Turnip carving

I have done this before. A looooong time ago. I was happy with the results; very rustic, quaint, old-worldy...but, oh boy, it's not easy work! Turnip, or should I say rutabaga, abound here on the Rock.

Screams in the night...

We just got back from a weekend in and around Eastport, NL. We were staying with my hubby's Aunt who has lived there for the last couple of decades. She has a beautiful bit of property and the most amazing view!

We arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday. After a walk down the road and around a bit of coastline we returned to an amazing meal with my hubby's Aunt. After dinner she gave us a more extensive tour by car in and around some of the nearby communities and to witness a most spectacular sunset!

It wasn't long after arriving back at her place that we stumbled up the stairs to bed. It was a warm night and we had the windows wide open so we slept pretty well. The following morning, however, as we were headed out on another tour, a nearby neighbour stopped us to ask if had heard "the screaming in the night?" Whaaa! Apparently, at about 3:00 am, someone had started screaming for help from the nearby woods / shoreline. The RCMP were called and arrived to investigate but by then the screaming had stopped. Nothing has been found...yet.

There are bits of bog in the nearby woods and you can find yourself on solid rock with one step and in chest deep bog the next. I've written before about the stories people tell about being led astray and getting lost in the woods. In Newfoundland it used to be thought the fault of the fairies when people got turned around. Many of these stories and beliefs came with the people who moved here from southern Ireland.

"Most are not aware of the province’s fairy folklore. We’ve all heard a ghost story 
or two, but to most, stories of “the good folk” are seldom heard, especially 
amongst the younger generations. But our province has a past that was rich in 

fairy lore, particularly on the predominantly Irish settled , Avalon peninsula. 

Stories and beliefs from the homeland followed our ancestors to this rugged island, 

and there have been numerous self-proclaimed accounts of the Fae and 

their interactions with family members and friends of the community. 

 Most stories involving fairies have been collected through 

interviews throughout the 20th century. 

Barbara Reiti, folklore PhD and former professor at MUN, is the author 

of Strange Terrain: The fairy world in Newfoundland. Reiti gathered numerous 

accounts of Newfoundlanders experiencing encounters with fairies, from 

tales of horses’ manes being braided nightly, to fairies dancing 

in a circle and luring travellers through the forest with sweet music. 

Conception Bay seems to be a major hotspot, as well as several communities 

around the Avalon like Avondale, Ferryland, and Witless Bay. They’ve been described 

as everything from small children sporting red capes, to glowing balls of light." 

- excerpt from Fairy-Tales: Berry Picking and the Fairy Lore Connection

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with exotic, magical music

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Everybody gets around to carving their pumpkin in March, right? ;)

A week or two ago, I watched a Loreena McKennitt concert on TV. I've been a fan of her music for some time, so I really enjoyed it. While watching the concert, I thought how it would be cool to share some of her music for St. Patrick's Day. She's Irish and Scottish, as you can guess from her name.

Some of Loreena's music sounds Celtic and some of it has other ethnic vibes. A few of my favorite songs of hers have parts that sound Middle Eastern to me. You'll see what I mean when you listen to the first song in this concert. I managed to find the concert I watched on TV! Enjoy. :)

A link to the video: Loreena McKennitt ~ Nights from the Alhambra

For some reason, those of you who read my blog in email form don't see the videos. If anyone knows a way I can make it so that videos show up for my email subscribers, please let me know! Maybe there's a setting I'm missing.

You'll get an idea of Loreena's personality and the background of the music she's playing here. There are some neat visuals added in of the places that inspired her.

I actually became familiar with Loreena McKennitt about 15 years ago when I was in a little gift shop. The person working there had Loreena's music playing and I said "Who is this? I love this music". That's the only time I've cared to ask what music was playing in a store. The woman working there seemed surprised. "You haven't heard of Loreena McKennitt?" she said. Nope. I had to wonder if most people had. She then went on to give me an introduction to who Loreena is and what her music is like. I went straight to finding some of her CDs after that encounter at the shop. I'm happy to introduce Loreena's music to those of you who haven't heard of her. And, what better time than today?

Although, looking back to 2012, some of you might remember a Christmas post where I mentioned her song "Mummer's Dance":

A visit from the creatures of Christmas

I wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope Loreena's concert helps get you in the festive mood.

Halloween Nostalgia #3

The last trip we took on our way home back in 2010 was to Dublin. This is a little slide show I made of our trip to the Natural History Museum there. You may recognize it as the location for some of action in the last season of Penny Dreadful.

Can you believe I STILL haven't watched the final three episodes?!

Waiting for Halloween night...

A Queer Place - more encounters with fairies

Remember a while back I wrote about people who go missing in the woods? I wrote about how easy it is to get lost or turned around and how often people have attributed this losing of one's bearings to the supernatural...particularly 'the fairies.'

I mentioned that I'd once spoken with a man I'd met on Signal Hill, Newfoundland, while he was picking berries. And he'd told me how he got lost on the Hill one day, even though he was very familiar with all its paths, etc. He explained it as having been "fairy led." He believed this happened because he'd been picking berries without having any bread (or stones) in his pockets as payment for the fairies.

Well, here is a fascinating exchange between two men in Ireland about something similar. It might be a little hard to follow because, as in some areas of Newfoundland, the accent and colloquialisms are thick and frequent. So, good thing there are subtitles!



In case you don't want to watch the whole thing here's the upshot. So, one day John took his rifle out to do a spot of shooting...get himself a wood pigeon. He saw a "quare lookin' bird" up in a tree and shot it. A colourful "foreign lad" that Ned thinks might have been a falcon from Greenland. Or...something else? Something supernatural? Because after shooting this bird (a transgression?) John crosses into a field, that Ned calls Hell's Kitchen, and after going round it "10 times" realizes he can't find his way out of it. Johns only finds his way out by going in the same direction as the cars that he sees in the distance. My man on Signal Hill found his way out by following the path of a power line he could see in the distance.

Later, Ned talks about someone else seeing fairies in a field (a different field?) playing hurley. Hurley is an ancient game (something between hockey and lacrosse) played with hooked sticks and a ball. The man who saw the fairies hurley game, or his grown son, (not clear on that) afterwards wouldn't walk past that 'ditch' alone.

By the way, there is a grave stone at Clonca in Innishowen, Ireland that's linked to one of my ancestors. It has a hurley stick on it -- see a pic here. There's also a 12th C High Cross at this same site where a 6th C monastery once stood.

The world is indeed full of 'quare' and wonderful places!