Halifax Again: Gravlax to Music

During the Halifax Sea Music Festival we had lunch at Stayner’s Wharf, entertained fabulously by the talented, funny, and perfectly named (they will tell you so) Dory Bungholes. In the group are Jon Stone, Jay Perry, Margo Carruthers and Vince Morash. Many people will ask…they’re called what?? Well, Jon explained it clearly: the bunghole is a round hole in the bottom of a small boat such as a dory, at the stern end. It’s used to drain water when the boat is out of the water. In the water, it’s stopped up with the bung, so the boat doesn’t sink! Better to be a bung than a hole, said Jon.








Once that that was perfectly clear, we had lunch.
Chuck ordered chowder, the best so far, he says!
When I ordered something I’d never eaten, gravlax, the waiter said, are you sure??? Yes, why do you ask? Well, the salmon’s not cooked; it’s preserved, sort of like sushi. OK, I said, I like sushi…though he still looked doubtful.



He placed it before me, then stopped by again when I’d about demolished it to ask how it was. When I said that it was VERY good, he seemed relieved!
The generous amount of thinly sliced fish was placed on slightly toasted white bread and served with a sweet, almost mustard sauce. I looked it up later, to see what I’d swallowed so eagerly.

“Gravlax or gravad lax (Swedish), gravad laks (Danish), gravlaks (Norwegian, Danish), graavilohi (Finnish) – that’s me…if you’re of one of these heritages, you’ll want to try it! - graavilõhe (Estonian), or graflax (Icelandic) is a  Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon cured  in salt, sugar and dill. It’s usually served as an appetizer, sliced thinly and accompanied by a dill and mustard sauce, either on bread or with boiled potatoes.”
“During the Middle Ages, gravlax was made by fishermen who salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. (Now who would’ve thought to do that? Looking about, whistling: Fishing? Who, me? Oh, no – How about let’s go for a drink!) The word gravlax comes from the Scandinavian word grav, which means literally "grave" or "hole in the ground" and lax (or laks), which means "salmon", thus gravlax is "buried salmon".”

Clary Croft sang for us, too. Yeah, it was a memorable time.

Sea Shanties in Halifax!

Why did we decide to go to Nova Scotia this summer? We were drawn by the Celtic music and the nautical heritage! The deep maritime traditions of the eastern coastline include music, too. There could hardly be a saltier location than the waterfront Museum of the Atlantic to host the Halifax Harbor Sea Music Festival. Sadly, day one was canceled due to hurricane Earl, but Sunday was sunny, glorious and full of music.

                                        
Sea shanties celebrate the nautical life. You get a pat on the back if you know what they are; a big hooray if you sing ‘em now and then!
 Shanties were songs sung by seamen in the days of sail to coordinate routine tasks that had to carried out handily and rhythmically. When hauling a line, rowing a boat, lifting an anchor or pulling a heavy sail aloft, the shantyman led a song to maintain the pace while the crew sang the chorus. Songs talked about about life aboard, yearnings for home, heroism, myths and distant ports. Sailors boasted or made fun of the crew. They sang about battles and pirates. Harmony, unity, celebration of history, eulogy, community, tragedy and nostalgia – all these plus a good bit of craziness and a dose of the bawdy are embraced in sea shanties. 


I thank K.C. King, a fellow concertina player and founder of the NO Quarter Shanty Krewe (a name with New Orleans and nautical allusions) for teaching me about the music and getting me to sing with the group back in 2003. As he insisted, “enthusiasm trumps talent,” so I qualified. Here we were before Hurricane Katrina somewhat depleted our ranks. We even sang at Jazzfest once – in the Kids’ Tent!

 







Enough, back to the Halifax festival and some of the singers we met! Sea shanties from mariners worldwide were passed on orally as sailors went from ship to ship and port to port. Nowadays, many are re-discovered in old music collections. Bob Walser, singer and music historian, told us the history of one you know, The Sloop John B.
Depending on your age you might have learned the song from The Kingston Trio (1958) or The Beach Boys (1966). The Beach Boys’ version was ranked #271 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. But it’s way older! It was in a 1927 collection of songs by Carl Sandburg, and in a field recording Alan Lomax made in Nassau in 1935. It seems that there was an old Bahamas sponger boat called the John B (see some here) whose crew always got wildly jolly whenever they made port. She was wrecked and sunk in Eleuthera about 1900. An illustrious history!  Check it out on Wikipedia. Bob is on the right above, with Geoff Kaufman, singer-songwriter and member of the shanty group Forebitter.
Sea songs and shanties are still written today. Alastair Macdonald creates beautiful, emotive songs about nautical life along Nova Scotia’s shores.
Here are Tom Lewis, Bob, and Melanie Ross. 








And Debra Cowan; then the group Pitch’n Timbre. We sang along with them all, too many to show. Here are bios of them all.



 
















The evening concert brought all the singers onstage. Afterward, those who couldn’t bear to go home gathered at the Hart & Thistle to wind down, chat and get better acquainted. Quite late in the evening someone found a homesick Boston sailor at a table alone. Everyone gathered around and put music to work cheering us all, beginning with the melancholy “Grey Funnel Line” (by Ciril Tawney). We got in several more before the pub closed and cast us out. It was simply a perfect day!

                    And all the time, I was thinking of you Shanty Krewe, wherever y’all are!
P.S. I’m excited! While we’re here in New Orleans, the NO Quarter Shanty Krewe will sing in a historic New Orleans home for the Holiday Home Tour on December 11 and 12! This will be a blast!

Viva Canada! Hello USA!

We’re baaack!
On September 28, Chuck & I crossed the Saint Croix River from New Brunswick into Maine at the Calais (Cal-is) point of entry.









We entered Canada July 19 at Sioux St. Marie, so were in the country one day short of 11 weeks. Eleven intense weeks! But not enough.
We now know Canada as a country of personable, friendly, welcoming people who seem to have plenty of time to chat with strangers about their towns and themselves. A fine example is our visit with Diane and Noel Lalone of Bear River, a town upriver from Digby that is built on stilts to accommodate the huge Bay of Fundy Tides.
 






 









A century ago, Bear River was a shipbuilding center. Today it’s an extremely laid-back arts, wine, and photo destination. One of the yellow buildings is Diane and Noel’s kitchen/shop, Myrtle & Rosie’s. Here we found conversation and delicious carry-out meals, as well as “treats and treasures.” Diane named the shop for her two grandmothers, who stand beside the door to welcome visitors. I’ll bet they’re capable of keeping out the riff-raff, too!
As we’re endlessly drawn to bodies of water, most of our trip was along the Canadian coastline in Gaspe, Cape Breton and south and west Nova Scotia. Here are fishermen offloading their catch in Rivière-au-Renard, on the Gaspe Peninsula.










Our route included dozens of small towns, harbors, scenic highways, museums and local historic places, special events and parklands. Also, some memorable music events! And lots of living cultural experiences and conversations with people we’d be delighted to have as forever friends and neighbors. We didn’t see many cities, but had a great day in Quebec’s Old City and two fine days on the Halifax waterfront.

 






We enjoyed twenty-five campgrounds in Ontario, Quebec (most of the time on the Gaspe Peninsula) New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, including much of Cape Breton.
That’s a lot of moving, with little down time after all the sight-seeing. We’ve enjoyed so much, and have so far told you just a wee bit! Our only excuse is a full schedule and increasing exhaustion, which is by now grinding us down some. Maps! Brochures! Routes! Campgrounds! Visitor Centers! Internet searches! Aaarg! We plan to slow down somewhat.

Fall is here. The season provides a lovely show! But somehow, when we planned to follow the colors south, I’d forgotten that it could get chilly! We’ve unpacked the jackets and bought an electric blanket. We stopped in Maine to see Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park, the very fine Abbe Museum and three little harbors, then camped again near Kittery, in the south. Today we’re in Mystic, CT. Tomorrow we’re bound for tall buildings, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
We haven’t yet seen a U.S. recycling bin in the campgrounds! I know we’ll find them somewhere…

Recycling

In Nova Scotia, it’s the law! Recycling requires an intimate knowledge of garbage. An unused napkin is recyclable. A used napkin is organic, goes with your apple peels. It’s difficult to be legal.
McDonalds has three different bins for their customer waste products. They’re labeled, but Chuck & I could still disagree about where the plastic sundae cup should go. Hey, his cup, he decided!
The Lunenburg Campground hands out written instructions for their lineup of five bin categories. Peeking in, accuracy seems about 50%, but we’re all “from away” and rather uneducated! How big a mistake is it if the Coke cans you tossed in were wrapped in a plastic bag? The compost category does not permit plastic bags. Whale’s Cove Campground had three categories of refuse, while Digbee Campground had four. We have had multiple (plastic!) trash bags hanging in our galley and placed beside the door.
A marina recyle set has simple categories: Garbage. Garbage. Refundables. Recyclables. You still must know the difference. Should the recyclables be washed? That mayo jar? What about the lid? The lobster trap wouldn’t fit in the holes. It could go in a landfill group except for the wire and the float. But maybe the float is wood, too.

We departed Nova Scotia yesterday, already full of nostalgia. At the beautiful Stonehurst Trailer Park and Golf Course campground in New Brunswick, what did we find? A surprise behind our trailer!

They don’t recycle here!

Way out West in Nova Scotia

Our ridgetop Whale Cove Campground site is on a long skinny peninsula with two islands at the  west end, umbilicled by ferries. On the sunset side we’ve a view of the Bay of Fundy. Southeast there’s a sliver of St. Mary’s Bay. Eons ago, the deep Bay of Fundy was a fissure line when the supercontinent Pangaea land mass fractured and the continents began a long slow move to assume their positions and wait for mankind to come along. 
A short but steep dirt road ends at Whale Cove on the Fundy shore. If you’ve not been raised here, the huge Fundy tides are mighty intriguing. I imagine French cartographer and explorer Samuel de Champlain who first mapped Nova Scotia, sailing into the Bay of Fundy to anchor for the night. “Well, mateys, the tide will soon begin to drop.”  Then… “Zounds! When will this stop!? Move her farther out, me boys!” Here’s the Whale Cove at high tide and low:








We drove up the road a piece and took the ferry to Long Island.





There was a little harbor – there always is! We wandered around and had a chat about travel and weather with three guys who looked like they’d been working on a boat engine for days at a slow pace. The driver asked Chuck what work he did. I asked him the same…“aw, fished a little.”











We arrived at Lavina’s for lunch. It’s a Nova Scotia favorite and unanimously recommended, right next to the Brier Island ferry dock. At 1:30 a few people were chatting at the bar, but what?! Lavina gently let us know that today was the first day of the winter season, and lunch would not be served. Stanton smiled hugely. We’d had nothing to eat, so begged for dessert and coffee, and had a treat that sustained us ‘till a grocery store sandwich on Brier Island.

Like other Nova Scotia seashore communities, fishing was a huge industry on Brier Island, but is now much reduced due to fewer fish in the sea, an industry collision of greater capacity ships with climate change. The scallop business is one that carries on in this area and nearby Digby (where we are today), but tourism is more vital. Everywhere, local history is promoted and fascinating, and B&B’s abound. A salmon farm is anchored in the bay, and many fear the pollution impact.

One of sailing’s great heroes grew up on Brier! At Hooking by the Sea, a rug and craft shop, we found that the building was housed in the old Slocum Shoe Shop! Joshua Slocum was born in 1844 - almost exactly 100 years before my birthday - and raised right here! As a lad, Slocum was drawn to the sea, but his dad forced him to learn a cobbler’s trade in this building. Young Joshua ran away to sea at 16 and later became the first to singlehand a sailboat around the world in the Spray, 1895-1898. He and the Spray just kept sailin’ and together were lost at sea in 1909. 

Until it was destroyed in a 1970’s storm, Slocum’s family home was still on the nearby dock (to the left). The Slocum Society has installed a monument overlooking a western passage to the ocean.

Brier’s Western Light is as close as you can get (without a hike) to most western tip of Nova Scotia. Joshua Slocum’s grandfather John spent a spell as lighthouse keeper here.
Back around two islands and two ferry rides later we were back home.We ended our day with a fine sunset view at the campground.

Canned Fish

One of the fun things about visiting another country is finding out about their food. I stopped by the Wal-Mart canned food section to pick up some tuna in water, a staple in our pantry, as is canned salmon.
I stopped in amazement. My jaw definitely dropped at the selection! This variety is available everywhere, even at small country stores in areas where there are no Wal-Marts.

Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna
Clover Leaf Chunk Light Tuna in Water
Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna Low Sodium
Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna in Satay Peanut Sauce
Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna Garlic & Hot Pepper

Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna Spicy Thai Chili
Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna Tomato & Onion
Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna Dill & Lemon
Clover Leaf Flaked Light Tuna Lemon & Pepper
Clover Leaf Chunk Light Tuna in Vegetable Broth & Oil
Clover Leaf Solid Light Tuna (can’t read flavor green label)
Clover Leaf Chunk Light Tuna Skipjack in Water

Clover Leaf Wild Pacific Keta Salmon
Clover Leaf Pink Salmon
Clover Leaf Skinless Boneless Pink Salmon - Wild
Clover Leaf Skinless Boneless Atlantic Salmon
Clover Leaf Sockeye Salmon
Clover Leaf Skinless Boneless Sockeye
Clover Leaf Foil Wrap Yellowfin Tuna Steak Mild Curry

Clover Leaf Foil Wrap Yellowfin Tuna Lemon & Pepper
Clover Leaf Foil Wrap Yellowfin Tuna Fresh Thai Herb
Clover Leaf Solid Light Tuna Yellowfin in Olive Oil
Clover Leaf Tuna Salad Kit Classic
Clover Leaf Tuna Salad Kit Rosemary & Sundried Tomato
Gold Seal Pacific Red Sockeye Salmon
Great Value Wild Pacific Pink Salmon

Great Value Pacific Red Sockeye Salmon
Great Value Wild Pacific Keta Salmon
Great Value Pacific Red Sockeye Salmon
Great Value Flaked Light Tuna Thai Chili
Great Value Flaked Light Tuna Lemon Pepper

Great Value Flaked Light Tuna Tomato & Basil
Great Value Solid White Albacore Tuna
Great Value Wild Pacific Sockeye
Ocean Light Tuna Italian Salad
Ocean Light TunaThai Salad
Ocean Light Tuna Spanish Salad
Brunswick Sardines Hot Peppers
Brunswick Sardines Lemon
Brunswick Sardines Tomato
Brunswick Sardines, Spring Water

Brunswick Sardines, Soy Sauce
Brunswick Sardines, Mustard
Brunswick Seafood Snacks, Hot Sauce
Brunswick Seafood Snacks, Cracked Pepper & Citron
THAT’S IT! At ONE store! Stores also carry plenty of smoked and seasoned mussels, kippers, shrimp, chowders and Chuck’s favorites – oysters and sardines. But I don’t like’em, and this post is too long already!
I skipped the foil packed fish, too.
A number one hit song in 1939: http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=wgH5dq137WI