sunday morning mix: botd discoveries

I can't believe I only discovered the Band of the Day iPhone app at Christmas. Launched in September, it was quickly added to Best Apps lists everywhere.  Elegantly designed and offering a different artist profile 365 days a year, it sent techies and music lovers swooning.  As for me, I just love getting up and discovering new music every single morning.  This is a mix of my recent faves. 

it's the weekend. blow your horn.

Tomorrow is National Kazoo Day!  (well, in the US anyway but can the kazoo really be contained by borders?)

Bedtime stories with Benedict Cumberbatch 

Someone thoughtful posted this on the Glad Girl Facebook page - how sweet are they?  really considering seeing of they'll do a custom Bee Glad.

The beautiful homes of famous authours.

Love NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts.

Is it too early for a Maple Syrup Toddy?  I didn't think so.

hockey dreams in my hometown

If you think that you are a Canadian, then my boy I will show you I am a Canadian too- if they check me from behind I will get up, if they kick and slash I will get up.  

If we play three against five for fifteen minutes I will get up.  

I too am a Canadian.  

They will not take this away from me.

David Adams Richards, Hockey Dreams

Growing up on Grand Manan, we used to skate on whatever patch of ice we could find. Winters are mild on the island so when it was cold enough that a small accumulation of water in my neighbour's field froze it was cause for celebration.  Looking back I think my "skating pond" was maybe 10 feet by 10 feet.   If we were lucky and the stars aligned and the ponds froze,  you had to navigate bumpy surfaces, branches frozen in the surface of the ice and the occasional muskrat. (As an aside: I developed a skating style that compensated for these imperfections so that when I finally hit slick, Zambonied ice for the first time at Acadia, I couldn’t actually stay on my feet for longer than 20 seconds.)  For as long as I or anyone else can remember, we talked about it all the time but having a hockey rink on the island seemed like the impossible dream.

The ritual that seemed to be playing out in every other small town in Canada parents and kids flocking to the rink in the wee hours of the mornings eluded us. Once again our island life had seemingly cut us off from the shared experiences of ‘the mainland.’ So last weekend as I watched the Grand Manan Islanders skate out to centre ice, as I watched my cousins' daughters take to the ice proudly sporting their Islanders jerseys, I'll admit it was emotional watching my hometown finally live out their hockey dreams.

In November Mars Canada made a significant investment in the island rink and they made this documentary.  It's a great look not only at our hockey story but a great introduction to my very special hometown.

 

let's misbehave

I've been obsessing a little over the late '20s / early 30s lately and the Cole Porter song "Let's Misbehave" has been stuck in my head.  Have you seen Easy Virtue? Based on a Noel Coward play, it came out a few years ago. It's a lovely couple of hours of eye candy full of English manor house decor and fabulous late-20s fashion.  And Colin Firth.  It completely changed my view of Jessica Biel who is beyond delightful as the plucky heroine.  The whole film makes me want to bob my hair, slip on a pair of chic wide-legged pants and dance to Cole Porter.

australia day

Happy Australia Day!  Ok, well technically the day is nearly over for my friends Down Under but I had to give a little shout out to an amazing country.   I was never someone who put visiting Australia on her "bucket list" but when the chance came to visit Lori and Leon  in 2010, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.  Even in the middle of a Melbourne winter, Australia delighted.   From the outdoorsy: lush hill country and and temperate rainforests, koala-spotting and paddling with platypus... to the decadent: the food! the wine! the shops! the wine!  And the coffee.  Oh my, the coffee.  Even the most out of the way rest stop seemed to possess an espresso maker and a knowledgeable barista.  Australia?  Who knew?

And most of all the people.  Maybe it's because traveling is so much part of their own culture and they know what it's like to be a visitor but I found everyone I met  - from shopkeepers to Lori and Leon's besties - to be welcoming, gregarious and warm; interested in hearing about Canada and so proud to show off their country. 

So cheers Australia!  Thanks for giving me a great adventure!

sunday night at mam & bap's

Every Sunday night for as long as I can remember our family has been spending Sunday night supper at ' Mam & Bap's' (our family nickname for my grandparents  Betty & Ray).  My weekends on the island usual involve catching a ferry back to the mainland late Sunday morning.  But since I took Monday off from work today, I got to take part in this ritual that's been going on for nearly forty years.  And now there's a new generation making their own memories! 

What little rituals does your family have?

 Mam & Bap cheer on their kids, grandkids & great-grandkids at the skating rink.

kindred spirits

One of the reasons I came to Grand Manan this weekend was to do some research on a couple of projects that I've had in the back of my mind for awhile now.  The first thing I needed to do was to dig into the island archives to find out if there was enough material to do pursue what I had in mind.  (There was!) So I spent most of Saturday afternoon getting acquainted with two delightful ladies, a mother and daughter, and the host of colourful characters who populated their lives in the first few decades of the 20th century.  It's kind of a thrill to pore over the old yellowed original letters - you start to get a real feel for the details of their life and their personalities.  By the time I came across the quote above (written to the mother by the daughter while she was away at college in the late 1920s) I knew I had discovered kindred spirits.  Looking forward to coming back and spending more time with them!