Well, I'm back. Not sure if I'm recovered. Guess Michele was the first one of us from the party to return to the chatroom. Saw she was there Monday morning or afternoon.
To start at the beginning... Christina and I had gotten back to Sydney Thursday afternoon. We toured around including a quick visit to Chatsubo Design, where I met Jamie and introduced everyone to Christina. Next morning, Friday, the 16th Chris and I got started around 9:30 and wandered about a little and stopped off at the Prince St. Shopping Mall. She wasn't overly impressed with the Tar Ponds,
We waited a little while for the bus at 10:15AM to take us out to the Airport. $2.25 with a short 10 minute walk along the Old Airport Road got us there around 10:50. We had both forgotten to take along the schedule showing the times that Heather and Beth were due to arrive. But we remembered it was around noon that Heather and her mom were due in, and thought it might be the same flight, 11:30, that Christina had arrived in Sydney the previous Saturday. It turned out not to be, but we had a bonus. Mary Jane Lamond was on this flight and was met by her parents. Got to say hello and introduce Christina to her.
It was almost 12:30 before Heather and Judy (Heather's young mom) got off the plane. Kind of hard not to miss the flame red hair. Afterwards we went along with Heather in her bright purple Hyundai to Gaby Senn's Swiss Bay Ranch in Eskasoni/East Bay where they were staying. While the ladies took turns getting a shower, the rest of us went and explored the area and went down to the lake, where we took some pictures, and Chris went for a quick swim. Even tried to take pictures of the rooster. Later we drove into Sydney to check out the music store, McKnights as well as a gift shop or two. Heather got in touch with Dan at his dad's place and got the information that we were all meeting at the restaurant for 5:30.
The four of us, Judy, Heather, Christina and I got to Ken's Place, the restaurant, first and sat down to wait. As we didn't know who was smoking, etc, we decided on sitting in the non-smoking section! Big mistake as it turned out. Dan arrived shortly afterwards and we all started to swap stories.
Sue was still at the Gaelic College with her last few classes. Due to leave there at 3:30PM, she had to get back to East Bay before proceeding in to Sydney Airport to pick up Beth and her husband Mike. They arrived about 6PM after dropping their stuff at the Rocking Horse Inn where Beth and Mike were to stay. We started tucking in, and were nearly finished by the time Michele got there. Turned out she had arrived on the same flight as Heather and Judy but none of us were aware of it! Oh well!
The rest of the night proceeded well, as we left around 7:15 to head to Glace Bay and the Savoy Theatre. Most of us got there just before the show started. Michele who was riding with Dan, got the tour, since Dan went through New Waterford to get to Glace Bay. They missed about 5 minutes of the show. What took the extra time was getting directions from a little ol' granny. She gave Michele the evil eye and got a shiner in it for doing it!
The Cape Breton Summertime Revue was great. Revue Reviewed Everyone apparently enjoyed the show, music and humour alike. There were some localisms that had to be explained though.
We all went out for some food after. Michele and Dan took off early to grab pizza, after we had ironed out what was to happen the next morning.
The PARTY itself
Saturday morning drizzled in, gray and overcast. Christina and I walked to the Sobey's grocery store to get our portion of the food and drink. Then back we went to my uncle's restaurant, the Maple Leaf, to await Dan and Kylie, for 2PM or so. After that, we went to pick up Michele at the Delta Sydney. Quickly driving to East Bay, we met Beth and Mike in Cheryl's living room and introduced Cheryl and Ian (her beau) to the rest. Cheryl and Ian hadn't come to the Revue with us. Among the introductions performed were to the various cats, Fernando, Patches and several kittens among them.
Cheryl and Sue had arranged for a nice large tent to take care of any weather complications, whether too sunny or rainy. Also was a porta-potty for the necessities. We were joined within half an hour by Doreen (Riverrat) and her husband, Hughie from St. Peters. They were on their way to Sydney and were going to come back to stay for a while. Heather and Judy arrived soon after. Chatsubo Design joined us around then, John Hussey, Jamie Foulds and Ian Robertson. They got to talk to everyone who was there at the time. They stayed a short while and took a couple of pictures. The names of the guilty party-goers appearing there are, from left to right :
Heather T, Dan & Kylie, Ian (Cheryl's beau), Jenna (Cheryl's daughter), Cheryl, Jamie, Michele, John, Beth, Mike, Ian R, Christina, Sue, and myself. This picture was taken by Grammy Judy
Just after the picture was taken, Sue handed out presents. I got a box of Twizzlers, strawberry flavoured of course!. Heather got her DependsTm, due to her zeal online about this party! Geritol was the name of the product that Beth received. Not that she needed any extra energy! The life of the party! However the highlight was the thong that Dan got. That certainly was a unique way to wear it, DannO. Kylie was the recipient of a set of papers and coloured pencils as the youngest member of the party!
Meanwhile Dan was getting practice in the swiftest way to put the thong on and remove it. He had lots of help from the ladies with this difficult part. The neatest thing was the plaque with a grace in Gaelic that Christina had made in ceramics class. Christina even had one for Sue, a T-shirt that reads :
Not Only Am I Perfect,
But I'm A Cape Bretoner Too!"
The fellows from Chatsubo left right then as John and Ian had to work at the Summertime Revue that evening. Jamie took the time to upload the pictures to the site and make them available. This was around 3 or 4PM, just as the sun started to shine through. This stroke of luck was not happenstance. We had a powerful young lady of major ability there who performed a sun-dance on the deck. Thanks, Michele for invoking your powers. She's a definite invitee to ANY outdoor event I ever have to deal with!
There was a proclamation that the 9th person using the Johnny on the Spot would be tipped! Well, it turned out that the honoured guest who became celebrated was Susie, herself!
Ron and Jack showed on the doorstep around 7PM just after the bbq had started. Mike was put in charge of this important duty. Cheryl had meanwhile spent a good portion of the afternoon making potato salad, curried rice, macaroni salad and all sorts of delightful items. The rest of the fare, was hot dogs, hamburgers and salads. Sue had made the hamburgers and they were good, large full ones!
Somewhere around this time, Sue decided to take a couple of sobriety tests! Wow! Lucky no one was leaving. One person couldn't quite make the heel-toe business. One person did an impromptu test in the kitchen with the word anonymity. Cheryl knows this person's identity and is remaining mum.
Around that time we had remembered to turn on the computer and got onto the chatroom, where Kimberley and Diana were wondering if the party had started and where we were! Sorry ladies! We started a round-robin session where people would get on to talk for a while, and using a generic nickname RFC Party Goers. Brad from Glace Bay had been after directions and got them, bringing his sister, Lynn as well. They got to East Bay around 8PM. Turns out Lynn had been on the same flight as Dan coming down from Toronto. She currently is a teacher in the Toronto area. Brad will be known in the chatroom as Hummer from hereonin!
Friends of Cheryl's (Sharon and her husband, Jack) from the Cape Breton Chorale arrived as well, and joined in on the fun. After we had all eaten, we retired to the tent again leaving the deck alone. Dan had brought his guitar and a selection of songs he had gathered over the internet. He and Lynn took turns with the guitar. Sue also played a song on it. Christina played her flute later. Others who were leading songs were Cheryl, Heather, and Sharon. Among these songs were several Rankin Favourites - Orangedale Whistle, Fare Thee Well, Tell My Ma, and You Feel the Same Way Too. Many other songs were done through the night as well.
I finally remembered dessert a bit on the late side, and got to the cakes from Notte's Bon Ton which Heather and Judy hand carried all the way from Vancouver for me! One was their standard Diplomat, and the other was the chocolate covered one with Mocha Creme icing. These are French pastry liqueur cakes with real butter creme icing! Awesome. Thanks ladies for the effort which was appreciated especially by me since I got to take the leftovers home!
Around midnight, Beth and Mike left with Sharon and Jack. They had a flight out around 8:30AM so wanted to get some sleep before. Cheryl and Ian crashed around 1AM. The rest of us:
Brad, Lynn, Heather, Judy, Dan, Michele, Christina, Sue and myself
kept going until around 4:30AM. Didn't quite make it to the second sunset, as the song goes. Heather and Judy went back to Eskasoni around 5AM and Dan drove Michele off around the same time. Christina and I crashed in the basement. I woke around 7AM to a beautiful sunrise. No one else was up except for the dogs, who got Ian up to take them out around 7:20AM. Think we woke Sue for a few minutes then. Finally around 9:30 everyone rolled out of bed.
The AFTERMATH
Had a lazy day of it. Walked around, cleaning up bits and pieces from the party. Took the dogs for a swim down in the lake. The tent people came to collect it by noon. Then we had lunch and got mellow. Talking songs and Stan Rogers, the Summertime Revue and other things. Cheryl and I were watching Sue and Christina nod out at different times that afternoon. Think I did once or twice as well!
Late that afternoon, Sue reminded us that Cheryl was going to do a Tarot reading on me! Great! I'd never had it done. Here's a web-page which covers Tarot and other Divination methods.
What a fascinating experience. A number of the things she mentioned, I had never talked about online or in e-mail to her or Sue, so it was quite eerie. I'm of the opinion that it's quite valid and definitely to be believed. She also did a reading for Christina and from some of the things that Christina had told me earlier that week, it was very accurate as well, and Cheryl knew even less about Christina. Wow! All that talent, in one person.
We spent a nice evening talking about lots of things after supper. Cheryl's mom and dad stopped in about 9PM for a quick visit. Christina and I asked them for a lift into Sydney to save Sue a long trip in and out of town.
Basically that's the whole story. Many pictures were taken, and even a video was shot of the singing. Heather! I'll send you or Judy a video tape. Please make me a copy of it. Thanks in advance. Thanks again to Cheryl for her hospitality throughout the weekend and party! Thanks go to Dan and Sue for thinking up this whole idea!
Addendums:
Brad woke Sunday AFTER noon. He was a little under the weather. Dan's flight arrived back in Ontario at 3:30AM Friday August 22. Wow! Kylie slept through it all. Ah, Royal Airlines! 8-) Beth and Mike made it back safely and had a hard time returning to Thunder Bay. They'll have a grand tale to tell of that one. Sue was back at work as of Thursday August 22. Christina made it home on August 26th. She was fine in Montreal until the last day or so, when her allergies kicked it! Heather, we have to hear about you and Judy's experiences! Heather just got back home August 31! I expect to hear more about it VERY soon.
Also, it turns out, the date we held the party wasn't too far off the anniversary of the Rankin Family Web-page's official opening date, August 29th. Kimberley checked that out, from the Endless Seasons's booklet. We can consider the party to be a birthday party for the RF Web-site and Chatroom, etc.
Now, who wants to start plans for next year's get-together...
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