About a month ago, I missed the chance to shoot 3 great blues fishing in this same spot.Last week, I slowed down as I came upon the same spot and lo and behold, there were herons fishing there again. It took a bunch of tries before I got this shot, slowing the shutter speed made the river blur nicely. Lucky for me that heron didn't budge an inch...hope s/he caught some fish!
I don't know of a better end way to celebrate Canada Day, than to attend a local community supper. Maybe it was the red and white theme echoed in the strawberry shortcake...maybe it was the political gossip I overheard while waiting in line. What I do know was that this supper was a resounding success!After attending the excellent Canada Day parade in New Germany earlier that afternoon, I traversed several secondary paved roads (and a couple tertiary dirt roads) to arrive in Baker Settlement right around the corner from the hall that was home to this supper.From previous years, I was expecting a big lineup when I arrived. It wasn't as long as I feared, but that was because I had 'just' missed the first sitting. I found myself joining in with the other diners, counting how many people were ahead of myself in the line, wondering how many could be seated in the hall at once...I was standing behind 3 elderly women, who had quite an interesting conversation about the recent provincial election. If you aren't aware, the NDP (left'ish leaning social democrats) swept all 4 south shore seats, ousting the tories, much to the surprise and chagrin of the women in front of me. It became obvious very quickly that these women were life long tories ('progressive' conservatives), and as far as I could tell, at least one of them was heavily involved with the party executive. Nothing earth shattering was overheard:"I hear Carolyn will run again""Yes, I read that in the paper""I knew Gary Ramey's parents, his father and my father served in the war together""Gary and Carolyn both spoke at Shipyard Landing"And so on....Before too long, my two guests from Lunenburg arrived. By that time, the line was stretching wayyy down the hill from the hall. Lucky for them I had saved us all a spot for the second sitting!When you approach the door of the hall, you are greeted by a 'cloak room' of sorts...the inner door to the hall remains closed like some booze can in Toronto. Every now and then, the elderly 'bouncer' dressed in full fire department regalia would open the door and ask, "how many"?A wave of hot, humid air blew in our faces as I gestured with my hand, "3". And then, we were in.We had an AMAZING server attend to us throughout the supper. First, she brought us our styrofoam plate of ham and beans. The beans were piping hot, a pleasant surprise! Sweet molasses bread, chow chow, coleslaw, pickled beets and bread and butter pickles complemented the meal nicely.
I like the whipped cream smeared on the kid's face, it must be 'some good'!I felt like a kid again when I was able to choose Kool Aid for my beverage. I was very, very thirsty. I felt like I drained an entire pitcher of water over the course of the meal!At one point, failed Liberal candidate Mark Fury was seated further down our table. Our server told him he "didn't want to sit by those ladies"...she was referring to the elderly tories seated beside me, the same ones in front of me in the lineup. Political intrigue was everywhere!
Suspenders are still en vogue at these functions, so is brill cream.Eventually, it was time for desert, but there was 'no room at the inn'. Luckily, our server was a veritable superstar and she packed up our strawberry shortcake for take away in...you guessed it, more styrofoam! But the desert extravaganza didn't end there....she brought by a plate of 'table cake' and asked if we'd like to take some chocolate cake with us as well. As Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys would say, "does the tin man have a sheet metal cock?"
The infamous 'table cake'So, we exited the premises with 3 containers of strawberry shortcake and a plate full of chocolate cake. A perfect way to end this year's Canada Day. Well done to all the hard working folks who helped put this supper together this year!
I caught my first mackeral of the season on Sunday, and a half dozen pollock on Saturday. It's Mack Attack time!Spotted at the Lahave wharf on Saturday, tide was going out:
You know those weekends when you don't want to face the kitchen? The whole kitchen; the stove, the fridge, the dirty dishes in the sink? Well, sometimes, the best plan of action is to head to the nearest church hall and let someone else deal with the prepping, serving and clean up.Most of you will not be shocked to learn that I attended yet another church supper fundraiser this past Saturday. This was a new supper for me, it was fun to have a new supper to discover. Also, I had some new guests in tow, my friend and her daughter joined me on my excursion to Blue Rocks.I describe Blue Rocks to tourists as "Peggy's Cove, minus the tour buses". A quaint village, with houses perched on rocks, lobster traps in front yards and fishing boats tied up to wharfs.As expected, this supper was heavily attended, and when we arrived we were faced with what seemed like a loooong wait. But, seasoned pro that I am at these functions, we had timed our arrival just before the second sitting. After we purchased our tickets, we took a stroll down "The Lane" and took a quick peek of the road leading out to "The Point".
As luck would have it, by the time we returned our ticket numbers were being called and we were quickly seated inside.It was a somewhat cool and damp afternoon, but inside the hall, it was steamy and warm! No doubt from all the bodies, plus hours of steam from all boiled potatoes and carrots in the kitchen.My little guest was a popular attraction, as we entered the hall she ran in to her school bus driver who joked around with her a bit before we kept moving to our seats. Actually, she knew more people there than I did!There weren't any other children in the hall that afternoon, so as you can imagine, all eyes were on her. She made many, many grandmothers happy that afternoon. I noticed countless smiles directed in her direction, as she sat at the head of the table, dutifully devouring her plate of food.Dinner was nice, the menu was as advertised: roast beef and gravy, mashed potatoes, boiled carrots and canned peas graced our plates. A delicious bowl of chow chow was a nice complement to the meal, though I always crave horseradish when I'm eating roast beef. Rolls, coleslaw and bread and butter pickles completed the assortment of side dishes on the table.
The only bummer of the meal was missing out on the blueberry and rhubarb custard pie for dessert. Oh well, next time we'll have to shoot for the first sitting!
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