Archive for September, 2011

The Moody Blues in Moncton: Precious Cargo Tour

We knew it was going to be special seeing the Moody Blues in Moncton when we arrived at the Moncton Coliseum and there was a huge double rainbow across the sky right over the concert hall! The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! Fans were parking and getting out of their cars and walking to the front gate under a huge double rainbow…we were so excited! The Moody Blues coming to Moncton on their Precious Cargo Tour and the heavens opened up and gave us a rainbow to celebrate the moment!

What a great show going through 20 of their songs…my favorite was Tuesday Afternoon, Peak Hour and Question. Those songs brought tears in my eyes!

DD here,  it was indeed a great show. I wonder if the Moody Blues crew knew about the rainbow? They were probably all in their dressing room.  For sure they saw the big almost full moon above the Coliseum after the show: from rainbows to the moon! WOW!

We hadn’t brought our cameras because when I phoned the coliseum to ask if we were allowed to bring cameras, the lady said “not that I am aware of”… well lady, be aware that there were about hundreds of cameras shooting and filming the show that our memory will have to work hard to replay for us.

The set list:

1. The Voice
2. The Day We Meet Again
3.  Steppin’ In a Slide Zone
4. Gipsy
5. Tuesday Afternoon
6. Lean On Me Tonight
7.  Meanwhile
8. Peak Hour
9. I Know You’re Out There Somewhere
10. The Story In your Eyes

Intermission

11. In Your Wildest Dream
12. Isn’t Life Strange
13. The Other Side of Life
14. Drift Wood
15. Higher and Higher
16. Are You Sitting Comfortably?
17. I’m Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band
18. Nights In White Satin
19. Question
20. Ride My See-Saw (Encore)

On a simply dressed stage, standing in front of a fabric background projection screen, Justin was all in white like a knight in white satin while John, his alter ego, wore a black V neck T-shirt with tight black leather pants. Graeme at the left rear of the stage reminded me of a gentle flaming tiger with his black striped orange shirt.  In front of Graeme were the two girls, Norda Mullen (flute, guitars, tambourine, vocals) with black leggings, a white shirt and a black jacket, and Julie Ragins (keyboard, guitar, tambourine, vocals), sporting a black t-shirt with a sparking silver fleur-de-lys: she has to wear it in Quebec City and Montreal, they’ll love her! Both her and Norda were awesome and so talented. On the opposite side of the stage to the right was Allen Hewitt (keyboards, vocals) dressed in black pants with a white shirt and a black vest. For some reason I thought he and Norda could well have been pirates carrying the precious cargo!  Speaking of pirates  I read that they call their tour bus The Good Ship Everything because it has everything they need: was the name of the tour inspired by the tour bus?  I was so impressed before the show by Allen’s  Memotron and I couldn’t wait to hear it, unfortunately I wasn’t able to hear anything clearly hidden behind all the other instruments and voices.

It felt to me like a roller coaster ride where I was brought up slowly to the top then speeding all the way down,  screaming my lungs out, and then slowly up again and the best part of it is I didn’t even get motion sickness! Instead I was jumping out of my skin and was completely blown away by drumming right hand man, Gordon Marshall. What a pleasant surprise it was to watch him step out of his drum kit and play some flute in a duet with Norda Mullen on “Are You Sitting Comfortably”.  Yes I was sitting comfortably but I couldn’t help the stomping, the kicking and the beating, using all surfaces I could find,  from my hips to my thighs then hitting the notepad with my pen I had to take  notes. I was like a kid going to “The School of Rock”: Now look and listen up kiddo this is how we do it!

My main attention was always pulled by the drumming and I think this makes it official that I have a little drummer girl inside of me. There seemed to have something gone weird during one of the first songs, not sure but I think it was during Tuesday Afternoon, like a strange noise that wasn’t supposed to be there; the guys all kept looking at each other smiling with question marks. Right after, John Ledge really took us where we’ve never been before while singing Lean on Me.

One of my first impressions when I saw Gordon Marshall was that he reminded me of a tall Ron James. For those who are not familiar with the name, Ron James is a comedian originally from Nova Scotia who runs a TV show by the same name. It felt kind of funny and I was expecting him to stand up at any moment and start making funny faces telling jokes; those visions slowly dissipated  as I got into the “mood”.

What a pleasure it was when Graeme stepped down pretexting he needed to stretch his legs from sitting down too long and told us he had just turned 70 which deserved him a standing ovation, and then he went on with Higher and Higher “With the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes ” which made us look at each other laughing as this refers to us to Alaska sneezing (our Burmese cat) and we changed the lyrics to:  “ten billion Burmese sneezes”!

During the intermission, we encountered a pregnant lady and I told her how lucky the baby was to attend this concert while in her belly! She told me this was a very special moment for her and her husband as Nights in White Satin was played at their wedding and their anniversary was coming up in a few days. I was so happy for them! This show will definitely stay engraved in our memory and we will cherish it for as long as we have it. This was to me one of the most meaningful concerts along with Hall and Oats in the 80′s. The Moody Blues has become our favorite band.

Dami: I first heard the Moody Blues when I was 3 or 4 years old and I remember it quite well actually! Strange…so many years ago and I was just a wee-thing but I remember hearing the album On The Threshold of a Dream by the Moody Blues and being totally freaked out! The cover of the album, with this strange alien tree being grasped by some eerie robot really caught my attention and listening to the song “In The Beginning” with the odd dreamy voice of the dreamer and the mechanical robot speaking just was soooo freaky to me!

Ever since then the Moody Blue has had a place in my life…sometimes smaller parts but it seems that their music was always perfect to bring me back to a certain place…another mood or another planet!

Lately we have been listening to The Moody Blues on our trips to Nova Scotia when we go to the chalet or to the cabin we will play their music over and over while we sit by the fire or play scrabble or eat supper. Their music really works well out in the forest!

So when we heard they were coming to Moncton to do a concert we just had to go! This was their first Canadian Tour and we couldn’t dare to miss it! I would never have guessed that when we moved to New Brunswick last year that we would actually be able to see The Moody Blue in Moncton!!

Big Hill Retreat – Such a treat!

While we visited Cape-Breton Island, Nova Scotia  for the first time, we stayed at Big Hill Retreat and  had such a lovely time. Here is the review we posted on Trip Advisor.

We stayed 4 nights at Big Hill Retreat in the “Log Cabin” from September 11 to September 15 2011. Big Hill Retreat is a pet friendly accommodation. We had our cats with us and they both enjoyed the view of the highlands and couldn’t get enough of chasing each other up and down the stairs. There is enough space to sleep 8 people, with one closed bedroom on the main floor with a regular double bed and 3 futons upstairs.

There is a TV upstairs equipped with a VCR and a DVD player; we used it to watch our purchased VHS tape at the Fortress of Louisbourg and it was a nice way to end our day. There is also a cd / radio unit in the main room downstairs. We listened to our cds’ in the evenings and to the radio in the mornings.

I enjoyed having a warm bath on the first night: a bathtub is a definite bonus for me. We lit a fire in the wood stove the first night only; we had sun and warm summer temperatures for the whole stay! Equipped with a regular sized fridge and stove, the kitchen had everything we needed. We played a couple of games of Scrabble. There was also a game of Canasta: maybe next time we will try it out.

We slept so well in the fresh clean and soft bed. It is a very peaceful and secluded place surrounded by trees. Every morning, Zoe, one of the owner’s dogs, came to visit and say hello. Our first morning we decided to go out and take a look at the A-Cabin and she walked with us.  The A-Cabin is the most secluded and very small; if it was our only choice next time, we could definitely fit our little family.

It was interesting to read all the praising comments in the guestbook dating back many years by tourists from the United States and all over the world. Big Hill Retreat in Baddeck might have been a well kept secret for years but it won’t be for long! If you like nature, animals, gardens, ponds and birds, this centrally located haven is a place you will look forward coming to every evening while you visit Cape-Breton Island.

The owners, Linda and Terry gave us such a warm welcome. Linda has a pottery studio on site with a very impressive collection. Terry is a carpenter and was working on adding an extension to the studio the day we left. Our stay was too short and we will definitely plan to go sometime this fall and / or this winter.

You might want to bring your own towel and facecloth. You definitely need to bring your hairdryer if you need one. We always like to bring extra blankets for us and for the cats: we use them to cover chairs, beds and sofas. Keep in mind they are cabins and not luxurious country cottages with plush sofas and fancy decoration: if that is what you are looking for, look elsewhere. We hope this review was helpful to plan your trip to Cape-Breton Island. Visiting the island, prepare yourself to say OMG and WOW a million times!

Tropical Storm Irene

The major 2011 hurricane Irene got downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hit Vermont, Quebec and Atlantic Canada but before heading north it hit all the coastal states from North Carolina to Maine, including Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. It is still too early to assess all the damages in some states but Vermont was hit hard and many roads and bridges have been destroyed. Lots of farmers have also lost everything to the floods. This is such a sad event. We love Vermont and its people and we hope everyone who has been hit by this finds the strength AND the money to get up and start again. We have been spared but a lot of people can’t say so.

I can’t believe some people said on forums that this storm was nothing and that it was all just media hype! Thousands of people lost everything and there are 45 deaths attributed to Irene so far. I am glad most people took this storm seriously and  my heart goes to all who were afflicted by this storm one way or another.

I think one is never too prepared for a storm. The good thing about hurricanes is that we have warnings days ahead giving everybody enough time to get ready. Whenever I hear about sustained or wind gusts of more than 80km per hour, I get the emergency kit ready and prepare myself for a power outage. I always go through my options in case of an emergency. I make sure I have everything I need. The day before the storm I recharge the cameras, the batteries and the mp3 players. I get the cats’ cage ready to go with a plastic shoebox of toys, food, and litter and waste bags.

I put the birdfeeders in the shed and one chickadee wasn’t too happy and came screaming at my window! It’s true! I basically removed everything that could be blown by the wind and I took the hanging fuchsias down. Inside, I made lots of ice and  prepared a big cooler packed with a lunch for the next day along with some drinks and snacks so I wouldn’t need to open the fridge. I made two thermoses of hot water for hot drinks and instant soups. I made a quick stop at the grocery store to by some newspapers, two bags of chips and a box of cookies. I know, I am not supposed to eat that stuff but I was really glad I had it when I ate it! I am very lucky to say it was actually one of the highlights of Irene for me!

The winds were to arrive around 9pm in Moncton, New Brunswick and they were to blow for a good 12 hours and they did. I was really happy I was prepared because indeed, when I woke up the next morning, the power was out. My first big power outage since we’ve been here. It felt strange not to have the sound of electricity and the running appliances like the fridge, the dehumidifier and the computers. The cats seemed to like this sudden silence; that is until somebody had  to start their power generator next door and it was so loud! It brought me back to the endless winter snow storms nightmare with all the snow blowers! No!! It must be very handy to have a generator but it is so loud and stinky. On top of that some other neighbor thought it was a great time to power wash and mow the lawn and so all that noise was driving me nuts! Earlier, while almost everybody was gone to work and it was all nice and quiet, I tried to imagine myself in a time before electricity and wondered what I would have done that day and I did some chores like sweeping and dusting. If I knew how to knit I probably would have knitted something in memory of Irene!

After cleaning, I did a few crossword puzzles and some Sudoku and I started to write a journal. At 8:15, when the light got dimmer, I lit some candles. We have a lot of candles around the house but we don’t light them anymore and it felt nice. Every half hour or so, I would listen to the crank radio. I learned there was a big tree that fell on a near by street and it was closed to traffic.  In Moncton, many street lights were broken and people didn’t stop like they’re supposed when this happens. After the neighbor’s generator started I used my mp3 player with the big headphones to block the noise and it worked well. Earlier, I was able to speak to Dami at noon; he went to the NB power website and was able to find that the power would be back on at approximately 11:30pm. It would be a long day. I was on the phone with my mother when the batteries died and she got all worried and called the phone company who told her there was no problem with the line and that the problem was my phone.

I went to bed at the usual time but when I woke up in the middle of the night, there was still no power. When I woke up that morning at 6:30, the fridge was working and it looked like everything stayed frozen in the freezer. Dami told me later I was lucky to have the power back so early because the last time he had checked, it was postponed to 2:30pm.

The things we take for granted in these times. We go about everyday, caught up in our routine without taking the time to really appreciate what we have and it’s when time seems to stop that reality really kicks in. One thing we are missing for the next storm is a phone that doesn’t require batteries. Even the Lithium batteries didn’t last long in the phone so next time I won’t rely on those. Sometimes cellular phones don’t even work so it’s good to have the land line option if it works. I would also add a big pad of paper in the emergency kit because I need to write down my thoughts.