We’ve switched from French to Gaelic!
The Ceilidh (kay-lee – meaning a social visit) was THE highlight of our visit to the island and made it all worthwhile! I know I make it sound like we didn’t enjoy ourselves the week we were here. We really did. And there were some nice things, as you’ve seen. I guess we’re just spoiled by Nova Scotia. Shame on us!
Anyway, at the Ceilidh, we sang, clapped our hands, stomped our feet and sometimes laughed so hard our eyes watered – for 2 hours! More on that in a minute.
The Twin Shores Camping Area where we spent our week, was also really nice. It had about 900 sites! You’d think with that many, it’d be really crowded, but everyone had plenty of space. There were tons of things to do and they kept the grounds especially nice.
The windy, cloudy day was also a good day for laundry and getting my hair done in Kensington. I desperately needed it! I got to drive the Jeep all by my lonesome, on a road with lines and speed limits for about 20 minutes each way!
The wind had died down some by the afternoon and Blaine got to fly his stunt kite! There’s a nice big open area right beside our coach, so off we went. Yes, I went too. I have to launch it for him. 😊 But I enjoy watching him fly and listening to the sound of the flaps snapping and zooming in the wind. He had quite a battle this day, but still managed to get it to stop and hang close to the ground! It was still windy enough, I had to spread and brace my legs to keep from being blown over.
This is what it looked like behind him. See how the red dirt is all churned up?
To back up a bit, there were three nights we were invited to the neighbor’s for rousing card games of Shang-Hi or Pay Me. That was fun!
We all went to the local Ceilidh at the Malpeque (mall-peck) Community Center (built in 1867), where we enjoyed 2 hours of Scottish and Irish folk music and one French one that had the men in the audience on their feet – including Blaine. The price for all this entertainment? Just $15 each! It was a family of 4 men – Michael, his Uncle Tom, Michael’s son, Sean and Michael’s brother-in-law, Andy, singing and storytelling (i.e. telling corny but hysterical jokes!). They also had a traditional Irish dancer, Victoria, who performed three times. I don’t think she was related to any of them, because they didn’t say so. AND, for $2 Canadian ($1.60 American), we got a large scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream topped with strawberries during the very short break! Yummy, Yum, Yum!!!
Left( to right – Andy (“The Perfect Maritime Man”), Sean, Tom and Michael
Victoria dancing “The Irish Washerwoman”. Notice how Andy’s feet are off the floor? He bounced them up and down in beat to the music the entire time! But only when he played his fiddle. The rest of the time, he sat perfectly still. Too funny!
Storytelling
The venue
The Princetown United Church was on the opposite corner