Sunday night we arrived in Halifax. Our three day round trip from Halifax, to Lunenburg, across inland Nova Scotia to Annapolis Royal, then up the valley to Port Williams came to a close with narry a mishap.

Once such incident took place after playing Frisbee in the tall grass; someone got a tick. In fact they had the tick on their hand through the whole concert that night, they didn’t complain once. Afterwards, in the car, the boys decided a tick was present and the commotion that resulted was pretty fun. In fact, Gabriel knew a lot about ticks including the difference between a deer tick and wood tick and the best way to remove them. Apparently, deer ticks are octagonal in shape; this made me think of the pentagonal church we just sang in, so I asked the boys what they thought about the shape of the shape of the church. They were polite and humoured me, but, as one boy explained, I was trying to distract them!

Another time, a pick-up truck was driving up the road and the driver seemed committed to not giving the right of way to us, two pedestrians. A rude driver I thought as I stopped. My fellow pedestrian firmly planted his foot on the road, and the truck stopped. I meekly followed the boy across the street. On the other hand, in Port Williams, the quiet country road beside the church sometimes became a thorough fare. As a country road it was tempting to run around on. This was one of the few instances it was actually necessary to play the adult and stop the kids.
Later that night, we hoped to join the parish of Cornwallis for their chicken bbq to celebrate the annual apple blossoms festival; however, we drew so many people that the bbq was sold out. Instead, we went to Smitty’s, chain restaurant for families. This meant loads of ice-cream after the meal.

Yesterday, we had a day off, and, I neglected to write a blog, dear reader, however, an editor went over the previous “blogs”, and sentences have been clarified!

There is so much more to say, and it will be said, but presently, all I can do is urge you to attend tonight’s finale at the First Baptist Church on Oxford Ave. at 7pm. It will be transcendent. Pay good attention to the William Byrd piece. It has five parts and according to Nick Halley, the boys have picked up the knack for singing with four other parts.

Yesterday was sunny and hot, quite unusual. On our way to Annapolis Royal we actually got on the wrong road, which still ran parallel to the highway.When we stopped to take a breather, the car was filled with black flies. As a result, to get rid of the flies, we opened the windows, which included front and rear windows, and the the sky roof, and it became very windy. It was like being in a convertible, one boy said.
Today, it is still quite hot, and bright, but the usual overcast sky returned. However, we caught up to blue skies in Port Williams where we sang a concert for the Parish of Cornwallis.
We arrived at 12:30 and had a sandwich in a little park across from the church. The concert was at 3:30pm; much earlier than our usual 7:00pm concert, which means that we have a good chunk of time to sit for dinner at Smitty’s (where I write). YAY. This was our last concert on the road, and we’ll be back in Halifax tonight!

The church in Annapolis Royal seemed to be pentagonal, with the organ and main entrance way at opposite corners of the sanctuary. The pulpit was in front of the organ and elevated before the pews. The men and boys formed two lines; the men stood between the pulpit and the organ and the boys on the ground between the pulpit and the pews. One effect of this set-up was that the men had to make a gap for the conductor and organist to see each other. The organist has a little mirror but he can’t see through men. Before the pieces with the organ, the conductor looks over our shoulders, so he and the organist can make contact – is he looking at the mirror from that distance, or is the organist looking back? A mystery, but if I turn around then I ‘ll miss the signal to start. What’s interesting is that you can recognize the look in the conductor’s face when they’ve made contact.

After the concert we returned once more to Muriel Halley’s to meet our billets and for dessert, truffle, chocolate pie, and ice cream.

Our first concert was last night at St. John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg. The church is quite wide and the light of hanging lanterns gives a golden glow, especially when the light reflects off the walls and gold painted inscriptions and stars above the chancel. The front of the church is dominated by three archways between the pews and the chancel. The men and boys stand under the central archeway, which is the largest, and form a horseshoe – a shape reminiscent of the boy scouts of my childhood; the men, with their low voices are at the back, with the boys up front, surrounding Nick’s drum set and Paul’s grand piano. The repertoire included some of the sacred pieces that we’ve sung all year and folk songs arranged for a choir. One highlight was Tom Brosky’s solo in “The preacher and the Bear”. He sang about how a preacher encounters a bear and prays that if god can’t help him then – Well, I won’t spoil the punchline for those who have not heard it yet.

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We arrived in Lunenburg this afternoon and we just finished the rehearsal for this evening’s concert in Annapolis Royal. A longer blog will ensue but at the moment I can just say “hello, we’ve arrived” at Muriel Halley’s, the grandmother of Nick, for our second meal with her today! Presently, most of the choristers – men and boys –  are playing ultimate frisbee. Indeed it has been a very active day, even though we drove from Lunenburg, because before we left we found an outdoor basketball court and played b-ball for 45 minutes. Anyway, I think everyone has a large appetite for the lasagna and chili prepared for dinner; there is also salad in a LARGE bowl. Bye for now!