Did You Say THE Good Book .......or Simply A Good Book ?

 

Nothing beats cuddling up with in bed like a good book !! Well , maybe there is something else..... but I 'll save that for another blog. Anyways the " good book " I am referring to is but one of eleven volumes I hope to read between last September and the hearse's rumble......... This 11-tome series is entitled The Story of Civilization by Will Durant ...... the son of French-Canadian immigrants to the US during the late 19th century. In my humble opinion his wealth of historical knowledge and insight plus his masterful penmanship , humour and scholarly approach catapult him right up there on a pedestal alongside my two other favourite historians , Salvador de Madariaga and Hilaire Belloc.

Back in September I decided to start with Vol. 3 , Caesar and Christ ( History of Roman Empire and beginnings of Christianity ) ...a book of some 700 pages ..... and four months later I am barely half way through...... and here is the reason why !! Durant has injected so many cross-references from Roman authors ( Cicero , Caesar , PlinyElder and Younger , Suetonius , Sallust , Gellius , Horace , Seneca , Virgil , etc into his chef d'oeuvre to back up what he says about people , things and events that I have become bogged down reading all of them .... and then some !! .... and not in the English translations but rather in the original Latin.......... and therein lies the fun for me !! Maybe now my "wasted years " in a Catholic seminary back in the late fifties and early sixties doing my philosophy and theology in Latin will  start paying off in big dividends.

Beached Crustaceans....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have no idea whether my readers are lobster lovers or not. Hereabouts we have oodles of the tasty darlings as most of the local fishermen are into lobsterfishing almost exclusively. As for myself , I can take them or leave them..... my Dad used to bring home a jute sack full of them when I was a kid that he had bought at the wharf for two bits ( $ 00.25 ). Fluff doesn't care to much for the renowned delicacy but every now and then I buy a couple and feast alone... along with some hot melted garlic butter.We are paying about $6 a pound which is dirt heap or even much less if we buy them off the fishermen themselves at the wharf,,,,, where they are trying to eliminate the middle men by selling directly to the public. Anyways on with the story..........

About ten days ago it was "perigee moon " time again when the moon is closest to the earth..... bringing on the absolute highest tides of the year to a corner of the planet blessed with already having the highest tides in the world on a daily basis. In itself the "perigee moon " gives coastal dwellers some worry .... but should it be accompanied by gale - force winds and rough seas the outcome could be disastrous....... and that is just what happened overnight on January 4th to 5th 2010 along the New Brunswick shoreline. Our local newspaper bore these headlines the following morning .... Storm Surge Brings Lobster Feast...... speaking of a small village named Petit Rocher it says "The surging tides that ripped... pummelled New Brunswick's eastern shores this weekend transformed this small coastal community into an all-you-can-eat lobster buffet."

The enraged waters literally ripped the lobster loose from their rocky ledges under the sea and carried them a$$ over kettles to the shore dumping them all along the beach All day long people headed for the coast armed with baskets and five-gallon pails and buckets .... gathering the mana from the sea!

P.S. In the above pic on the right this is normally marshland with streamlets in from the sea but at high tide on the 3rd in was completely flooded.

Crossing US Border ..... A Wedge of Boston Cream Pie !!

 

Between the years 1847 and 1860 some 154 , 000 Irish survivors of An Gorta Mor / Great Famine came ashore here in Saint John. Many stayed on here and became the local work force ( most members of my own family ) , some moved inland or upriver from the sea to farm or work in the woodcutting industry.... whereas the vast majority travelled overland or by coastal steamer to Boston .... and there they sent down roots. In reality ...... and when one looks closely at immigration documents  ...... we find that a great number of families split up with some siblings setting off on their own to Beantown ... a bit late for the Tea Party though.... while the more timid maybe and younger ones stayed on here with their parents. Growing up here back in the late 1930s and all the 1940s it was normal for relatives from Boston to visit ... especially during the Summer months ..... normal to receive Christmas cards from family in Boston !! I had Uncle Bill ( grandfather's brother ) and Aunt Mamie , cousins Annie , Ray , Dennis , etc ..... Nowadays ... with the modern generation of local Irish....... these once ardent ties are all but forgotten except for guys like myself...... and we are getting fewer and farther between ! Were they to do DNA testing with our North End Irish and the Mystic River Irish in Boston there would be continuous popping sounds in the lab signaling " hits"  .... somewhat akin to cries of BINGO during Lightning Bingo Night at Saint Peter's Parish hall.

All this , folks , to tell you that we took a ride today down along a sparkling coastline full of inlets  and a marvelous highway to " them thar good ole US of A " .... about an hour from here. We crossed over the Ste Croix River border post .... just north of Saint Stephen , New Brunswick on our way to nearby Calais , Maine. This is the northeasternmost border crossing in the USA ........ officially opened only last week by our very own lord and Chief Buffalo Chips ,  Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Conservative fame  ........ and I'll back off and let Fluff tell the rest.

The Prodigal Son

 

Today's writ shall be short and sweet...... no apology for past misdemeanours , no excuses for not sending out postcards during my recent trip to Pitcairn Island , no recruiting vendors for slap - chop kitchen marvel , no open-ended invitations hounding friends to come wander the Fundy Trail with us this coming Summer........ no , none of the foregoing ..... simply a statement of intention to blog more often ........ keeping them as interesting as I can ... sprinkled with a few chuckles.... I went over to Facebook for a while and am coming away amazed that so many people seem to be doing so much while understanding and doing so little........ and nobody has yet discovered how it really works !! I must admit though that it is a great place to find old friends you might have lost touch with. Old acquaintances from France  , Haiti , Ecuador , Mexico , Italy and Madagascar dropped in on me out of the blue.... former students rained down abuse upon me.. just kidding !!I'm back , baby ... I'm back !

Mona 's Dare ...............Rocks of Ages !!

I could spend hours in the presence of the rocks below and above contemplating the power and genius of the Master Sculptor ..... as well as  His fine needlepoint .....and the passing of time. Saint Martin's flowerpot , Fundy Trail Pot and my favourite , Split Rock........ all three within 45 minutes east of here by car along the Fundy Coast. The bottom pic puts Split Rock into perspective as seen from the far end of magnificent Duck Pond Beach   I might add that Split Rock becomes an island at high tide. I might also mention that these Fundy flowerpots are made of sandstone whereas those highlighted in a former blog from the Mingan Archipelago in the Lower Saint Lawrence River estuary are sculpted from limestone. 

 

                                                                                                                                            P.S. Sorry about the uneven staggering of my pics. Blame it on my lack of symetry  I guess. The very top pic I threw in for good measure ..... a big rock known to the Greeks of yore as one of the Pillars of Hercules ! Anybody ?

Readings , Musings and Reflexions !!

This last year I have spent many fun - filled hours delving into family history ..... dusty old documents in crypts , microfilms of old burial and birth certificates ... old newspaper clippings , etc This evening I came across one wee entry in the Daily Telegraph for February 2nd , 1884 and I wish to share it with you here.

Last eve. Mr. and Mrs. John FREDERICKSON celebrated the 50th anniversary of their marriage at their residence, Exmouth St., Saint John. Mr. Frederickson, who is the grandson of a Loyalist, was born in St. John, but at an early age moved to Halifax, N.S. where he lived till the age of 21 when he moved to Boston, Mass. There he met his wife, a native of Nova Scotia, and they were married. Subsequently the young couple returned to St. John where Mr. F. successfully pursued his business of shipbuilding. It was he who designed the "Marco Polo", the fastest of New Brunswick sailing ships. Fifteen years ago he was appointed to a position within the Inland Revenue Dept. in this city, a post which he still fills. Although both he and his wife have lived the allotted three score and ten years, they remain in full possession of their physical and mental faculties. They have living seven children, 19 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Note how the author of these short lines seems to marvel at the fact that ALTHOUGH they have attained the ripe old age of "three score and ten " years.... 70 years old !!! they still are mentally and physically alert !! Having all ones marbles at 70 was a rare occurence  in those days ? Shorter life expectancy back then I guess ? Hell ! I feel better than ever before and I am looking at 70 in the rearview mirror ! Better not get too cocky though... BY the way the Marco Polo was the first clipper ship to sail around the world in under six months and at the present moment shipwrights with volunteers are building a lifesize replica of the Marco Polo and hope to christen her sometime soon.... more than likely in the Spring I hope.    

Friends

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Growing up here in the North End of Saint John was a lot of fun and as we dove , jumped off the wharf and waterfront sheds in Indiantown  ... splashing as we frolicked ....we always seemed to draw a crowd of spectators   ..... not our parents who were too tied up with eking out out meagre existance back then to be doting soccer Moms and Pops so to speak...... but rather onlookers of the aquatic species...... seals and cormorants whom we referred to in a most familiar way as seadogs and hell - divers .....the former so called because of their snouts and barks , the latter because they could dive to extraordinary depths chasing fish. Even though my high diving days are over I still love to go there and watch the great - grandchildren of my friends of yore.  

P.S. Doing some research yesterday evening into the the lifespan of the average seal  I discovered to my great dismay that the life expectancy of males is somewhere between 20 to 25 years while the female seals live much longer .... anywhere from 30 to 35 years. Experts seem to be in full agreement that the male 's shortened longevity is mainly due to extreme exhaustion brought on by overstrenuous sexual activity.. I always thought that Hugh Hefner was all talk anyways !