| Atlantic Crossroads Newfoundland 2005 |
| We closed the bar and drove to my home away from home for the next three weeks. I love the guest room at Chez Fidler. The walls are covered in stars and moons and maps of the world that are not North American-centric. The ham radios are in the room also. And the window looks out on the patio in the back of the house. And then there is Gypsy, the cat who meows in the early morning to be let into the second floor hallway window next to my door. Gypsy is one of the friendliest and most vocal cats I have ever met. And he just KNOWS you're going to love him. I am allergic to cats but for some reason, Gypsy does not affect my allergies. In fact I don�t seem to HAVE any allergies when I am in Newfoundland. One more good reason to live here. |
| Thursday, June 23rd Woke up early the next morning when I heard my call sign on the radio on the desk. Puzzled, I answered the call and found it was Vince in Havertown whose neighbor was arriving in St. John�s on Friday and wanted to know some places to visit and things to see. He asked me to contact her on Saturday. I asked him to tell Vic I had arrived safely. Then I found myself awake at 9:30 AM after I had gone to bed at 4 AM. This is a repeated occurence when I'm in St. John's. And during this visit, would be the first night of many that would not contain 8 hours sleep. Even more puzzling was the moment I heard my voice on the ham radio, announcing connection to the IRLP node at my house in the States. How weird it was to listen to me talking to myself on the air! It was good to talk to Vic. It had been 4 days since I heard his voice. We arranged for a "sched", a pre-arranged time to talk on the radio. I wasn't always available to keep it, but Vic remembered I was in Newfoundland, keeping musician's hours and adjusted his calling time accordingly. Jim and I spent the day catching up on what�s been going on since we last saw each other in August 2004. We discussed possible projects with next year�s class at school, talked about the endless podcasting possibilities, listened to some music. I spent a bit of time making things accessible in my room, so I wouldn�t be scrambling for clothes and such. Gypsy made himself known and I had to stop for a bit and pet him before he�d leave me alone to tidy up. He�s one of the only cats I know that love a good belly scratch. Then all of a sudden, it was time to pick up Lillian at work. Time had really flown! Before and after supper, Lillian and I stapled the schedules together for the Festival. Lillian was surprised we could do 300 brochures in that short amount of time, but I assured her it could be done if we worked as a team. As a teacher in an elementary school, I'd had plenty of practice collating and stapling up to 750 booklets in less than an afternoon. Even Jim got into the act, helping out with the stapling while Lillian and I collated the two pages. The brochure was gorgeous, Lillian having designed it. It listed the times for all the performers at each venue every night of the Festival and short bios for each performer. |
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| After supper, we headed out for Erin's where there was going to be a meeting for the volunteers at the Festival. Wayne and Sheila Cook were in charge of figuring out who was covering what venues and I was assigned The Ship Inn on Saturday and Sunday. I had never been to the Ship, so that was perfectly fine for me. Lillian would join me for a while one of the evenings when Jim wasn't playing. I enjoyed meeting and spending time with the other volunteers and fooling around with Lillian and Flat Stanley. Plus the musical entertainment was enjoyable, Anthony McDonald was pleasant and enjoyable to listen to. I did miss hearing Mike Hanrahan, though. When we got home, of course after 3 AM, Stanley tried to call Vic on the Ham Radio but he doesn't have a license so he had to wait for me to talk. Vic wisely called after 3 AM. But it wasn't that late in Pennsylvania, an hour and a half earlier in time. To figure out Newfoundland time, take Eastern Time and add an hour and a half. Voila! Newfoundland Standard Time! |
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| Friday, June 24th The fun part was, being awakened the next day once again by Vince at 9 AM! Plans had changed and I was contacting her at a different Bed & Breakfast now. But today was D-Day for the Festival and I knew it'd be busy with last-minute details. I was prepared to be the go-fer and willing to do whatever had to be done. Jim and Lillian had really put their hearts, souls and hard-earned money into this Festival. I was honored to be able to help out. |
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| We were supposed to pick up the Irish songwriters at the airport at 12:30 PM with Hugh Scott. I only had one bench in the van and it�d only legally hold 5 people, three of whom were Jim, Lillian and I. But we got news from Ken Cotter and Moray Bresnihan , who had arrived from Cork a few days ago, that the flight was delayed. So Jim and I decided to chill at the house for a bit.
It�s always interesting to visit Jim, as you get into the most unusual conversations. No topic is off limits it seems and he is a master at asking the right questions to bring out your thoughts. He brought me up to date on the latest podcasting news. His most excellent podcast can be found at www.republicofavalonradio.com. Then Jim and I picked up Lillian at work and made the 20-minute ride to the airport. Graham Dilabaugh took Hugh�s place as the other �taxi.� The Irish contingent ended up arriving at 5 PM, a mere 5 hours before they were to take the stage at Erin�s Pub, Bridie Malloy�s, the Ship Inn or the Celtic Hearth. I met Martin Finn and Mick Flannery for the first time, as we had missed them in Ireland in March. It was so great to see Mark Greville, Ger Wolfe and Niall Connolly again. Clare would be arriving late in the evening so she wasn�t scheduled to perform tonight. Vic and I had traveled to New York City to see Niall and Clare last week for our 33rd wedding anniversary. It was like a reunion from our trip to Ireland in March. Their performances were delightful and Clare�s CD, Secret World, was finally out. We bought it and enjoyed the ride home even more than usual with Niall�s CD and Clare�s strong voice belting out beautifully crafted songs. |