JAMES: The wind started blowing hard around noon yesterday. The whole Cape Breton peninsula sticks out like a mitten into the ocean and is exposed to the elements. The wind howled all of the rest of the day and all night long. Christine was sitting on our big couch when I got up in the morning. She said that she could feel the house vibrating. As I sit at the kitchen table, I can also feel the trailer shaking. The lights flicker occasionally too which doesn’t give us much comfort. The wind is tearing through the trees and shrubs. Already this morning a few outdoor events in the festival have been cancelled. Don’t know whether to go out or hunker down.
SUSAN: This morning Gail called to check on us. She wanted to be sure we survived the night. They are staying in a 'geodome' overlooking Mabou Bay. This dome is on a deck of sorts so air definitely gets underneath it. She said the wine glasses in their table were shaking, the wind was howling and a pine tree was down near them.
Today is going to be a quieter day. Thank goodness…we have been running ourselves pretty ragged. I woke this morning and thought it was 6:30 am so got up and started moving around only to realize it was 5:30 am! Oh well, so much for sleeping in. I made scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast that was actually quite good! I had some time so I was able to catch up on my journal writing so that was great!
JAMES: Our destination for today is the
Lunch Céilidh at the
Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique. You pay a cover charge and a museum fee and then get seated for lunch. We had a few minutes before the music started, so we did a tour of the museum. It’s a history of Celtic music on the Cape Breton peninsula. Interesting displays on the history of the common instruments, the lineage of the music and a bio on some of the most renowned players.
SUSAN: The Tom Rankin Exhibit Room at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre (CMIC) is an interactive, self-guided journey into the history and heritage of Cape Breton Celtic music.
- Interactive Fiddles: Try playing a tune on one of four available fiddles alongside video tutorials. (Both Christine and Jim tried them out.)
- Step-Dancing Floor: Test out traditional step-dancing steps on a specialized wooden "square" dance floor while following video guides. (I tried this but really couldn't get the hang of it.)
- Music & Stories: Listen to audio samples of local tunes, songs, bagpipes, fiddling, and oral histories.
- Gaelic Culture: Explore basic Scottish Gaelic words, phrases, and community displays connected to the Virtual Museum of the Highland Village.
- Visuals & Artifacts: View vintage instruments, historical audio equipment, family stories of prominent regional musicians, and custom murals by local artist Peter Rankin.
It was a really cool and interesting. Once we were done looking at the exhibit, we realized the performers were tuning their instruments. We sat at our table and ordered food and drinks. The place was packed with people. These are very informal performances and this particular one was ‘up and coming’ fiddlers, essentially high school students. They were incredibly talented!
JAMES: When we got back to our seats, the music had already started. It featured what looked like two teenage guys, a fiddle player and a keyboard player. The fiddle player was superb for a musician so young.
We ate some good food. I had an apple and brie panini with a side of poutine (my first). For dessert we split a sticky toffee cake which was not enough for three people!
Liz Carroll made a guest solo appearance. She was teaching a workshop upstairs. The boys came back on and played at least another hour.
We decided not to stay any longer so headed back towards Mabou. We stopped in Port Hood for groceries. Then we stopped at a small local bakery a little ways down the road. We were like little kids. Bought probably way too much sweet stuff. It was an interesting shop. In addition to a bakery, there was a small cafe and a refrigerator with all manner of heat and eat dinners. Glad we didn’t linger any longer.
Came back to the double wide, happy to be out of the fierce weather that we had been battling all day. I took a long walk down our road just to get some exercise and to see what I could see. The road is very steep and lightly maintained. I walked a mile and a half down the road until it intersected Mabou Mines Road and then back to the double wide.
SUSAN: While Jim was gone, the wind and the rain was pretty intense. I really wasn’t sure he would make it home. We were not surprised when the lawn furniture on the deck blew all to one end and the door to the grill came off. Then the tiles on the outdoor picnic table started blowing off and breaking. John went out and took the rest of the tiles off of the table and placed them on the porch, next to the trailer so they wouldn't blow off and break. Christine contacted our AirBnB host to let him know. His response was:
"Holy shit it’s windy , thanks for that! I think there is some rope in the laundry closet or in the shed if you don’t mind tying up the grill thanks!"
Evidently he lives 40 kilometers [25 miles] from this location So we found the rope in the laundry closet and John tied it to the frame of the porch.
JAMES: After the walk I decided I needed to see Mabou Mines in person. One can surmise that the name of the town derived from the mines that were once there. Driving down in the area I didn’t see any but the road led down to a small harbor.
There was a small number of fishing boats there, grounded no doubt by the high winds. Small homes dotted the hills around the harbor. I got out of my car to get a better look at the bay and small beach. The sun was poking out from behind some thick, purple clouds and lit the little beach dramatically. The wind was howling, the waves were crashing and the sun illuminating everything through the clouds.
Drove back to the double wide. Made sandwiches for dinner, played a heated game of Quiddler and then everyone drifted off to bed.