Week 2 in Digby

Well, this has taken a bit longer to write than I intended. Lily and I worked the weekend and then the rest of this week was a bit more on the hectic side. That isn’t to say that we didn’t have our moments of fun, I just lacked the energy to write about it. But, since I am in hour 3 I think of a 4 and ½ hour flight, I seem to find myself with a bit more time on my hands.

Let’s start with the local flavor of the place. Lily and I decided to stay close by the B&B and walk to dinner at one of the restaurants. Basically we decided that since it was Friday night, it was a good time to sit in a bar and drink dinner. We managed to meet a couple of the locals and everyone that came through the tiny bar managed to say a few words to us. Quite a friendly group! Then there was Elvis…..

You would think I would run into more of them, but aside from the guy working in the Impersonator show at the Imperial Palace, I haven’t seen any others. To run into one at the Dockside bar in Digby was an experience. Hmm. I’m not even sure where to start. This was a man who was most likely in his 40’s. I believe he was born and raised in Digby and his “day job” is as a clam digger. His passion, however, is singing Elvis songs at karaoke. If I heard correctly, he does this every day in a number of different locations around town. I also believe that he gets “paid” in beer in some of these places.

He of course had the requisite black hair worn in the traditional Elvis style. What he didn’t have was teeth. He was missing a number of his front teeth. This in itself was not real cause for concern or surprise. After spending 2 weeks there, I can say that there were several people we came across in a similar situation. However, none of the others felt a need to explain what happened to their teeth. Elvis wanted to make sure we knew that his now EX- girlfriend had somehow smashed his teeth, so he broke up with her. Quite sensible, really. He was supposed to be getting new teeth any day now.

He also seemed to have a real fascination regarding the clam digging process. It was very reminiscent of Bubba and the shrimp discussion in Forest Gump. He was clearly trying to make a sale and was offering to bring me a pail of clams that I could fry up. He figured I could easily eat about 100. What the hell? Was that an insult? I’m sure he didn’t think so. Whatever. He then described for me all the ways I could prepare them. I valiantly tried to steer the conversation to other topics, but I just got hit with even worse stories. He mentioned that he spends most of his time singing karaoke (and drinking beer) and does the clam digging gig when he needs cash. He talked about how difficult the work is and how it is a lot harder when you are hung over. I think you know where this is heading, but needless to say the story did not have a pretty ending and it gave the term “beer batter” a new meaning.

Real charmer, this guy. Once he found out where I lived, he made me this great offer that if I took him home with me that I could keep half of everything he would make. Lucky me. Then the conversation turned back again to Elvis, thank God. He told me he would dedicate a song to me and wanted to know what my favorite Elvis song was. Without missing a beat I replied “A little less conversation” to which he replied “I don’t know that one.” I finally escaped to the ladies room. I made Lily leave before karaoke started so I have no idea if he could actually sing or not. I’m guessing not.

After that, we decided to try and find some entertainment out of town. We hit the town of New Minas and went to the movies. Or at least we tried to. The first time we went, the movie was sold out. And since it was at least an hour dive each way, we decided to have dinner and then try for the movie the following night. So we did. We came back the following day and this time we bought the tickets first. Then we headed over to the strip mall that was hosting a carnival. Lily apparently has some sort of “carnie” phobia so of course I made her go and play one of the games with me. We didn’t bother to get on any of the deathtraps they call rides.

We saw the latest Pirates movie. It was long and sometimes confusing and pointless with too many plot twists. The best part was eating nachos and a hot dog.

The rest of the week was fine. We ended up eating breakfast at the gas station. It’s weird, I know, but the gas station has a restaurant that strongly resembles a Frisch’s Big Boy. It was a nice change of pace rather than having breakfast with the couple at the B&B. Heather and Wayne were super nice, but the variety of the Mainway was better.

So, back tonight to my own bed. And I am taking tomorrow off since I worked Memorial Day this week. Saturday Steve and I are headed out to a concert to see Joan Jett. It should be good. I talked to ThreeL today since it is her birthday and she told me that Joan Jett is dating Carmen Electra. What? How did I miss that? I wonder if she is going to be at the show too.

Sunday on Fundy

I spent yesterday doing some initial exploring of Digby. My travels included a trip to Tim Horton’s for coffee and then a leisurely stroll through the Digby Wal-Mart. I have a feeling I will visit these places a lot over the next 2 weeks. I also had to switch rooms at the Bed and Breakfast. The first 2 nights I stayed in the main house, but yesterday I moved out back to one of the suites. Here is a picture of the place where Lily and I are staying. If you look close enough, you can see toward the back of the place and where the suites are located.

Once Lily and I met up again around lunch time, we decided to take a walk down the main street of town. We had lunch at a place called the Captain’s Cabin. We each had a lobster roll which was really good. I have only started eating lobster within the last 5 years or so. Not sure why I never liked it before or why I like it now, but evolution is a marvelous thing.

After lunch we decided to take a walk and headed down to the pier where the scallop fleet is located. Ready for your next lesson about Digby? Digby houses one of the world’s largest scallop fleets. Since the cold temperature of the waters don’t vary much between summer and winter, it makes it an ideal environment for scallops. In addition to scallops, the fishermen here also harvest lobster, clams, mussels and many types of fish.

Each summer Digby hosts the Digby Scallop Days Festival in August. Events include scallop shucking, woodsmen competitions, a parade and fireworks. Too bad we won’t be around to see that. I took some pictures of the marina as well as the town of Digby. Be glad that you missed out on the fishy smell and the flies. Not pretty.

Later this week I think we are going to try and hit the bowling alley and perhaps one of the bars that offers karaoke. Saturday night we drove to the town of Yarmouth and went to dinner and a movie. We saw Shrek the Third, which was cute. The thing I have to stop obsessing over right now is that Keane is going to be playing in Portland Maine in a couple of days. Apparently, there is a ferry that runs from Yarmouth to Portland. The idea of getting on a boat is not really that appealing to me. I am so torn over it. I should at least find out how long a trip it is right? How can I pass up this opportunity?

Well, while I agonize over my band, get excited about the next history lesson: Admiral Robert Digby.

Toe Jam, High Tide and Jail Bait

Well, I’ve made it. Travel was hard, not because of the long flights but because of my stupid toe. Yes, I have managed to bang up another toe right before I left for this trip. I didn’t break this one, but I bruised it very badly. I didn’t realize what a pain it was going to be until I had to put closed-toe shoes on. So, now I am limping around and wishing I was home and barefoot. Nice way to start a business trip.

Aside from that bit of whining, things are really going fine. The weather is chilly and rainy and it looks to stay that way for a few more days. The bed and breakfast where we are staying is nice, but I am freezing. There is just no heat at all in my room. The couple that runs the place is nice and very chatty. I have to re-orient myself to being around people for longer periods of time than I am used to and all the small talk that goes with it.

Still, it’s a nice change of pace to be away from home and out on the road again. Digby is actually a pretty place. We had dinner last night at a seafood restaurant that overlooks the water. The tide was out when we started dinner, but was well on its way back in by the time we left. Lily tried to update me on the tides here, but I think she only remembered part of the trivia. I have since been able to find out that Digby (or rather the Bay of Fundy) has the highest tide in the world. Apparently, the average tidal range is 12 meters (39.6 feet for those of us not on the metric system) but at certain times of the month the range can be up to 16 meters.

I'll have more information about my local surroundings in the next few days. I wouldn't want to bury you in it all at once.

The other piece of unexpected news was spending some time in “pretend jail.” The call center was doing some sort of charity event for the Canadian Cancer Society. They had something called a “Jail and Bail” event with a mock jail. People donated money to the cause and were able to place other people in jail for 30 minutes at a time. They also had a bake sale to go with it. Lily took my picture, so I will go ahead and include it. Yay! I love my flame sweater.

Minor Greek Tragedy

The boys are back in town. Tonight they are playing at Mandalay Bay for the upcoming VH1 Rock Honors show. So why, you may ask am I here and not there? Good question. I saw that the show was coming to town this weekend, but I honestly had no idea until today that Keane was performing. Pays to read the guest list, I guess. Ah well. The show isn’t airing until the end of this month, so I’ll just record it if I feel I really need to see it.

So, last night in Los Angeles was the first show of their North American tour. It was originally scheduled to be performed in Griffith Park at the Greek Theater. However, those of you that have been paying attention may know that there was a fire this week in the park. The theater was undamaged, but the fire department decided to make the theater their command center while they battled the blaze. So yesterday morning I woke up and checked the site to see if the show had been moved. It had. It was moved to Universal City to the Gibson Amphitheater. Thank God there was another venue. If they had cancelled on me again, well I shudder to think of the possibilities.

So, off I went. I had to leave a little earlier than I planned yesterday since I needed to exchange my tickets for new tickets. It had me a little worried. I had pretty good seats at the Greek, and I had no idea how they might be planning to make this exchange. Calling the box office got me exactly nowhere, so the best I could do is make it to LA by 5 and stand in line and see what happened. I got to Universal City Walk at 10 til 5. There was already a line.

Luckily, they seemed to have things well under control. I ended up in a similar seat location to my original one, so I suppose that was fair. Not as great if I had been on the floor, but it would have to do. At about 10 after 5 I suddenly found myself with a lot of time on my hands before the show at 8:30. Good thing there was plenty to do. I don’t know if you have ever been to the City Walk, but it’s pretty amazing. It opened back in 1993 and that was also the last time I visited. At the time, the big attraction was seeing the giant gates from the Jurassic Park movie. Things have changed a bit since then. The only thing I recognized from back then was the Tony Roma’s. So, I had some dinner and walked around and waited for the show.

The opening band was Rocco Deluca and the Burden. If you know anything by them, it is probably the single, “Colorful.” I like the song, so I hoped the rest of the set would be good. Wow. What a nice surprise when you go in with low expectations and you get blown away. The group was awesome. I can’t say that I loved all the songs, but there were a couple I am planning on downloading. This guy can really play guitar. There was so much bass I felt like the hair on my head was vibrating. Got to love music that drowns out the beat of your own heart.

In between Rocco and Keane, there was some good people watching. I love seeing Keane perform in really large cities. There is always such a surprising mix of people that come out. For instance, in the row across from me were four girls, probably no older than 15 and they were all in self-made Keane tank tops. They had written things like lyrics and other interesting messages on the shirts. In front of me were 3 Asian women, and at least 2 of them were in their late 40’s early 50’s. The most interesting and ultimately annoying person was Dave. Dave was drunk. Dave was someone you didn’t want to make eye contact with because you were afraid he was going to talk to you. Dave was wandering up and down the aisle randomly talking to people and generally being a total ass. He was probably in his early 20’s and it was readily apparent that he had no idea who Keane was. I say this because I made the mistake of looking in his direction and he decided to sit down and talk to me.

He told me his name and tried to shake my hand. No way. He then proceeded to have some sort of conversation with me that didn’t really require my participation. He did ask me about Keane and if they were any good. Good grief, was he kidding me? I told him it greatly depended on the type of music that he liked and that if he was expecting the same thing as the opening band, he probably wouldn’t care for them. That didn’t seem to faze him, although I don’t think much would at that point. He later tried to get down on to the floor, but was stopped by security. Of course he stood there and chatted with them for awhile too, but ultimately he was sent away like the rest of the people that tried.

I will only mention Dave once more and that is to say that at some point he did 2 really stupid things. The first thing I didn’t really see until the smell alerted me and the people around me. No, he wasn’t sick, he was now getting high. I hate the smell of pot. I always have. Anyway, after he was good and baked, he goes running for the front again. I honestly thought he might try to run over the security guy, but he just stopped right in front of him, turned and threw his arms up and gave a shout like he was getting ready to go down the first big hill of a roller coaster. Then he ran back up the aisle. That was the last I saw of him, thank goodness. I imagine security finally caught up with him.

The show was awesome. It was nice to see Tom looking healthy. He’s lost weight and he had a lot of energy. The set was new, so that was a treat for me to see new things. Tom also played guitar on one of the songs. I had heard it performed that way, but I was excited to see it. A little Keane history for you: before the 3 of them got the record deal, there were 4 members and 3 of them played guitars. Once the 4th person left, they ended up changing their sound to the one they have today.

The biggest change that I noticed was their attitude. All 3 were singing and for once they were interacting with each other more. It finally felt like a trio and not a lead singer with a band. They looked like they were having fun and having fun together. It made a big difference.

Today is like all other “day after” days for me. I have come to know this feeling as my “Keane hangover.” I am always depressed not knowing when I get to see them again.

Up next: Digby, Nova Scotia. Stay tuned!!

Valley of the Sun

Wow. I can’t believe I have waited so long to write another entry. Sorry for being such a slacker. So let’s get right to it.

I took a trip at the end of last month to visit a friend in Phoenix. First, let me just say her house is beautiful!! I felt like a midget in the place since it has such high ceilings. I think I must have just wandered from room to room with my mouth hanging open while I received the grand tour. If that wasn’t enough of a kick in the butt to get started on my own home search, I don’t know what will.

But I am getting ahead of myself as usual. I took the trip because we had a concert to go to the night I arrived. And no, it wasn’t a Keane concert. (That’s this week!!!!) We went to go see Crowded House. When we were in college we went to see them perform and we had such a great time. So one day I get a message from her saying she has tickets and that I should come out and go with her. No problem. Plus, it has been years since I have been to Phoenix other than to change planes. And, I had yet to meet her son. What a sweetie face!

So, the first night was the concert. The next day we decided to just wander around the city and do some shopping. But first, I have to tell you about my near death experience. (Sorry Abril, but this story is too funny to keep to myself). I was staying in the basement, which was really nice and I had my own bathroom. The first morning I got up to take a shower and get ready when something really unexpected happened. The showerhead is one of those big “rain” showerheads which I thought was pretty cool. Well, I turned on the water and then I turned on the shower. No sooner do I do this than that big shower head goes flying off like a missile and crashing into the tub. Scared the crap out of me.

Luckily I wasn’t standing in the shower at the time. After I got over the shock of what just happened I did what you might expect: I laughed my ass off. So, I got dressed and went upstairs and let her know that her assassination attempt had failed. We went down to look at it and the bolt that holds the face plate to the rest of it had come off. This wasn’t a screw, but a bolt that had completely come apart. Now THAT’s some water pressure! So, I decided to make do and still use the shower without the face. The water was a bit rough, but I have never felt so clean.

That night we went to the movies and saw “Blades of Glory.” It was so funny. I realize it didn’t get the greatest reviews, but it’s not like I was expecting an intellectual plot here. It was good for a few laughs and I haven’t been to the movies in ages.

Saturday morning we got up and took the little guy to the zoo. It was fun, but so freakin hot already. I think we have some pictures, but I haven’t seen them yet. I’ll let you know if I get anything interesting. The other interesting thing that happened was the dust storm. Thank goodness we were home at the time. I have never seen one before. Apparently we get them here, but not very often. This was beyond weird. I happened to look outside and saw the wind blowing really hard and they sky was this funky orange color. We went out on the porch to take a look. Yeah, that didn’t last very long. Later that night as I was about to head back downstairs to my room I noticed something by the stairs. I thought it was a leaf or something that had blown in from the front door some time during the day. Ever the cautious sort, I stood over it and looked at it closer thinking it was shaped a bit like a scorpion. Yeah, it was a scorpion. Once again, I calmly let my hosts know about this latest attempt on my life.

Sunday, Abril had to leave for a business trip, so I hung out with the boys until it was time for me to leave. Ever play hide and seek with a 3 year old? It’s more fun than you might think. All in all, I had a great time. Her son even reminded me of a song I had all but forgotten over time. Chris asked him to sing the “bumble bee” song and once he did I realized that I knew it. It was from an old cartoon with a buzzard. Remember that one? This poor buzzard isn’t terribly bright and he is sent out to find food and tries to bring back a bumble bee. Anyway, he sings a song while he is flying home and that was what Cal was singing. Fun. He seemed suitably impressed that I knew the words too.