July 27/12

Today I got to the vocal warm-up time during coffee break, and because the teacher didn't have anything on for a half hour after that, I got a semi-private lesson! Believe it or not, he says that my voice has the colour of a soprano, and he had me sing higher than I have in a long time, if ever. Although I told him that I'm more comfortable in the alto range, he says that I just need to develop the higher register, and gave me an exercise to do that.

The other new class I tried today was tone technique, and got some help with that. Don't know if I can do what she suggested though. Michael finished up his week with more of David's fiddle classes, the song class and Barry Phillip's composition class. He said that they wrote a piece in an unusual time signature.

I went back for one more flute and klezmer class, and got to play with Barry Phillips and the cello student one last time. I even recorded it, as the tunes were so lovely, and it will be a wonderful memory of this time.

Tonight there's a big ceilidh, so I'm glad the weather's a bit cooler today, but we'll probably get hot and sweaty anyway. Tomorrow we are off until the final evening concert, so we'll have time to check out Hirtle Beach (Natalie's favorite), take a hike there, and go to Mahone Bay. Ann, the friend who is renting to us, is having us for dinner and then we're all going to the concert. Sunday we drive to Halifax for our evening flight, and we should have time to go to an open session there in the afternoon. We may not have Internet for these last two days, so I look forward to seeing or talking to you from Calgary!

July 26/12

Today was a very exciting day, as I purchased a wooden head joint for my flute from another music camp participant! This will hopefully give my playing a softer tone that will sound a bit more Irish. The head joint needs to be trimmed down a bit, but I spoke to a flute maker, a teacher and a repair person here that have all told me that it will be a simple process to make it fit properly.

We both took some of the same classes today, but I tried the song class and Michael went to the harp class. Even though he didn't have a harp to play, he still picked up some playing tips. Michael sang a song at the teacher's request and did a good job, although I could tell that he was very nervous.

Tonight we skipped dinner at the hall because there's a restaurant here that's considered to be one of the top three in the province. Indeed the food was very good, but we've had others that were just as tasty and not as expensive.

After dinner was the talent show. Many people didn't participate (including us) but those that did put on a good show. For those of you who know the group Celtara from Edmonton, two of it's members are here, and they were part of it. Some of the teachers put on a funny skit, pretending that they were very bad players, but hoped that the camp would accept them anyway.

July 24/12

This morning I went to a flute and fiddle class, and Michael went to an accompaniment class and the same fiddle class, taught by David Greenberg. Both teachers had a lot to offer with respect to things like ornaments, and where and how to place emphasis in the bar in order to play more correctly in that style.

In the afternoon Michael's singing teacher was impressed enough with him that she has asked him to sing for the class on Thursday! I was a bit disappointed in the Brazilian flute class, as she talked much more than she played.

Every day there's a slow session before dinner, where they teach more tunes by ear. Yesterday although we went to it, we found that by that time of the day our ears and minds were tired from concentrating and learning new things. We decided to skip it today and go home to relax, as we therefore had a couple of hours before dinner. That gave us a chance to have a bit of a visit with Michael's friend and co-worker Ann, whose place we are renting. And after dinner we had the good fortune to get together with a couple originally from London like ourselves that we haven't seen for about 30 years. They were part of the contra dance and music scene that we were also involved in, and they play fiddle and flute as well, so we had a bit of a session as well as a visit.

July 20/12

The previous two days we've done more driving, so not a lot to tell you about. We did see the Joggins World Heritage site, which is where fossils have been found that are 300 million years old! A guide took us down by the water where the rocks are, and then we saw some amazing specimens inside.

A bit down the road was the lighthouse at Cape d'Or which has some very pretty coastal scenery around it. You will notice later that we have visited several lighthouses - ones that are highlighted in the tour book, because Michael has a special fondness for them. He even purchased a calendar with nothing but famous lighthouses in Nova Scotia!

Yesterday was a fairly long driving day, but we stopped by a lighthouse in Walton and then watched the sun set over the Bay of Fundy at the Point Prim Lighthouse. This Bay is known for having the biggest tides in the World. At our dinner stop we both ordered the famous Digby scallops, which were very yummy!

Today we drove along the Digby Neck and took the mini ferries (5 minutes each) first to Long Island, then to Brier Island where we saw the Lighthouse, and then caught the ferry back to Long Island right away. There we hiked the trail out to the Balancing Rock. Here the shoreline consists of basalt columns, and one appears to be balancing on a smaller one below. For those of you who have been to Ireland, it's very much like the Giant's Causeway, but on a much smaller scale. After catching the ferry back to the mainland we hiked up Mount Shubel, where we had an amazing view of Sandy Cove.

Michael is also fond of historic villages, so we drove to Port Royal. This is a reconstruction of a small French compound begun in 1605. It was home to one of the earliest European settlements on this continent. The French lived here alongside the Mi'kmaqs until the English attacked and destroyed it in 1613.

We finished up the day with a walk and a drive through the town of Annapolis Royal, which has the largest number of Heritage buildings for a place its size in Nova Scotia. We were very impressed with the grandness of some of the houses here, many of which have been turned into B&B's.

Just one more day of travel and sites (the Acadian area) and then we will be in Lunenburg for our music camp!

July 17/12

Guess it's been a few days since I last wrote, so I'll have to backtrack.

July 14/12

Today was our day to drive around the Cabot Trail as far as Pleasant Bay on the west side. Although the weather started out being just cloudy, it soon settled in for an all day rain, which meant that we couldn't see any of the beautiful views on the east side. When we drove a bit past our B&B to have dinner, the rain finally let up and we saw what is thought to be the prettiest part of the trail in all its glory.

July 15/12

Luckily the weather was much better today, so we went whale watching and saw several small (10-15 foot) Pothead whales. On the way back the boat went quite close to shore, and the coastline was gorgeous.

Later we drove along the Cabot Trail from Pleasant Bay to Mabou, and saw some stunning scenery. We also hiked a highly recommended trail which took a couple of hours, but the views of the water and coastline at the end were worth it.

Had dinner at the Glenora Distillery, which served much of it's food with their whisky in some way. I had ribs with a whisky BBQ sauce, and Michael finished his meal with a whisky sorbet.

July 16/12

Started the day with a tour of the Glenora Distillery, the only single malt distillery in North America. It produces far less whiskey than the distilleries in Scotland, and only employs 6 people. It's owned by 3 people from Cape Breton, who put up a huge amount of money to get it started, and they wouldn't have been able to make any money back for 10 years.

After that we saw the Celtic Interpretive Centre . It told the history of instruments like the fiddle and bagpipes, but also told the story of musicians from Cape Breton, some of whom are still alive, such as Kinnon Beaton and J.P Cormier. In some families everyone played, but they had to pass the fiddle around, as there was sometimes only one for a family of 6. There was also a video demo on how to step dance and play fiddle, with real fiddles out for you to try. At noon there was a ceilidh with 3 fiddlers and a pianist, one of the fiddlers being Kinnon Beaton, who also works in the office at the Centre.

Later we played on the porch at our B&B again, and then went to the famous Red Shoe Pub for dinner and an open session. It was neat to see performers in the pub that we've seen elsewhere, and by this point they've seen us enough that they smiled and spoke to us! The music was great, but many of the tunes were started by a couple of locals, and we didn't know many of them. There were other people 'from away' like ourselves who were in a similar position. Kenneth MacKenzie, a fiddler and piper that we'd heard in Baddeck bought a pitcher of beer to be shared amongst the session players.

After that we went to a square dance in a nearby town. The dances don't start until 10 p.m. and go until 1 a.m.! That's apparently because the farmers would want to work until it was dark. And believe it or not, this was a Monday night, not a weekend. Our contra dance group would never be able to do that! Apparently it's quite common for people to go from the pub to the dance, and as the evening continued we saw more faces that we recognized. The music was provided by Kinnon and Betty Beaton (Andrea's parents), who were amazing! The dances weren't called, as they only have 3 sets which they keep repeating all night, and the locals knew the format. This meant that the dancers and musicians are going almost constantly. At one point I saw Kinnon take a towel and wipe sweat off his arms. The hall was packed with at least 200 people! When we left around 11:30 they were still going strong. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to end our time on Cape Breton!

July 17/12

Today we drove along the Northumbrian Coast of Nova Scotia. We did a short scenic drive out to Cape George and then stopped at Pictou to see the replica of the Hector, a ship that brought 200 people from Scotland to Canada in the late 1700's. It's hard to imagine that many people crammed into a boat that size for three months, especially given the horrible conditions they had to put up with.

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July 13/12

This was a pretty amazing day, especially for Michael.

As Michael has gone to some effort to teach himself some Scots Gaelic, he especially wanted to go the Gaelic College here. Besides teaching Gaelic, they also give music lessons, and in the summer they run weekly camps. The public can participate in some interactive demos, so Michael volunteered to be the model to demonstrate how to be dressed in the full highland kilt! We also participated in the milling frolic, and learned to sing a Gaelic song while doing it! After that was the music and dancing demo, and the music was provided by the fiddler Rodney MacDonald, the CEO of the college, and former premier of Nova Scotia. He also happens to be Andrea Beaton's cousin, who Michael takes some skype fiddle lessons from. While watching the noon hour ceilidh, Andrea happened to walk past us, and Michael got to meet her in person for the first time. She's such a sweetheart! Unfortunately although she's performing in various places, we won't be able to hear her, but we have some of her CD's so that will have to suffice. Anyway, two of the performers at the ceilidh were Rodney MacDonald (fiddle) and Tracy Dares MacNeil (keyboard) who put on a very lively concert.

Next we drove to the Highland Village Museum. The buildings and interpreter depicted life from just before the families moved from Scotland (late 1700's) to the early 1900's. Life was very hard for those first settlers as they had to clear the land before they could build, and many didn't survive the first winter. Although they spoke Gaelic at first, after a while it was no longer allowed, and only English was taught in school.

After dinner we returned to the Gathering Ceilidh that we had been to last night. Tonight's performers were Kenneth and Angus MacKenzie, who both play fiddle and highland pipes (and Angus also plays Border pipes) and Howie MacDonald who mostly accompanied the others on keyboard, but also did a set on fiddle. They are all amazing players, and it was a great show!

July 12/12

Arrived in Baddeck and spent a couple of hours at the Alexander Graham Bell museum. Although the phone was his first invention, we were surprised to learn that it certainly wasn't his last. Among other things, he invented tetrahedral kites, photo phones, hydrofoils and collaborated with others interested in inventing things that could fly. Although he was born in Edinborough he lived here for many years, as this place reminded his family of Scotland. They moved to Canada because his two brothers became sick and died of TB, so they wanted somewhere healthier to live.

Baddeck is a pretty town along the water, and since we couldn't do a hike to a waterfall that we had planned on doing (because the bridge leading to it was washed out), we wandered about the town. We found about a half dozen CD's of Cape Breton music that we know we can't get at home (or on iTunes).

After dinner we went to the Gathering Ceilidh. Tonight's performers were Melody and Derrick Cameron (on fiddle and guitar) and Lisa Cameron (vocals and guitar). She has a sweet voice and performs much of her own material. Melody didn't play many ornaments but she had a great bowing technique, so her playing was enjoyable to listen to. When they saw we had instruments with us they invited us to join them on stage! That's not quite what we had in mind when we brought our instruments, but Derrick said he'd accompany us while Melody changed into her dancing shoes, so we played two tunes which actually went quite well. The second one (Brenda Stubbard's) is apparently the most recorded tune in Cape Breton, according to Derrick. We were lucky enough to find two of her CD's here. Anyway, after we were done our tunes someone in the audience actually called out for us to play more, but we didn't, as they didn't pay to hear us play! Melody invited us to play at an open session with them next Monday in Mabou, so since we'll be there then we might just do that!

July 11/12

Drove from Halifax to Antigonish following the coastal road as much as possible. There was lots of blue water and pretty scenery.

Our B & B hosts there were amazing. Their beautiful house was just outside the town, with almost no one else close by. When they saw we had instruments they invited us to play flute and fiddle tunes on their front porch which overlooked the rolling countryside. Al provided me with some padding to put on the arm rest that Michael made for me, to make it more comfortable to play. Mary Pat not only catered to Michael's celiac diet but made him extra baked treats to take along with us! They also gave us ice for our knees and a newspaper under the door in the morning. We sure hated to leave that place!

Yesterday we drove from Antigonish to Louisbourg. It was a pretty drive as we followed Bras d'or Lake much of the way. We drove out to the oldest lighthouse in Canada and walked along the lighthouse trail by the water, which had some gorgeous views.

In the evening we attended the Beggar's Banquet, where they dress you up in period costumes. There was music courtesy of a French singer / guitarist. They seated us at a table with a couple from Toronto who were originally from Edmonton. There was lots of food, and while we were eating a woman dressed as a wench came to each table to visit and flirt with the men. Michael even had a dance with her (at her request!)

Today we spent at the Fortress of Louisbourg. It's the largest of its kind in North America. It was captured twice by the British around 1750, and in the 1960's they decided to reconstruct it, using many of the unemployed miners from the area. The guides were in period costume and spoke to us as though they were living in that time period. There were several demonstrations, including an upper class dancing demo that we were able to take part in, as they invited audience participation and we knew some of the dances.

Later we did some laundry, and as the room was empty Michael played fiddle while we waited for the clothes to be done. People walking past looked in the window, and one young lad came inside and threw a quarter into his fiddle case!

And speaking of fiddling, tomorrow we will be in Baddeck where they have the Gathering Ceilidhs every evening. Can't wait!

July 8/12

Yesterday the weather wasn't sounding too good so we decided to drive to Peggy's Cove rather than walk around in Halifax. It was drizzling when we arrived and there wasn't too many people. We even got a shot of the lighthouse without anyone standing in front of it! We weren't surprised to see the rocks around it, but were surprised to see how close and run down some of the houses were behind it.

Today we spent the morning at the Citadel, a fortress overlooking Halifax. Fortunately for this city it was never attacked. From there we went to a pub session which today only had a fiddler, an octave mandolin player and a visitor who played guitar. We didn't have our instruments with us, but it's just as well, because the fiddler played so fast that we couldn't have kept up with him, even though we knew some of the tunes. After that we sailed on the Tall Ship Mar, which only used engine power to leave and return to the dock. It was interesting watching what they had to do to get the sails to turn the boat around, and it was a beautiful afternoon to be out on the water.

Tomorrow we leave Halifax and are headed towards Cape Breton!

July 6/12

After an uneventful flight we had dinner with an adventurous couple from Regina who arrived at our B & B (also hungry) at the same time as we did. They've already been to many of the places that we are planning to go to, as well as to other distant lands, so it was enjoyable listening to their adventures. I thought about the fact that if we'd been at home we never would have walked to a restaurant and dined with strangers!

Did a lot of walking today, which tired me out more than I care to admit. Michael had chosen a place to stay D/T because he knew that parking here is a nightmare. I won't bore you with everything we stopped to see, but we headed down to the harbour where we spent most of the day. The Immigration Museum at Pier 21 was especially moving for me, as my grandfather made the trip here from Germany in the early 1930's, and then my dad and his mom followed a year later. Upon checking the archives I saw all 3 of their names, but the years or places they had come from didn't match. It's possible that they could have sailed to Montreal instead of Halifax. Anyway, we could not have imagined what it must have been like for those people to have left their homes and families to come to an unknown land with an unknown future.

The most enjoyable part of the day was spent sitting by the water outside a pub listening to 2 fiddlers (from Regina) playing and step dancing. We knew most of the tunes, but heard some great new ones too.

We also did a brief tour of the Maritime Museum. I was amazed to learn that there's been over 10,000 shipwrecks off the coast of Nova Scotia. Some thing there could have been as many as 25,000! They had a Titanic exhibit which included some things recovered from the ship.One especially sad item that touched my heart was a pair of shoes that belonged to a 2-year-old unknown boy. Despite the "women and children first" policy, there were actually more men from first class that survived.