Centreville Report

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Roscoe Fillmore Picnic in Centreville, NS at the quirky and cool Charles MacDonald Concrete House Museum. Roscoe Fillmore was a left-wing political radical who was also a horticulturalist and the first Canadian to write gardening books relevant to gardening in Canada. He was also a friend of Kenneth Leslie's, which is why I was invited to participate, along with Chuck Lapp, who produced the excellent Leslie biopic, God's Red Poet. Chuck picked me up in the morning along with photographer Mark Simpkins and off we went.

I had no idea what to expect of this event. It turned out to be a great time, despite intermittent thunder showers, including one that started just as I was coming up to read Leslie's poems. There were great people there, including old friends of my parents I hadn't seen in a couple of decades or more, and many good conversations. Lots of tasty grub, too, and local winery and brewery donated libations, including the very creditable Stutz hard apple cider, which is almost as good as Strongbow and a little lighter in alcohol volume, thus enabling one to enjoy more of them... After the picnic broke up, we checked out the concrete cottages at Huntington Point, then headed to Halls Harbour for fish n chips in the Fundy fog, with event organizer Marke Slipp and journalist Nicholas Fillmore (grandson and biographer of Roscoe) and his wife.

I finally got a call today for a railroad trip, so off to Montreal tomorrow. It's a good thing I've been able to pick up as much freelance work as I have, because the ol' railroad just hasn't been providing yours truly with much of a living the last couple years.

TTFN