Bound Down for Newfoundland
Vic and I went to get the car and traipsed over to Erin’s at about midnight. I cannot believe how late I am staying up in St. John’s! Usually I turn into a pumpkin at midnight at home. Jim just STARTS his evenings at midnight so it is taking me some getting used to.

I had picked up Jim’s new CD on Saturday and had given it a listen. Whoa! I couldn't wait to discuss it with him. The new group is called Musaik (imagine 2 dots over the i) and the title of the CD is In This World. The whole concept of the album is getting together with your fellow man and figuring out ways to be peaceful about it. I don’t know how available it is yet online but if you leave a message for Jim at his website, www.jimfidler.com he will make sure you know how to get one. If you know Jim’s music, you know he doesn’t do the same CD over and over again. There is no genre that can hold him, trust me. There are European, Celtic, Reggae, Pop, Rap, Traditional, Middle Eastern, Alternative and almost any other genre you can shake a stick at in this CD. It is reggae-influenced but not totally overwhelmingly reggae. Definitely tinged with it, but the reggae music is fit in with Arabic songs, Celtic beats, jazz instruments and World percussion. Very different and very addictive. I already have a favorite that anyone can dance to – it’s the third song – Dub Illusion. What a great track!

I knew one of the songs that was going to be on the album because Jim was nice enough to send me an mp3 to play for my 5th grade class who loved his music so much. We ended up choreographing a dance to it and dancing and singing “Salama” at our Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly last year. It was a great hit with the class and the audience. I won’t write my review here but I’ll put it up a bit later on my website. Trust me though – you’ll love the CD. Go buy it!

Mike Hanrahan was there again. I was happy because he's got such a great voice. He also remembered we were from Philadelphia and Played "Sailing to Philadelphia" again. Nice guy! In between sets he came over to chat and we all sat around just discussing music and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember. I was introduced to a drink Jim and Lillian invented which they called a "Gypsy" of course! See the connection? Song called Song of the Gypsy, CD called Gypsy, cat named "Gypsy," drink named "Gypsy." I don't know exactly what's in it except for rum and coconut stuff, but is is good. I almost refused it because I HATE the taste of rum. But Lillian ensured me I would like it so I tried one, two, then three! It's a good thing Vic was driving. We had so much fun that I didn't even notice when they locked the doors and called "Last Call."  Oh my! It was the THIRD time I have closed the bar in the company of Newfoundlanders! Really - for a girl who usually doesn't drink stuff stronger than Coke at a bar, I was one partying girl! Vic insists on singing Jim's song,  "Downtown Girl" to me on these occasions. He says it's my theme song when I am around Newfoundlanders. Which is why he loves it when Karen can come on roadtrips with me and be my chaperone.
Carbonear
Monday, August 4th

Oh, you know that morning came way too soon! Plus I had a bit of a hangover, I think  -  a nice headache. We got up at the last minute to get our breakfast. It was a dreary day, not too inviting for touristy stuff. Undaunted, we decided to go exploring the part of the Avalon where Carbonear is, on Conception Bay. Vic had been there before but it was my first time. We had to pass through some cool places but not too much was open because it was the first Monday in August – a civic holiday in Canada. As we passed through a town called Roach’s Line, there was this statue of a horse on top of a hill. At first I thought it was a real horse. Weird – then I remembered there was something called a Newfoundland Pony. But I really know nothing about them except they must be hardy to live in this environment!  I have since found out that it's a huge weathervane put up there for Joey Smallwood, the first Newfoundland Premier, whose house used to be right across the street. Very strange.

First place we stopped was Harbour Grace. I’ll tell you, I learned so much about Harbour Grace in the short conversation at the Visitor’s kiosk! I think the girls there were very happy someone came in. They looked kind of bored when we entered. They quickly showed us old photos, explained about the grounded ship in front of the museum, that the museum used to be a lighthouse, that Amelia Earhart had taken off from Harbour Grace and that they had a special connection to the airplane parked out front.    And here I thought I was just going to take a photo of theplace mentioned in the song “Excursion ‘Round the Bay!” The funny thing was – the tourist catalogs even had “Excursion ‘Round the Bay” printed right on the front. And there was supposed to have been an iceberg in the harbour a couple days ago, but we didn’t see any today. All the icebergs have usually melted by July.
I walked on the beach near the Kyle to see what I could see, and apparently got too close to a nest. This mystery bird swooped down on me repeatedly till I got the message. Christina in St. John's thinks it might be an arctic tern.
The ship, the Kyle, had been in service doing many things, the last being a sealing boat. It ran into an iceberg and limped back to the harbour with a big hole in the hull. While moored in the harbour waiting to be fixed, a big storm came ashore and tore it from its morrings. It floated down the harbour until it ran aground, where it's been ever since.
The plane, "Spirit of Harbour Grace" above, had been part of a network of transportation for Labrador and the building to the left used to be the Lighthouse but now acts as the visitor's kiosk as you enter the town.
This is the harbour in Harbour Grace. It is huge and still sees a fair amount of ship traffic.
Joey Smallwood's Weathervane