determination of the young man who set out to explore the country and pursue the dream of a career singing and playing his music. He was a poet who put his words to music and thereby told stories of a country and its people, who helped form him.

Songs like Bud the Spud, Sudbury on a Saturday Night, The Ketchup Song and The Hockey Song, will live on in Canadian musical history. The abandoned boy, like so many of his time, rose above his circumstances.

It is a great story and the musical is well written and performed. Stompin' Tom is certainly a Canadian original and the musical, The Ballad of Stompin' Tom,  is well worth a look and listen.

 

Mug-Up

My grandfather, Samuel Pretty, was one of the unique men of his generation. He was orphaned at an early age and after having a family with Ida Stewart Pretty, he was widowed at an early age as well. In addition, he worked on the railway and was away from home for days at a time. While he had a housekeeper after he was widowed, he eventually became the chief cook at home too. He was a good cook due to his time on the railway and made tasty rustic meals. While many men of his generation didn't cook, Pop knew his way around the kitchen and his snacks were as important as his meals. His snack was called a mug-up.

My grandfather loved his mug-up, his cup of tea and crackers, bread, cookies or cake, which he had between meals and before bedtime. In our house, it was called a lunch, but to Pop the mug-up was the term for his other meals.

Pop was never one to waste anything. He always had the tea bags that were good for two cups and saved the bag from the previous cup of tea for the next mug-up. This tea bag was placed in the middle of the saucer and the cup inverted over the bag so as to protect or hide it. It kept the old bag out of sight until it was needed. Sometimes several bags were revealed when the cup was lifted. For my grandfather, a mug-up never involved a mug but rather a cup and saucer, better for saving the bags I guess.

      Modern day mug-up

Today, many people have taken up the fancy coffee or tea trend for their mug-ups. Even Canadian favourite, Tim Horton's, has taken to the fancy coffee blends in addition to the basic 'double double,' regular coffee with two cream and two sugars. Coffee shops, offering the fanciest brews imaginable with costs between $4.00 and $5.00 each, abound. However, I can't look at one of those fancy drinks without thinking of Pop and that overturned cup on the saucer, the multiple tea bags, and the pleasure he got from the mug-up, for pennies a cup. 

         Wonder what Pop would think?

Teenagers of Tomorrow...Today

Recently Sylvia, my mother-in-law, and I overheard a conversation between two preschoolers, a boy on a bike and a girl about the same age. We were at one of the parks in Prince Edward Island and the two children were talking as their families relaxed nearby. It appeared that the children didn't know each other prior to this encounter.

       Children in the park

The boy, sat on his bike, told the girl how well he could ride. He said, "I can pop wheelies, ride with one hand for thirty seconds and even ride with no hands, but only for a second."

The boy went on to describe his other biking abilities. The girl was impressed with the bike and commented on how great it was.

As a high school teacher, I saw this scene played out numerous times in classrooms and corridors of schools. Young men described their prowess at any number of things, including their ability on a variety of motorized vehicles, and young women who listened with interest. It starts much earlier than high school obviously.

         Driver Sylvie with passenger Caitlin

Then there's the interaction between our three year old and one year old granddaughters. The three year old, Sylvie, drove a little motorized car last year, while her baby sister sat beside her. This year, Caitlin is old enough to want to drive the car and isn't willing to sit quietly next to Sylvie. The struggle for the car is starting early between these two.

    Driver Sylvie with wannabe driver Caitlin

They grow up so fast today, don't they?