Wednesday, April 17, 2013

sooo many tears....and also for Boston.

i feel for all of the families and everyone who is affected by the Boston Marathon bombing that recently occurred. i have many tears. many, many tears.

and you should know that my province, Nova Scotia, and Boston have a very close history. You may not know that during the Halifax explosion of 1917, that the city of Boston were the first responders and saved sooo many Nova Scotian lives. Boston has always been a true friend to us and that is why we send a Nova Scotian Christmas tree to the city of Boston for over 100 years. Boston and Nova Scotia have an incredible history that most people, both Canadian and American know nothing about.

i cry for Boston...i cry for everyone, everywhere, who has been affected by this terrible tragedy.

but i cry harder for a Canadian folk singer who just passed. her name is Rita MacNeil. she was from Big Pond, Cape Breton Island. my island. she was not beautiful but beautiful was her spirit and her voice. she represented what my island...and the people of my island... are all about. she was a lovely human being. you can learn more about her here.

she was a heroe. and many of us cape bretoners are hurt. please pray for all of the Bostonians, their friends and families and everyone else who has been impacted by the horrible events that happened at the Boston Marathon.

but please also pray for all of us Cape Bretoners....whose hearts are heavy. we have lost an angel. an angel that we loved so much.

this is one of the songs that she is most famous for. she sings it with the backing of "The Men of the Deeps", which is a male chorus of coal miners here in Cape Breton. the song, which she wrote, is about working in the coal mine.


my father was a coal miner and could never hear this song without crying. i could never hear this song without crying. at most of our community dances this song is played. and everyone cries.

please listen to the song. Rita MacNeil, although loved by Canadians, Brits and Australians was never properly famous. she should have been. but she wasn't.

she will be sorely missed by her beloved island....which is my beloved island. please, listen to her song. check out some of her other songs on youtube - she made 24 albums!!!! and read her wikipedia page.

she is a beloved angel of this isle....and we are hurting from the loss of her. our island will recover...but we will never forget.

Rita...you were one in a million...and an angel to many. i know that you are in the arms of my Lord and Saviour...where you belong. thank you for everything.

24 comments:

  1. Hey where's Helga's Sky pic?

    Are you the real Kymber and Jamby?

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    1. teehee...it's really us! a Helga sky pic coming soon!

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  2. Sweet Kymber and Jambaloney,

    It's been a bad couple of days in this world. Prayers and warm thoughts are being sent to all victims and their families in the Boston Marathon incident. Also prayers and warm thoughts go out to Rita MacNeil.

    Love and Hugs being sent to K&J, hope all is well with you two.
    Your Friend,
    Sandy

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    1. sweet Sandy - thank you for your prayers, warm thoughts and hugs - you are such a gem!

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  3. It has been a bad couple days, as Sandy said. Keep your chins up. I'm going out for a can of pink spray paint and some bunny ears, it's almost piggy perch time!

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    1. glad to see you around, See Sea. i got your message and will do as you ask. can't wait to see the pink piggy perch traps - teehee!

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  4. Beautiful voices and tune, but I had trouble catching the words. We used to have a lot of coal miners in West Virginia. I hope yours were treated better than ours. Bless you.

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    1. Mr. Smythe - i am pretty sure that our coalminers and the West Virginian coalminers suffered harsh and cruel conditions together. Bless you, too, Sir.

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  5. Dear Kymber and Jambaloney,

    I am so sorry for the loss of Rita MacNeil. Cape Breton music is famous all over the world, and she was one of the queens of it.
    I did know that Boston figured prominently as responders to the Great Halifax Explosion of 1917. It was so funny while we were there. I expected to feel something in the harbour....but I did not. I suppose that all the people who lost loved ones that day, are by now, reunited with them.
    Thank you for your kind words for the wonderful and tenacious people of Boston.

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    1. Jane - cape breton has truly lost an angel and she was definitely queen of cape breton music. she helped so many other cape breton musicians get into the music field. she was very gracious, humble and shy. however, the people of cape breton think of her as a superstar.

      because the Boston train was able to get through the horrible snowstorm right after the explosion when no one else could get close enough - that is why the city of Boston is held dear in our nova scotia hearts. they really were the first real group of actual responders - medical people, firemen, and ordinary citizens came and helped for quite a while.

      it's strange that you mention not feeling anything at the harbour - the times that i have been there, i feel a real sense of what everyone accomplished after such a horrible event. i feel a sense of the horror that they must have felt, and the deaths and injuries, but i also sense a feeling of unity and of people helping people...real humanity.

      the people of Boston will never be forgotten in nova scotia. and they will always get their nova scotian christmas tree!

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  6. The wikipedia article was extrememly long. However, it was well worth the reading. Anyone who read the top part and stopped when the history of the settlement was recounted should read to the bottom of the article. I was amazed that I knew absolutely nothing of this occurrence. The facts of the destruction and how far it was felt out to see and overland was astounding. Thanks for the lesson.

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    1. PracticalP/Linda - based on your many interests and hunger for knowledge, i was pretty sure you would read the whole article. the destruction was enormous! thank you for reading the article!

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  7. Oh kymber,

    I can hear your tears in your words. My heart breaks for you. Although I had never heard of Rita I can understand the devotion & following she had, by just listening to her sing. Beautiful.

    I also had no idea about your area & the connection. Thank you for sharing. Yes, we are all in mourning about the senseless acts of this week.

    Prayers abound all around.

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    1. DFW - she was a really humble, shy, gracious, loving, sharing person. as i said to Jane above, once she really got into the music business, she helped alot of other cape breton musicians make it into the business, too. she was not greedy about her fame, she shared it with others. she also set up a tea room here on the island which is quite a tourist attraction.

      thank you so much for your prayers.

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  8. I can't add much to what everyone else has already so perfectly said. I'll just echo the thoughts and send good energy and warm thoughts to you and everyone else. Thank you for sharing Kymber....

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    1. thank you so much 1st Man...we really appreciate your good energy and warm thoughts.

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  9. hug back, buddy. thanks a bunch!

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  10. Thanks for sharing sweet friend... The only Rita I know begins with "Marga" nice to hear of another.
    Yes very sad for our country and yours, these are dark times we are living in.. My fear is this was only the prelude to something bigger..

    PS: Have you got any mail from me yet? Its been over a month now....

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    1. bahahahahahah - oh you killed me with that one JUGM - bahahahah! and yes, sad and strange and weird times indeed. and probably only gonna get worse.

      jambaloney is checking the mail today - woohoo - i can't wait!!!!

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  11. little sis, If you and Jamb are examples of Nova Scotia's people it must be a truly wonderful place. I am deeply saddened at this weeks events. thanks for being who you are. rat

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    1. big Bro - what a sweet and wonderful thing to say! but to be honest, the people of Cape Breton Island and other Nova Scotians are some of the nicest, kindest, humblest, gracious and welcoming people in the world, and we are small reflections of these amazing people. i,too, am deeply saddened by this weeks events which only got weirder and stranger as the week went by. and thank you for being who you are, big Bro! lots of love to you and Mrs. Rat!

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  12. Today,I talked with exbf and we talked about Boston and the Texas explosion. As soon as I mentioned Halifax, he knew all about it and was recounting facts to me. You have to believe I was pretty amazed. He is smart and well-read in history.

    The only thing I ever learned of Nova Scotia was from studying Longfellow's Evangeline. The link between Nova Scotia and Louisiana is forever in my mind. The expulsion from Nova Scotia was a sad story. I really hate history, but if you give me a story or poem and tell me the history happening at the time, I remember.

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    1. PracticalP/Linda - i love interesting tidbits of history about all kinds of different places in the world. but one thing i really love is to yak with someone who is similar and has all kinds of knowledge about all kinds of interesting things. your exbf sounds like he would be fun to talk to. as do you.

      i love Longfellow and of course the poem Evangeline. did you know that the word "cajun" is a slang version of "acadian". alot of people, even cajuns, don't know that their true and proper history began in nova scotia. i love history as a i said above, but i really like songs that are about historical events. and songs are just poems that are sung. neat, eh?

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