Truro, Nova Scotia

No, I am not there at the moment, in fact I have never been in Truro, Nova Scotia, or in the province at all. But recently, my curiosity about the town has been triggered reading about Sir Adams George Archibald, who was a Father of the Confederation and first Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. According to one of my uncles on my mother's side, he was actually our direct ancestor, so we can trace back my maternal grandfather's family to Truro, at least from when they started living on the New Continent. Before that, who knows. I say all this very carefully, because this is my uncle's claim and I have not checked the evidence myself. For all I know it was an entirely unrelated Archibald that was our ancestor. Still, in case my uncle is right, if anyone has any information about Truro, its history or how it is now, please let me know in the comments, as I would like to know about it.

"Une ville envahie par les chevreuils"

Je viens de lire cette nouvelle sur La Presse, sur une ville de Nouvelle-Écosse envahie par les chevreuils, qui se montrent dans les . Je ne sais pas si invasion est un mot un peu fort, mais dans tous les cas je préfère et de loin les chevreuils aux rats, alors je crois que la ville de Truro, au lieu de vouloir s'en débarrasser, devrait faire de leur population de cervidés un attrait touristique.

Septembre est un mois en "bre"

Parce que septembre est un mois qui se termine en "bre," nous sommes le temps des huîtres. Mon père m'en a fait manger hier. Elles venaient des Iles de la Madeleine et de la Nouvelle-Écosse. Elles étaient toutes délicieuses, cela dit je crois que je préférais celles des Iles. Je n'avais pas mangé d'huîtres depuis 2013 je crois. Ça faisait longtemps en tout cas.

Farewell to Nova Scotia

No, no, I am not leaving Nova Scotia, I actually never been there. But my brother PJ went to Halifax recently, discovered this song and shared it with me, suggesting I'd put it on the blog when I'd feel like it. I loved it and decided that I would upload it tonight, sung by the Irish Rovers. They have perfect voice for this kind of song.

I do have a bit of history with Nova Scotia, even if I never went there. My great-grandfather was born there. His father was a sailor man, his wife had died in childbirth. He gave the baby in adoption/foster care to a family in Quebec City. So the baby grew up there. He kept his family name of Archibald, saw his father only once in a while, then he married a Quebec girl who gave birth to many little Archibalds, including my grandfather (the father of my mum). This family ancestry may explain why so many of us, my grandfather and myself included, became so Anglophile. Anyway, I often wonder about this Archibald sailor, and this song makes me think of me. It could have been written for him.

From Montreal to this English town

Yesterday, I went to an outdoor concert performed by the local orchestra (their first in their existence). My wife plays in it, so I might blog about it more another day. The concert was set in one of the nearby pubs that this little town is full of. It is one of the most modern pubs and it has a lovely beer garden, where the concert was taking place. I met at total random one of my neighbours, one who used to feed Odin with his wife and who said this great unknown line. Anyway, he was there with his wife and as they are warm and friendly, they paid me the drinks (mineral water as I was too tired for alcohol) and would have paid me a meal had I not eaten already. They are very sociable, the man even more than the woman, they talk to everyone, know everyone. And he already knew that one of the barmaids was Canadian, he didn't know from where, but she was Canadian and so on, so he insisted on introducing her to me, as if she'd been an old friend of theirs since forever. People in England often think Canadians know each other, or are from the same place. Anyway, she is actually from Nova Scotia, which I have never been to. Although I do have an ancestor from there (a great-grandfather to be precise). But, more importantly, she lived three years in Montreal where she studied at McGill, where my own brothers used to study. But she is too young to have known them, and she did not study the same thing anyway. That said, I found it slightly surreal, one of these moments when I remember how small this planet is and when everyone from everywhere seems to end up in this small English town.

La Mi-Carême

C'est aujourd'hui le début de la Mi-Carême. J'écris à ce sujet, mais je connais assez peu cette fête, en fait, sauf pour savoir que c'est une fête carnavalesque. Je me rappelle vaguement qu'il y avait des soirées de Mi-Carême annoncées dans les journaux quand j'étais enfant, durant le Carnaval-Souvenir. Au Québec, elle est encore fêtée à certains endroits, dont Natashquan. Avec ses masques et son côté carnavalesque, je trouvais que la Mi-Carême avait une connotation un brin sinistre. Dans le sens de délicieusement sinistre. On pourrait certainement lui associer des histoires surnaturelles. Il y a également un Centre de la Mi-Carême en Nouvelle-Écosse et un site internet où l'on peut trouver des informations sur celle-ci, dont sa date. Je fais la promotion d'une fête que je ne connais pas et d'un lieu que je n'ai jamais visité (sauf en ligne), mais je crois que c'est une célébration qui mérite d'être plus connue.

Barrett's Privateers

Kevin Burton Smith, from the Thrilling Detective website, made me discover this folk song, by Canadian singer Stan Rogers. Shame on Philistine, crass me, I knew nothing about the man or his work, now I discover an extraordinary baritone voice (I have a sort of solidarity for baritones, being one myself) who died tragically. I was blown away by the song and been listening to it in loops since yesterday. As I have been blogging and intend to blog more about piracy, I thought this was the perfect song to upload here on Vraie Fiction. Little anecdotal stuff: in the song Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia is mentioned. I have never been there, but I have ancestors from my mother's side who are from there and one who actually was a seaman. I also also (and however) spent a fair deal of time in Sherbrooke, in the Eastern Townships in Québec. And my brother PJ is going to be in Sherbrooke soon. Interesting coincidence. I hope you enjoy the song as much as I do.