Last week, our friends Susan Wakefield and Nigel Fields from Nova Scotia stopped by for a short visit before backtracking to Quebec City to attend a wedding. While sitting by the pool, Susan used an expression that I had never heard before: “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.” She had had it drilled into her by her mother grandmother; I can’t recall which.
Ever curious, I decided to see if this pithy saying was the creation of Susan’s forebears or if it had an even longer history. The latter was the case. In fact, the expression dates back to first century A.D. and has been attributed to St. Jerome. Jerome is the second most prolific writer in ancient Latin Christianity and is recognized as the patron saint of translators, librarians and encyclopedists.
Jerome is also credited with the adage: “Why do you not practice what you preach.” Often attributed to Shakespeare, the sentiment appears to have been coined a millennium earlier by St. Jerome.
One other timely maxim penned by the well-lettered saint caught my eye: “Being over seventy is like being engaged in a war. All our friends are going or gone and we survive amongst the dead and the dying as on a battlefield.” When one updates the quote for modern times by substituting ninety for seventy, it still resonates… as my 96 year-old mother can attest.
Heavens open after last lot sold
First off, I apologize for last week’s headline above the “Glengarry Wood Fair” story. I inadvertently plagiarized it from myself. It was the same head I used in 2014. Sorry. It’s not really a big deal, but if I have any hope of ever holding political office, I must practice making hollow apologies and shedding crocodile tears.
All the hard work volunteer Michael Cowley-Owen and interim curator Renée Homiak put in to organizing this year’s Glengarry Wood Fair and Wood Auction paid off when the day dawned bright and over 700 wood enthusiasts flocked to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan. Here’s a snapshot of the 2016 event… by the numbers:
$5,800 — Admission revenues collected at the gates
25 – Number of artisans and exhibitors
95 — Number of lots sold in the annual Wood Auction
$3,600 — portion of wood auction revenue processed using the museum’s new credit card reader. Total auction sales topped $9,600.
$1,000 — Amount that Alexandria Moulding’s donation of wood netted
2 — number of politicians who showed up for this year’s Wood Fair. With Siri’s help, Liberals Grant Crack and Francis Drouin were both able to find Dunvegan. Thankfully, despite the sunny day, neither one took his shirt off.
And thanks to the Bank of Nova Scotia’s extremely helpful Matching Funds program, the museum’s coffers will be $3,000 richer. Yes, I know the bank receives free publicity from this program. Nevertheless, it has helped so many rural communities over the years that I think Scotiabank should receive a medal of honour from the government. Thank you Bank of Nova Scotia in Maxville.
Volunteer Jim Tilker told me that moments after the last lot of wood was sold, the roiling clouds opened up and tons of much-needed rain poured down on the parched gardens and fields around Dunvegan.
Tragically Hip in Dunvegan
I must admit that I didn’t make it down to the Tragically Hip Live virtual concert at the DRA Hall on Saturday night. I largely tuned out of the music scene when Bob Dylan went electric.
However, DRA president, Ben Williams, told me that the event was fantastic. After Friday’s euchre tournament, Ben rushed in to set up a high-def television connection, sky-mount the video projector and patch the audio into the Hall’s sound system. “Only six of us were in attendance,” said Ben, “but the big sound and big screen were worth the trouble; it really made it feel like you were there when the crowd started to roar!”
DRA director, Laurie Maus, was also in the diminutive audience. But she was so impressed with the ceiling mounted projector and sound quality that she is talking seriously about setting up a movie night in Dunvegan. Years ago, I had hoped we could organize a mini-TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) in Dunvegan, but was never able to pull it off. I have every hope that the time for this idea has finally come.
Air at the Hall?
While I was cleaning up after euchre on Friday and Ben was being a Tragically Hip roadie, we got talking about how it would be nice to have air conditioning in the Hall. Not all the time, of course. But on those occasions when the air inside is stifling. I mentioned that, if he was serious, Terry and I could probably be talked into donating a spare central air system that we’ve been storing. Who knows, with air, fresh popcorn, digital projection and super sound, Dunvegan might just be a viable alternative to the long drive to and from Cornwall. This enhancement would also make the Hall a much more attractive rental venue for birthday parties, family celebrations and the like during the dog days of summer.
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