I'm just back from another trip to Nova Scotia with my brother Ken (hanging on longer than expected with terminal cancer, there's places he's been wanting to go and I have happily tagged along). Yet, with nothing really new about yet another trip down to see our parents and spending time at the family property, I thought I might just write about this song and the time we spent down by the campfire.
Ken and I drove down together - timing it so we could pick Dave up from the Halifax airport as we rolled on through - and we were joined the next day by our younger brother, Kyler. Now, if there's one thing I've learned over the last year travelling with Ken, he would rather watch YouTube videos than regular TV, and when it was just the three of us siblings (Dave generally out in the yard looking for tasks to keep himself busy), there was a bit of a power struggle between my brothers and what each of them thought would be amusing to the group: Ken searching for the one Leo Maracchioli cover that Kyler would admit was kind of cool (the song I chose here being one he has played for me more than once on our trips), Kyler preferring short clips from Adam Sandler movies or The Simpsons (me honestly not caring one way or the other).
We decided to have a campfire one night and Ken brought out his speaker, blasting his favourite 90s grunge/alternative hits. Eventually, Ken played the Dire Straits version of Sultans of Swing, saying (surprisingly) that it's probably his favourite song of all time. He asked Kyler what his favourite song was (some obscure Led Zeppelin, which Ken found and played), and he asked me what my favourite was and I said the Santana featuring Rob Thomas smash radio hit Smooth (I don't know if it's my favourite, but it's a song that always makes me smile and want to sing along; the right song in context) and he played that, too. Then it was Dave's turn and he said If I Can Dream by Elvis Presley, and from nearly the beginning of its slow and solemn orchestral vibe, Kyler turned and said, "This can not be your favourite song." And of course Dave was hurt and offended - he had listened respectfully to everyone else's - but that's just kind of the way Kyler is and Dave continued to sing through gritted teeth, me joining in supportively.
After the weekend, Dave flew home and Kennedy and Ella flew out to join us for the rest of the week. Perhaps I'll note here that I took the girls to Captain Kat's Lobster Shack in Barrington Passage - voted home of the best lobster roll this year - and we had an amazing lunch (and time away from all that rivalling testosterone).
And I should also note that we had a second campfire for the girls (that's Ken and Kennedy at the top), and again, Ken brought out his speaker and controlled what everyone was listening to - until Kennedy synced in and played a few more current songs for her and Ella. Eventually, Kennedy and I were tired and said goodnight. And as we walked back up to the house, Kennedy asked me if there was a song she should sneak in to prank them, and I replied, "Ooooh, how about A Little Bitty Tear?" (I just searched and yes, I did once write here about the time a teenaged Kyler took revenge on Ken by playing Burl Ives outside his window after he got home late. Classic brotherly prank.) And as the song started playing back at the campfire, Kyler began freaking out, "Wait! Are you playing this? This is the biggest coincidence right now. You don't even know. Do you remember the time...?" And Ken pointed at us over on the porch and said, "Kennedy's right there." And we laughed and Kyler said a sour, "Oh", and we had to sleep with the fan on to white noise out the grunge that continued playing out by the campfire until even the diehards could stand it no more.