From: David Tinker <dtinker@blunile.guild.org>
  To  :  Granville Times <dtinker@blunile.guild.org>
  Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 22:30:54 -0400 (AST)

Christmas Greetings, New Website

Season's Greetings, Happy Advent, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas,
Jolly Solstice, and all that!  (Well yes, I'm a little late for
Hanukkah).

Christmas in the country is proceeding through the pleasant round of
rituals that mark the season.  Perhaps this is one of those few places
where we have the time to preserve old customs, and I have come to
value this very much.  (Of course, there is a downside.  Resistance to
change also preserves a few things that would be better off dead.  But
this is a time for good will, so I won't mention those).

Last weekend was the annual Victorian Christmas at the O'Dell Inn (for
those who haven't been here, it's a museum).  The Inn is an early
19th century building which was the home of the O'Dell family and a
bona fide hostelry in the heyday of commerce in Annapolis Royal.  It's
restored to mid-Victorian condition, without electricity, running
water or any other amenities, but one can see that the family lived in
considerable comfort nevertheless.  At this season, it is decorated
with simple and natural ornaments and greens.  You enter the hall of
the Inn from dark and windy St. George street, looking at the lights
of Granville Ferry reflected on the black river.  Inside, a blaze of
light from oil lamps and candles, and a cheery fire crackling in one
of the numerous wood stoves.  The innkeeper offers hot cider and other
refreshments to warm your insides, and it seems everyone we know from
Annapolis and Granville is there.  In the parlour our church organist
is playing tunes from ancient songbooks on the pump organ (which looks
remarkably like the one that used to be in my grandmother's parlour),
and folks are gathered round singing.  The dining room is set for a
festive meal, with every lamp lit and the best china and silver all
polished.  In the kitchen the cook is turning out bread and pastry in
the iron cookstove, helped by the maid and a footman, all dressed in
period clothes.  The stove is positively red hot, stoked with hardwood
logs, and you can peep into the servants' quarters which are
considerably colder and more spartan than the O'Dell family's rooms.
Most of the baked goods go out to the Inn, but the cook slips a few
cookies and tarts to children, as she would have a century and a half
ago.

It all sounds rather plummy and touristy, but you see, we don't do
this for the tourists.  This is for us, who live here when the
tourists are gone, the characters in the Inn are not actors, but our
friends and neighbours.  The whole evening is a wonderful party with
people we know very well and love very much.  You can have Toronto and
all its glitz!

Tomorrow after the Sunday service we will be decorating our Church
with greens, and there will be a potluck lunch and much happy
fellowship.  I am very sad to say though, that one of our choir
members lost her husband last week, and there will be a funeral on
Tuesday.  The annual Christmas party for our choir, which is held at
our house, will take place two days later, but I think we'll all be
remembering Ted, and honouring him in the way he would have liked
best, with good music from voices, harpsichord and violin.

Next week will zoom by I'm sure, and I've just GOT to start Christmas
shopping real soon now.  Are the stores open on Christmas Eve?

As many on the list know, Katie is back home after a year in Ireland,
and we all live in hopes she'll be able to stay here and not have to
go to Halifax to find work.  She's been interviewed for a position
with Annapolis County Library, which would be perfect, but she won't
know until after New Year's whether she got the job.  Meanwhile, she's
helping with preparations, presents and decorations, leading up to our
usual seasonal frenzy :-).  There'll just be the three of us this
year, but we expect to have quite a few family events.  Naturally
we'll be wishing we could be there for Calum's first Christmas, but
maybe next year.

I must finally direct you to my new website, which is hosted by the
virtual community that gathers in the Internet Chat "world" that I
have often mentioned in these letters: "The OpenVerse" (a term
signifying the Open Universe).  It is one of those phenomena that has
sprung up around the internet, non-commercial, free, based on sharing
and cooperation.  These are called "Agalmic" enterprises, and there is
a very good scholarly paper about them, which I will make available on
my new website.  Anyway, one of the denizens of the OpenVerse has
provided a server for the use of 'the regulars', and I have put up a
homepage there.  It can be found at:

	<http://users.openverse.com/~dtinker>

and if you might be interested in learning about the OpenVerse Chat
program itself, you can go to:

	<http://openverse.com>

The chat program is free, and runs on Windows, Macintosh, Linux or any
other computing system you might happen to have.  You can download it
from the last mentioned site.

There's not a lot of content on my site yet (I just coded it from
scratch last night), but there are some keen maps which will show the
Upper Canadians exactly where we live, and the famous and recently
updated Chinatown site!  But it will grow, and in early 2002 you will
be able to find the results of the Annapolis Christmas Bird Count
there!

And to all a good night ...

David, Sheila and Katie
--

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 David O. Tinker                    |   E-Mail address:
 4311 Granville Road, Box 2030A,    |         dtinker@tartannet.ns.ca
 RR 2, Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia |   Alternate E-Mail address:
 B0S 1K0                            |         dtinker@blunile.guild.org
                                    |   Voice: (902) 532-2916
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|                 <http://users.openverse.com/~dtinker>                |
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 Linux Tagline Generator v3.02, Saturday, December 15, 2001, 09:00 PM:
    I distinctly remember forgetting that.
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