Home Away from Home
The trip to St. Thomas yesterday to make good on the promise to let Gabe Cairns play Voyageur at last, was an out-of-pocket affair. An Avis coupon let me rent the car for free but I still needed to try to make up the gas money. Fortunately, on the last trip to St. Thomas we were privileged to make new friends in Peter and Jennifer O'Donnell (and Jennifer's mum Mary) at their Arbour Bed & Breakfast in Talbotville. The cozy furnishings and enveloping landscaping alone would make you feel very much at home but it's the hospitality of the hosts that really makes it. Peter & Jennifer kindly invited me to consider the Arbour Six String Nation's home away from home whenever I was in the area. And boy, did they ever make me feel a part of the family last night. I ate at the kitchen table with the whole family - including son Ryan, just days before heading off to Melbourne to do a stage in one of the finest restaurants in Australia.
But rather than singing for my supper, other guests came by later in the evening to sing for my breakfast, as it were. A dozen or so friends and O'Donnell extended family members gathered in the warm and inviting living room where I did my presentation projected above the hearth and then passed Voyageur around for a bit of carol-singing lead by Peter (pictured). I've been busy enough lately not to really think much about the impending holiday so this was just about as perfect an introduction to the season as I could possibly get. And thanks to a few book, T-shirt and guitar-strap sales, I could cover the gasoline and pick up some fresh eggs and chicken from nearby McSmith's Organic Farm in Elgin County on the way home. Thanks to Ryan for the great local food tip!
Thanks once again to everyone at the Arbour B&B for the warm hospitality.
Posted at 11:55 AM
Return to St. Thomas
You might recall that my visit to St. Joseph's Catholic High School in St. Thomas Ontario on November 18th was a big disappointment for one young student. Gabriel Caron - a grade 8 student from nearby Monsignor Morrison school - was primed to play Voyageur at the St. Joe's assembly (as was the guitar teacher) but a broken bridge made the guitar unplayable. I promised at that moment that, once the bridge was repaired, I'd return so that Gabe would get his chance to hold history in his hands and play Canada!
So we set up a visit to Gabe's own school but we were a bit worried because the St. Thomas area has been through some record breaking snow storms in the last couple of weeks. Lucky for us, while the storms closed some of the highways in the area and really walloped the city of London, St. Thomas remained largely unscathed and the roads re-opened in time for my trip.
Today was the last day before the Christmas break so everyone was in a great mood - with lots of students and staff wearing Santa hats and other festive gear. Gabe's grandmother came by as I was setting up and told me that Gabe was very excited to finally have his chance to play Voyageur. You wouldn't have known it when he showed up because Gabe is one of those super-cool kids who looks like nothing fazes him at all. And there was certainly no sign of nerves when he got up to play for his classmates at the end of my presentation - this is a guy who taught himself to play "Flight of the Bumblebee" after all!
Thanks to principal Judith Colwell, the staff and students at Monsignor Morrison and especially to Gabe Caron for his extraordinary talent and for his patience.
Posted at 3:55 PM