SUSAN: It was time to pack up from our Westmount AirBnB and travel to the west side of the island. We left Sydney and planned to drive to Baddeck which is part of the Cabot Trail. There are scenic pullovers with stunning views!
Got to Baddeck around 10 am. It is a quaint little town. Went to the South Haven Guild’s Fibre Festival that was held at BOLD Center which was right downtown. It was a display and sale of fibre art’s creations. There was a lot of original and beautiful things to see and many of the creators were on hand. I talked to a woman knitting and she told me about “magic loop knitting” making it easier to knit socks in the round. I bought a beautiful plum scarf that was hand woven by a woman named Marie MacDonald from Whycocomagh, she was there at the door when we arrived. I talked with her and she told me it took her 3 days to weave. That amazed me!
JAMES: We decided to take a stroll down Main Street to see what we could see. It’s a small town so that doesn’t take long but we did come across the Alexander Graham Bell museum, our first stop after lunch. We did a little shopping and then headed for lunch to the Highwheeler Cafe. It’s an exceptional place to eat- informal but very well run with excellent food. There is a bakery in the basement so the baked goods are fresh and tasty. You order at the counter and then they bring the food to your table. I had the best seafood chowder I’ve ever had with a cheese biscuit. For dessert I had a fantastic cream cheese roll. Uff da.
SUSAN: The HighWheeler which was right next to the BOLD Center was a quaint sandwich shop and bakery. It was standing room only but fortunately some people were leaving so we got a table. I had Seafood Chowder and a scone. Christine and John bought some oat biscuits and Jim bought chocolate brownies so we were set for sweets…fantastic food and super nice people. All Canadians are so friendly! We sat next to a couple from New Brunswick who come to the festival every year. They were so nice and told us more about the fact that small concerts happen a lot. They had gone to a concert at the Presbyterian church up the street and the Voice of Ireland sang there that morning! I wish I had known that!!
JAMES: After lunch we headed up to the museum. The museum not only holds a great display of the works and inspired ideas of AGB but during Celtic Colors hosted an interactive concert with a violin and keyboard duo= Kevin Henderson on fiddle and Neal Pearlman on keyboards. They were great. Kevin is from the Shetland Islands and described his playing through the tradition in Shetland and his travels. Neal grew up between Boston and Maine and also was raised in a household of traditional Irish and Scottish performers. The audience was allowed to ask questions and John broke the ice with the first one. The concert lasted an hour.
SUSAN: A couple of things about this short concert that stood out to me were:
they told the story of the traditional Gaelic songs for weddings and the fact there there is something called the “bedding tune.” In traditional Gaelic and Scottish customs, the "bedding tune" is a specific melody played during the historic ritual of “bedding the bride and groom.” Historically, after a long day of feasting, wedding guests and a solo musician would escort the newly married couple to their chamber to officially put them to bed and wish them fertility.
I wasn’t aware of the fact that Shetland used to be part of Norway until the Scots took it.
After the session we walked around the grounds and admired the wonderful views of the water from the Bell Museum, so picturesque.
JAMES: Afterwards we were back on the road and on our way to Mabou. Our AirBnB was out in the boondocks. By the time that we had gotten around to looking for a place to stay, most everything was gone. Christine finally found a place but it was several miles from town on a gravel road. Still, it has a very nice elevated view of the water and is pretty isolated. I’m pretty sure it’s a double wide trailer but John calls it a “manufactured home. It’s fine. The heater works well and there’s a good shower and workable kitchen so we’re fine.
SUSAN: Arrived in Mabou around 4 pm. Our house is in a remote area on hill/mountain on the north west side Mabou. Getting there is a two lane windy road. Thankfully we arrived during the day or we would never have found it. It overlooks the Mabou Harbor that leads into the Gulf of St. Lawerence that dumps into the Atlantic. Fortuantely it was a beautiful day when we arrived and we saw the stunning view. The accommodations are adequate. It’s essentially a prefab home … kind of like a double wide trailer. It has a nice deck that overlooks the harbor. Three bedrooms. We struggled to find how to turn the heat on but eventually figured that out.
JAMES: Doug and Gail just got to town so we met them at the famous Red Shoe for dinner. They are staying in a dome a few miles away. The Red Shoe a pretty cool, original pub and restaurant which features live music most evenings. It also features great food which makes it the most popular place for miles around. Plus one of the concerts on the Celtic Colors’ schedule is in town this evening. Because the Red Shoe doesn’t take reservations, you put your name in and stand around outside until there is space for you. It was a cold day and we had to wait about a half hour. It felt great to finally go inside and warm up. The Red Shoe is very comfortable and relaxed. I had the special of the day, pecan crusted halibut and roasted root vegetables. The seafood here is amazing. The food was so good and we were so full regrettably I couldn’t eat dessert.
SUSAN: We met Gail and Doug at the Red Shoe pub at 5 pm. Gail was told by the folks there that there was a line out the door yesterday so it is important to get there early. Indeed when we got there at 5 pm there was. Gail had put our name in for a table and we waited about a half hour. But they got us in and we had a lovely meal. So fun to connect with them, good conversation…I had the scallops which was amazing!
JAMES: After dinner we headed for the concert. The venue is the local concert hall and theater. It’s a well equipped and comfortable space. We had reserved tickets so didn’t have to scramble for a seat. The theme of the performance tonight was dancing. Each act incorporated elements of traditional dance. The highlight was a performance of The Fitzgeralds. It’s composed of a brother and two Fitzgerald sisters, all multi-instrumentalists along with an All-Canada guitar champion. They performed a whole selections of different styles of music. It was exciting and a nice change from all of the traditional music we have heard up until this point. At the intermission, they had a drawing for a couple of prizes. There were lots and lots of entries but the second place winner was our own John Roger’s! He won a Celtic Colors tea towel.
Drove home, missed our driveway in the pitch black and settled in for the night.
SUSAN: Next we went to the Strathspey Performing Arts School which was about a mile away from the Red Shoe pub. It was a high school auditorium. This again was a very different venue from the first two we attended. There was no food or drink, even for purchase. The performers for this event were:
Andrea Beaton & Troy MacGillivray
Mac Morin (step dancers)
Màiri Britton (who extrodinarehe Boisdale Firehouse)
The Warner Sisters (step dancers)
The Fitzgeralds (step dancers and fiddlers extrodinare!)
The Fitzgeralds were amazing! They not only played the fiddle but were Canadian Grand Champion Fiddle players! They were also engaging and funny and their step dancing was great!
As we did at the previous two concerts we had to put our ticket stub in the bucket so at intermission they could draw for the door prizes which were always a Celtic Colours book and a Celtic Colours tea towel and John was a winner of the tea towel tonight!!
After the concert, it was 10 pm and dark and even though it was a short distance we had to find our way back. It was challenging. We did finally make it…Exhausted we went to bed!