Captain Jim Mullin of the Glengarry Light Infantry (a reenactor regiment) sent me a brief dispatch from the field to say that Friday’s steak night fundraiser was a great success. And I agree. The reservations policy introduced last year yielded a very well organized event that served over 100 steak dinners with no hitches… and untold flagons of ale and wine.
The 50/50 winner was a woman by the name of Nicole. Her ticket lacked a last name, but it did sport a telephone number. So the prize was duly awarded. As for the tableful of door prizes, the winners included: Marlie Tilker, Jennifer Black, Bob Garner, Katie Playfair, Angel Legault, James Cheetham, Margaret Higginson, Karen Davison-Wood and Jean Williams.
The 1812 event made a total of $561.50. A beaming Captain Jim wanted me to express a special thank you to Sarah-Cole Cider and the Windsor Tavern for co-sponsoring the fundraiser… and to all the volunteers and diners who helped to make the evening such a success.
“Dinner & show” interruptus
This month’s “Saturday Night at the Movies” event will take place, but with a few minor tweaks. First, it will be held on Friday… not Saturday. And second, it will start at 8:00 PM instead of 7:00. So the bottom line is, if you’d like to join us to see The King’s Speech, show up on Friday, March 15 at 8:00 PM.
The change in day is because the event’s organizers have a previous engagement on Saturday. The change in time is because St. Michael’s and All Angels Anglican Church in Maxville is holding an Irish Stew Dinner on Friday night and some of our regular movie buffs don’t want to miss out on either. By the way, the price of the dinner is $12.00 for adults, $8.00 for children over 6 or $35.00 for a family.
What the DRA is suggesting is that you turn Friday evening into a “Dinner & Show” date night. There are two sittings at the Irish Stew Dinner: 4:30 and 6:30 PM. So if you were to choose the latter, you’d have time for your meal to settle while you drive the moonlit byways from Maxville to Dunvegan to take in the movie.
If you’re unfamiliar with the film, it stars Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter. A solid commercial success, The King’s Speechearned four Oscars and much praise from film critics. I’ve never seen it, so I went searching for a synopsis. Here’s what I found in the International Movie Data Base (IMDB): “Britain’s Prince Albert must ascend the throne as King George VI, but he has a speech impediment. Knowing that the country needs her husband to be able to communicate effectively, Elizabeth hires Lionel Logue, an Australian actor and speech therapist, to help him overcome his stammer. An extraordinary friendship develops between the two men, as Logue uses unconventional means to teach the monarch how to speak with confidence.”
Event organizers, Laurie Maus and Bob Garner asked me to remind you to bring your own refreshments and a cushion or comfy chair. The DRA will provide popcorn. There’s no entrance fee, but donations are always appreciated.
Circus tent roof?
Last week, Terry and I spent a fascinating afternoon in Baltic Corner’s at the home of Gerry and Huguette Schmidt. Music & Mayhem fans will remember Gerry for his unique rendition of Elvis Presley’s Blue Christmas. The Schmidts moved to the old MacLean farm south of Dunvegan in 1983. Readers who were here at that time will recall that the property was owned by Ron Van Lochen, who returned to Toronto after selling to Gerry and his family.
With their five children grown and gone and their hobby farm toil a fading memory, Gerry and Huguette devote a great deal of their time to rockhounding and attending gem and mineral shows from Bancroft and Montreal to Tucson, Arizona. At the M&M farewell party in December, the Schmidts regaled us with stories about their growing collection of crystals and minerals. So when Gerry emailed to see if we wanted a peek before they loaded everything up for their first show of the season, we grasped at the chance. Even though we had been forewarned, I wasn’t really prepared for the breadth of their inventory. It covered every flat surface in the dining room. And this didn’t include items already in cartons under the tables. The collection encompassed exotic specimens from all four corners of the globe, plus equally interesting finds from quarries and roadsides just a few miles away from Dunvegan. My favourite was Tiger’s Eye, a yellow-brown gemstone that started life as asbestos and was transformed, under pressure, into Quartz. Terry fell in love with the abstract sculptures that emerge when Gypsum (the stuff from which drywall panels are made) crystallizes over time.
While the minerals and crystals were beguiling, the real gem of the day for me was the building that housed the Schmdit’s collection. One of the finest examples of turn-of-the-century brick farmhouse architecture I have ever seen, the masonry is in a class of its own. Even more impressive is the fact that the house is all brick construction. There’s no wooden frame. Instead, the walls of the structure consist of three rows of brick on a cut limestone foundation, with insulating airspaces between the rows. While I have no proof, I suspect the brick for this home — which was built in 1903 — came from the brickworks at the late Velma Franklin’s farm.
Soon after the Schmidts moved in, Huguette noticed a car coming up the drive from Concession 7 with two elderly passengers. When they failed to get out of the vehicle, Huguette went out and invited them to come in for a cup of coffee, but the male driver declined. He said that all he wanted to see was whether the roof of the brick house was still intact. Apparently, he had built the existing Pyramid Hip roof in 1933 after a tornado had lifted the original one off the house and sent it spinning into the bush. My theory is that the 1903 builders, having no frame to attach the roof to, relied on the weight of the structure to hold it in place. Given its weight, the plan made sense. But it failed to take into account the violent weather anomalies that occurred even before the evils of Climate Change became a thing.
When Hilda MacLean dropped by one time, she confirmed the flying roof story and added that her father was on his deathbed in a second floor bedroom, when it was snatched from above his head. Amazingly, her father was not injured. The MacLean family then rented a circus tent to protect the house from the rain, but it too was eventually blown away. Where one rents a circus tent in an age without Siri, Google, or even the Yellow Pages is a mystery. But these MacLeans were obviously very resourceful.
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