It’s becoming increasingly obvious to me that Dunvegan’s Smith-in blacksmith festival and the 1812 Living History Re-enactment are cut from the same cloth. While the exhibitors are very welcoming of those outside their circle, they appear to derive their greatest satisfaction interacting with each other. While an event like last weekend’s Smith-in doesn’t attract hordes of visitors, as GPM curator Jennifer Black told me, “It seems to draw a different crowd to the museum — blacksmith enthusiasts — some of whom travel a couple hours to get here.”
And yet, these specialist events can still make a valuable contribution to the museum’s financial health.Saturday’s less than ideal weather was more than offset by Sunday’s sunny skies. As a result, overall attendance was up by over 55% compared to last year. “This increase was partly due to there being more families with children on Sunday,” said Jennifer. “I’m guessing it was a good Father’s Day outing.” Organizers are still tallying the final figures, but it looks like it was a successful fundraiser for the museum, raising over $3,000.
Ever eaten a clock?
Mike Helm, a wonderful friend who I’ve known for over 50 years, sent me an e-mail on Father’s Day. Obviously, I’m not hisfather… but I am a father… and he had come across a compendium of jokes he knew would appeal to my somewhat twisted sense of humour.
It was a collection of Nihilist Father’s Day jokes entitled Nihilist Dad Jokes, Part 2by Alex Baia. (I suspect there isn’t a Part 1, but may be proven wrong.) While nihilism is not the guiding principle of my life, I can sometimes hear its siren song beckoning. Especially existential nihilism, which argues that life is without meaning, purpose or intrinsic value. Here’s a sample from Baia’s collection…
Have you tried eating a clock? It’s time-consuming! Soon I will stand on the precipice of eternal sleep, and the tides of time will sweep away everything I have ever known. So I’m not feeling motivated to perform kitchen renovations right now.
If you’re tempted to explore more, the web site ‘McSweeney’s Internet Tendency” at mcsweeneys.net might be right up your alley.
Celebrate summer. Play euchre.
On top of being the first day of summer, this coming Friday, June 21st, is the DRA Euchre Luncheon in Dunvegan. Our leader, Ann Stewart, has been kidnapped by one of the Maxville Fair committees this month, but Dytha Dixon and Lynne Robillard have volunteered to take her place. Thank goodness. So the event will proceed as planned.
I’m pleased to announce that the reporting of the euchre winners will be returning to this column very soon. I lost my trusty score reporter a while ago, but Lisa Chapman of Dunvegan West has agreed to step in. Lisa will also be helping Linda Burgess and I with the lunch. If you’d like to evaluate her egg salad sandwiches, stop by the DRA Hall at 19053 County Road 24 this Friday at 12 noon. There, for the lowly sum of $5.00, you’ll gain admittance to one of life’s well-kept secrets: low-impact friendly euchre, bookended by a delicious sandwich and sweets buffet top and tail.
Mystery maker
Brenda Kennedy kindly provided me with more details on the lovely stone pathway discovered by Bob Garner and Gwen Barrett at a recent GPM maintenance bee. Brenda clearly remembers it being laid during her tenureas the museum’s curator during the 1999 and 2000 seasons,“… it was put in to replace the old one made of cement patio stones,” reported Brenda in an e-mail to me. “That would have been sometime between 1998 and 2000, during the renovation of the Star Inn.” Unfortunately, there was a great deal of renovation going on at the museum during those years and neither Blair Williams (who was the Chair of the Museum Committee at the time) nor Brenda remembers who actually laid the flagstone path. Perhaps someone out there does.
Sketches, stars and sweetgrass
I’ll have more details for you as we get closer, but I thought you should know about three great events coming up at the museum in July. The first is a weekish-long art show being put on by the Glengarry Artists’ Collective from July 6thto the 14th. Next, on July 11th, classical music returns to Dunvegan with the 2019 edition of the popular “Music Under the Stars” event. Given this year’s propensity for cool and rainy nights, the DRA Hall has been reserved as a back-up venue to get around trying to listen to classical music with raindrops playing percussion on the tin roof of the pavilion. And third, Carrie Hill, a Mohawk from Akwesasne and the owner of Chill Baskets, will be demonstrating the tradition of weaving black ash splints and sweetgrass that goes back generations in her family. Originally scheduled for July 14th, the date has been moved to Sunday, July 21st.
Incredible shrinking shoulders
Evan McIntosh from west of Dunvegan saw a strange contraption on County Road 24 near his home last week. Upon investigation, he discovered that the unit was narrowing the paved shoulders of the County Road by chewing up the asphalt from the outer half of the roadway’s shoulder and replacing it with gravel. When Even spoke with the operator, he was told that the specs for the 2019 version of Dunvegan Road call for a narrower paved shoulder.
As I pointed out to Evan, the Counties Road Department is probably taking a more egalitarian approach to paved shoulders. By deleting part of the fancy paved shoulder the upper-crust residents west of the hamlet have enjoyed for years, there may be asphalt left in the budget to pave the road shoulders east of the hamlet… a luxury we’ve never enjoyed, or missed for that matter.
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