Maggie's Journal

Tags: Life on Marble Mountain
I will be going to Iris and Glen's this evening to participate in their Haunted House. I did it last year and it was a blast. Come join us after dusk. They will have a bonfire and refreshments - last year Iris made fourag, Glen created huge torches and Iris did fortune telling via tea leaves (don't swallow the leaves or you'll have no fortune).

Hope to see you there. This is going to be the warmest Halloween I've seen in quite a few years and I think I've only seen one or two this warm in my lifetime. Tonight will definitely be a perfect night for visiting around the bonefire. We may or may not see moon and stars but we aren't expecting rain. The high at 9:00 p.m. is forecast to be 56F/13C.

The moon will be full Monday so we should have plenty of moonlight to see by. I wonder if there will be a magnificent moonrise? This would be the time to watch it over the lake, especially with your sweetie - gorgeous!

"The Circle is open but always unbroken. May the peace of the Goddess go in your heart. Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again." Samhain farewell, goodbye, Author unknown.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:39 AM Location Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life on Marble Mountain
Kayaking on the lake yesterday was ethereal. The air was still so the surface was like glass and the temperature was comfortable.

In answer to a question that was asked of me yesterday, No, I did not see any deer kayaking. If I do, I hope I have a camera with me. I didn't know deer did that. How would a deer get its hoofs into a kayak?

I'd luv-luv-luv to get out there again today. That's not likely to happen, got a number of showings to do that will require driving all over creation. You are welcome to use my kayak, if you like.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:08 AM Location The Lake | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Staying In Touch
Give a call if you need me to pick anything up from town. I'll be in again Saturday morning 9 - noon.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:58 AM Location 304 Reynolds Street | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Technology
The probelm first started when Port Hawkesbury lost power due to a snafu on the parts of Eastlink and Nova Scotia Power. The problem has been remedied so please let me know it you sent any missing messages. Thanks.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 11:49 AM Location My Email | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: It's The Season
To the person who left the pumpkins at the top of my driveway. - thank you! That makes a very nice selection of pumpkins, indeed.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 8:38 AM Location Marble Mountain East | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Blasted Technology
If you are having trouble reaching me via email, please be advised that my email is down. Hopefully it will be resolved shortly but there's a chance it will have to wait for Halloween. My apologies. So sorry!

Here's a possiblility - try reaching me through my profesional email address. Myname@....com

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:59 AM Location My Email | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: The Environment
For several days a backhoe has been parked alongside the road between my driveway and the second driveway down where a new house was built over the last year. First thing this morning a dumptruck arrived and now the two pieces of equipment are busy moving earth yet again. The last time this was done the migratory fish lost their waterway and the fry lost their safe habitat and what was left is an eyesore as well as an insult to the environment. I cringe to think what they are doing this time. I took a few pics and I'll take a few more later so you can see for yourself. The beautiful cove that was here when we moved into this property no longer exists. It makes me terribly sad and a little angry. This is what my neighbor does with the profits from his oil company. Rather appropriate, yes?

Posted by Maggie Davis At 6:56 AM Location Black Cove | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life In General
First, there was the flat tire in the Sobey's parking lot; secondly, then I locked myself out of my running car; lastly, there was the car that managed to back itself into the ditch and had to be pushed out (it wasn't in there too deeply, only one wheel was off the driveway). Funny, all three incidents were avoidable but you know how that is. Life happens. All three events were resolved by women. We rock!

Posted by Maggie Davis At 8:19 AM Location Here & There | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life In Cape Breton
Linda, Wendy, Iris, Glen and I had a good time the Highland Village last night. The walk was much the same as last year, right down to the weather. The skits were new and well done. It ended with a session in the stage, which is closed in this time of year. There were refreshments of tea, quick breads, cookies and candy. The unintended entertainment in the form of little tow-headed Angus was just as entertaining as the storytelling, singing and music that was planned. He's quite the character, that little boy. He was playing with a foot-high toy spider that stepdanced to the music. What a talented spider.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 6:55 AM Location Iona | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Local News
They have gone back to Germany. I haven't heard from them since their return home. I hope they all had a safe and uneventful trip. Not to worry, they will be back in the spring. Hopefully by then we'll have a humble coffee shop operational in the neighborhood.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 9:03 AM Location Marble Mountain | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life on Marble Mountain
If the weather is agreeable, I think I'll go for a glide on the lake this weekend. I have a spare kayak so you can go with me if you like. Just give a call.

Sunday would be good if the wind takes a break. It might be rainy so bring a rainjacket and nor'easter hat.

Here's what Accuweather says for Sunday afternoon: Cloudy and breezy with occasional rain and drizzle, mainly early. High of 8.

Could be promising.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 6:05 AM Location Cove | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Local Business New Ways Of Working For The New Millennium
I will be here until 5 today, 1 - 5 tomorrow.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 12:08 PM Location 304 Reynolds Street | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Boo! It's Halloween
There is a ticket to this event to any taker who claims it. We've had one participant drop out and the ticket is available. Let me know.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 10:59 AM Location Iona | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life In Cape Breton Life In General
I locked the house and started the car, then walked over to the coop to let the chickens out. I returned to get back in the running car and it was locked. I couldn't get the key from the house because I had locked that, too. I went from locked window to locked window until I finally came across one that I was able to open. I climbed in over my desk, got the key and opened the car. This was not the best of starts to my day. Things will only improve from here, right?

There have been some guys trying to steal cars in Port Hawkesbury. When you are in town, make sure to lock your car and take keys with you. Do not leave valuables in sight, even in a locked car.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 10:26 AM Location Cape Breton | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags:

Posted by Maggie Davis At 8:05 AM Location | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Astronomy
We tend to do our skygazing at night but there's something to be said for doing it in the morning before dawn. The sky is sparkly with stars and planets. Those of us who heat with wood get to experience this treat when we go out to gather wood to get the stove started up again upon rising. Anyone care to join me for coffee and stargazing? The pot's on. Quickly, run outside before the sun rises and look up.

From Earth & Sky.org, here is what we'll see tonight.

As Antares sets, the Pleiades cluster rises

Look low in the southwest at dusk and nightfall to find the ruddy star Antares to the west (right) of the waxing crescent moon. Antares is the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion.

At mid-northern latitudes, Antares sets shortly after nightfall at this time of year. Farther north, Antares sets even earlier, whereas farther south Antares sets at a later hour. In fact, at middle latitudes south of the equator – like at southern Australia and New Zealand – Antares sets a good 3 hours later than at our mid-northern latitudes.

One thing remains constant, however, no matter where you live worldwide. Whenever Antares sets in your southwest sky, the Pleiades star cluster in the constellation Taurus the Bull rises into your northeast sky. Another thing remains constant as well. Antares sets 4 minutes earlier every day while the Pleiades star cluster rises 4 minutes earlier daily.

By mid to late November, Antares will disappear from the night sky, while the Pleiades star cluster will shine all night long!

Written by Bruce McClure

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:44 AM Location Up | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Gardening
Oops! I'm a little late with Mark's newsletter this month but better late than never. - M

What gardener thinks of October when they think of a great looking garden? Not too many of us. That should not diminish the many redeeming features of the harvest month, just the same.

In a nut shell, the second rate blooms that my roses and veronica are giving me early in October are more than made up for by the colours of the trees in our part of the world. The very best show of colour on the trees in my garden are not nearly as interesting or spectacular as the show put on by deciduous trees in public spaces and out in the countryside.

To put it in a nut shell October is our best chance to plant spring flowering bulbs, dig and divide many perennials, save seeds for next season, harvest all of the ‘cold crops’ like squash and carrots, take pictures of leaves, walk in the woods full of leaves and frolic in the leaves (whatever that means to you…). Not to mention that allergy sufferers get some relief when the ragweed is hit by those first frosts.

All in all, October is not a bad path to take to our first introduction to another Canadian winter.

So let’s start at the beginning:

Perennials

If you have perennials that have been in the ground for 3 or more years, it is time for an intervention. In case you didn’t notice, they grew. And many are now ready to be dug up and divided.

Take hosta for example.

Dig them using a quality digging fork (a sharp spade or shovel works too, sharpened with a Mark’s Choice tool sharpener, product #1074-629) and push the fork into the ground as deeply as you can about 30 to 50 cm out from the middle of the plant. Do not wiggle your fork while digging, the first time round. Once you have encircled the hosta with the fork, do it again only this time lever up on the fork as you go, ripping and tearing the roots of the plant until you feel a relief of pressure and hear a ‘pop’.

Drag the mature hosta out of the ground and assess – how many ‘new’ plants can you salvage from the original plant? That depends not only on the size of the plant you just removed from the ground but how big or small you want to start the new ones…. Generally I take a hosta that is about the size of a 12 inch pie plate and cut it into 4: just like a pie, dividing each smoothly with either a sharp spade or old kitchen knife.

You now have 4 plants where once you had one.

Cooooooooooooooooool.

Give the extras to your friends or distribute around your garden if there is room.

This can be done with day lilies, monarda, Shasta daisies, peonies (though peonies should be 5 years or older…), Joe Pie Weed – what the heck… Most any perennial plant that has a large, fleshy root or tightly knit fibrous roots. Truth is, unless it is a fussy plant to grow in the first place, it will divide nicely in October.

Plant

“Fall is for planting”, we are fond of saying in the business.

Trees, shrubs, evergreens, perennials and even roses will put down young, vigorous roots this fall that will support spring growth next year.

In my experience, fall planted nursery stock outperforms the spring planted ones by a long shot. Try and prove it to yourself.

And save some money by taking advantage of great fall sale prices at many retailers.

Holland Bulbs

October is bulb planting month.

Tulips, daffodils, narcissus (small daffodils), crocus, hyacinth and the like are in the stores now, available in abundance from the great Canadian mail order companies and there is no better time to get to it.

Bulb planting in the fall is a great investment in a wonderful looking spring garden. More than that, spring bulbs lift our spirits after a long cold Canadian winter: a spring bloom is worth 100 times that of a mid summer bloom. Why? Because we are colour starved and there are fewer of them come spring.

Go to www.veseys.com, www.gardenimport.com, www.mcfayden.com, etc. for more info.

Harvest time

The full moon occurs on October 4 th. This is the REAL harvest moon. Leave many of your best crops past this date and you risk losing them to serious frost in many parts of Canada. Holland Bulbs

October is bulb planting month.

Tulips, daffodils, narcissus (small daffodils), crocus, hyacinth and the like are in the stores now, available in abundance from the great Canadian mail order companies and there is no better time to get to it.

Bulb planting in the fall is a great investment in a wonderful looking spring garden. More than that, spring bulbs lift our spirits after a long cold Canadian winter: a spring bloom is worth 100 times that of a mid summer bloom. Why? Because we are colour starved and there are fewer of them come spring.

Go to www.veseys.com, www.gardenimport.com, www.mcfayden.com, etc. for more info.

Harvest time

The full moon occurs on October 4 th. This is the REAL harvest moon. Leave many of your best crops past this date and you risk losing them to serious frost in many parts of Canada.

One practice that will improve the performance of everything that you grow is to compost your fallen leaves. Rake them off of your lawn and put them in your composter. Better still, drive over them with a power mower set at its’ highest setting and leave the resulting leaf chips on the surface of the lawn. Or better still again put them on the surface of the soil around your perennials and put a generous 10 cm or more layer on your veggie garden. The worms will come up to the surface, chow down on the leaves and leave behind what worms always leave behind from their behind when they eat… you know what I am talking about and it is called ‘nitrogen rich’ earthworm castings. They help everything that you grow. Everything. Guaranteed. And I am not trying to sell you anything – just the concept of hording your leaves on your garden.

That is about it for now… more to come end of October as we approach the ‘winterizing’ season in the garden. Look for your next edition of the Mark Cullen Newsletter and be sure to drop by Home Hardware for a good look at the many great Mark’s Choice products. All of them are guaranteed to improve the performance of your garden. I stake my word on it.

Feel free to contact me at www.markcullen.com and check out my weekly blog on Yahoo at http://ca.lifestyle.yahoo.com/experts/ where you will find details on many of the topics covered here including many great internet gardening links.

Keep your knees dirty and your heart thankful.

Yours,

Mark

Posted by Maggie Davis At 4:43 AM Location Garden | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Local Business
It looks like I'll be at this event tomorrow evening. Cape Breton-Canso Realty has a table of eight and I expect it will be full. These events are usually dry and boring and too loud to understand any conversations, we'll see if this is another one of them. The upside is I get to see people I don't see frequently and chitchat with them. I'll have to remember to bring a small stack of business cards to hand out. Maybe I'll see you there.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:03 PM Location Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Being Neighborly Celebrating The Season
There is a ticket to this event to any taker who claims it. We've had one participant drop out and the ticket is available. Let me know.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:28 AM Location Highland Village | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Shayna & Maggie's Excellent Adventure
It takes 2 realtors, an office assistant and the guy in the car detail shop across the street. I can say that with certainty. Shayna blew the tire on her aunt's car in that mongo pothole in the parking lot coming into the plaza at Shopper's Drug and Sobey's.

When Shayna started giggling and not saying much I figured she might need a hand with the job, which she did. First, I told her to get out the jack and spare tire. She needed to look at the manual for that. I reached in and pulled it out. The jack. She yanked out the spare. Next, I pried off the twisted & bent hubcap while Dale yelled at me that I was bending it - too late, Dale, it was already twisted & bent. That's kaput. She drove on the flat tire.

I told her we needed to figure out where the jack goes under the chassis. I don't think she got that. First, she had to loosen the lug nuts while the flat tire was firmly anchored to the ground. Those things can spin if they are jacked up and then you have more of a challenge getting the lugnuts loose. She got 2 or 3 loose, then Dale jumped in to work on the others but all he managed to do was make his face turn red.

The lugnuts were quite rusty so I suggested we use WD40 so off we went to search the office for some. No luck. I looked across the street and saw the Strait Car Care. Shayna and I strolled over there and asked the guy if he had any WD40 to help our cause. The guy picked up a can of it and walked over to the car with us. Then he picked up the tire iron, put it on the lug nut, gave it a quick stomp with his foot and - voila! - it came loose. What a guy. He had that tire changed in the wink of an eye. There's nothing like watching a professional doing his job well. He did it without us having to ask and he did it with a smile. Shayna bought him beer. All is well. We damsels luuuuurv guys who change tires for us.

Click on the link to see what happens when you ask a guy for a few squirts of lubricating oil.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:00 PM Location Port Hawkesbury | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food & Wine And Entertainment Life on Marble Mountain
Ladies Night In will be held at my house Saturday, October 24, at 6:00 p.m. I'll make a punch and some snacks. Ladies, don your tiaras!

Posted by Maggie Davis At 4:29 PM Location Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Adventures
My niece, Sarah, is living in China, teaching English to young Chinese students. Let me know if you are interested in reading more and following her adventures and I'll send you the link. She is quite the adept writer (it's a New England thing).

Here is an excerpt from her Journal "These boots are made for walkin', And that's just what they'll do" and, when you read it, keep in mind that Journaling can be politically sensitive in China. She includes pictures in some of her postings. Here you go.:

So!  As I was wandering the city, I sort of stumbled across a big honking Buddhist temple, set in next to a hospital and behind a small plaza.  The plaza was lined with stores selling Buddhist stuff- candles, figurines, incense, monks' robes, beads and larger-than-life statues.  It was kind of wild, and when I asked one of the shopkeepers, she told me that they were basically all temple supply stores, but no, I shouldn't take pictures.

So you have to imagine it.

But!  Inside the temple was okay, as long as it wasn't indoors.  It's probably something to do with photographing the representation of the Buddhas, but nobody's ever explained it to me.

The first bit is a stone.  A big stone, with Japanese written all over it.  I don't know what it is, but other folks were taking pictures, so it must be interesting.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:12 AM Location China | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Brrr! Chilly Science & Nature
I am getting reports from the road that snow is falling in northern New England, down into the mid-Atlantic region. I wonder if this stuff is on its way here. Rain, sleet, snow, oh my! This is WAAAY too early for this kind of wintry weather. I don't remember all that many October snows and mostly those were flurries.

Gabi - If you want it, I have a copy of Anne's book for you at her bargain price. If you don't want it, let me know and I'll pass it on to someone else.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 6:59 AM Location Here and there! | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life on Marble Mountain
Into town for a meeting and lunch, then home to catch up on work. Much to do. This is why God created coffee. Drop in if you need a cup of brew.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 6:11 AM Location Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Being Neighborly
Did anyone meet the Tim's tour bus at the lookoff yesterday? I missed them altogether. Armin said there was quite a crowd and they were drinking wine. Honestly, the weather was so yucky I thought there was a good chance they'd cancel their tour but the afternoon turned out to be suitable if not perfect for a visit to the lookoff.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:48 AM Location Lookoff | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food & Health News
Today is World Bread Day. I gleaned the following from the WBD website.

All over the world, bread bears a highly symbolic power: It stands for solidarity as well as the ability to share. As a universal product, found in every civilization, made of various types of grain, characterized by the manifold fermentation processes and the different ways of baking, bread, even now in the third millennium, it accompanies nearly every meal.

Staple food for some, luxury or modern dietary food for others, bread in itself means so much that it deserves a World Day in its honour! The World Bread Day wants to provide an opportunity to talk about bread and bakers, to find out about their history, their importance as well as their future.

King Arthur Flour has this recipe for Sharing Bread for just this day. Bake up a batch and find someone to share it with. This will take a couple of days to complete but better late than never!

Sharing Bread

Starter

1 cup King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

1 cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, organic preferred

1/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid

1/4 teaspoon sugar, Demerara preferred

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast, SAF Red or SAF Gold preferred

2 cups cool water

Dough

all of the starter

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

4 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

1 tablespoon kosher salt OR 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

6 tablespoons Demerara sugar or granulated sugar

4 teaspoons instant yeast, SAF Red or SAF Gold preferred

1/4 cup flax seed, ground

4 tablespoons butter or 1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup lukewarm water

The amount of water will vary here. If your starter has rested less than 2 days, and doesn't have any freestanding liquid at the bottom, use 1/2 cup water. If the starter is very liquid and soupy, use just 2 to 4 tablespoons water.

Starter

4 1/4 ounces King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

4 ounces King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, organic preferred

1/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid

1/4 teaspoon sugar, Demerara preferred

1/4 teaspoon instant yeast, SAF Red or SAF Gold preferred

16 ounces cool water

Dough

all of the starter

7 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats

19 ounces King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour

1 tablespoon kosher salt OR 1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

3 1/8 ounces Demerara sugar or 2 5/8 ounces granulated sugar

4 teaspoons instant yeast, SAF Red or SAF Gold preferred

1 1/8 ounces flax seed, ground

2 ounces butter or 1 3/4 ounces vegetable oil

4 ounces lukewarm water

The amount of water will vary here. If your starter has rested less than 2 days, and doesn't have any freestanding liquid at the bottom, use 1/2 cup water. If the starter is very liquid and soupy, use just 2 to 4 tablespoons water.

Directions

1) To make the starter: Combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour, ascorbic acid, sugar, yeast, and water in a large bowl. Mix to combine, cover, and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours, or up to about 2 days.

2) When you're ready to make bread, stir the starter to recombine it with any freestanding liquid it's generated. Mix the starter with the oats, 1 1/2 cups of the bread flour, and the remaining dough ingredients. Mix thoroughly, then add the remaining 3 cups of bread flour.

3) Knead to make a smooth, supple dough. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or other container, cover, and allow it to rise till doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

4) Gently deflate the dough, and divide it in half. Shape each half into a 9" log.

5) Lightly grease two 9" x 5" loaf pans. Place one log in each pan. To make two loaves in each pan, divide each half of the dough in half again; and shape each of the four pieces into a ball. Place two balls, side by side, in each pan.

6) Cover the pans, and let the dough rise till it's crowned about 1" over the rim of the pan. This will take about 60 to 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 350°F.

7) Uncover the pans, and bake the bread for 20 minutes. Tent lightly with foil, and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until the center of the loaf registers 190°F on an instant-read thermometer.

8) Remove the bread from the oven, and place it on a rack to cool. After about 5 minutes, turn the loaves out of the pans to cool completely on the rack. If you've made two loaves in a single pan, wait till they're completely cool to gently separate, cutting with a knife if necessary.

Yield: 2 large loaves, or 4 smaller loaves.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 9:55 AM Location Everywhere | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food & Wine And Entertainment
I'd like to make Champagne Chocolate Truffles but I don't have any champagne. A lot of people have a bottle sitting around that they never touch and I'd be happy to put it to good use. The truffles will be donated to the Orangedale Tea & Sale in a few weeks. Of course, the donor and I will need to sample a few, just to make sure they are good, right?

Posted by Maggie Davis At 8:09 AM Location My Kitchen | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: It's The Season
We've had a killing frost. When I got up, the temperature was 31F/-1C. There go the last of the flowers, peppers, tomatoes, beans, basil and squash plants. This is the time when we gather dried stems, grasses and berries to make our fall seasonal arrangements. Let me know if you'd like one and I'll put one together for you in all my spare time.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:54 AM Location Outside | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Local Business
If you want to reach me, call 625.0302 or 625-1518.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 10:33 AM Location 304 Reynolds Street | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Brrr! Chilly
I need starter logs for my wood stove. Does anyone know where I can get some? I'm down to my last three pieces.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:04 AM Location Home | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Life on Marble Mountain
The temperature is down to freezing outside.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 9:38 PM Location Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Volunteering in Marble Mountain & Malagawatch
There’s a pioneer grave yard in our midst that needs some “TLC”

And since the people there can’t do it…it’s up to you and me

So if you want to be a helper please answer here below

We’ll all band there together to cut and mulch and mow!

by Anonymous

Posted by Maggie Davis At 11:33 AM Location Graveyard Cove | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Food & Fun
St Georges Channel will be holding its monthly Country Breakfast this coming Sunday 9:00 AM - 12:00 noon. Admission is $6 Adults, $3 Children.

This breakfast is held every third Sunday of each month and it includes omelets, pancakes, sausages, homemade beans, home fries, toast, tea, coffee, juice and fresh fruit.

Don't leave hungry, refills are encouraged.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 9:36 PM Location St Georges Channel Hall | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Music And Entertainment
Last night's concert went until 10:45. Burton MacIntire officiated, as usual, and did his usual excellent job of it. The music by all the Irish guest bands was great, as was to be expected, but the home band, Barra MacNeils, were the best of all. They sang, they danced, they told stories - you know, the usual for them, but they seemed to be putting their whole hearts into it.

The stage isn't that big and when all the performers filed out on stage for the finale, I held my breath. The stage was PACKED with performers. They did several songs before the usual Celtic Colours finale. One of the songs was Do You Love An Apple? It's a sweet little love song that I also heard Heather Richards perform beautifully, accompanied by her husband, last summer at the Irish Pub Night in St. George's Channel Hall. This waltz song stuck in my head, for some reason.

Do You Love an Apple?

Do you love an apple, do you love a pear?

Do you love a laddie with curly brown hair?

Chorus

And still, I love him, I can't deny him

I'll be with him where ever he goes

Chorus

Before I got married I wore a black shawl

But now that I'm married I wear bugger-all

Chorus

He stood at the corner, a fag in his mouth

Two hands in his pockets, he whistled me out

Chorus

He works at the pier, for nine pound a week,

Saturday night he comes rolling home drunk

Chorus

Before I got married I'd sport and I'd play

But now, the cradle gets in me way

Chorus

Do you love an apple, do you love a pear?

Do you love a laddie with curly brown hair?

And still, I love him, I can't deny him

I'll be with him where ever he goes

Posted by Maggie Davis At 2:04 PM Location The School Auditorium | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Gardening
The October meeting of the Nature & Garden Club will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, October 13, at 7:00 p.m., at Lynn's house.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 12:19 PM Location Lynn's house | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Music
Tonight's concert in Whycocomagh: Barra MacNeils, The Begleys Maighread & Triona Ni Dhomhnaill Qristina & Quinn Bachand.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:37 PM Location Whycocomagh Education Centre | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Gardening
I just discovered that I grew new asparagus plants from seed. Last fall, after the freeze, I did seasonal greens window boxes and used the asparagus fronds with red berries as an accent. Those berries fell to the ground and became new asparagus plants. Pretty nice. One can not have too many asparagus plants. Those will be ready to harvest in spring of 2013 or later.

The garlic is planted, which should provide a good crop late next summer. We recently harvested the crop that was planted last fall and got a goodly batch of garlic. Very nice. That could hold us over until next year, if they store well.

I just returned from a walk with the dogs down the road behind the cove. Hubby decided to accompany me. He is really starting to take this fitness thing seriously. That's twice in the last week or two that he went for a walk with me.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:27 PM Location The Yard | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Entertainment News
If you have Celtic Colours tickets that you won't be able to use, let me know and I will publish it here to see if we can find someone to buy them from you.

If we can't find a buyer, please consider donating your tickets to L'Arche. The folks there tremendously enjoy the Celtic music and would very much appreciate the donation - and use - the tickets.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 10:27 AM Location Celtic Colours Festival | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food and Wine and Entertainment
Scheduling the wine tasting party to take advantage of a full moon, would you prefer to have the 2010 wine bash on Saturday, September 25, 2010, or Saturday, October 23, 2010?

The later date will be a Hunter's Moon and bug-free but the earlier date will be warmer and bugs will still be with us.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 5:13 PM Location TBD | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Gardening
Dahlia: Pronunciation [dal-yuh, dahl- or, especially Brit., deyl-]

1. any composite plant of the genus Dahlia, native to Mexico and Central America and widely cultivated for its showy, variously colored flower heads. 2. the flower or tuberous root of a dahlia. 3. a pale violet or amethyst color.

Origin: 1791; < NL, named after Anders Dahl (d. 1789), Swedish botanist

To listen to the pronunciation of dahlia, click on the link. From the pronunciation description above, there are three ways to pronounce it. There are two places on this link to listen to pronunciations. The first is with a female voice and a broad a; the second is a male voice with a soft ah. I believe the way it's pronounced in Sweden would be with a soft "ah" sound. The U.S. and Canadian pronounciations seem to have been Anglicized to a broad or hard a, respectively.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 11:58 AM Location Dictionary | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food and Wine And Entertainment
Wow! The wine bash was an absolutely phenomenal success. Big thanks go to Sandra and Warren Johnston for their input, guidance, materials and enthusiastic participation. Thanks go Jean, Sandra and Warren for all their time, effort and work in judging all the submissions. The three of them dedicated a good part of the evening toward the wine tasting, sipping, swirling, viewing and evaluating. They began the process before 7:00 p.m. and finally finished some time around 9:00 p.m. That's real dedication. Johnston's Brewing Room provided good prizes for the winners and educational material for all the attendees.

A generous thank you also goes out to all the people who submitted their home-made wines for judging. In all, there were 16 wines submitted and all of them were consumed once the judging was completed. There were plently of good dishes that helped fill our tummies with more than just fruit of the vine, thankfully. I tend to worry that people will end up in in the ditch or something like that without enough solid food in their tummies. Thank you to all of you who provided all the excellent foods for the event.

Another big thanks goes out to all our wonderful new friends, Det and Gudi, who will from now on be on our invitation list, if I get a copy of their email addresses, who came to the wine shindig and helped make it a tremendously fun party. A huge thank you goes out to our new friend, Rob, for his wonderful wine song. Rob, how can we get a copy of that? Thanks go out to Warren for his banjoing. Thanks, also, to our old(ish) friends and repeat wine fest revelers.

You want details, you say? I should spill the dirt on enthusiastic partyers? Who am I to argue. Well, here goes .... Fasten your seatbelts!

The tasting was done in the house by our superb tasters while the rest of us gathered on the patio and in the screen room. While the pros got down to business, the rest of us were busy getting up to speed in the spirit of the spirits, drinking the bottles that were not being evaulated and munching on all the enticing goodies.

Eventually the tasting came around to the part where Popular Choice judging required that willing partyers did their part to choose what wine that they liked best. By then the revelers were feeling their juice and were tossing the extra vino over their shoulders into the bay tree. The tree looks perky and the leaves are shiny today! (Jutta and Betty Jean, the bay tree says thanks for the wine and would you please serve it a white burgundy or pino noir next time? Those go better with bay leaves.)

A little later, Rob took out his guitar and his squeezy thing and played and sang for us. We are beyond thrilled to have such a tremendous talent among us. His house should be completed soon and he and his wife are in the process of getting landed immigrant status so they can be here full time. We are looking forward to that day. Were their house not already being built on Ross Point, we would try to persuade them to move to 'da mountain.

As usual, Tom and Kit commandeered the music and played House Of The Rising Sun until we all got our fill and then some. From there, they moved on to rock & roll and Tom and I were moved to dance. Then Tom and Irene were moved to dance. Then Tom and Jean were moved to dance. Then Tom wasn't able to move at all. This might have had something to do with the knee surgery he had a week and a half ago but it might have had more to do with wine, just saying.

Warren was moved to make music and sing and the rest of us were moved to sing along with him. For the record, there was no dancing on the table. Everyone went home by 1:30 a.m. Wendy, Linda and Iris - we need you to come dance at the parties! A party just isn't the same without you.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 9:42 AM Location Marble Mountain East | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: Local News Local Talent
Attention Artist and Artisans

On Thursday, Oktober 15, in conjunction with CELTIC COLOURS, artists and artisans are invited to show/sell their artwork and crafts at the St. Georges Channel Community Hall. The Hall venue will be part of the advertised Celtic Colours Artisan and Studio Tour.

It will start at 10.00 - ......

To arrange for a display table, please contact Dawn Haloun at 345-2242

Yvonne

Visit my website www.piczo.com/art-knitting

St.Georges Channel Community Hall

Thursday, 15. October

Celtic Colours, artwork and crafts

please come and visite my table

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:28 AM Location St. Georges Channel Community Hall | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food & Wine And Entertainment
Rules for 2009: Wines to be judged need to be delivered in the morning, before noon so we can prepare the bottles for blind judging.  Judging will commence promptly at 7:15 p.m.

Hors d'oueuvres, shirley temples, tea, coffee and sweets will be served.  Dress warmly for the outdoors.

JBR will be offering first place prizes for the winners in both the white wine and red wine categories.

The prize for each category will be a premium wine kit from the Selection Estate series valued between $150 and $160.

JBR will have available lots of info regarding their winexpert products, some specials for those entering their wines, as well as wine tasting checklists that will assist in the choosing of a winning wines.

For the judging, there won't be a lot of guidelines to follow. Sandra & Warren, along with your hosts, will be the judges.

Everyone can vote for Most Popular Wine in the in the People's Choice judging and there will also be a prize for it.

We are looking forward to seeing you this evening! Remember to dress for the outdoors.

Note: If you think you might overimbibe, bring your jammies and toothbrush and plan to stay in our guest room.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 4:50 AM Location Home | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life on Marble Mountain
Holy cow! Where did this wind come from? Are we getting a secret hurricane? If this strong and gusty wind persists throughout tomorrow, we will have trouble keeping the candles lit for tomorrow night's 3rd Annual Marble Mountain Wine Tasting.

For those of you who will be attending tomorrow's wine shindig, remember to dress appropriately for the weather as we will be outside on the patio as well as in the house and screen room. The patio umbrella will be closed and secured. I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow evening.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 8:19 AM Location CBI | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Local News
I just got back from my daily walk with the dogs. There are clear tire tracks leading to their place. Start the party!

Posted by Maggie Davis At 6:15 PM Location Marble Mountain | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: News
There will be a benefit for a gentleman named Mr. Boucher in River Bourgeois. He lost everything in a house fire during the summer. He needs all kinds of household items.

The builders will start on his new home in the spring. Any household goods he gets prior to moving in to his home will be stored in his mother's garage.

If you have any household items to donate, I am sure it will be appreciated. I believe one of the realtors in the St. Peter's office, Peter, is taking any donations.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 12:02 PM Location River Bourgeois | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Local News
A meeting was held to discuss local issues. More info will be forthcoming soon.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 8:39 PM Location The Hall | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Inspiration
If you would like a copy of Anne Landin's book, Guthan Prìseil (Precious Voices), a few of them are available for $20.00. It comes with a CD, which has 21 Gaelic songs on it. Let me know or let Anne know you want one and we'll get a copy to you. I've been listening to the cd in the car as I drive around. I hope to get the words figured out in my lifetime. The tunes I get ok.

If you will be going to the Highland Village's Halloween event, you will hear Gaelic singing there - only much better than I can sing. This might be your better bet for entertainment.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 9:23 PM Location Big Harbour Island | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Food Food & Health News
A new study finds that eating wild game meat may raise your blood lead levels.

If you hunt, use lead-free bullets. If you consume game meat, avoid the ground stuff.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—In many parts of the country, deer-hunting season is well underway. And while the sport certainly has its opponents, it remains an extremely popular activity that's taken up by roughly 18 million Americans. Even among nonhunters, dining on wild game meat like venison is undergoing a revival, with gourmet foodies and high-end restaurants serving it as a leaner, healthier alternative to beef. But a new study published in the latest issue of Environmental Research finds that there's a good chance that lean venison could be contaminated with lead.

THE DETAILS: Researchers were compelled to do the study after a physician in Bismark, ND, a hunter himself, watched a presentation on the lead poisoning of California condors due to their consumption of game meat contaminated with lead. The physician x-rayed 94 one-pound packages of venison that had been donated to local food banks through a program called Sportsmen Against Hunger, and found lead in about half of them. "Departments of Health in surrounding states, such as Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, had also found some lead fragments in venison and wild game meat," says study author Shahed Iqbal, PhD, senior service fellow in the Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch of the National Center for Environmental Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In his study, Iqbal analyzed blood samples from 736 North Dakota residents over the age of 2. The study participants were also interviewed to see if they participated in any other activities that might expose them to lead (for instance, car or boat repair or construction) and the frequency and amount of wild game meat (venison, moose, birds, and other wild game) they consumed. They excluded waterfowl, as hunting waterfowl with lead bullets is prohibited in North Dakota.

Eighty-one percent of the participants consumed wild game meat, with venison being the most popular. No one had lead levels that exceed the CDC's action level of 10 micrograms per deciliter (mcg/dL) of blood, and the highest blood lead level detected was 1.85 mcg/dL, found in people over the age of 65. People who consumed all wild game meat had blood lead levels about 34 percent higher than people who didn't, at 1.27 micrograms/dL, and the researchers noticed that blood levels went up about 0.10 mcg/dL if people ate serving sizes of the meat larger than two ounces, and 0.40 if they ate the more exotic kinds of game, such as moose.

WHAT IT MEANS: The suspected source of exposure is lead ammunition, says Iqbal, although he did note that his study can't rule out additional environmental sources of lead, such as lead in soil. Ammunition scatters throughout an animal’s body beyond the initial point of entry, he explains. "People are cleaning the meat around the wound channel, but they aren't taking it all out."

"Our primary recommendation is to limit consumption of wild game," says Iqbal. "Lead at very low levels can adversely affect human health, especially children." There is no safe level of lead, even for adults. While in children the metal can interfere with neurological development, in adults, lead builds up in bones and is then released as the bones break down with age, raising the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. Currently, the North Dakota Department of Health and other officials are recommending children under age 6 and pregnant women, who are most vulnerable to lead's effects, consume no wild game meat, says Stephen Pickard, MD, epidemiologist at the North Dakota Department of Health. He says that hunters have started paying attention to the issue and are concerned, but he said, the agency is leaving it up to the average wild game meat consumer to determine for himself or herself how much is safe.

Here are some ways for hunters and game-meat lovers to limit their lead exposure from wild game:

• Opt for lead-free bullets. Certainly the easiest way to avoid lead in meat—aside from not eating it at all—is to hunt with copper bullets or other lead-free materials, says Dr. Pickard, who admits that he's not a hunter himself. While these bullets are more expensive, the added cost may be worth it to hunters who want to protect their health, share the meat with children or pregnant women, or donate it to charity.

• Clean the wound—and your campsite—well. Lead fragments can scatter a long way from the site of entry, in some studies, as much as a foot. "You won't get all the lead out, but you will get most of it," says Dr. Pickard, if you clean the wound well. Bullet-damaged tissue is usually cut out anyway, he adds, because it doesn't taste very good; just don't leave it behind. These highly lead-contaminated bits of tissue get eaten by other animals like birds and hawks, who might then suffer from lead poisoning. Dispose of the tissue where it won't be consumed by wildlife.

• Go for whole filets. "Most of where we have observed the lead fragments has been in ground meat," says Dr. Pickard. He's not sure why that is, "but we have been concerned with commercial processors that batch in the grinder," he adds, referring to processors that combine a large quantity of wild game meat and then grind it in a single batch. There's the possibility that a lead-bullet fragment could get lodged in a grinder and contaminate multiple batches. Tests on venison have found that lead levels are lower in whole filets.

By Emily Main Rodale

Posted by Maggie Davis At 11:18 AM Location Hunting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Local News
The local unofficial Roadside Cleanup Day will be on Sunday, October 18. There will be two shifts at 10:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. I'll drag out my little red wagon and a couple of big, strong trash bags to do the stretch between my house and John & Pat's.

I decided to declare this without consulting anyone because I saw plenty of trash, fresh and old, on my morning walk. It's an eyesore and soon it will be too chilly and icy to do this job. There's no time like the present to get a good job done. As always for outdoor events, this will be weather permitting.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:23 AM Location Your Roadside | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tags: Life In General
I just got back from my walk and it was nice, despite wind a little moisture. The foliage is getting colorful and the temperature is agreeable and at this time of year we can be happy for that. It was a short walk, I have to leave for the St. Peter's off ice today but I'll take a longer walk later, at 6 when I get home.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:18 AM Location Marble Mountain Road | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Dangerous
I have been told that hunters are about in the area. Is it safe for me to go out with my dogs for a walk? Where CAN we go hiking without risk of being shot?

When will hunting season end and it will be safe yet again to go for a walk with my dogs without fear of us being the unwitting targets? Hunting is icky.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:35 AM Location Outdoors | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Big News Local News Talent
From Anne Landin about her interview - I did the interview yesterday ... it will be next Friday and I will be in Baddeck for the weavers guild show all day so I won't be able to hear it.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:18 AM Location Radio | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life on Marble Mountain
Lily and I just got back from our dawn walk around the cove. First, we hiked to the bridge, then I threw sticks for her to fetch from the water at Karsten's shoreline.

The sky is mostly clear and the streaks of clouds were edged with peach sunshine. If you have the time, I highly recommend a walk along the water this morning.

On the return, we came across Flynn & Kit just as they were passing the road. They were heading toward Malagawatch. It's a good thing I caught them when I did, they would have had a walk all by themselves. It looks like Kit has finally decided that occasional exercise is in his best interest. Better late than never, I say.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:38 AM Location The Road Behind The Cove | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Life on Marble Mountain
Tomorrow's selection: turnips, parsnips, green beans, squash and maybe eggs, depending on what the hens produce.

No Farm Market on Sunday, I'll be in Whycocomagh for Anne's book launch.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:43 AM Location The Dump | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Holy Cow!
Criticizing God is an act punishable by death in several nations. In America, blasphemy laws remain on the books in six states, though they are largely arcane and not enforced.

But everywhere, it seems to Lindsay, scoffing at God is not socially acceptable.

People are willing to tolerate the harshest statements about the president of the United States, he said. But talk about Jesus or Mohammed -- that's a whole different ball game.

"We think religious beliefs should be subject to examination and criticism just as political beliefs are," said Lindsay, 56, who heads the Center for Inquiry in Amherst, New York, an organization that claims about 100,000 followers worldwide. "But we have a taboo on religion."

(There's nothing worse than an ex-catholic.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:43 AM Location The World | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Big News
From Anne: the name of the book is Guthan Prìseil (Precious Voices). It comes with a CD which has 21 Gaelic songs on it. There are several pages in the book for each song which includes information (in English) on the singer, composer if known, the story behind the song, the Gaelic words and the English translation. There is some interesting local history about the various areas of Cape Breton where the songs originated. Anne

Posted by Maggie Davis At 7:04 AM Location Whycocomagh | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Big News
The book launch will be held this Sunday, Oct. 4, at 2PM, at the Cameron Hall in Whycocomagh - next door to the United Church on Main St.

I plan to attend. After all, it isn't every day that someone I know launches a book. Putting together a book takes a lot of work, sacrifice, dedication and talent!

Anne says the books look great. It is sponsored by the Whycocomagh Historical Society and the price will be discounted for the launch.

She is going to Sydney tomorrow AM for an interview for the Main Street show - it will be aired from 4-6 PM that day.

Let me know if you'd like to ride with me. I am sure Anne would be delighted to see all of us there. We should leave here at 1:15. That means the Farm Market is suspended for that day but this is worth it.

Posted by Maggie Davis At 6:50 AM Location Cameron Hall in Whycocomagh | Permalink | Comments (0)