Maritime Vacation

Growing up

I think I always knew

I’d be living somewhere else

far away from home

Like many before me

and many since

You move to Toronto or Boston

or Calgary or somewhere

to make a living

to make a life.

A thousand miles away I am

I love my wife

I love my daughters

and it’s a good life I live

here in central Maryland

Good friends,

worthwhile investments of time and life

Nice winters here

Beautiful springs and autumns.

But in the summer

I think of Shelburne

I remember Nova Scotia

The rugged coastline and salt air

and New Brunswick

Old friends, old ways

Nostalgia

but something more

Something like love.

Thirty-three years

I’ve been away

but every summer I return

to the Maritimes,

to Canada.

And heading north on summer highways

the song begins

and memories pour forth.

My wife and I share the driving

Share the drive

Audio books and conversations

Harrisburg, Port Jervis,

Danbury, Kennebunkport

Bangor, Calais

Twenty hours and we’re there.

Mom and Dad in Havelock

Country roads to review

Old landscapes to retrace

Old shores to visit, barefoot

Old paths to walk

Old friends to see

Old days to remember

I’m from here!

It’s good to be back

in the land that gave me birth

My heartland.

Not a Barbershopper!

My friend Rich loves barbershop harmony.

He's been singing it since he was 17 - almost forty years.

He loves being part of the Catoctones, 

a group that meets every week

and sings in regional competitions. 

Barbershop is a major part of his life.

Rich has been after me to visit his group. 

Last night was Guest Night, and I finally went.

Thirty men came, half of them guests. 

They ranged from 15 to 85, 

but most of them were in the 50-75 age range.

There was an undeniable camaraderie among them.

I was warmly welcomed with many introductions and handshakes.

The regulars wore embroidered powder-blue polo shirts and khaki pants. 

They wore lanyards with some kind of ID on them.

A 15-minute video was shown promoting the “barbershop movement”.

(Learn more at http://www.barbershop.org/ )

We listened to the large group singing together.

We listened to several quartets.

We all sang together and learned a song or two.

And I discovered that barbershop harmony is not my thing.

First, I cannot commit to one night a week.

Second, I am not a fan of My Wild Irish Rose 

and those sentimental love songs of the early 1900s. 

They sang You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You, 

a song whose message I hate,

and my cringe was probably obvious to all.

Third, it reminded me of Kiwanis with singing, 

and I don’t think I’m a Kiwanis kind of guy.

But thanks, Rich!

I’m glad you’ve found your niche,

and I love you, man…

Irish Fun Friend Night

The sweet joy of auld acquaintance renewed.

The soulful joy of great folk music.

The jolting joy of good coffee.

(Tim Hortons or Chock Full O’ Nuts)

Last night, and once a month,

our home is filled with music and laughter.

Musical friends have come, bringing

guitars,

mandolins,

tin whistles,

an upright bass

drums.

We practice rousing folk music –

Irish,

Scottish,

Canadian.

We live in a townhouse,

but neighbors have never complained.

Our dining and living rooms

are the locus of the raucousness.

The idea was to start an “Irish band”,

and that we did.

“That Raucous Crew” performs

once a month or so,

in coffee houses,

on downtown sidewalks,

in church halls.

In May we were headliners

at a regional Celtic festival.

The truth is,

I usually enjoy our home sessions

more than the gigs.

I’ve played other kinds of music

with some of these guys for 20 years.

We really are friends.

And the music gives us

an excuse to get together.

Who are your friends?

What’s your excuse?

Cape Breton -- Canada 's Beautiful Place

Is this Canada's most beautiful place?
          "I have travelled the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes and the Alps and the highlands of Scotland, but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all." (Alexander Graham Bell) Many who have visited Cape Breton agree with Graham Bell's assessment. 
          And which has more fiddlers and dancers -- Scotland or Cape Breton? Almost certainly, Cape Breton has a higher percentage of such individuals. Cape Breton is the home of the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts (website here), where Great Highland Bagpipe and Cape Breton Fiddle are among the disciplines taught.
          About 50,000 Highland Scots relocated here in the early 1800s, at the time of the "Highland Clearances". Their culture still dominates the island, especially in rural areas.
          Cape Breton Island (comprising the northern quarter of Nova Scotia) ranks second in the world as a destination for sustainable tourism. 
(National Geographic Traveler, 2003) It's a great place for a relaxing vacation.


Here are four places to visit when you go:
          1. Bras d'Or Lake - (means "arm of gold") One of the world's largest salt water lakes, renowned for its beauty, and a great place for great blue herons, double-crested cormorants and bald eagles. "The Bras d’Or Lakes are my favorite landscape on planet Earth..." (Gilbert M. Grosvenor of the National Geographic Society)

          2. Cabot Trail - This 185-mile-long scenic roadway completes a loop around the northern tip of the island, with hairpin turns and beautiful scenery, taking you through Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and the communities of Baddeck, Margaree, Ingonish and St. Ann's.

          3. Louisbourg - The restored fortress built by France between 1720 and 1740, operated by Parks Canada as a National Historic Site. Get the guided tour and experience the firing of muskets and cannon.
          4. Baddeck - Alexander Graham Bell and his family moved here in 1885, built an estate (Beinn Bhreagh -- "Beautiful Mountain") and experimented with man-carrying kites, powered flight, hydrofoils and much more.  The Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site features three exhibit halls and a full-scale model of the HD-4 hydrofoil craft.
          Come to Cape Breton Island, Canada's beautiful place!

Stan Rogers

His song "Northwest Passage" is considered by many Canadians to be an "alternate national anthem".
Listen to it here.
Stan Rogers was one of Canada's great folksingers and songwriters.
He was only 33 when he died in 1983 in an airplane fire on the runway in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In less than ten years, on four albums (and six others released posthumously),
Rogers left a legacy of well-crafted songs that continue to grow in popularity and influence.

Born in Ontario in 1949, both his parents were Nova Scotians who had moved to Ontario to find work.
Growing up, many of his summers were spent with extended family in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia.
After dabbling in rock music, Rogers turned to folk in his early 20s, travelling extensively in Canada and the USA.

His song "Lies" is one of my favorites. (Listen here.)
Good Wikipedia article here.
His website here.

"You Are a Masterpiece"

My daughter Aleen and son-in-law Josiah had to be away for several days last week.
Josiah left on Wednesday, and Aleen flew out on Friday to be with him.
My wife and daughter Shannon and I had responsibility for the grands, 
Caleb (age 3) and Sam (18 months).
Aleen left a note for the boys on the white board on their refrigerator.
I took a picture because I wanted to remember it.


Two lines to remember:
(1) "Daddy and Momma always come back."


(2) "I love you and you are my masterpieces."
At bedtime Aleen sings to the boys, 
and one of their songs is "Masterpiece" 
(sung by Sandy Patty over 20 years ago):


"Before you had a name or opened up your eyes,
Or anyone could recognize your face.
You were being formed so delicate in size
Secluded in God’s safe and hidden place.
With your little tiny hands and little tiny feet
And little eyes that shimmer like a pearl.
He breathed in you a song and to make it all complete
He brought the masterpiece into the world.
You are a masterpiece, a new creation He has formed
And you're as soft and fresh as a snowy winter morn
And I'm so glad that God has given you to me
Little lamb of God, you are a masterpiece..."

My Doofus Picnic

Last week I experienced a "God moment".

But it took me more than an hour to see what God was doing.

Such a doofus!

I hosted picnic lunch for about 35 pastors and ministry persons.

Two different ministerial groups met together, 

just to relax and eat and and visit together.

No other agenda, really.

I was stressed about getting the picnic pavilion clean,

the tables set, the food in place.

My wife (God bless her) had prepared most of the food at our home the night before.

Then (with help from Steve the church custodian)

I spent most of the morning getting things set up.

By 11:00am I had done all I could do.

I made a quick run to the bank. 

When I returned, I was surprised to see half a dozen people there, 

thirty minutes early.

As I got closer, I realized that these were unfamiliar faces.

What's up?

I introduced myself, and learned that these were homeless persons, 

wanting to voice a complaint or two.

What?!

Three men and three woman, transported there by an outsider, 

somebody I loved but didn't much like.

I was irked.

Here are homeless people, coming to mess up our pleasant, no-agenda picnic.

Why now?

The homeless kept talking to me, like I wanted to hear what they had to say.

A large, middle-aged white woman in a sack-like dress.

A large black man with a baseball cap and work boots.

A young man with a wide necktie. He had dressed up for the occasion.

The more they talked, the more irked I became.

I was the host, but my friend Jon was the leader of the event.

How would he handle it?

Fortunately, Jon handled it well.

After everyone had eaten a nice lunch, 

several of the homeless persons shared briefly with us.

We learned that homeless women have no place to shower in our city 

unless they pay $6.00 at the Rec Center or YMCA.

The pastors set a plan in motion 

to develop a voucher system for homeless women to shower 

and offered $400 to begin funding it.

As I said, it took me more than an hour 

to catch on to what God was doing.

He had an agenda, whether we had one or not.

And a good time was had by all -- eventually.

Lesson learned -- eventually.

Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup After 49-Year Drought

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Finally, after 10 months of hockey marathon, the 'Hawks have outlasted all opponents to win the NHL's Stanley Cup. Read about it (with video highlights) here.
Congratulations also to Jonathan Toews, their 22-year-old captain who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Playoffs' Most Valuable Player. Toews and two other Blackhawks were also on this year's Canadian Olympic Team that won the gold medal in Vancouver in February.

Read more in these hockey blogs:
Red Light District
Inside Hockey
The Burgundy Blog

La Bottine Souriante (The Smiling Boot)

I love these guys!
Such energy!
And they always look like they're having fun.
But why "The Smiling Boot"?
Apparently it's a reference to a work boot with worn-out soles.

This multiple-award-winning Quebec-based folk group (or we could call it a "world music" group) has been around since 1976.
Travelling extensively throughout North America and Europe, "La Bottine" has seen many membership changes over the years. Now a ten-piece band, it includes a four-piece horn section (saxophone, trumpet, trombone, bass trombone) as well as keyboard, guitar, accordion, fiddle and upright bass.
And then there's Sandy Silva, their tireless percussive dancer and occasional vocalist. She's the lone woman in this testosterone-heavy outfit.

Read about them here.

And check out their website here.

And you NEED to watch them here:

Snow Globe Hypnosis

Last Wednesday my grandsons Caleb and Samuel came to dinner.
     (Their parents were invited as well.)
Caleb is 3, the child who will sit and be read to for hours, 
     or entertain himself with a keyboard or ukulele. 
Sam is 18 months old, the charmer, the tempest.
Dinner was over, and both boys had just about had enough.
Nanny sat Sam on her lap and summoned Caleb to come sit with her.
Reaching to the buffet behind her, 
     she picked up a beautiful snow globe with a music box built into its base.
(It's a Hummel piece called "Umbrella Boy".)
Inverting the globe, she wound the key and placed the globe on the table.
     Silver flakes swirled in the liquid and eventually drifted to the bottom.
     The music box played its mechanical tune, a song I did not recognize.
Enchantment!
Fascination!
Captivation!
Delight!
The boys were mesmerized.
Time after time Nanny or I rewound the little machine, 
     and the grands were transfixed.
Immobilized in wonder.
Taken to a new place of consciousness, a magical place.
Their imaginations captured and stirred by beauty and music and motion.
I wished I could see inside their minds and grasp the fullness of it.


Then the moment was gone, and it was time for the boys to go home.

Married 60 Years -- Les & Aleen Hicks

Leslie Hicks and Aleen Smith were married on June 7, 1950. 
The wedding was performed and celebrated at the Port Maitland Reformed Baptist Church in Port Maitland, Nova Scotia, the bride's home church.
The groom was a farmer's son and the bride a fisherman's daughter.
Aleen was slim and pretty in a white floor-length gown and simple veil.
She carried a bouquet of red roses. 
Leslie wore a dark double-breasted suit and a white boutonniere.
Leslie's brother Floyd and Aleen's sister Hazel were both in the wedding party as well.
The young couple's happiness was captured in a black and white photo taken at the bride's home.
They loved one another then, and, after sixty years, their love and devotion for one another is still apparent to all who know them.


Les was a young preacher, and they moved to Centerville, New Brunswick, where he pastored two country churches on a circuit. He was a good preacher, and got better as time went on. Aleen had a strong soprano voice and played the piano. She sang songs like "Little Is Much When God is in It" and "Until Then". They were a strong ministry team. Later they pastored in Fort Fairfield, Maine, then in Fredericton, New Brunswick. By 1963, they had three children, Gary, Donald and Nancy. 


In 1966 they moved to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, to again pastor a circuit of two country churches, 28 miles apart. The churches provided a rented home in which to live and $40 a week. Leslie painted houses and sold mutual funds on the side to make ends meet. He was a good carpenter, and in 1968 built a large new parsonage for the circuit. He has a gift for thriftiness, and has always paid cash for his new cars.


As the children grew, Aleen nurtured them in her quiet way, a devoted mother and friend to them at every stage. All these years she has modeled the love of Jesus with grace and simplicity.


In 1972, Les and Aleen moved to Havelock, New Brunswick, the village near Hicks Settlement  where Les had been born. Again they pastored two rural churches on a circuit, but within two years Les brought the two congregations together in Havelock, where he was the lead carpenter in the construction of a new church building, then a new parsonage as well. After 17 years of pastoral ministry in Havelock, Les and Aleen retired in 1989, moving down the road to a new house he had just completed and where they still live.


But Leslie loves to preach, and served as a short-term supply pastor in Crapaud, Prince Edward Island and then in Elgin, New Brunswick. Eventually he became the regular "pulpit supply" at Kinnear Settlement United Baptist Church, where he has now served for about 12 years. 


A lot has changed over 60 years of married life. Steps are sometimes halting, and thoughts and words come a bit more slowly. But their love and devotion to one another grows steadily. This marriage is still a living, breathing, joyful thing. Now Leslie and Aleen have grandchildren and great-grands. Theirs is the legacy of two lives well-lived, well joined together, two lives of faithfulness and steady service. The world is a richer, better place because of this couple, this wedded team of common saints.


On your 60th wedding anniversary, thank you, Mom and Dad!

"The Civil War" (Ken Burns' documentary)

I'm 20 years behind the times.
I've been watching Ken Burns' documentary "The Civil War",
first broadcast over five nights on PBS in 1990.

Forty million Americans watched the original broadcasts,
and visitorship to Civil War battlefields measurably increased as a result.
This is what a great documentary can do.

The horror of war is revealed here in a way most Americans seldom see,
for personal lives and letters are juxtaposed with black and white photos of battlefield carnage.

Maybe it's time for you to watch it again (or for the first time).
It's available on DVD or on Netflix instant download.

We see:
(1) the suffering of American slaves and the horrors of slavery
(2) the roles of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis
(3) battlefield tactics well explained
(4) the skilled leadership of Robert E. Lee and Confederate generals
(5) the vanity of Gen. George McClellan, and his seeming fear to engage the enemy
(6) the rise to prominence of Ulysses S. Grant
(7) the insightful and entertaining commentary of historian Shelby Foote
(8) the authentic photography of Matthew Brady and others
(9) outstanding narration by David McCullough
(10) voiceovers by Morgan Freeman, Garrison Keeler, Jason Robards and others
(11) the misery and pain of war in general, and civil war in particular

If you want deep insight into the USA's most painful years, you should watch this magnificent documentary.