Monday Morning Musings

Posted on June 22, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with 3 comments

“Fishing Fleet” by Ben Ploughman

( our new prized possession )

“Banish thoughts of leaving, home I’ll be”

Home I’ll Be . Rita MacNeil

The response I received from the story that I published last week was really quite amazing. I am not surprised, as Sally is a remarkable woman. There was a common thread in the comments I received: a near reverence for Sally and the longing of Cape Bretoners to be on their home soil. My good friend Claudia White ( and editor of the Cape Breton Star ) said it best in the Homes section of last Saturday’s Herald. “ I can’t find the words to adequately describe the feeling that comes over me when I cross the Causeway and drive onto Cape Breton soil. Honestly, I can feel the stress leaving my body and a sense of calmness settle in.” Almost every comment that I received seemed to echo this sentiment.

And Newfoundlanders are very much the same. It might be an “island” phenomenon but when you spend time in Cape Breton or Newfoundland, you can feel the love of being home. It’s not hard to love either of these places with the natural beauty and the warmth of the people.

So Betty left me for the weekend to do some grandmothering in Halifax. What is a guy supposed to do when he is all alone with a good book, the weekend paper and 8 hours a day of non- stop coverage of the U.S. Open golf tournament?!

I have a whole bunch of new story ideas. I walk The Landing every day as you probably know by now, from the never ending pictures I post on FB. And just about every day, I bump into Doug MacNeil who religiously walks The Landing with his dog. We often stop to chat and I think he is a bit of a historian when it comes to this amazing piece of real estate. Do you remember ( you’d have to be older ) when a helicopter went down in The Landing? He was telling me about this the other day. I am planning on cornering him one of these days for more stories.

Yeah yeah, I know you think that all I ever talk about is the good old days. Some truth to that. To understand the present you need to respect the past. When I look at all of the runners who have completed the Boston Marathon in recent years, I often think back to a man who gave many athletes their start in sports. Track and field, baseball and hockey are just a few of the sports that Frank MacGibbon coached. The old cinder track at the Columbus field was his pride and joy and there was a time that all of the elite track and field athletes came from far and wide to compete in the Highland Games. “ A Frank Discussion” will be eagerly anticipated by those who benefited from his tutelage. There will be no shortage of material to draw on for this story.

I’m also hoping to profile a couple of businesses in Antigonish and continue to tell the stories of some amazing people who live here and beyond.

Have a great week.

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