Visit Prince Edward Island: The Boy Country

As is their wont, all three children were hopping around the family room tonight to Prince Edward Island Shanty (yes, that's the title), a song written in celebration of Canada's maritime, potato-producing province. This is a song that came on a promotional CD that Amy got in the mail many years ago - probably when we were just married. And the children absolutely love the song - it's very catchy and Celtic and fiddly, with a touch of what sounds like the bhodran, that Celtic drum that rivals the Southern Hemisphere for its fierce rhythm and raw power.

But in the midst of the song, Daniel reflected:

"Prince Edward Island is mostly a boy country."

I wondered what made one Canadian province more of a boy-country than others. I think there are elements in the song that struck Daniel as masculine - mention of lobsters and rainfall and fishing, perhaps. But one of the main factors is that the singer, himself, is a boy - or technically probably a man in his 40's or so.

I've never been to Prince Edward Island; we were always Nova Scotia people, or more specifically Cape Breton people, with my father making his annual hajj to the ancestral homeland, taking the Mrs. and a few children in tow. But if it's a boy country, I should probably go - what with me being a boy and all.

(February 21, 2012)