Wow, if we could just have a couple of months just like this morning, I’d be happy! How about you? Anybody out there really wanting the snow and cold to come whistling around the corner soon?

And that brings me to my first item: how to leave comments here.  If you click on the title of the blog, it’ll change colors and magically the comment box will appear at the end of the day’s writing. SHAZZAM!!!

I’ll be resting a lot today rather than running erands, because, wait for it, I’m going to my first Twins game in the new stadium! I know, I know, I’m the last person to go visit this beautiful venue. Lance has a group going from work and yes, we’re tailgating first, albeit at someone’s house. Wait. Can you tailgate if it’s baseball? Or even if it’s not in a parking lot near the stadium? Unsure on this. Hmmmmmm. I think I’ll not put too much thought into that.

I’d rather talk about hooking.

Wait. What???

Rugs. What were YOU thinking???

One of the areas of land that the government gave to the Acadians was in Cape Breton around Cheticamp.(Sheticamp) So, why was the government giving this rocky land to the formerly French people who settled all over Nova Scotia before Jamestown was even settled in 1609?  You may as well ask why they kicked them out starting about 1754.

HISTORY LESSON ALERT! HISTORY LESSON ALERT!

When the French arrived in the area around Grand Pre, Nova Scotia, they saw a land that wouldn’t grow anything because it was soaked with the saltwater tides that rose every six hours. They built a system of dikes with special one way valves at the bottom to allow the rain to fill the land, but not the tides. Then, the one way valves would allow the rainwater to rinse the salt from the soil, taking the salt back to the tidal water. What they built was some of the most fertile land in the world. And this was in the early 1600’s! It took years. But they got along well with the Native Americans (the M’ik Mac) here who gave them help in surviving. The two got along well because they did not get in each other’s way. The French worked the land, while the M’ik Mac fished the coastal waters.

In fact, the French speaking Acadians, for now they had stayed here long enough to not consider themselves French, got along with everyone, even the British who were in power.

But the French and the British did not get along; they were always sniping at each other, verbally and physically: they ambushed each other. And those Acadians DID speak French—–

So the Brits thought the Acadians were on the French side, and so did the French. And yet they didn’t want anything to do with the politics. They were farmers—-and really good farmers.

Well, along came a British leader who took it a step further and demanded that the Acadians sign a loyalty oath to the King. And this was a problem because the Acadians were Catholic and completely honored Notre Dame, the saint of agriculture.

note: there is in Grand Pre a small church in the midst of the fields of corn, on the grounds of the Acadian Historical Site, where the doors are always open, and a resident cat naps with one ear cocked for mice. It is in the midst of fields, after all.

Well, the Acadians wouldn’t sign that oath and were all deported. Their houses were burned, sometimes as they watched from the departing boats. It was horrible and not a great day in the history of the British Empire. Some  boats went to France, some to Louisiana, some to Virginia where they were refused. They were separated, all around the New World and Europe.

Years later when the political winds shifted some and the Acadians could return to their country, their lands belonged to someone else, they had to move on. That’s when the British gave the land around Cheticamp to the Acadians. The difference in land was similar to the difference between the fertile Red River Valley and the rocky North Shore. The Acadians there became fishermen and their women hooked rugs.  There are other pockets of Acadians throughout Nova Scotia, one in Prince Edward island, for example. But we spent time in Cheticamp, so I know the most about that area.

HISTORY LESSON OVER! HISTORY LESSON OVER!

So, that brings me to hooking rugs. I watched a demonstration, asking a lot of questions, and learned how to do this craft with the tool: a nail stuck in a block of wood. And I learned that the women around Cheticamp will NOT train the younger generation in the tips and skills involved in the craft. One woman in the rest home would rather die with her knowledge than share it with the woman at the museum. This woman had no daughters, no survivors with which to carry on the knowledge of how to dye the yarn, for example. The knowledge will die with her.  And why? Because if you teach someone, they could be better than you.  And if you take the time to teach others, that’s time that you could be using to hook your own rugs that you sell. It was always a business in the Cheticamp area. It provided the extra money that allowed families to survive. You were told at a young age not to tell any of your family’s tips on hooking.

So, as she was teaching me how to rug hook, she also told the story of the area’s women. What a history lesson.

Have a terrific Tuesday!  And  go Twins!!!!!!

Hugs,

Janet